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gmchugH
, April 21, 2007
Dr. Dwyer's book took me back to the days of my theology classes at St. Mary's College in Moraga, where he was a professor for many years. The detail and breadth of this history is only surpassed by the speed at which we move through the significant events of the Church's history.
As the title promises this book looks at the Church's history in a primarily historical context. This is a two edged sword which sometimes shows the impact of historical events and pressures (economic, political and social) on church events and theology; sometimes it shows the effect of theological events in the Church on the historical events of that or subsequet times.
The book starts with the historical information we have about Jesus, and moves up to the end of the last century. I highly recommend this book for anyone who would like to put some of the Church's current events in the context of a 2000 year struggle of the Church's attempt to define it self in the face of an ever changing world.
The only downside was that I found myself occaisionally reaching for the dictionary or a reference to European history, although Dr. Dwyer's explanations are usually clear and informative on their own.
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