Will someone recommend

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Justin_Mee

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…books that teach the early church and leaders. I am in RCIA and would like to learn the early church. I would like ‘readable’ works for the lay person. Please don’t recommend Confessions of St. Augustine because my bookmark is still on page 34 (it even made my hair hurt and I am a lawyer). Thanks.
 
Justin,

I’ve heard good things about Four Witnesses by Rod Bennett (Ignatius Press). Check Amazon, etc.

I haven’t read it myself, so this isn’t a recommendation – simply passing on a title that has come to my attention.

VC
 
CHRIST THE KING, LORD OF HISTORY
Carroll. A fast-paced, enjoyable, highly readable and interesting Catholic world history. Written from the viewpoint of the Church. Great for home schools. Paperback - 474 pp.

CHURCH HISTORY
Laux. A superb study of the history of the Catholic Church unparalleled in scope, depth, variety, interest and impact. Paperback - 621 pp.

THE EVERLASTING MAN
G. K. Chesterton. Considered by many to be Chesterton’s greatest masterpiece of all his writings, this is his whole view of world history as informed by the Incarnation. Beginning with the origin of man and the various religious attitudes throughout history, Chesterton shows how the fulfillment of all of man’s desires takes place in the person of Christ and in Christ’s Church. Chesterton propounds the thesis that “those who say that Christ stands side by side with similar myths, and his religion side by side with similar religions, are only repeating a very stale formula contradicted by a very striking fact.” And with all the brilliance and devastating irony, so characteristic of his best writing, Chesterton gleefully and tempestuously tears to shreds that “very stale formula” and triumphantly proclaims in vivid language the glory and unanswerable logic of that very striking fact. Here is the genius of Chesterton at its delightful best. Paperback - 276 pages.

HOW THE CATHOLIC CHURCH BUILT WESTERN CIVILIZATION
Thomas E Woods Jr PhD. Western civilization has given us the miracles of modern science, the wealth of free-market economics, the security of the rule of law, a unique sense of human rights and freedom, charity as a virtue, spendid art and music, a philosophy grounded in reason, and innumerable other gifts that we take for granted as the wealthiest and most powerful civilization in history. No institution has done more to shape western civilization. Chapters are: I) The Indispensable Church; II) A Light in the Darkness; III) How the Monks Saved Civilization; IV) The Church and the University; V) The Church and Science; VI) Art, Architecture and the Church; VII) The Origins of International Law; VIII) The Church and Economics; IX)How Catholic Charity Changed the World; X) The Church and Western Law; XI) The Church and Western Morality; Conclusion: A World Without God. Hardback - 280 pages.

If you like history from a Catholic perspective all of these are good. And you can reference from what you read certain writings from the Early Church and they will not seem as overwhelming.

Anything by Chesterton - he is one of my favorites especially.

Pax
 
Malleus_01 said:
CHRIST THE KING, LORD OF HISTORY
Carroll. A fast-paced, enjoyable, highly readable and interesting Catholic world history. Written from the viewpoint of the Church. Great for home schools. Paperback - 474 pp.

CHURCH HISTORY
Laux. A superb study of the history of the Catholic Church unparalleled in scope, depth, variety, interest and impact. Paperback - 621 pp.

THE EVERLASTING MAN
G. K. Chesterton. Considered by many to be Chesterton’s greatest masterpiece of all his writings, this is his whole view of world history as informed by the Incarnation. Beginning with the origin of man and the various religious attitudes throughout history, Chesterton shows how the fulfillment of all of man’s desires takes place in the person of Christ and in Christ’s Church. Chesterton propounds the thesis that “those who say that Christ stands side by side with similar myths, and his religion side by side with similar religions, are only repeating a very stale formula contradicted by a very striking fact.” And with all the brilliance and devastating irony, so characteristic of his best writing, Chesterton gleefully and tempestuously tears to shreds that “very stale formula” and triumphantly proclaims in vivid language the glory and unanswerable logic of that very striking fact. Here is the genius of Chesterton at its delightful best. Paperback - 276 pages.

HOW THE CATHOLIC CHURCH BUILT WESTERN CIVILIZATION
Thomas E Woods Jr PhD. Western civilization has given us the miracles of modern science, the wealth of free-market economics, the security of the rule of law, a unique sense of human rights and freedom, charity as a virtue, spendid art and music, a philosophy grounded in reason, and innumerable other gifts that we take for granted as the wealthiest and most powerful civilization in history. No institution has done more to shape western civilization. Chapters are: I) The Indispensable Church; II) A Light in the Darkness; III) How the Monks Saved Civilization; IV) The Church and the University; V) The Church and Science; VI) Art, Architecture and the Church; VII) The Origins of International Law; VIII) The Church and Economics; IX)How Catholic Charity Changed the World; X) The Church and Western Law; XI) The Church and Western Morality; Conclusion: A World Without God. Hardback - 280 pages.

