Customer Reviews

Catholicism & Orthodox Christianity (World Religions (Facts on File))

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First, the good stuff. It is written so that grade 6-8 kids can read this easily and it is certainly a general overview.

This book reads more like a Catholic Church pamphlet than a seriously researched document. Non-Catholic groups, regardless if they are Protestants or Orthodox, are depicted as groups who decided to not follow the correct views, but are nevertheless not completely bad.

The Crusades are dealt with in a paragraph and "Throughout the succeeding crusades, however, dissension among the leaders took place and deviations from their holy purpose often led to failure." By stating that there was a holy purpose to conquering the Levant is not only extremely subjective, it is historically inaccurate. The Inquisitions are similar reviewed in a paragraph and stated as being a means to achieving political unity. Nothing is mentioned of executions, torture, or the really good stuff. There are many other examples, but these two should demonstrate a fundamental weakness that is consistent throughout the book.

In short, the subjectivity of this work got on my nerves and as a history teacher I would question its value as a source because of it very obvious bias.