| Author | |
St. Ann
Forum All-Star
Joined: Oct 20 2006
Location: Germany
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2137
|
| Posted: March 14 2013 at 7:31am | IP Logged
|
 |
|
The History of the Catholic Church by Dr. James Hitchcock has been praised by commentators on EWTN. He was also in Rome as commentator during the conclave.
Has anyone seen/read this book or know anything about it's readability.???
I would like to read a review or 2 if someone has any good links.
TIA
__________________
Stephanie
Wife and mother to Hannah '96, Maria '99, Dorothea '01, Helena '03
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
JennGM
Forum Moderator
Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 17702
|
| Posted: March 14 2013 at 7:51am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I haven't read it. I love James Hitchcock but he can be rather intellectual at times. Not sure if this one is.
__________________
Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
StephanieA
Forum Pro
Joined: May 11 2006
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 394
|
| Posted: March 16 2013 at 7:21pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I interlibrary loaned "History of the Catholic
Church" to check it out before I purchased it. I am REALLY wanting to buy it, but I am on the fence.
I keep coming up with odd statements (or what seems to me to be odd). So I have looked up some of them, but without much luck finding similar information.
Eg. page 114. He speaks about Spain and the Moslems. He states, "Conversions from Islam to Christianity were very few and were punished by death under
Islamic law." - This is true enough. He continues: " Many Christians became Muslims, an act that was also punishable by death under Spanish Christian law."
I tried to verify that statement about Spanish law.
No where can I find that Catholic Spain (ie. Visigothic Spain) put Moslem converts (from Christianity) to
death. Would the Church advocate the death penalty for personal conversions to another (ie. heretical) faith?
I can find that information no where, not even Islamic history sites documenting this time period.
Then there is Bartolomeo De Cases...page 393. He states, "He came to Mexico to take possession of an encomienda. He was ordained a priest, and after a Dominican denied him absolution in confession because of his treatment of the Indians, he underwent a conversion and returned to Spain to plead the Indian cause."
I am not sure this is how it happened according to other accounts. He was a young man (18 years old) who had taken minor orders (not even a deacon), arrived
in Mexico to take over his and his father's encomienda. For 5 years he witnessed the horrible treatment of the Indians. He returned to Spain, was ordained a
priest, returned to Hispaniola, heard a Dominican preacher denounce the encomienda as a mortal sin. It then took several years for this all to sink in
and for Cases to give up his encomienda and become the Indian's advocate. Maybe Hitchock's version is so condensed that the story loses some of his validity.
Then the footnote in the story of Joan of Arc - "Her sanctity is problematical insofar as she acted merely as a French patriot, but her canonization was based
on her heroic virtue."
From other Catholic historians' persectives, France was saved (albeit temporarily) by not becoming part of England so that she continued to be Catholic after the break by Henry VIII and up until the French Revolution. Now whether God had this particular purpose in mind, we don't know. But I would think she was canonized for her obedience to God's call.
I will probably buy the book anyway, because it does have some great information is a bullet format. However, I am cautious that some of this information is not exactly the whole story. Of course, I am not an historian, so I could be way off.
Blessings,
Stephanie
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Betsy
Forum All-Star
Joined: July 02 2006
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1962
|
| Posted: April 22 2013 at 7:30pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Here is an interview of James Hitchcock about History of the Cahtolic Church on Bookmark on EWTN!
Interesting interview....
__________________
ImmaculataDesigns.com
When handcrafting my work, I always pray that it will raise your heart to all that is true, modest, just, holy, lovely and good fame!
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
StephanieA
Forum Pro
Joined: May 11 2006
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 394
|
| Posted: April 23 2013 at 3:08pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Yes, very good interview. I think Dr. Hitchcock has taken on a monumental task. But he said a couple of things in the interview that left me thinking and researching. One statement was the official Church teaching on virginity. He stated that there wasn't an official Church teaching.
But looking at the Catholic Encyclopedia, it states:
"The Church, following this teaching of St. Paul, has always considered the state of virginity or celibacy preferable in itself to the state of marriage, and the Council of Trent (Sess. XXIV, Can. 10) pronounces an anathema against the opposite doctrine."
I bring these things up because I think reading some of his book without background MAY give someone less than the whole story. It was a tough assignment given to him by Ignatius Press,and he did a good job overall. It would be a good starting point for a high school student to read a section and research more about a topic.
Blessings,
Stephanie
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Betsy
Forum All-Star
Joined: July 02 2006
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1962
|
| Posted: April 23 2013 at 6:52pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Stephanie,
That is an interesting point that you bring up! I am wondering if he was talking off the cuff on that point and that error wasn't in the book, per say??? I would have to go back an watch the episode to be sure, but didn't Doug ask him about that after he brought up a story in the book dealing with virginity and then he put him on the spot with that question?
I haven't read the book, yet, but I do agree that it was quite an undertaking and I am sure that there is volumes and volumes of information he could have added.
__________________
ImmaculataDesigns.com
When handcrafting my work, I always pray that it will raise your heart to all that is true, modest, just, holy, lovely and good fame!
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
StephanieA
Forum Pro
Joined: May 11 2006
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 394
|
| Posted: April 23 2013 at 7:35pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I did read 2/3 of the book and I didn't find that statement. However, I did find other information that I wouldn't classify as quite right or at least rather debatable to the point that it probably should have been left out. (See above post for some examples).
Dr. Hitchcock says that he really had no thought of writing a Church history book. It sounds as if Ignatius Press pressed him to do so. Hitchcock continues, saying that he never taught a Church history course, but would be for the first time at Kenrick Seminary (St. Louis) next year.
So, in his defense, this doesn't sound like his strongest
field of study. He says that he did a lot of reading and studying to find information to put in the book. This is very different that someone who has taught the information for years and culled his knowledge to put in a one volume book. This person would have a broader perspective and an easier job. Fr. Hugh's wrote a 3 volume Church history book in the 40's. Then he was asked to write a one volume for the general public. Just because he was very knowledgeable in Church history, he came out with a very readable book.
I think this book serves a purpose, but I think it would make a good read through book. The sections are short (which is good for some reasons), but I found myself asking more questions that the text answered in sections I knew little about.
I haven't found the perfect Church history book for high school, but we have used "The Roman Catholic Church" by Edward Norman (an Angelican then converted to Catholicism) and "The Resilient Church" by Aquilina, "The Story of Christianity" by Price and Collins(some sections need discussion). Of course, there's Laux (hard to read as a sit-down book) and Hughs (both dated). We own Daniel-Rops complete Church History set. So when we want to know the whole story, we go to it, but the Catholic online Encyclopedia would work well for this also. Then what we really have enjoyed is the Teaching Company Catholic Church history courses. They are pretty solid. The Western Civilization I by Noble might as well be a Church history course in the later lectures. He does one on the Papacy as well. Noble gives a few incorrect statements....he said that the Magisterium of the Church made a mistake in a certain decision in the 400's (as I vaguely recall). Upon research, he is darn close, but, of course, not true. Still, all-in-all, he is engaging and interesting.
Blessings,
Stephanie
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
|
|
4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: James Hitchcock
