The Catholic Church: A History

by William R. Cook

19 hours 12 mins

The Catholic Church. It began as a small band of supporters following the teachings of an itinerant preacher in an outpost of the Roman Empire. From there, the church expanded both its size and its importance in the grand scheme of Western history.

Today, the church is the oldest continuously active organization on Earth and one of the most influential institutions in the world—a force capable of moving armies, inspiring saints, and shaping the lives of a billion members.

But how did this powerful institution develop out of the early church community—a loosely associated group of disciples who were inspired by the life and teachings of Jesus? Why do today's Catholics worship the way they do? How has this institution influenced world history far beyond the walls of its churches and monasteries?

In The Catholic Church: A History, you'll explore these and other questions as you follow the development of this important institution in 36 informative, fascinating lectures. With noted historian and Professor William R. Cook as your guide, you'll step into the world of the early church, hear tales of the martyrdom of the first Christian saints, witness the spread of Christendom across Europe, and learn about the origins of fundamental church institutions.

Genres: History, Religion, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Christianity, Theology, Catholic

36 pages, Audible Audio

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Dr. William R. Cook is the Distinguished Teaching Professor of History at the State University of New York at Geneseo, where he has taught since 1970. He earned his bachelor’s degree cum laude from Wabash College and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa there. He was then awarded Woodrow Wilson and Herbert Lehman fellowships to study medieval history at Cornell University, where he earned his Ph.D.

Professor Cook teaches courses in ancient and medieval history, the Renaissance and Reformation periods, and the Bible and Christian thought. Since 1983 Professor Cook has directed 11 Seminars for School Teachers for the National Endowment for the Humanities.

His books include Images of St. Francis of Assisi and Francis of Assisi: The Way of Poverty and Humility. Dr. Cook contributed to the Cambridge Companion to Giotto and edits and contributes to The Art of the Franciscan Order in Italy.

Among his many awards, Professor Cook has received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. In 1992 the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education named him New York State’s Professor of the Year. In 2003 he received the first-ever CARA Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Medieval Studies from the Medieval Academy of America.

Reviews

[فؤاد · Rating 3 out of 5]

دوره‌ای ۳۶ جلسه‌ای در مورد تاریخ شکل‌گیری و تحول کلیسای کاتولیک، از مسیحیت اولیه تا قرون وسطی و دوران مدرن.
این مدرس خیلی خوش‌بیان و گویا معتقد واقعی کاتولیکه، قبلاً دورهٔ اعترافات آگوستین رو باهاش گوش داده بودم و لذت برده بودم. دوست دارم دوره‌های دیگه‌ش رو هم گوش بدم.

[booklady · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent survey course of 2000 years of Catholic Church history aimed at a secular audience. Towards the end it felt like Professor Cook was more of an apologist with decidedly leftist leanings than he was in the beginning, when he seemed more objective. Even so, I liked his presentation, manner, and selection of material. How can you possibly present our Catholic heritage in 36 lessons and do it justice? You are bound to leave out something which someone considers essential. I happen to agree with a friend that Cook's treatment of Pope Pius X was weak and his presentation of Vatican II one-sided. He went a bit heavy on Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum: On The Condition Of Working Classes, which of course is amazing, but barely mentioned that the same pope wrote 11 encyclicals on the rosary. However, I think that is because he was directing this course to non-Catholics, who most likely have no knowledge of the rosary, but would have great interest in Catholic social teaching for the working person.

Interesting and worth listening to.


January 22, 2020: Lecture 20 is my favorite so far. It is about Medieval Mysticism and Professor Cook manages to include quite a bit of information in this brief time, several names I had not heard before, which thrilled me no end, not that I need more authors to look up and books to search out, only that I like to...


