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sirach2v4
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by Rodney Stark, non-Catholic historian, see the book shop on this website.
229 pages
this is not just the word of the author, a historian, versus that of other historians, the author points to factual documentation accumulated over more than a millenium about the falsehoods told about the Catholic Church and about some of the claims made by Protestants.
The era of the ‘dark ages’ is a myth.
The era of the ‘enlightenment’ is a myth.
The renaissance is a myth.
The preceding supposedly described new eras of progress that emerged after the Catholic Church was overthrown in one way or another. It never happened, says the author. Those are self-serving myths by protestants or atheists.
[The Church has been and is still being attacked by those who either oppose the Catholic Church in particular, oppose Christianity in particular, or who oppose all religion in general. My observation. ]
The Catholic Church had a history of opposing slavery, although one pope was given slaves and kept them, against the precedents of previous popes condemning the practice. The “protestant work ethic” does not exist; the work ethic that is thus described developed under Catholic leadership.
The Catholic Church was not against scientific inquiry, but in fact encouraged it.
It is chiefly Protestant faiths that developed the idea that kings ruled by “divine rule.”
He spends a good amount of space debunking the exaggerated horrors of the Spanish Inquisition. The emphasis on these was to distract from the prejudice and persecution of the Catholic Church (its leaders and members) in areas of Protestant domination.
He describes as historically accurate that the Catholic Church had large holdings of land and other wealth. He says this was a time when the Church was really two churches, the Church of Power and the Church of Piety, the latter being concerned with spirituality and evangelization.
I think that distinction highlights a lot of criticism of the Church today, that it is still the Church of Power instead of what the author says had come to predominate the modern Church, the Church of Piety.
He notes how Martin Luther was horrified by the effects of his own “reformation” movement, that church attendance in Protestant churches dropped off, the people who came to church came late, left early before the “blessing,” they brought dogs which disrupted services, and people slept during or left before the preacher’s sermon. Hmmmm…
The author provides a lot of references to support his conclusions about the falsehoods told, even in the 21st century, about the Catholic Church. The book is not difficult to read, but I’m just not interested in all the subjects he discusses – which only shows that I am not familiar with all the areas of attack on the Catholic Church.
229 pages
this is not just the word of the author, a historian, versus that of other historians, the author points to factual documentation accumulated over more than a millenium about the falsehoods told about the Catholic Church and about some of the claims made by Protestants.
The era of the ‘dark ages’ is a myth.
The era of the ‘enlightenment’ is a myth.
The renaissance is a myth.
The preceding supposedly described new eras of progress that emerged after the Catholic Church was overthrown in one way or another. It never happened, says the author. Those are self-serving myths by protestants or atheists.
[The Church has been and is still being attacked by those who either oppose the Catholic Church in particular, oppose Christianity in particular, or who oppose all religion in general. My observation. ]
The Catholic Church had a history of opposing slavery, although one pope was given slaves and kept them, against the precedents of previous popes condemning the practice. The “protestant work ethic” does not exist; the work ethic that is thus described developed under Catholic leadership.
The Catholic Church was not against scientific inquiry, but in fact encouraged it.
It is chiefly Protestant faiths that developed the idea that kings ruled by “divine rule.”
He spends a good amount of space debunking the exaggerated horrors of the Spanish Inquisition. The emphasis on these was to distract from the prejudice and persecution of the Catholic Church (its leaders and members) in areas of Protestant domination.
He describes as historically accurate that the Catholic Church had large holdings of land and other wealth. He says this was a time when the Church was really two churches, the Church of Power and the Church of Piety, the latter being concerned with spirituality and evangelization.
I think that distinction highlights a lot of criticism of the Church today, that it is still the Church of Power instead of what the author says had come to predominate the modern Church, the Church of Piety.
He notes how Martin Luther was horrified by the effects of his own “reformation” movement, that church attendance in Protestant churches dropped off, the people who came to church came late, left early before the “blessing,” they brought dogs which disrupted services, and people slept during or left before the preacher’s sermon. Hmmmm…
The author provides a lot of references to support his conclusions about the falsehoods told, even in the 21st century, about the Catholic Church. The book is not difficult to read, but I’m just not interested in all the subjects he discusses – which only shows that I am not familiar with all the areas of attack on the Catholic Church.