We can’t understand the issues swirling in today’s Catholic church without understanding the past. In Catholic History for Today’s Church acclaimed historian John W. O’Malley; SJ; illuminates some of today’s most contentious issues—from celibacy to the role of the pope—through their history. In his characteristically engaging style; O’Malley’s essays provide readers with an overview of each theme in history then explore how that past connects with life today. Many of the essays highlight his expertise on the papacy and the papal curia; as well as the significance and legacies of the Council of Trent and Vatican II. By taking a historical approach; O’Malley shows how contemporary issues arose; assesses where they are today; and suggests how they might be changed for the better. Catholic History for Today’s Church takes an invaluable long view on topics that too often find us shortsighted.
#5211173 in Books 2007-04-25 2007-04-25Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 7.84 x .85 x 5.14l; .70 #File Name: 0144000768332 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Important; but unstructuredBy L. van RooijenOn February 27; 2002; the Sabarmati Express train caught fire in Godhra. In the fire 58 people were killed; including women and children. This incident formed the spark to set off the Hindu population against the Muslims in Gujarat. What followed were three months of rioting and violence against the Muslim residents.Bunsha wrote a book which deals with the run up to the violence ; interviews with victims; and the aftermath. Several aspects of the violence in Gujarat become very clear in her book. The police in the best cases did not intervene during the violence and at the worst participated in attacks on the Muslim population. Politicians also played a major role in orchestrating the violence in order to gain more popularity. Furthermore; after the violence state institutes worked together to prevent justice for the victims; withheld compensation for losses and did nothing to protect the Muslim citizens from new attacks and intimidation. Bunsha successfully demonstrates these features of the Gujarat riots.However; many of the chapters in the book are very unstructured. The chapters are divided into many different sections and there is no transition from one section to the next. This makes for very stop-and-go reading. Also some of the sections are presented in a way that makes for shocking; but ineffective reading. One section contains nothing but bullet-points of quotes from Narendra Modi. Although the quotes themselves are quite shocking; placing them in context would have been more effective.Overall; the importance of the story far outweighs the problems I have with the structure of the book.
