143 of 153 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Rest of the Story, February 22, 2004
This review is from: Triumph: The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church (Paperback)
I bought the hardback of this book after seeing the author on C-Span Book TV. I disagree completely with the negative reviews of this book for the following reasons. First, the authors of those reviews seem to be well-versed in the history of the last 2000 years and object to how Mr. Crocker presents his version. All I can say is they have been lucky not to have had to sit through what passes as history as I have. I have never heard Mr. Crocker's side, even in so-called Catholic books. "A church that never went right would be quite as miraculous as a church that never went wrong," Chesterton quipped in Orthodoxy. In all the other versions of history I've been exposed to, the church never goes right. Obviously their fairy tales were as flawed as Mr. Crocker's critics feel his presentation to be. Yet even now these inventive revisions top the best seller list. How I pity the innocent readers who, unaware of the marketing ploy foisted on them, may attempt to create a coherent philosophy from the hacked together bits of historical shrapnel that pass for, and are taught as, history. Second, if you wonder why so many people are today reconsidering the Catholic Church, it's because its detractors have overstated their case. It's as if, to quote Chesterton again, "any stick was good enough to beat Christianity with." All that happens is one loses respect for the beaters and gains respect for the beaten. Chesterton wrote his comments 100 years ago, summarily dismantling the idiotic pre-modern world (back now as the idiotic post-modern world). As a convert, Crocker is naturally excited to tell the other side of the story, and as a hungry soul starved by the meaninglessness of the non-philosophies of today I was excited to read it. One caveat: the time of the Reformation and the Thirty Year war is an account of unbelievable violence and carnage. But as Mel Gibson's movie shows, a great many in our day are hungry for the truth to set us free.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
66 of 71 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Don't judge it for what it is not., January 10, 2005
This review is from: Triumph: The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church (Paperback)
If you expect this to be an academic, critical history of the Catholic Church, then you need to read the title again. Crocker is not a professional historian, and he doesn't pretend to be. However, as a man's honest interpretation and commentary of true historical events, the book is excellent. This is history through the eyes of a faithful, orthodox Roman Catholic, in the historico-apologetic tradition of Hilaire Belloc, Christopher Dawson, and G.K. Chesterton. Crocker is clearly indebted to them for his understanding of the Church and its development as it struggles against numerous foes, secular and religious. Of particular interest to Western Christian readers is the second half beginning with the Reformation. Like Belloc, Crocker wants to locate the rampant secularism of today within the principles of the Reformation -- such as in this memorable quote:
"The result [of sola scriptura], over time, was that in Protestant countries, theology was no longer 'the queen of sciences' but only one source of knowledge, subject to individual interpretation, and was separated from secular inquiry. Because secular inquiry was seen as objective it eventually gained overweening predominance and prestige over doctrinally subjective Protestant religious thought -- an intellectual development that has been the major factor in secularizing the Western world" (240).
Whether one agrees or not, such issues are worth pondering, and this book is a worthwhile chance to do so with a dedicated Catholic.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fun read, April 10, 2007
This review is from: Triumph: The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church (Paperback)
As a faithful, orthodox, Catholic this book was a fun read for me. It presents an entirely factual and pro-Catholic view of the history of the Church. It is unapologetically triumphalist (just see the title!) and well footnoted.
It is, however, not a serious work of academic history. It is more of a "'History of Christendom' for Dummies." (more on the History of Christendom later) In its defense, it doesn't pretend to be anything else. However, I wish the book had more academic heft. Writing a book like this will engage people. When they are engaged, it is nice to prevent them from having ready and easy criticisms.
Several reviews here (all protestant and/or secularist and stinging with righteous indignation) point out the books flaws. Crocker uses secondary sources too much. He engages in too much polemic. He doesn't tell both sides of the story. These criticisms, while they contain some validity, are overblown.
Writing an unbiased history was not Crocker's purpose. Pick up the dust jacket, look at the design, and read the flaps and the book itself tells you that. Unlike several anti-Catholic "history" books regarding the reformation I have picked up, this book does not pretend to be unbiased. Peruse the reviews of Crocker's book and one sees that many Protestants still have the gall to claim that only fellow Protestants can write unbiased histories of the reformation.
Writing a pro-Catholic history of the Catholic Church was Crocker's purpose. If one can't deduce that from looking at the jacket, then one has poor deductive reasoning skills! Interestingly enough, despite the books flaws, his case is relatively strong. Even critics of Crocker point out that he doesn't share any false information in this book.
The use of secondary sources is not as inappropriate as one reviewer claims. MANY, MANY modern histories of ancient times rely on secondary sources. There just isn't that much primary source material out there for some events. Historiography would not exist as a discipline if everyone just went to the primary documents and told the limited tale they could find there.
So why just 3 stars? Despite the fact that I will defend Crocker's right to make a case regarding the history of the Church to anyone, I simply don't like the book's approach. It is fun and funny; yet it is supposed to be history. Crocker can write, but he is no historian. He writing style is flip, irreverent, and arrogant. I often feel that books written in this manner are insulting my intelligence. For instance, I don't care much for Ann Coulter either. She and Crocker have a similar writing style, and a similar taste for polemics.
Furthermore, Crocker has his culturally protestant leanings which are left over from before his conversion. Too often I have seen him in interviews criticizing the Magesterium he proclaims to defend. The grounds of his seemingly constant criticism of the last two popes? They failed to support the US invasion of Iraq. Just read his sections on the Crusades in this book to see Crocker's pro-war bias. Crocker is so pro-war that it makes my eyes hurt to read his stuff.
Because of these flaws, I am forced to give Crocker's book 3 stars out of five; I would recommend alternate readings to get one started on Catholic history that do not suffer from Crocker's weaknesses.
Warren H. Carroll for instance is a scholar of serious weight. He holds a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University and is the founder and past president of Christendom College.
His EXCELLENT multi volume series on the History of Christendom (each volume roughly 500 pages or so) is the real deal. It tells much the same history Crocker tells, but he tells it with SERIOUS scholarly ammunition: the best sources, the best argumentation, and the best writing. He has counterarguments against other scholars at the ready and engages his colleagues in his copious footnotes. Even though Carroll's books are LONG, they are engaging and read easily. He stays away from using too much academic jargon; any reasonably educated person could read them.
I found the
Cleaving Of Christendom: History Of Christendom Vol 4, which is the volume that deals with the reformation, most engaging and informative. If one finds Crocker too simplistic, too flippant, too over the top, I would check out Dr. Carroll's work.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