January 17, 2020: In Lecture 8, Tertullian, though later discredited, asks a question which for Christians echoes down the ages: What has Athens to do with Jerusalem? In other words, what do the pagan philosophers have to do with Revelation? Or perhaps, what does Reason, Man's rational thoughts, have to do with Faith, the Truths of God, which are beyond our ability to understand yet still must be accepted. In Tertullian's view, nothing. But that is not the Church's view, nor is it the end of the discussion. In fact, that discussion would be on-going and is still debated today. Cook paraphrased Augustine: the philosophers can teach you where you want to go, but not tell you how to get there, because they cannot teach you how to Love, that is something which comes from God. Cook returns to this question with the saint(s) of each age, and how they answered/interpreted it, as he examines the central problems they grappled with.

In Lecture 13, St. Bernard wrote the book, On Consideration, which tells how to be pope, a very famous work, which I want to read.

[Lois · Rating 1 out of 5]

This offers a fascinating look at the early formation of christian churches which eventually narrows to the history of the rise of the catholic church across Europe and eventually beyond.
This is interesting and the professor keeps everything moving right along so I never felt bored during this rather long and extensive course.
I am not a christian and firmly believe the catholic church, not individual catholic folks, to be an evil institution complicit in the crimes of colonialism.
I also do not necessarily believe in historical Jesus. I believe Jesus is likely an amalgamation of Jewish Rabbi's alive during the time period in which Jesus existed. I don't think this has any impact on christianity as a religion nor the folks who believe in and practice it.
As a non-believer my opinions are of little consequence to anyone other than myself.
My low rating of this book is largely due to the perpetuation of white supremacist views of colonialism & history.
The catholic church blessed the acts of genocide, rape & theft as carried out across the Americas and eventually pretty much all of the continent of Africa. Millions of people died as a result; cultures, languages and lineages all lost because of the practice of violent colonialism. All sanctioned by the catholic church which grew incredibly wealthy and profited financially off of these practices.
The vatican library houses the only copy of some Indigenous Peoples of South America history and beliefs as well as sacred relics. The church needs to atone for its crimes by returning what was stolen: the wealth, the history and to apologize for the churches unbelievably unchrist like behaviors and finally to pay reparations.
Instead this historian just glosses over shit and gives half the story.
So we learn about how Bartolomé de las Casas wrote a book and gave testimony that helps Indigenous Native Peoples in what is now Dominican Republic/Haiti stop being so exploited. I think the remaining Indigenous population is removed to somewhere in South America. I know their descendants remain.
What is left out is Casas suggestion that Black West African folks be substituted as enslaved peoples to be exploited. This is after Casas understands how horribly these folks are treated. He decides in a founding principle of horrific racism that this treatment is okay for Black folks.
This bullshit leads to centuries of misery for the Black Diaspora across the globe. The impact this had on American countries and the value, or lack there of, of Black lives globally even today in 2021.
Without Bartolomé de las Casas we would never have had the civil rights movement nor the Black Lives Matter movement.
The catholic church is directly responsible for and complicit in crimes against humanity and this author just ignores them.
Included in this glossing over of the history of the catholic church is the total absence of addressing the priest-rapists who the catholic church hid in areas where the parishioners were POC and the church turned a blind eye the kids the priests raped. The priests target vulnerable children period and the church simply moves them to parishes with even more vulnerable children. Its sick as fuck and a crime the church continues to perpetuate.
In 2021 in Canada being uncovered are mass graves of Indigenous/First Nations children murdered and abused by nuns & priests of the catholic church.
The author/historian does go on and on about the small ways in which the church was persecuted historically.
However the historical facts say that since roughly the early 1400's catholics have done the persecuting on an international scale. This history of the catholic church needed to deal with the crimes of the church beyond apologizing for fucking antisemitism.
Apologize for chattel slavery.
Apologize for genocide.
Apologize for rape and torture.
Fuck this evil ass church and fuck this racist ass historian.🤷🏾‍♀️

[Brad · Rating 3 out of 5]

The closer Dr. William R. Cook came to the modern times of the Catholic Church, the more his bias as a devout believer and apologist for church behaviour interfered with his objectivity. Similarly, Dr. Cook's devotion to scripture makes his view of the New Testament all too real for the sort of objective history I was hoping for; he delivers it all as unassailable fact (without providing any evidence beyond scripture itself) rather than mythology, and there were more than a couple of times that this undermined his credibility. Yet in the middle third of the lectures, when Dr. Cook is squarely in the realm of his PhD, when he is dealing with the history of the medieval Catholic Church, with the popes and scholars and martyrs and even saints, his lectures were compelling, informative and just what I was looking for throughout.

