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The Catholic Church: A History
- Narrated by: William R. Cook
- Length: 19 hrs and 13 mins
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The Catholic Church: A History
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Summary
How did the Catholic Church become 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?
Explore these and other questions as you follow the development of this important institution in 36 informative, fascinating lectures. With Professor Cook by your side, you'll step into the world of the early church, witness the spread of Christendom, and learn about the origins of fundamental church institutions.
Your journey begins in the early years of the church, when Jesus's disciples developed the first communities of faith. You'll get a chance to delve into crucial ancient church documents and gain an intriguing glimpse into the lives of these early believers. From there, you'll trace the development and spread of this nascent religion throughout the world, covering crucial developments including the conversion of the Roman Empire to Catholicism, the schism between the Roman faith and the Greek Orthodox Church, and the Reformation.
As you delve into this fascinating saga, you'll quickly see that the Catholic Church actually takes many forms. You'll trace the many variations of worship and belief that evolved as Christianity spread all over the Mediterranean, and you'll witness how Catholic practice and faith have been transformed by the cultures and peoples it has touched. Professor Cook brings an unparalleled intellectual rigor to his presentation, balanced by a deep appreciation of the church's legacy and impact. Join him on this epic journey through Catholic history, and experience how this small gathering of faithful became one of the most powerful forces on the world stage - the "one holy catholic and apostolic Church."
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- ben
- 11-03-20
interesting whistle stop tour
Cook keeps things palatable whilst detailing thousands of years of history. his knowledge of the church, it's teachings and it's history, go far beyond what he covers, and its clear that this is the case in how he discusses everything.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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- Elke
- 05-02-23
Very Good for the history
But less critical than I thought it ought to be. I enjoyed the medieval section as it gave me a better understanding of the relationships between the Church and royalty, equally, I enjoyed the period from the 70’s onwards as that’s my time period and it was nice to be reminded of JPII, even if he was behind the times. But I did feel it lacked its own critique of the Church through the ages and the damage caused to so many by it’s often strange interpretations of the bible. It’s not an inclusive church and doesn’t accept all people’s still, even if it thinks it does, so I don’t necessarily agree with the author- he seemed very biased to me.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Lisa
- 28-01-23
A brilliant history
I was looking for something that would give me a full history of the Catholic Church, without ‘preaching’ and this did exactly that. Excellent series of lectures.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Stephen Callaghan
- 28-05-18
Brilliant and informative!
A wonderfully detailed overview of the Catholic Church's history. Learned a lot. Would listen again.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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- Tom
- 16-05-16
Expose of Roman Catholics error by Advocate!.
excellent history of the Apostacy from a convert! the evidence is clear but the deceit still convinces
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Jason Hill
- 27-08-22
Enthralling from beginning to end.
Ambitious in scale and hugely informative. William R. Cook also manages to write and speak fluently and emphatically enough to hold the attention for the full 19 hours. Left me wanting to dive in deeper. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Joe
- 09-06-15
Comprehensive and informative
I really enjoyed this product but professor cook's insistence on saying that Saint John paul ii apologised for the crusades in the last few lectures bugged me a little, he apologised to God on the 2000 year of the church for anything members of the church might have done wrong in her history he didn't specifically mention any event person or crime in particular, at least that was my understanding of it. Having said that I recommend this lecture course it covers everything but I'd read some other stuff on the crusades
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 31-08-21
Very informative
Really enjoyed this. The lecturer is also very interesting and clearly passionate about his subject. Wish it was more up to date and covered Francis but you can’t hold that against the course.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- MMM
- 29-11-22
Awesome fairly brief tour through Catholic history
I've really enjoyed this course. The lecturer is very good at communicating information. He's a charismatic man.
The content is of a high standard and pretty much every crucial thing seems to be addressed at least briefly.
As a great lover of Catholic history I wish there was a course twice or three times as long as this one because there is much more that could be focused on for each lecture.
Notwithstanding, it's a very stimulating series of lectures.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Nicholas Miller
- 31-07-19
The Catholic Church from a Catholic perspective
A well crafted, measured view of the Catholic Church, transparently from the Catholic perspective. It does address many of the darker sides of its history (not all - doesn't go into depth on Opus Dei, the paedophile scandals or negative interpretations of the Jesuits) but gives an overall positive (bordering on proselytizing) interpretation of Catholicism. Any historical work his its interpretation and biases - this one is just more transparent and still definitely worth listening.
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