Good Catholic History book

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I’m looking for a good Catholic History book. I’ve read a general church history book and a history of theology book recently, but I’d like to read Catholic history from a Catholic perspective.

I found A Concise History of the Catholic Church at Borders. Anyone read it or know anything about it?

I also found Catholicism: The Story of Catholic Christianity at Borders. Same thing, anyone know anything about it?

I’d like one of those since I’m about to finish the book I’m reading and could get them from my local store, but I’m open to any more recommendations that anyone has.

Thanks for your help!
 
For the best in Catholic history I would suggest **any **book by the following authors:

Hillaire Belloc

Warren Carroll

Regine Pernoud (unfortunately, only a few of her books are translated into English from French, but they are excellent)

And…
Thomas Woods Jr. - How The Catholic Church Built Western Civilization

I have an older edition of the “Concise History”, and it’s OK but not nearly as good as the authors above.
 
Try Church History in Plain Language by Bruce Shelley.

Here’s a link:

amazon.com/Church-History-Plain-Language-Updated/dp/0849938619

It’s written by a Protestant, but it tells the true story of the Catholic Church. When I was Protestant, I sat in a Catholic history class with this book in my hand, and the teacher of the class (Catholic) and this book were in perfect agreement. In fact, I was able to supply him with some facts from this book.

The story of the Bible is fairly told, including the controversy about the Deuterocanonical books. This book gives credit to the Catholic Church for preserving the Bible for all Christians.

The early Fathers are all in there. Also the heresies.

This book is one of the reasons why I became a Catholic. After reading it, I realized that the Catholic Church really WAS the Church that Jesus founded.

When the book gets to the “Reformation,” it is perhaps a too glowing about the Protestant movement, but I would not call it “anti-Catholic” at all. It presents honestly the reasons why the Reformation happened (and there was fault on the side of the Catholic Church).

Easy to read and interesting. It’s not dry and it doesn’t use huge words. You won’t get lost. I’ve actually read it straight through twice because it was so interesting. I would read it again.

You’ll enjoy all the Protestant history in the last chapters. It’s amazing how one sect started another sect and then it kind of mushroomed. But at least you have a resource to tell you the origin of all the different denominations.

I agree about Belloc’s histories, but they are harder to understand than Shelley. I loaned some Belloc to a co-worker who asked, and she returned them after a few days and said, “I’m totally lost.”
 
1ke said:
Hillaire Belloc

Warren Carroll
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I couldn’t really find any general catholic history books written by the first author and the only one I found by the second one was a whole LONG series of books, which while I’m sure are great, I’m looking for a little bit less than that. Suggestions?
Cat said:
Try Church History in Plain Language by Bruce Shelley.
Click to expand...
Ya, that is the general church history book I read recently. I also really liked it! But I’m looking for something more specific to the Catholic church right now.

Thanks for the help and keep the suggestions coming!
 
KarenElissa said:
while I’m sure are great, I’m looking for a little bit less than that. Suggestions?
Click to expand...
No. The Church has a very rich, 2000 year history. To do it justice, many pages and words are required.

That’s the problem with the “Concise” book-- it is exactly that, concise. The trade off is that it does not treat fully the complex subjects, either skimming over or omitting them. It oversimplifies many things, sometimes compromising accuracy in the process.

You won’t find a better history than Carroll’s series.
 
1ke said:
No. The Church has a very rich, 2000 year history. To do it justice, many pages and words are required. …
Click to expand...
And I understand all that and I’m sure it is true, but right now with a limited amount of time and a limited amount of money, I’m just looking for a shorter overview type book. Thanks though.
 
KarenElissa said:
I’m looking for a good Catholic History book. I’ve read a general church history book and a history of theology book recently, but I’d like to read Catholic history from a Catholic perspective.

I found A Concise History of the Catholic Church at Borders. Anyone read it or know anything about it?

I also found Catholicism: The Story of Catholic Christianity at Borders. Same thing, anyone know anything about it?

I’d like one of those since I’m about to finish the book I’m reading and could get them from my local store, but I’m open to any more recommendations that anyone has.

Thanks for your help!
Click to expand...
Sorry, I haven’t read those two. However, a great book for you for this purpose is

The Catholic Church Through The Ages: A History
by John Vidmar OP

You can get it at Amazon for under $13. Read the reviews at Amazon. They sell it at Pauline Books & Media if you have one near you, although, as at Borders, it will cost $18.95.
 
At ewtn.com
I found this:
THE COMPACT HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
by Alan Schreck. Designed as an introduction to Catholicism, this convenient resource offers more than just names, dates and places. Dr. Schreck covers the topics and issues of each period and skillfully guides us through the maze of politics, scandals and heresies that have challenged the Church both from within and without. Paperback. 189 pages.

Price: $9.00

Got to Religious Catalogue and do a search for the title or just ‘church history’.

I liked Triumph by Harry Crocker also.

God Bless,
Mimi
 
Depending on whether or not you want to consider both sides of the story, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Church by Father Malachi Martin is a very good read. Many libraries have it.
 
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