This is, ultimately, one of the more disappointing Great Lectures I have listened to, and sometimes listening to it was more like muddling through it; still, I learned some things, and I certainly don't feel my time was wasted, even if it wasn't my favourite Great Lectures experience.

[Julie Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful overview of Catholic history told in a very even-handed fashion. Highly recommended.

[Igor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative - but biased

The author - a catholic himself - has not told everything. What it is quite expected. Nonetheless, the class is an interesting one.

LECTURE GUIDES

LECTURE 1 - From Jesus to the Creation of the Church
LECTURE 2 - The First Christian Institutions
LECTURE 3 - Christianities in the Early Church
LECTURE 4 - Persecution and Saints
LECTURE 5 - Peace between Empire and Church
LECTURE 6 - Institutional and Doctrinal Developments
LECTURE 7 - Latin Theology, Including Augustine
LECTURE 8 - Popes and Bishops in the Early Middle Ages
LECTURE 9 - Monasticism—Benedict and His Rule
LECTURE 10 - Evangelizing Northern and Eastern Europe
LECTURE 11 - The Germanization of Christianity
LECTURE 12 - Charlemagne and the Church in Feudal Times
LECTURE 13 - Monks and Hermits—New Forms of Monasticism
LECTURE 14 - Papal Reform and Church-State Controversies
LECTURE 15 - Crusade, Heresy, Inquisition
LECTURE 16 - The Papacy—Innocent III to Boniface VIII
LECTURE 17 - Francis, Dominic, and the Mendicants
LECTURE 18 - Flowering of Church Art in the Middle Ages
LECTURE 19 - Scholastic Thought
LECTURE 20 - Medieval Mysticism
LECTURE 21 - The Great Schism and the Conciliar Age
LECTURE 22 - The Renaissance Church
LECTURE 23 - Luther, Calvin, and the Reformation
LECTURE 24 - Catholic Responses—The Council of Trent
LECTURE 25 - The Jesuits
LECTURE 26 - Catholicism in Asia and the New World
LECTURE 27 - American Catholicism
LECTURE 28 - The Church in the Age of Reason
LECTURE 29 - Pius IX and Papal Infallibility
LECTURE 30 - Leo XIII and the Modern World
LECTURE 31 - The Eastern Catholic Churches
LECTURE 32 - The Second Vatican Council
LECTURE 33 - The Catholic Church Looks Outward
LECTURE 34 - The Challenges of New Theologies
LECTURE 35 - John Paul II and the 21st-Century Church
LECTURE 36 - One? Holy? Catholic? Apostolic?

[عدنان العبار · Rating 5 out of 5]

Apart from the final chapters of the book (specifically, the last and the one before), this book is one of the best I have ever listened to on Audible with little to compare. The author is fun, open-minded, and very precise. He gives us the history of Catholicism, defining the key terms from the beginning so we can keep up and understand well what the scholars are talking about. It covers everything from briefly before the times of Jesus to our contemporary times. He deals very meticulously with the nuances of each era, and gives us the best and most important events. He delves into the characters and personalities in the people. His analysis of the times of each person does not rule out the political, social, religious, cultural, philosophical reasons. I really loved this book, as it helped me understand many things about Christianity, and in presenting Christianity in a factual, and not even a biased, light, I have come to admire the saints, the religion, and come to see more of the motives behind its implementations and its practices.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to everyone who wants to learn more about Christianity and the development of religions, and not necessarily only Catholicism.

