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Title: Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes, Second Edition by Eamon Duffy ISBN: 0-300-09165-6 Publisher: Yale Nota Bene Pub. Date: 01 April, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.6 (10 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Truly a masterpiece
Comment: For the reader that would delve into the history of the popes and their relationship to secular authority, this book is by far the most informative and reads like a good novel.
Duffy, a Roman Catholic historian, carefully depicts the strengths and weaknesses of each of the popes and their successes and failures of their pontificates. One is often left amazed how dependent the popes were on secular powers and how they strongly needed them to succeed in their objectives and to maintain their position in the papacy.
Often their personal lives did not reflect the character and integrity of their office as Duffy has pointed out, most of the popes having mistresses from whom they begot illegitimate children, or having committed major crimes against their enemies. Some exploited their office for their own personal gain or that of their families. Many of the popes left the papacy in near bankruptcy with heavy debts acquired to achieve their political objectives or in their attempt to build large cathedrals to their glory.
One theme constantly heard in the various reigns of the popes in the demand for continual reform with some of the popes being obvious sinners bringing the papacy into dispute. Very few of the popes were people of high moral integrity or saints, as we would conceive of them. Some, however, were outstanding and brought the papacy to great heights.
Definitely a five star master production, this book is very readable and structured for most students that would do research on the history of the Roman Catholic Church. Documentation is good with references to key events. This book is clearly a good reliable reference and a must for the library of the student of church history.
Rating: 5
Summary: An Excellent Popular History of the Papacy
Comment: Eamon Duffy manages somehow or other to fit two thousand years of papal history into less than 300 lavishly illustrated and very readable pages. He captures our attention with his opening description of the first century rather unpapal Roman church, and holds it as he paints with broad brush the great movements and epochs of the papacy and of western Christianity, adoring it throughout with wonderful stories illumining the all too human nature of the popes. He knows his subject, chooses well among the masses of available materials, and treats the popes - be they saint or sinner -- with fairness and understanding; he describes with even hand the enormous good and the lamentable damage this one institution has accomplished. Those who consider the papacy a monolith will be surprised by the variety of forms it has taken in the past and is capable of in years to come, by the many ways it has sought for greater power, and the many opposing forces that have held its excesses in check. It is an enjoyable, insightful and informative romp through history.
Rating: 5
Summary: Papal Developments
Comment: Eamon Duffy is a professional historian of the modern period. His account of the papacy to Gregory the Great provides a readable, well-written and balanced guide. He weaves his way skillfully through Roman history, theological controversy, and East-West conflicts. He maintains this high standard throughout the book.
The book has many fine illustrations--well-chosen and very well reproduced. For the mosaics of Theodora and Justinian in San Vitale, the figures are clearly delineated and the colors vibrant. Later illustrations, such as the portrait of Innocent X by Velazquez and David's panorama of Bonaparte's coronation, are equally good. Many non-artistic illustrations have great historical value, especially the Risorgimento and Kulturkampf propaganda pieces. Often illustrations ornament a text, but these genuinely supplement it. Duffy has also provided seven maps, a glossary of terms and a good bibliography. Errors are few (Constantine died in 337, not 347).
The book is best suited to a survey of church or papal history. Those teaching just the Early Christian period will probably prefer the work of our late colleague Robert Eno, The Rise of the Papacy (1990), but if one does not wish to read or assign a book-length study of the early papacy, chapters one and two of this book will meet the need.
Finally, many thanks to Yale UP for keeping the price so moderate for a book with so many illustrations.
Joseph F. Kelly
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Title: The Oxford Dictionary of Popes (Oxford Paperback Reference S.) by J.N.D. Kelly ISBN: 0192820850 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 December, 1989 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: The Incredible Book of Vatican Facts and Papal Curiosities: A Treasury of Trivia by Nino Lo Bello ISBN: 0764801716 Publisher: Liguori Publications Pub. Date: 01 February, 1998 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The Popes: Histories and Secrets by Claudio Rendina, Paul McCusker ISBN: 193164313X Publisher: Seven Locks Press Pub. Date: 01 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Lives of the Popes : The Pontiffs from St. Peter to John Paul II by Richard McBrien ISBN: 0060653043 Publisher: HarperSanFrancisco Pub. Date: February, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Bad Popes by Russell Chamberlin ISBN: 0750933372 Publisher: Sutton Publishing Pub. Date: 01 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.99 |
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