The Roman Catholic Church

An Illustrated History

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An historical account of epic proportions, written by ‘one of the most intelligent and provocative voices in the Church’ Sunday Times

The history of the Roman Catholic Church is the gateway to understanding two thousand years of Western and world civilization. Edward Norman?s incisive account begins with how Roman Catholics understand the Faith, before telling the story of the many ways in which their Church has shaped the lives and beliefs of Christians and non-Christians alike.

Here you will find a trenchant view of the Crusades, undistorted by today?s agendas, and a bold view of the Counter Reformation as the fruit of the venerable Catholic reforming tradition; and then the beginning of a new 500-year history, in which missionaries took their message to Latin America and the East.

Today, the Catholic Church, once the defining institution in Europe, reflects the vision of the Second Vatican Council in 1962 and embodies Christ's own injunction to ?Teach all Nations?.

This uplifting account, beautifully illustrated throughout, closes with an insistent reminder that the apparent triumph of humanist materialism may not, after all, lead to its predicted conclusions.

Extent: 192 pp
Format: Hardback
Illustrations: 152
Publication date: 2007-03-19
Size: 25.5 x 19.9 cm
ISBN: 9780500287095
Introduction • 1. Catholic Origins • 2. The Separation of East and West 3. Medieval Panorama • 4. Reformation • 5. Teach All Nations • 6. The Church and the Modern State • 7. Uncertain Frontiers

Press Reviews

The most intellectually bracing short history of the Roman Catholic Church to have appeared for decades
Sunday Telegraph

Stunningly beautiful to look at, lovely to the touch, and crammed with marvellously evocative illustrations … even if the text provokes and annoys, and it might, even if it has you purring in agreement, as it did, you can always wallow in the illustrations
New Directions

Concise, scholarly and sympathetic … a formidable achievement … the scholarship displayed is meticulous, the prose carefully modulated
Catholic Herald


About the Author

Edward Norman lectured in history at the University of Cambridge and is an Emeritus Fellow of Peterhouse. A former Reith Lecturer for the BBC, Dr Norman has written widely on the history of Christianity and his most recent books include The Victorian Christian Socialists, Secularization and The House of God: Church Architecture, Style and History, reissued in paperback byThames & Hudson in 2005.

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