***

Will append with review of 2nd reading.

[Sidney]

I would recommend having a good understanding of the Catholic church before beginning this course. This course is not for the Catholic beginner. Nevertheless, I thought the professor did a good job of being fair in his teaching and not making catch-all statements.

[Noah Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 3 most interesting points in the book

1. Thanks to various totalitarian regimes, the 20th century produced more Catholic martyrs than the 3rd century (when the romans were feeding christians to lions).
Say it with me children of the 20th "we're number 1! We're number 1!"

2. The Donatist heretics believed that religious rituals were only holy if the priest who performed them was a good person. Emperor Constantine made the church stomp out the Donatists because their beliefs caused all kinds of administrative chaos (I.e people claiming they were never really married because the priest who performed the wedding had a drinking problem).
Many modern social justice warriors are a sort of secular Donatist, 'Ohh no this art can't be beautiful! It was made by Oscar Wilde and he never fought for Trans-rights!" or "Noooooooo! This law can't be Just, It was passed by President Kennedy who had no muslims in his cabinet". Secular Donatism is as bad an idea as Christian Donatism was.

3. Many people call Pious 9(Pope from 1846 to 1878) a conservative and Leo 13 (his successor ) a progressive . Pious 9 created the doctrine of papal infallibility which was a fairly radical departure from previous church traditions. Leo 13 wrote the rules governing catholic trade unions which were in fact simply an update of the old medieval rules about guilds.
While most of us can understand what is meant by conservative and progressive in this case, you can see how the language is inexact and could easily lead to confusion.

[Mary Montgomery H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent audible lecture! An overview of notable milestones and persons in the 2000 year history of the Catholic faith. For me, these 19 some hours spent with Dr Cook flew by. His lectures were concise and comprehensive … and I didn’t even have to increase the narration speed!! After many decades away from Catholicism, I now feel prepared to hone further studies. Perfect for new or lapsed Catholics.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, I enjoyed listening to the history of the Catholic Church from the perspective of a Catholic professor. I think there's always a lot to be gained to hearing something from the perspective of one who believes.

There were a number of insights I thought were interesting, such as Constantine's accepting of Christianity being the best thing that could happen for the church and also the worst thing, as the simplicity and purity of the church was lost. I also appreciated the political explanations of the interplay with kings and nations in the Middle Ages.

[Nathanael Roy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this Great Courses lecturer by William R. Cook.
The course starts with the Jewish Jesus Christ and quickly moves to the early disciples and Church in the first couple of centuries after the death and resurrection of Christ. The epistles of Paul as well as the Acts of the Apostles serve as extremely useful texts during this time where the structure of the Church was still being worked out and had not yet formed. Professor Cook emphasizes how during this time the Church didn’t just sit in unified happiness talking about the Jesus character a bunch of them knew. Most of the writings came about because of some sort of controversy or problem that had to be resolved. Chief among these problems was the question of whether you had to be Jewish to be a part of the faith and if you had to be circumcised as a part of the faith. Peter and Paul even were not unified on the question of Gentiles in the faith of Christianity.
Furthermore, a contrasts with the liturgical practice of the church and the religious practices of the early church is evident in women and in language. In Paul’s letters it is evident that women (one woman in particular that he refers to) played some amount of authoritative role within the early Christian communities while they don’t in today’s church. In addition, the practice of religion was likely done in Greek and Aramaic languages since the languages the apostles spoke were likely very limited and few if any of the apostles spoke Latin, the recent language of the church.
Cook then goes on to chronicle the persecution of the early church and the devoutness which a lot of the members of the church had because if you were going to be a Christian you would very possibly die for your faith. Many of the saints with the most gruesome deaths came from the Roman empire from this period of the early church.
One of the most significant breaking points for the history of Christianity then becomes the conversion of Constantine to the church in AD 312. After this point the church has the opportunity to become much larger, to develop power by gaining land, to establish a more consistent papacy, to gain legitimacy, and importantly to gain many more members. On the other hand, some of the devout character of the early church is lost. Organization of theology became necessary and the council of Nicaea settled some doctrinal questions, a couple of which are embedded in the Nicene creed. Augustine lived in the fourth and fifth century and would remain an important figure and acts of monasticism began.
Moving forward in time we see in a lot of the intervening years the spread of Catholicism to northern and eastern Europe as well as how Christian practices change based on German influence and the crowning of Charlemagne.

