Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Breaking Faith: The Pope, the People, and the Fate of Catholicism by John Cornwell ISBN: 0-670-03002-3 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: 20 September, 2001 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (12 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Interesting Discussion of Catholic Church Issues
Comment: BREAKING FAITH is an interesting book by an author who generated quite a bit of controversy with his recent book on Pius XII.
While many of his positions are not in line with the officials teachings of the church and its authorities, Mr. Cornwell succeeds in outlining key points of controversy among Catholics. While many critics would characterize the author as anti-Catholic, it is difficult to ignore the issues confronting the roman catholic church today. Whether you label yourself as a conservative, a progressive, even a surviving member of liberation theology, the book is valuable in presenting a point of view held not only by Mr. Cornwell, but by many members of the church.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Crisis of Hierarchy
Comment: The Crisis of Hierarchy
John Cornwell's new book, BREAKING FAITH, juxtaposes the author's deep, personal, and moral concerns with the policies of the Vatican and Pope John Paul II's backward-looking position. Exploring step by step such burning issues as sexuality, marriage, the role of women, and the frozen hierarchical structure of, the Catholic Church, Cornwell's book demonstrates the need for institutional change. Like HITLER'S POPE, calling attention to the autocratic rule and tragic misjudgment of Pope Pius XII, BREAKING FAITH reveals that beyond any doubt, beyond any counter-argument, beyond, and even despite of, any mystical consideration, the Church must react to what has become its moral crisis. Using powerful arguments, the narration reveals how human greed, power-hunger, self-importance, self-righteousness, and fear of modernity have amalgamated with ancient convictions, perceptions, and rituals of the divine, and how this mixture of religious practice and doctrine has been preserved, acted upon, and reinforced by those in power over the years.
The sweeping force of Cornwell's arguments also draws from the author's use of aesthetic shaping. Just like HITLER'S POPE, BRAKING FAITH reveals a literary structure that is rare in the world of contemporary historical investigations. Its underlying compositional element is a complex polyphonic interweaving of such distinctly diverging strains as the personal-vulnerable, the large spiritual issues of the tradition, and some of the gnawing moral concerns of our time. Such polyphonic treatment underlies also the chapter structures of the volume. Arriving at the incinerator of the monastery almost at the end of the book and thus evoking the fires of the Inquisition, the narration counteracts our expectation of the forward moving motion of history. Since the image of fire and ashes also recalls the Holocaust, the text evokes both the recent and distant past, the shadows of which seem to still fall on the Catholic Church. Also, with the penultimate chapter carrying the title of "Returning," the narration reiterates, and thereby culminates in, the issue of "strict hierarchy," which, as Cornwell argues, is the cause for the crisis that must be dealt with if the Church is to survive. Echoing this theme throughout, the narration enacts symbol and intellectual argument with equal urgency.
BREAKING FAITH is a major study, shedding light on the Church's conflict between past and future.
Rating: 5
Summary: Solidly Researched And Honest
Comment: An honest and thouroughly researched study of the political struggle
and polemics between the Vatican, and Catholic theologians, academics and laity.
Among many other Catholic issues, the book focuses on the disturbing discrepancy between what the Pope says in his public addresses and letters, and what he actually does. As the book progresses, the grim picture of Vatican's repressive policies towards what they term as "relativism" begins to emerge. The persecution of pluralism and the enforcement of absolutism is reminiscent of repression in Fascist or Communist regimes. Cornwell refers to those individuals who disagree with the Vatican's officialdom as dissidents, which brings to mind the repression of free speech and thought by the Soviet regime, with much the same techniques, such as public humiliation, intimidation, removal from employment and exile (excommunication).
It should be noted that John Cornwell's criticism is targeted at the Vatican and not at Catholicism, which he makes very clear in the book, being a devout Catholic himself. In fact, after reading the book, I have walked away with a new respect for the Catholic faith. He also stresses that Papal dogmatism and Catholic catechism are not one and the same, and on many serious issues facing the Church today, such as contraception, ordination of women, gay priests, the participation of laity in Church affairs, denial of communion to remarried or divorced individuals etc., they are in partial and often in total disagreement. Cornwell argues that inclusiveness is inherent in the Catholic faith, and that Vatican's policy remains obstinately exclusivist.
The book is sprinkled with numerous excerpts from speeches, letters and media publications; dozens of names are mentioned; the bibliography takes up about 10 pages. The writing style is clear and more journalistic than scholarly, making it easy to follow the astonishing amount of facts.
Galileo's words serve well to summarize: "the scriptures do not err, those who interpret them do."
 |
Title: A People Adrift : The Crisis of the Roman Catholic Church in America by Peter Steinfels ISBN: 0684836637 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 05 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
