Hans KungThe Catholic Church: A Short History (Modern Library Chronicles)

If we excluded all works from the category "history" that were personal and written with an agenda we would exclude those of Shirer, Hume and Tacitus, indeed the category would cease to exist. But, this books greatest fault is not its personal nature or its agenda but that it is a "Short History." Dr. Kung acknowledges and explains all these faults, personal convictions, agenda and brevity in the first chapter, so it is difficult to criticize him for them. Forthright honesty trumps any lack of objectivity.Father Kung is an ordained priest and Catholic theologian; in the late 1950's he was a young and rising star in the Church under Blessed John XXIII. He was a vital contributor to Vatican II and was most enthusiastic about the reforms that council promulgated. Since then he has written voluminously on many theological questions such as papal infallibility and the existence of God. But after his stinging criticism of John Paul II in 1979 he was stripped of his ability to teach Roman Catholic theology. Clement VIII would have simply burned him at the stake alongside Bruno.Any short history covering 2000 years must have a focus and the focus of this book is on those decisions made within the Church that lead it away from the Bible and the traditions of the early church toward the feudal Germanic and until 1870 secular monarchical structure reflected in the papacy and curia today. Dr. Kung describes how the church evolved through an examination of the most important church documents, including the ancient writings of early church leaders and thinkers, Augustine and the three great forgeries of the Middle-Ages on which the power of the papacy (particularly Infallibility) rests. He believes that the Reformation was avoidable had the Church embraced Luther's return to bible based ministry. He is harshly critical of the anti-scientism of the Counter Reformation (he and Galileo would have had a great time chatting over a beer as long as Urban VIII didn't find out about it) and yet more harshly critical of the anti-modernism of Pius IX and his successors. His criticism of John Paul II is of that pope's unwillingness to continue the reform process started by Vatican II. Kung's great advantage over others in this field is his unparalleled access to the documents he uses to make his points and more importantly his willingness and courage as a Catholic to rail against orthodoxy and the denial and obfuscation of Church history.Kung is a Bible based, Christ centered Christian with an abiding faith in both God and His creation - humanity. He is obviously an ultra-liberal within the Catholic Church (he advocates the ordination of women and birth control) and certain passages suggest a political lean to the left. Many readers will find much with which to disagree cordially. But Protestants (like me) will learn much from this book about earlier Christianity and about why their ancestors chose to break with the Catholic Church. Catholics, if they have the courage to read it, will learn even more but in a way I think that will not damage their faith even if it does scrape some of the icing off of Rome.

The book was not in the condition as described. Inside, it was covered in writing and notes by a previous owner 😕

Hans Kung is for the Catholic Church what Gore Vidal is to America. Just as Gore Vidal will struggle to tell you all the things that so called patriots and official historians don't want you to know about American history, Hans Kung will tell you about the history of the Catholic Church. All the things that so called orthodox and official theologians want to prevent you from learning.I'm not going to claim that I'm an expert on theology in fact this is as close as I ever got to a book that has anything to do with it. But as some one who was educated in catholic schools since kinder garden and all the way, including university I must tell you that I was surprise to find out how numerous of the main dogmas of the church have no theological foundations what so ever.My emancipation from the Catholic Church happened decades ago and when I came across this book I thought that it might be a waste of time to read it. How wrong I was. True, this book didn't change my original views on the Church but it certainly threw light on how the Church became the crystallized, self servant, wealthy and corrupted political institution that it is today, and indeed that it's been for at least thirteen hundred years.It is also quite impressive that Hans Kung managed to put together such an erudite work in such a small book. And one of the reasons Kung managed this, apart for being such a learned scholar, is that his short history of the Church was done from the theologian point of view using as a pivot point the suppose infallibility of the Pope.This book is a small thesis refuting the infallibility of the Pope, giving it a historical and theological context in a simply superb way.Wether you are a religious person or just some one interested in understanding the historical cultural environment in which you live, this book will surely be a book that you'll be happy you read. I unmistakably am.

This book is nothing more than a compilation of well-known anti-catholic clichés and stereotypes. Nothing surprising coming from a soi-disant "catholic in good standing" famous for his unbridled devotion of anything "modern" and "progressive" and his utter contempt for anything truly Christian.

I am only half way through this History of the Catholic Church which I have found riveting and a pause for concern.I have much respect for the recently deceased Hans Kung and have read a number of his works including those ofan autobiographical nature and have always found him to be as one author titled his book as having a passionfor truth. In this vein I have found some of the things that other histories have ignored or glossed over have anexplanation in terms far more intelligible in interpretation than those I've been generally exposed to. His rationalon Gregory the Great for instance gives a whole new world of how certain developments in church history camedown to us, without him being seen as its source. The Germanic peoples role as extraordinary in the church's survivalto say nothing of Kung's favourite subject "Pontiff Power" all adding to a history which I think should be ponderedover.

A very readable and scholarly historical elucidation of how the early church has morphed into its present day state.

As a history of the Catholic faith this book has its limitations. It is rather too much about Kung and his resentment of his treatment at the hands of the Catholic hierarchy. He is a man of the faith, but unfortunately spends most of the book trying to undermine a central pillar of that faith. Yes the church might unworthy vessel of God's word, but for many Catholics, it's is a light in the darkness, however dim and wavering it sometimes might seem. And many Popes might have been little more then gangsters or libertines, but even most of the `bad' Popes had some redeeming features. Human beings and Human institutions have a tendency to corruption, bungling and killing the thing they are set up to preserve. Even so, the Church has many parts and has and had the love and support of the faithful throughout the ages. Kung tends to focus on the bad. But the Church survives because of the everyday acts, prayers, love and kindness of all of its members and has done for millennia. There must be a reason for this.As a polemic on the nature of the church, especially in terms of the Magesterium, Curia and central status of the Pope in the Church, then this book is of interest and value. I found this book to be a 'good read', confirming my feelings that the central church authority has drifted from those whose mission it is to guide and protect. It is not just simply that people have lost in a welter of worldly concerns and temptations; it is that the church has often been seen to be wilfully reactionary and defensive, not to say, inverted. A preoccupation with legality, sin and conformity rather then love has given the Church a forbidding aspect to the world.`A Short History' is a good read. Of necessity it skims over several key events. The Crusades and the inquisition and the Counter Reformation get covered in a few pages. It would have been useful to understand a little more the motives behind the Crusades and the on-going anti-Semitism in Church teaching for instance. I liked Kung's policy prescriptions, but are they a necessary part of a history? We can see signs of renewal in Pope Francis 1. There is room for optimism. There have been great Popes, great Churchmen (in England we can easily point to Cardinal Wiseman and Newman as examples) and the great mass of the faithful. If only Kung could have been a little more balanced, then this book would have a much better use as an introduction of all things Catholic.

Hans Kung is regarded by the powers in the Vatican to be untrustworthy as a teacher of Catholics within the Roman Church. But he remains a priest in good standing. You would expect that given the harsh treatment handed out to him by the authorities, Kung would be resentful and write books that are filled with venom. Not a bit of it. This book is an excellent, well-balanced study of the history of the church from its earliest times. Kung is a teacher who respects his students, a writer who respects his readers.