Then the course moves on to the development of a couple monastic orders, the Cistercians and Carthusians. The second major turning point in the Catholic Church happens in the centuries around the turn of the millennium, where the Church faces problems with muslim communities outside and responds horrifically with crusades (which happen from time to time for centuries) and a not unrelated schism of east and west. In the 12th and 13th century Dominican and Franciscan orders come about to address new issues of east and west. And a new scholasticism appears in the form of Aquinas.
A few centuries into the new millenium, around the time of the Black Plague (1347) we get to see the Babylonian exile of the papacy with the bishop of Rome taking root in France. Eventually this leads to two popes existing at once and eventually a council is needed to settle the issue. The 15th century after this leads to the next (third?) (in?)famous turning point in the Catholic Church as the rise of Lutheranism and Calvinism leads eventually to reform at yet another council of Trent and the creation of the order of the Jesuits by Ignatius Loyola which, along with conquistadors and often not very Christ like explorers, spreads Catholicism ever farther. Catholicism in America is viewed as both a contradiction and yet a perfect fit (Can Catholicism work in a society which holds up egalitarianism).
Finally we quickly move through the 17th and 18th century as we reach the last parts of the course. Rerum Novarum, the famous encyclical on laborers by Leo XIII is a wonderful introduction to the last seven lectures which explore largely how the Catholic Church functions today. The “eastern Catholic Churches” were something the professor wanted to emphasize in order to show how Catholicism is practiced in many different rites throughout the church. The developments of the second Vatican council from Pope John 23 and Pope Paul VI brought vernacular to the church as well as reform to the many orders and what I view as a true Catholic renaissance. Liberation Theology is new ground for the church to grapple with as the modern Catholic must acknowledge new theology is not simply a thing for those from the age of Aquinas. And the lecturer talked lovingly of the papacy of John Paul II before the final lecture to summarize.

I found this Great Courses lecture series to be amazing. It became clear over time (especially in the last couple of lectures) that the lecturer Prof Cook is himself a Catholic but not only do I not think it detracted from the experience, I think it truly benefited the class. Professor Cook brought some new insights into many different lectures and did a good job of covering such a huge scope of issues with dedication and enthusiasm the entire way. I loved this series of lectures partly because it felt very much like my history that I was reading and it was a joy to take it with a professor that in a very real sense seemed to share that view. It has been quite awhile since something I have read has stood out this much for how much the subject matter ended up meaning to me and how well presented it was.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview of the history of the church from Peter to Benedict XVI. I listened to this for the first half as I wanted another perspective on the middle ages and since the church was a huge player in this time period, I figured it would be good at feeling in the gaps. It did this well enough that I kept listening to the rest of the lectures so I would say it was engaging.
My biggest problem with this lecture is that Mr. Cook tends to be an apologist for the Church. He downplays its troubles and emphasizes its strengths. All authors/lecturers have their biases and so this is not that big of a deal but it is something to keep in mind. Mr. Cook is a member of the faithful and this shows, he is also an engaging lecturer who is passionate about his subject matter and this shows as well.

[Kevin Siepel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview, but, I found the professor assuming points that may be disputed by biblical scholars, and, even though I am a Catholic, I found him to be slightly more of an apologist for the Church than seems proper in a dispassionate scholar. Recommended nonetheless.

