A Concise History of the Catholic Church, first published by Image Books in 1979, has been one of the bestselling religious histories of the past two decades. Long a mainstay for scholars, students, and others looking for a definitive, accessible history of Catholicism, it has now been meticulously expanded and updated for the new millennium. With a clarity and conciseness that will appeal to the general reader, Thomas Bokenkotter divides his study into five parts that correspond to the major historical and epochal developments in Catholicism. His authoritative, thorough approach takes readers from the Church’s triumph over paganism, through “the sound and fury of renewal,” to a new section devoted to such topics as dissent, current developments in the ecumenical movement, and liberation theology. Informative illustrations throughout the book, new to this edition, enrich the reader’s experience, and the addition of a wide-ranging bibliography increases its value as a sourcebook.
A reviewer called the previous edition of A Concise History of the Catholic Church “a tract for the times, an attempt to help bewildered Roman Catholics and others get some sense of the origins of all the change that has streamed through the windows by Vatican II.” This new edition reaffirms its importance in the library of ecumenical studies and confirms its place among the classics.