Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Edition: First Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Regnery Publishing, Incorporated,, Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780895260383ISBN:0895260387
Description: Fine in Fine jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. "Professor Thomas Woods has put the Catholic Church squarely back where it should be: at the center of the development of the values, ideas, science, laws, and institutions which constitute what we call Western civilization. I recommend Professor Wood's book not only to anyone interested in the history of the Catholic Church, but also to any student of the history and development of Western civilization. " {Dr. Paul Legutko}. This book has 280 pages ... read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Regnery Publishing, Inc
Date Published: 2005-05-02
ISBN-13:9780895260383ISBN:0895260387
Description: Very Good in Very Good jacket. Dedication written inside cover. Dust jacket shows some shelf wear. No highlighting or underlining. Unforgettable and true! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Regnery Pub
Date Published: 2005-05-02
ISBN-13:9780895260383ISBN:0895260387
Description: NEW. Hardcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780895260383. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Regnery Publishing, Inc
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780895260383ISBN:0895260387
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Description: Very Good/Very Good. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall 0895260387 2005 First Edition Hardcover with Dust Jacket in Very Good Condition. DJ has very minor shelfwear wrinkling but no rubbing or tears. Pages are clean and unmarked with no names, notes, etc. A Very Nice Copy. 280 pgs. Steels Christian Books-Bookseller since 1973. read more
"Very informative. I got the feeling, though, that the author (a Roman Catholic himself) was SO positive about the Catholic Church that he must have skipped or glossed over some history. Also, he tries to argue that Socialism is a result of Protestantism."
"In the interest of disclosure, I suppose I should start by saying that while I am a follower of Jesus Christ, I am not a Catholic. I have many disagreements with the Catholic Church, such as the elevation of tradition to the level of inspiration (placing the thoughts/ writings of the Church fathers and papacy on the same level with Biblical revelation), worship or veneration of icons, forced celibacy of priests, etc. However, recently, I have noticed that Catholicism has gotten two things right about which I am passionate: 1) Life issues, particularly abortion and euthanasia; and 2) Speaking out against persecution of Christians by Islamic and Communist nations. Because the Catholic Church is an international non-governmental organization, it has been able to consistently speak out about these issues without the political/ diplomatic constraints that impair our governments from promoting these ideas and maintaining an intractable focus on these concerns of life and liberty.
That said, when I heard of this book, I was interested in reading it for two reasons: 1)Seeing God's hand working in history is amazing to me; and 2) I am interested in exploration of the concept that saturation of a culture by Christianity inevitably creates benefits beyond the spiritual for both Christians and non-believers alike.
This book was informative. The main focus is the contribution of individual members of the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages in both preserving the knowledge of antiquity and then building upon it pillars of thought that became the foundation of western civilization as we know it. While contributions of the papacy and the church as a centralized organization are mentioned, the focus is on individuals and monastic organizations. I found the discussions of universities, law (civil and international as well as the concept of innate human rights), economics, science and charity to be particularly strong. Manuscript preservation/ copying, architecture and morality were much as I expected, although the discussion of the arts was downright disappointing.
The book suffers from three weaknesses. One is that it's limited scope undermines it's thesis. While the author addresses some concerns head on "Was the Catholic Church anti-science? What about Galileo?", his complete silence on more complex matters, such as the debauchery of the papacy in the same time frame, leaves the reader feeling that we are getting a high-gloss perspective on the Catholic Church. Secondly, the author makes several (admittedly scattered) pejorative references about Protestantism and the Reformation which detract from his message. Most readers will be cognizant that we are not getting the entire story. Mr. Woods' affirmation of his Catholic faith and his touching dedication to passing it on to his children unfortunately serves to highlight a reader's concerns about Woods' ability to provide an objective look at the contributions of the Catholic Church he loves. Finally, non-fiction writing is going through an evolution of which Mr. Woods is either unaware or incapable of emulating. The exceptional writing of Adam Hochschild's "King Leopold's Ghost" or Erik Larson's "Devil in the White City" as well as captivating journalistic works like Melissa Fay Greene's "There is no me without you" and Martin Meredith's "The Fate of Africa", are changing the way we read about history. Woods' dry, text book approach, while acceptable for an academic, is not going to propel either his work or his thesis into mainstream discussion. And I think that is too bad, because his ideas warrant discussion.
These weaknesses are unfortunate, as the information the book does present is well researched and well thought through. Mr. Woods' efforts contributed significantly to my thoughts about those unexpected/ unintentional benefits of the saturation of Christianity to believers and unbelievers. I would be interested in reading more on this topic."
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