[Tanner Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not Catholic, but Catholicism has always intrigued me. As an amateur European and medieval history student, the Catholic Church has always figured prominently. In some of my favorite books in recent years ("Martin Luther" by Eric Metaxas and "Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel" by the Gies come to mind), it is one of the leading "characters!" I have Catholic friends and I've attended Mass at least once. But I have never been exposed to Catholic dogma and history in such a broad way. Over the course of the year, I hope to explore more religions and sects in this way.

First things first, this is a lecture series and not a book. Furthermore, it's a lecture series aimed at a Catholic audience (which I am not). There were times when I felt a little lost. Sometimes Dr. Cook would mention someone off hand as if I should obviously know who they were and what they did. Despite these brief, disconnecting moments, the series as a whole was interesting. Dr. Cook is a faithful Catholic and his lectures are presented from a faithful perspective. Despite this, however, I found his presentations to be even-handed. He covers all of Catholic history from the death of the Apostle Peter until the beginning of Pope Benedict XVI's pontificate. That's about 2,000 years of history in thirty-six lectures. My favorite lectures were those that covered the High Medieval period (~1100-1400 CE). During that period, the Pope was not only a religious figurehead, but also a ruler of petty states. The "geopolitical" era of the popes was interesting enough that I would love to read a myopic history of that period and those men.

I acquired this series for free from my audiobook seller. I likely would never have listened to it otherwise. Now that I've finished it, I can say it would be worth a purchase. (I have no endorsement deal with Audible, but it and several other "Great Courses" are free on Audible until February 8, 2023, if you're interested.) I gave this "read" four stars out of five because it was educational, interesting, and worth my time but not exceptional.

[Tracy Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one of the “Great Courses” series. I had a free course to buy, being married to a Catholic for a long time, I thought I’d finally learn something. The audio is 20+ hours of lecture by a world renowned Theologist/Professor. It started at the time of Jesus Christ and went from there. Each chapter/lecture brought you closer to today. I thought I knew a lot about the various religions within Christianity, but the detail and depth of the chapters told me quite a bit I hadn’t known. Explaining the bible, the background of authors of those books, and slowly showing you how all the religions added and removed tenets throughout history was fascinating. Explaining terminology that was often translated from Aramaic to Greek to Latin and beyond; the author explains the meaning behind interpretations. Being a protestant, I liked that the author wasn’t supporting one religion over another but explaining how they started and grew. The history of the papacy, the various locations it had and how there was more that one “Bishop” or Pope at various times, was engrossing. I listened to this while on my holiday traveling and found it held your attention. Certainly I would recommend the audio on this book but it’s good all the same. Rating the book strictly as a history of Catholocism, it’s a 5. If you’re looking for less specific history and more story, this isn’t it.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even people who are knowledgeable about the long history of the Catholic Church can benefit from this Great Courses series of lectures. Cook sets out to describe the major ups and downs, and ins and outs, of the two-thousand-year-old institution. He spares no punches, calling out shameful practices quite often, but he also takes the time to dwell on the inspirational moments and to explore the context in which the various actions of the church were taken.

For me, the most interesting aspect of the lectures was the inclusion of the non-Roman rites of the Catholic church, highlighting a diversity of the Catholic faith that many have forgotten or never knew existed. But there is much more worth learning about in these lectures and Cook makes it very easy to follow the institution and many of the people who comprised it through the ages.

That being said, there were moments when Cook throws out a tangential fact that was not accurate. This often happens when historians veer out of their specialty, but it always makes me wonder what else they’re getting wrong that I missed because it came in an area where I’m not as well read.

If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who is this for?
Those looking to expand their knowledge of the history of the Catholic Church or reaffirm knowledge already present.

Who is this not for?
Those looking for an extensive condemnation of the modern Catholic Church from a faithless perspective.

This lecture is more of a story throughout the ages of the founding of the Catholic Church and the steady growing of the church. The lecturer is a man of the Catholic faith but is never beating you over the head with his faith and is not ‘dismissive’ or a ‘Catholic apologist’ as some reviews might have you believe.

I didn’t realize just how little I knew about the Catholic tradition until I started listening to this lecture and thought he did a fantastic job at what he set out to accomplish.

