The Church: The Evolution of Catholicism â A Renowned Vatican Expert's Balanced History of Power, Politics, and Influence

McBrien, Richard P.

ISBN 10: 0061245259 / ISBN 13: 9780061245251

Published by HarperOne, 2009

About this Item

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Church: The Evolution of Catholicism â A Renowned Vatican Expert's Balanced History of Power, Politics, and Influence
• Publisher: HarperOne
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0061245259
• ISBN 13: 9780061245251
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: very_good

About this title

Synopsis

“The Church is a lucid, balanced, and readable book—a work of integration that is always reasonable, well informed, honest, and deeply hopeful.”

—Commonweal

 

In The Church, renowned religious historian and Vatican expert Richard P. McBrien offers a sweeping history of the evolution of the Roman Catholic Church, its influence  and power in an ever-changing world.  From Jesus’s apostle Peter to Pope Benedict XVI, The Church is a remarkable achievement that delves deeply into the past and the future of Christianity’s largest branch—in fact, the largest religious institution in the world—exploring its politics, doctrines, and the way the Roman Catholic Church views itself.

This comprehensive history of Catholicism traces the Church’s two-thousand-year evolution, covering key moments that include:

• Ecclesiology in the New Testament: An exploration of how the early followers of Jesus understood themselves as a community and laid the foundations for the Church.
• Papal Primacy and Infallibility: A detailed historical analysis of how the roles of Peter and his successors evolved, culminating in the critical definitions of Vatican I.
• From Vatican I to Vatican II: A masterful overview of the two pivotal councils that defined the modern Catholic Church, from the declaration of papal infallibility to the sweeping reforms that followed.
• Postconciliar Ecclesiology: An insightful look at the Church after Vatican II, examining its relationship with the modern world, developments in Catholic social teaching, and its future direction.

About the Author

Richard P. McBrien is Crowley-O'Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. Educated at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, he has also served as president of the Catholic Theological Society of America. A leading authority on Catholicism, he is the bestselling author of Catholicism, Lives of the Popes, and Lives of the Saints, as well as the general editor of The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism. Most recently a consultant for ABC News, McBrien offers regular commentary on all the major television networks. He is also a prizewinning syndicated columnist in the Catholic press.