Catholicism

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A magisterial history of the centuries-long conflict between “progress” and “tradition” in the world’s largest international institution. A must-read for practicing Catholics and anyone interested in religious studies. The power, the glory, the sin, and the sorrow—the whole Catholic saga is here, a cross-cultural story essential to modernity and to Faith itself. If you want to understand the world, don’t ignore the history of its most global institution. John T. McGreevy exposes the paradoxes of the Church: an institution surprisingly adaptable to different cultures, riven by faction, yet called to common action. With admirable candor, impartiality, elegance, and economy, he tells a story of failings and faith. Through vivid portraits and nuanced analysis of Catholic traditionalists and reformers, John T. McGreevy shows how persistent divisions within Catholicism have shaped as well as mirrored central conflicts in modern world history. reveals why the Catholic church generates intense hatred and fierce loyalty, enraging conservatives by changing so much while frustrating progressives by changing so little. A landmark book. In an epic about moral globalization since the French Revolution, John T. McGreevy narrates a quest for understanding and conversion, a tale of diasporas and missions. This is truly a majestic book. For those of us pained by how political divisions manipulate and distort Catholicism today, John T. McGreevy offers essential perspective and the mixed consolation that this is nothing new. His book unfolds an epic drama as power contends with democracy, authority with diversity, world with spirit US

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