Good books on Church History?

[Montie_Claunch]

I have the problem that almost whenever I discuss the faith with a protestant that they will through at me an historical refrence to show how evil the Church is. Like some will say that the church has killed millions (I have heard 100 million and I have heard 150 million) Saints (by the protestant defintion of the term not the Catholic one) over its entire history in attemps to maintain the power of the greedy lustfull popes. They also throw at me how the Church has just made up doctrines almost on a wime (ie the doctrine of purgatory was a money ploy right before the reformation, Marys I.C. in 1854, the deutrocanonical books at the council of trent in 1546(?),ect). Because I went to public school and the decsion to become catholic came about 2 or so years back my knowledge of Church history is rather embaressing (along with my spelling skills but that isn’t what we are here for right now) and shamefull. I was wondering if anyone knew of any good books that discussed the important things I would need to know for the benfiet of my faith and to keep protestant honest and not making stuff to get me out of the church? Thanks and God Bless.

 

[Stephen_T]

Two books come to mind–**A Concise History of the Catholic Church **by Thomas Bokenkotter and Where we Got the Bible: Our Debt to the Catholic Church by Henry Graham. Both of these books have lots of interesting facts about the history of the Catholic Church. Hope they help! Pax tecum!

-Stephen

 

[DavidFilmer]

It’s good to want to study history, but I doubt it will help you much with the situation you describe. These protestants are not talking history - they’re talking about made-up (or highly distorted) anti-Catholic propeganda.

I think you would be more effective if you simply asked THEM to cite the source of their information. All you need to say is, “I’m sorry, I don’t believe that’s correct. Would you mind telling me where you got your information?” Put the burden of proof on THEM, where it belongs.

** You cannot refute historical lies.** For example, if I claimed that George Washington was a cross-dresser and wore Martha’s underwear, how would you refute that? You can’t! You might be the world’s foremost expert on George Washington, but you can’t refute that. You could show, maybe, an utter lack of any such mention of this in credible sources, but that would hardly convince me unless you could actually convince me to read all those sources and NOT find it (and, even then, all I have to do is claim a cover-up).

However, if you challenge me to substantiate my claim, you will find that I either cannot produce a source, or I produce a source of dubious credibility which is easily called into question.

 

[canne]

DavidFilmer:

It’s good to want to study history, but I doubt it will help you much with the situation you describe. These protestants are not talking history - they’re talking about made-up (or highly distorted) anti-Catholic propeganda.

I think you would be more effective if you simply asked THEM to cite the source of their information. All you need to say is, “I’m sorry, I don’t believe that’s correct. Would you mind telling me where you got your information?” Put the burden of proof on THEM, where it belongs.

.

Yeah That!

A book I really do like is One Holy Catholic and Apolostolic by Kenneth Whitehead.

 

[adnauseum]

Steven T made some good recommendations.

I would add Triumph: The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church: A 2000-Year History by HW Crocker III.

How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization by Thomas Woods, PhD.

It’s a game, Montie. It’s a tool of Satan, not Christians. It works the same way no matter who does it.

Montie: Did the protestant Pilgrims really step off the Mayflower onto Plymouth Rock like your history books say?

Fundie: I don’t know - er, I’m not sure if it really happened that way, uh, I don’t read much.

Montie: Of course they didn’t - it’s a myth, a lie. Your belief is founded on a lie.

See? It’s easy to take cheap shots against innocent people. Spend more time with decent Catholic folks. The blokes you’re describing don’t sound right in the head.

 

[auhsoj88]

Montie:

When people often present charges like that, I often smile and say “you know what, I don’t know if any of your charges are true, partly true, or false, all I know is that there is sinners (and doers) in the True Church of Christ because Christ himself said so from the very beginning! Now, if your are trying to disprove the authenticity of Christ’s Church becuase there exist sinners, then stand before God and cast the first stone. Then show me what Church has no sinners and I will be there tomorrow!”

In Christ our Lord!

 

[Magnanimity]

How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization by Thomas Woods, PhD.

Second that on the recent book by Woods-it’s very accessible to just about anybody.

Also, see Philip Johnson’s A History of Christianity. He is a professional Catholic historian with a lot of interesting insights.

And although he’s heavily philosophical, don’t forget about the great Thomistic historian of medieval lore–Etienne Gilson. Anything historical by him would be great. And there’s a lot of it out there.