History Lesson

Recently I finished reading a book (pretty cool right?). I just have to recommend it to every single person I know (and my blog makes this easy).

“The Catholic Church Through the Ages: A History” by John Vidmar, OP. I love this book. Don’t be put off buy the title, it is seriously one of the most interesting books I have ever read. It is about 340 pages long and takes the entire history of the Catholic Church and puts it into a short but easily expandable format, which is easy to read and enjoyable.

I got the book because I was looking for a history of the Church that I could read in a few weeks and not fall asleep. What makes it great is it gives enough information about everything to satisfy curiosity and sparks an interest to read more. The author did a very good job of touching on everything, but keeping it short. Plus, not only does it trace history it also traces the theology of the Church. To make this short, the reason you need to at least check out this book is because at the end of every chapter (divided into 6 ages of the Church) the author provides a list of 10 or so books , rated for difficulty, that expand on everything that was talked about in the chapter. For example if you just read about the Crusades or the Reformation you could go to this reading list and pick out 3 books that go into more detail on the subject. This was very cool. And I just want to mention again that the author did a very good job making everything interesting (well, Church history is pretty fascinating anyways). If you have any interest at all about the Churches past or want to learn about the Church in general, read this book. I know for a fact that they sell it at the National Shrine at CUA, but it’s cheaper on Amazon.