The Catholic Church: A Short History (UNIVERSAL HISTORY) - Softcover

It's not surprising then, that Küng's latest book is not so much a 'short history' of the Catholic Church as a justification of his disagreements with its hierarchy, projected back through time. In eight major sections Küng chronicles the early days of Christianity, then takes us through the church's relationship with the Roman Empire, charting the rise of the papacy, the full flowering of its power in the Middle Ages and its eventual corruption. He then goes on to outline the papacy's decline in the face of the Reformation and modernism, and finishes with an extended criticism of the modern papacy. Küng outlines the key events in the European history of the Catholic Church, but he never mentions the Church outside Europe. In addition, the whole history is angled to support his anti-papal, de-centralist agenda.

While one may lament such a subjective and narrow approach, Küng should be praised for his desire that the Catholic Church adapt to modern needs, and for his call that she be faithful to the essential principles of the Christian faith. Standing on its own The Catholic Church is a highly subjective and incomplete offering, but read with other excellent histories of the papacy and Christianity, such as Eamonn Duffy's Saints and Sinners, Chidester's Christianity, and Bokenkotter's Concise History of the Catholic Church it provides an interesting counterpoint. --Dwight Longenecker