Synopses & Reviews
Roman Catholicism stands at a crossroads, a classic best of times, worst of times moment. On the one hand, the Catholic Church remains by far the largest branch of the worldwide Christian family, and is growing at a remarkable clip. Yet the Church has also been rocked by a series of scandals related to the sexual abuse of minors by clergy, and, even more devastating, the cover-up by the Church hierarchy. The decade-long crisis has taken a massive financial toll, but the blow to both the internal morale and the external moral standing of the Church has been even steeper. Today, the Church has enormous residual strength and exciting future prospects, but also faces steep internal and external challenges. The question of whither Catholicism is of vital public relevance, for believers and non-believers alike. In
The Catholic Church: What Everyone Needs to Know®, John L. Allen, Jr., one of the world's leading authorities on the Vatican, offers an authoritative and accessible guide to the past, present, and future of the Church.
What Everyone Needs to Know® is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press.
Review
"an excellent handbook for those who want (or need) to know more about the Catholic Church and for those who think they already know it all." -- Publishers Weekly
Praise for John L. Allen, Jr.:
"Paints a fair-minded picture of the Roman Catholic strain of the faith, its beliefs, its worship and its structures. [Allen] gets behind the image of stern Catholic uniformity and begins to show what a remarkably diverse body this really is." --Times Literary Supplement
"John Allen is the English-speaking world's most informed, most insightful and most balanced commentator on the Roman Catholic Church today."--America
"The best Anglophone Vatican reporter ever."--George Weigel, author of Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II
"The journalist other reporters-and not a few cardinals-look to for the inside story on how all the pope's men direct the world's largest church."--Kenneth Woodward, Newsweek
"The most authoritative writer on Vatican affairs in the English language."--The Tablet
"Allen's engaging writing keeps readers' attention and interest... Highly recommended." --CHOICE
Review
"an excellent handbook for those who want (or need) to know more about the Catholic Church and for those who think they already know it all." -- Publishers Weekly
Praise for John L. Allen, Jr.:
"John Allen is the English-speaking world's most informed, most insightful and most balanced commentator on the Roman Catholic Church today."--America
"The best Anglophone Vatican reporter ever."--George Weigel, author of Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II
"The journalist other reporters-and not a few cardinals-look to for the inside story on how all the pope's men direct the world's largest church."--Kenneth Woodward, Newsweek
"The most authoritative writer on Vatican affairs in the English language."--The Tablet
About the Author
John L. Allen Jr. is an Associate Editor at the
Boston Globe and the Senior Vatican Analyst for CNN, and was previously Senior Correspondent for the
National Catholic Reporter. He is also the author of seven books on the Vatican and Catholic affairs, including
The Future Church: How Ten Trends Are Revolutionizing the Catholic Church and
All the Pope's Men: The Inside Story of How the Vatican Really Thinks. His most recent book is
The Global War on Christians.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter One: The Catholic Church 101
Chapter Two: Historical Highlights and Lowlights
Chapter Three: The Church outside the Church
Chapter Four: The Life of the Mind
Chapter Five: Worship
Chapter Six: Angels, Demons and Saints
Chapter Seven: Faith and Politics
Chapter Eight: Catholicism and Sex
Chapter Nine: Catholicism and Money
Chapter Ten: Crisis and Scandal
Chapter Eleven: Rome and America
Chapter Twelve: New Frontiers
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