New Short History of the Catholic Church

Dr Norman Tanner is a Jesuit priest and now Professor of Church History at The Gregorian University in Rome, Italy.

____________'A useful book of reference by the master of the history of the councils of the Church... There is enormous value in a short, reliable, and careful study of a sequence of events that may have unfamiliar joinings and passageways to modern believers...' - Catholic Historical Review'A short, readable and informed survey of church history.' - The Church of England Newspaper'A rich foundation for Catholic understanding and witness.' - Catholic San Francisco____________A one-volume history of the Christian people from Pentecost to the present day, with principal focus on the Catholic Church.Having passed AD 2000 it seems appropriate and necessary to have a new short history of the first two millennia of the Christian era.In the last half century there has been a massive amount of research into Church history, published in learned articles and in multi-volume works. Full notice is taken of these recent scholarly initiatives in writing this short account, which is also eminently readable.In each section there is a balance between the institutional and the more directly religious dimensions of the Church - here are some of the elements: bishops, canon law, charity, councils crusades, devotions, heresies, laity, liturgy, martyrs, missionaries, parishes, pilgrimages, popes, prayer, priesthood, religious orders, sacraments, schools, theologians, universities and the vita consacrata.The scope is wide; the pace of the narrative is attractive.

Replaces a constant, steady backlist seller that is now dated.

AcknowledgementsNotes and AbbreviationsGlossaryMap: The Mediterranean WorldIntroduction1. Pentecost to the Fourth Century2. Early Middle Ages: 400 to 10543. Central and Late Middle Ages4. Early Modern Catholicism: 1500 to 18005. Nineteenth and Twentieth CenturiesConclusionAppendix: List of Ecumenical CouncilsBibliographyIndex