If you like history from a Catholic perspective all of these are good. And you can reference from what you read certain writings from the Early Church and they will not seem as overwhelming.

Anything by Chesterton - he is one of my favorites especially.

Pax
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Thanks. I just ordered Church History from Amazon. I’ll keep your post and try to work through the list.
 
Verbum_Caro said:
Justin,

I’ve heard good things about Four Witnesses by Rod Bennett (Ignatius Press). Check Amazon, etc.

I haven’t read it myself, so this isn’t a recommendation – simply passing on a title that has come to my attention.

VC
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Thanks. That is on my list too.
 
I loved reading the Epistles of Saint Ignatius of Antioch. All of them are available free on www.newadvent.org.

The devotion of the bishop who was about to suffer martyrdom shines through very poetically.
 
As an aside to my original question, does anyone know of a published “time-line” of the Church? I would be interested in a visual representation of the Church through history that shows relevant historical markers. Thanks again.
 
I’ll third Four Witnesses by Rod Bennett. It’s just a wonderful book, one of the best on Catholicism I’ve read in some time.

The Pope’s books make for a good reading list on the early church too. You could read them in this order:

Jesus of Nazareth
Jesus, the Apostles, and the Early Church
St. Paul
The Church Fathers: From Clement of Rome to Augustine

The first book is pretty in-depth and substantial. Part II of this book has recently been completed and should be published soon. The other three books are short, easy reads with chapters of 5-8 pages on various early church figures. They were originally read as homilies over the course of a year, but they’re a great introduction to the period.
 
I’ve also just ordered Four Witnesses and CHRIST THE KING, LORD OF HISTORY. Amazon sends me a fruit basket every Christmas:D
 
Malleus_01 said:
CHRIST THE KING, LORD OF HISTORY
Carroll. A fast-paced, enjoyable, highly readable and interesting Catholic world history. Written from the viewpoint of the Church. Great for home schools. Paperback - 474 pp.
Click to expand...
Beat me to it! But this is an excellent choice. 👍
 
I enjoy most anything by Father LukeFahr. I have also read most of Scott Hahn’s books (some good, some not so much just from a detail perspective).

Amazon loves me too – should own stock in that company. But their books are reasonable plus sometimes you can get 4 for 3 if you get lucky. Good selection too.

We have a new group called Catholic Bookworms where we are going to meet and talk about what we have read so come on over everyone!
 
A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs, edited by David W. Bercot (an Anglican).
Thirteen bucks over at Amazon:
amazon.com/Dictionary-Early-Christian-Beliefs/dp/1565633571
The Teachings of the Church Fathers, edited by John R. Willis (a Catholic).
Twelve bucks at Amazon:
amazon.com/Teachings-Church-Fathers-Randolph-Willis/dp/0898708931

For those unwilling to sift through the volumes of writings by the Early Church Fathers, these two books give a comprehensive reference guide of how the Early Church thought in the first 300 years.
 
Justin_Mee said:
…books that teach the early church and leaders. I am in RCIA and would like to learn the early church. I would like ‘readable’ works for the lay person. Please don’t recommend Confessions of St. Augustine because my bookmark is still on page 34 (it even made my hair hurt and I am a lawyer). Thanks.
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Easy question.

“Fathers of the Church”, by Mike Aquilina. He’s written a very contemporary and user-friendly introduction to the Church Fathers. It’s written for people like you & me, fairly bright people who need a good overall introduction to the subject. (Not only that, but if you send him a nice email, he’ll actually answer you, something St. Augustine is unlikely to do.)

Also, his website www.mikeqauilina.com, has lots of follow-on resources, including downloads of talks he’s given on the subject.

Another excellent work is “Beginning to Read the Fathers”, by Boniface Ramsey, which is recommended by Mike.
 
Rolltide said:
I’ll third Four Witnesses by Rod Bennett. It’s just a wonderful book, one of the best on Catholicism I’ve read in some time.

The Pope’s books make for a good reading list on the early church too. You could read them in this order:

Jesus of Nazareth
Jesus, the Apostles, and the Early Church
St. Paul
The Church Fathers: From Clement of Rome to Augustine
Click to expand...
👍

I would suggest The Didache as well as other writings in this “Ancient Christian Writers” series, and the The Philokalia
 
Google “Fathers of the Church” in Amazon Books and you will not only come up with Aquilina but also Pope Benedict. Depends on what style of writing and what level of scholarship you are looking for. Both are to be recommended.

Since you are an attorney, you can understand that you can get anything from a book that might be part of a Freshman Introductory Course to a text for research for a PhD. program. Our parish has been studying (per dvd’s) the history of the Church; good instructor and the name of the course and the instructor just hit the black spot - ah, for a bit more memory - it is, however, fast and most certainly not in depth - about 22 weeks if I recall. It comes wtih a timeline page and a course book and covers material most people never really heard about. I will see if I can remember to look it up and report back.
 
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