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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting Insights, Curious Conclusions., April 23, 2006
This review is from: A Church in Search of Itself: Benedict XVI and the Battle for the Future (Hardcover)
Kaiser writes an interesting account of his experience of 'insider' Church politics. A very well-written work, Kaiser never leaves you bored. Although I can see that some readers may be turned off by the clear political camp that Kaiser speaks out of, the book is a value in that it presents a perspective that is often not shared in the Catholic Christian circle of writers.
The use of several well-known international prelates as a guide through the chapters is a nice feature that personalizes the stories and the opinions that are subsequently shared.
I particularly found the discussion about the Asian Bishops' Conference's desire to engage Rome in dialogue about the possibility of forming an Asian 'Rite' of sorts (like that of the Melkite, or other Eastern Catholic Churches) very interesting.
Regardless of one's personal ecclesiology and views on Church politics, this book is a must read for those interested in expanding their knowledge of current church happenings, especially in a post-conclave enviroment.
I would recommend this book.
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23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Whose Church?, May 2, 2006
This review is from: A Church in Search of Itself: Benedict XVI and the Battle for the Future (Hardcover)
According to author Robert Blair Kaiser, some popes believed the Church belonged to the people; some believed it belonged to God, and many more believed the Church belonged to them.
Today's Roman Catholic Church has changed considerably since the birth of what would be Christianity in the decades following the death of Jesus. Kaiser gives the reader a breezy but informative overview of some of the more defining changes that took place -in thought, dogma, civic and political involvement, and so forth- and how those changes shaped and defined the Church of today, at least as it is viewed by the Roman Curia, several popes, and non-Catholics. He also dwells some time on the influential personalities involved in Vatican II, and how those people envisioned not only themselves, their roles and their times, but also considered the future -not only the future of the Church but of Catholics everywhere and indeed, the world itself. And there is little doubt the participants at Vatican II have had a significant impact on the Church if not recent world history.
Whatever one thinks of Kaiser's observations and conclusions, it is fairly certain that this particular look at the Roman Catholic Church in the early 21st century is one not often afforded or encouraged among Catholic Christians, and depending on one's bias it is easy to see why: The author is a clear partisan, but refreshingly lucid, fluid and engaging in his prose and, perhaps best of all, filled with hope. He is watchful, yes, but also hopeful.
Through the varied lenses of six different Catholic prelates from America to Indonesia, readers are treated to surprisingly frank and intimate perceptions of the Church, the laity, ritual, tradition; the role of the Church in matters of social justice and politics; the role of women in the Church, and exactly what these issues mean to, and how they are interpreted by six influential men from Honduras, the United States, Indonesia, England, Nigeria -and Germany. The candor and insight and even what some may regard as sassiness from these cardinals is bubbling, bracing, provocative, and really quite generous: Inasmuch as Kaiser has given readers this book to consider, these men have generously shared with the author -and the reader- their thoughts and feelings about the most pressing issues on their hearts and minds, offering page-turning commentary about their respective communities and cultures; their relationship with people; their visions of local and global issues as well as with Rome and what, in their opinions, will help continue to grow, heal and further unite the Church during this century.
Robert Blair Kaiser, seen by some as a muckraker spoiling for a schism is, in this reader's opinion, simply offering points of view that are not generally considered or discussed in the open -at least not by Catholics- and whatever one's opinion or vision of the Roman Catholic Church or Pope Benedict XVI, this book is in itself a reason for hope, for celebration of what it means to -as Kaiser puts it- "be Church," truly Catholic, genuinely catholic, purely human and humane in sometimes troubling and remarkable world.
Kaiser's main assertion is that in order to remain whole in the years to come, the Church must conceive of itself and act not as a noun but as an illuminated verb.
After reading this book not only did I feel more hopeful and thoughtful than I had for some time, but I was also smiling.
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45 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Help the Catholic Church Find Itself, March 22, 2006
This review is from: A Church in Search of Itself: Benedict XVI and the Battle for the Future (Hardcover)
AMAZON.COM
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
I offer this as a reader's experience of Robert Blair Kaiser, A Church In Search Of Itself: Benedict XVI and the Battle for the Future, New York: Knopf, 2006, 261 pp.
E. Paul Kelly
26 Oak Ridge Drive
Standish ME 04084
207.221.2506
epkelly@adelphia.net
+++++
Robert Blair Kaiser, preeminent scholar of the Roman Catholic Church ever since he walked in the garden with Pope John XXIII and covered the Vatican Council for Time magazine in the early 1960s, has written his masterpiece: A Church In Search Of Itself: Benedict XVI and the Battle for the Future.
Sensing intuitively that the only way the ecclesiastical veil could be pierced was to select six Cardinals of the Church, as if they were members of the Board of Directors, Kaiser has told the story of the last illness and death of John Paul II, the Conclave of 2005, the election of Benedict XVI, and interwoven it all with his personal knowledge of Vatican II and the history of the Church's interminable growth over centuries in the exercise of absolute power.
The six cardinals are a symbolic selection of a Church in search of itself. From America, Mahony; Great Britain's Murphy-O'Connor; Honduras' Maradiaga; Arinze from Nigeria; Indonesia's Darmaatmadja, and Ratzinger from Germany, who became Benedict XVI, just about one year ago. Kaiser knew each one personally, traveled extensively to visit with them, and buttressed his research with his own personal connections in Rome and in many dioceses throughout the world, carefully put together and conserved since 1948 when he himself had begun his ten years as a Jesuit. He spent over five years in writing this book, finishing it shortly after the Conclave announced "Habemus papam. We have a pope."
This book, though, is much more than a charming recitation of recent events over the past 45 years, because its concern is contained within the subtitle: Benedict XVI and the Battle for the Future. Kaiser sees that battle as the desire of many Americans to belong to a home-grown church, an indigenous one, rather than one encrusted with two thousand years of ancient Greek philosophy and equally ancient Roman law, culminating in an institution of dogma and discipline and secrecy and absolute control in the hands of a precious few, self-perpetuating by a caste system still rooted in the dark and medieval ages.
Kaiser brilliantly predicts that the battle for the future will be won by `an autochthonous Church, modelled on the ancient Churches of the Middle East -- the Chaldeans, the Maronites, the Melkites, the Armenians, and the Copts, for example, who are Catholics united with Rome, with their own patriarchs, their own liturgies, and their own mostly married clergy." (p. 243)
He is not calling for either schism or heresy, but for a Catholic Church, in the fullest meaning of each word.
This is the book for which many have been waiting in their repeated questions, "But, what can we do to help the Church?" There is a way to save the Church without destroying it. The time is here for Catholics to take back their Church, to help it successfully end its search for itself. That autochthonous Church is the future Church, by the people of God, priest-people and people-people, working and praying together.
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