Customer Reviews

Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent

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I am happy I got this book because it is interesting to learn about this council. I find it a hard read though. I wish I was able to read some before I bought it to see if another book could give me similar info in an easier to read context. I am reading it concurrently with the "Catechism of the Council of Trent" and that helps.

This is the first complete translation of the documents of the Council of Trent (1545-1563) including the bulls of convocation, the opening and closing addresses to the Council Fathers, the documents of deliberation and the canons of the council. Dominican Father J. J. Schroeder began this work in the 1930s after completing a volume of translation of the decrees of all the ecumenical councils, but reserved the documents of the Council of Trent to one volume because of the sheer volume of the deliberations and definitions. This he published in 1941 with the complete Latin text as well as the English translation. The 1978 edition by TAN publisher only reports the English translation of 1941.

As far as this TAN edition is concerned, the publication data is 1978, but the edition that I have is obviously a reprint. I say obvious, for the book contains some elements that are post-2000 such as the 13-ISBN number and the bar-code. Unfortunately, TAN does not provide us with reprint information; it is Amazon that lets us know that the book was reprinted in 2009.

The text is fully annotated with Shroeder's critical apparatus. Footnotes are made in keeping with earlier editions of Denzinger, for example, rather than with the updated versions now available. What is especially helpful in the book is a thorough index of terms and persons given at the end of the volume in 15 pages.

Just a word on that translation. Some terminology changed between 1941 and 1978. For instance, it was common among English-speaking Catholics to speak of the "Holy Ghost" in the 1940s, but by the 1970s most used the term "Holy Spirit", which is actually closer to Latin usage. There would be other examples as well, but they should not lead to any confusion. The reader will make allowances, no doubt.

"The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent," translated and introduced by H. J. Schroeder, is an important reference tool for those who teach or study Catholic history and the development of doctrine.

This is a very easy to use refrence for the council of trent. You can look up a topic like scripture, baptism, justification or by the date of the session. Anyone who wants to learn what the council of trent proclaimed needs this book.

CANONS AND DECREES OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT. (1545-1563). Here are the actual dogmatic decrees and pronouncements of the Council of Trent--recognized as the greatest in Church history. Authoritative, interesting and suprising. The mind of the Church really comes through.

The division within the western church has not been healed. The issues brought forwarded by the Reformation was addressed by the council of Trent between the years 1545 to 1663. These decrees condemned not only the Lutheran reformation, but also the Biblical gospel of grace.

This book is indispensable if one wants a proper understanding of official medieval dogma. The high rating is NOT an endorsement of the teaching of this book, but of its lasting value for the church catholic.