Rome Has Spoken . . .: A Guide to Forgotten Papal Statements, and How They Have Changed Through the Centuries (Paperback)

~ Maureen Fiedler (Editor), Linda Rabben (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Will the Roman Catholic Church ever change its position on women's ordination, contraception, clerical celibacy, or even infallibility itself? Is change possible, or are all teachings etched in stone? For some Catholics, the answer is in the old adage, "Rome has spoken, the case is closed." Yet history tells a different story. When Rome speaks, the debate often heats up. And the case is never closed. For the first time the documentation of these changes is complied in a single volume. Expert commentators put the changing ideas into historical and theological contexts. Rome Has Spoken ... is a fascinating reference for adult Catholics and for anyone interested in the history of religion.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: The Crossroad Publishing Company; Ecco edition (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0824517741
• ISBN-13: 978-0824517748
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #737,884 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Excerpts from Church documents not in context., November 5, 1999

By A Customer

Many of the excerpts from Church documents that this book used exclude material from the same paragraph that puts a much different light on the topic. The book doesn't come across as being very honest.

19 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dangerously Misleading, June 24, 1999

By A Customer

While the articles in this book are well-written, the documentation given in the book on papal, council, and scriptural statements is dangerously misleading and inaccurate in some circumstances. The attempts to put the comments in their historical context does not always reflect the complete events or context. It is a good starting point for some thorough research, however, and I would strongly urge anyone who reads this to check out the authors' sources on their own. In general, it appears that the authors of the individual articles only cited examples that, if construed in a certain way, would support their argument. Dangerous and full of half- truths.

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Telling, but unsympathetic, July 18, 2001

By	Richard R. Simpkins "Worlds Without End critic" (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book uses two techniques, with differing effects, to illustrate its point. First, it uses actual quotes from past papal and magisterial pronouncements in order to paint a picture of the Church's opinion on any given topic at various times through history. This first technique is admirable and effective. The stars I give are merited because of this, and so the book is a useful reference tool, if nothing else.

The actual text of the book comes in the form of commentaries, which follow the aforementioned quotations. This text, as well as the introduction, tell more about the biases of the authors than of the church. Biased though, it may be, the opinions expressed are not invalid. They are, however, unbalanced. In the introduction of the book, the authors identify themselves as largely feminist activists who support new translations of Scripture that attempt to use gender-neutral language in every verse (leaving out he and she, and substituting "spouse" for husband or wife). I fail to see how such relanguaging does anything to help the feminist cause, as it only disguises real sexism that clearly existed in the first century and other times. I also find it curious that, when it suits their needs, Church documents are *not* rewritten in gender neutral terms, presumably so that early church "sexim" can be exposed. While I am sympathetic to the authors' aim at revealing such things, I would much rather they do in an intellectually honest fashion.

On the whole, if you are looking for a compendium of actual church documents (no amount of bias has altered the utility of the quotations that make up the lion's share of the book's merit) then this book is worth having. Better yet, once you have the book, look up their quotations for yourself to get a better historical perspective on what they selected.