Turmoil & Truth: The Historical Roots of the Modern Crisis in the Catholic Church

by Philip Trower

Drawing on his years of experience as a Catholic writer, Philip Trower offers a long view of how the Catholic Church arrived in its present modern crisis. Whereas many analyses take the Second Vatican Council as their starting point, Trower turns his gaze back towards the previous centuries, searching out the roots of modern conflicts over authority within the Church, the nature of Scripture, the relationship with the secular world, and more. His central thesis is that the positive movement for reform, and the negative movements of rebellion against the Church’s authority, grew up intertwined in the years preceding Vatican II, and that it was only in the period following the Council that the division between the two became clearer. His analysis introduces a host of persons and movements whose legacies endure. Philip Trower’s accessible style of writing and his attention to detail offer the reader a clear understanding of where the Church has come from in its recent past. Turmoil and Truth is essential reading for all who wish to understand the present and future direction of the Catholic Church.

Genres: History, Religion, Church History

210 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Brett Salkeld]

This works wanders between the insightful and the silly. His attacks on theologians are one-sided and occasionally polemical. His analysis of the pre-conciliar laity is, one the other hand, quite useful. Trower sometimes leaves scholarship behind for speculation, often with disastrous results. For instance, his explanation of God's purposes in allowing human error into the process of transmitting the Scriptures is childish and, taken to its logical conclusion, almost a denial of the Incarnation.
The work can be read profitably by those who will approach it with a critical eye, but for those resigned to agree with the author from the outset because of his claims to orthodoxy, or the stature of the publisher, it will only lead to vanity and confusion.