[Fr. Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a strong series until the last few lectures, in which those of us who have been deeply wounded by John Paul II I treated to excessive hero-worship and a very very quick gloss over of the total dismissal and cruel regard toward LGBT people in the Catholic Church. In fact, it's just mentioned as an example of how he made conservatives happy. Well, it was more impactful than that and it remains to be so. Discuss it like a historian, what does it mean you have to agree or disagree. Just don't be so dismissive. That said, the rest of this series, the first 34 lectures, are very good and worth the time for anybody who wants to learn more about the history of the Roman Catholic Church.

[Tarik Muftic · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good course of 2000 years of Catholic Church history, from Peter to Benedict XVI, aimed mostly at a secular audience. A very good presentation, manner, and selection of material. The author is a Catholic himself and that is very obvious while he is also an engaging lecturer who is passionate about his subject matter and this shows as well. Mr Cook tends to be an apologist for the Church. He downplays its troubles and emphasizes its strengths. An interesting course where one can learn a lot about the Catholicism and in general broaden the knowledge. Recommended.

[Bryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This course definitely covers enough information to satisfy anyone's curiosity on the rituals, customs, people, and major events in Catholic history. The course could have been condensed in certain areas but I understand why certain periods were gone over in greater depth than others. I personally would have liked to spend a little more time on Charlemagne but I know there's a separate course for that too. I really enjoyed the section on Pope John Paul II and the professor's opinion that the Catholic church is apostolic and redeemable.

[Susannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for anyone looking for a summary of Church’s history that’s fact based and flowing. For example if you’re a cradle Catholic with some church history courses under your belt and you’re looking for a thoughtful refresher this is the book for you. I learned so much and even more importantly this series laid a fresh structure for Prof Cook’s other titles. So glad I got through this first and then went on to his Great Christians title next. Enjoy!

[Drew Tschirki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting. My only complaint is that I think liberation theology warrants more than the ~15 min or so he dedicated to it, but I also understand that the history of the church is so long and that there are time constraints.

I would recommend.

I also hope that the Good Courses series will consider adding a new professor to do ten lectures that cover the last 20 or so years talking about Popes Francis and Leo, Carlo Acutis’ sainthood, the sex abuse crisis, and so on.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Professor Cook is engaging and passionate in every Great Courses series. This course is no exception. This is a very brief overview of the early Christian Church of the first millennium AD, and in particular the Roman Catholic Church from 1059 forward. Worth the listen for both Catholics, Protestants, and students of history not connected with any Christian tradition.

[Georgiana · Rating 2 out of 5]

1. Martin Luther did NOT nail anything to a church door anywhere.

2. Anglicans are NOT Protestants.

3. I wouldn't call these lectures apologetic so much as dogmatic - it's very much for Roman Catholics who want to know a bit more about their church's history from a highly sympathetic (and painfully privileged) perspective, and who don't care too much about factual errors (see above).

[Ezequiel Martínez Vázquez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excelente curso, como de costumbre en esta colección. Buen material introductorio para los profanos e incluso para alguien con una formación religiosa de base. El hecho de que el profesor sea católico cierra algunos posibles caminos interpretativos, pero le suma un punto de pasión personal que eleva el material.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

A relatively complete, although certainly not exhaustive, history of the Catholic church, mostly in Europe, but not exclusively. Cook did a pretty thorough job of organizing his materials into a sensible set of stories going back to the time of Christ.

[Alex Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very educational and even entertaining history albeit viewed through a believer’s lens which tends to paper over the church’s more egregious historical flaws (the rapacious conquest of the new world, the current sexual abuse cover ups, etc).

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an informative history that is both enhanced but perhaps slightly imbalanced in perspective as "too Catholic" -with the big C as the lecturer himself is Catholic. Still worth the listen and some note-taking.

[Samantha wickedshizuku Tolleson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The professor was just awesome in this set of lectures. You can tell that he really loves the topic that he's teaching.