Product Description

From the basic ideas and terms, to its structures and practices, this book offers a plain-speaking introduction to Roman Catholicism.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #283637 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

From the Back Cover

From the basic ideas and terms, to its structures and practices, this book offers a plain-speaking introduction to Roman Catholicism. It covers:

• Roman Catholic beliefs and traditions
• practices and devotional life – rituals, prayer, mass
• Church structures and authorities –from Vatican to parish church
• Church hierarchies and people –from bishops to the laity
• the role of the Church in society.

With glossary, further reading sections and an appendix on the history of the Papacy, this is the perfect guide for anyone wanting to understand more about Roman Catholicism.

About the Author
Michael Walsh is a Librarian at Heythrop College, University of London. He is a columnist in the Tablet and a regular contributor to other periodicals, and is review editor for the Heythrop Journal.

Customer Reviews

a 'what' not a 'why' guidebook
As I read this book, I wonder why would someone want to read it. I don't doubt that people would want to, and indeed should, read a book that explains the largest and longest continually established religious phenomenon on the planet that is still followed by hundreds of millions of sincere believers. I just worried about who the author was addressing.

There are a limited range of possible readers. The first is the casually inquisitive. If this is you, then skip it for it has too much unnecessary detail. The second is the seriously convertible person seeking a faith and meaning in his life in our decadent secular age. If this is you, then skip this book too as it is dry. The third is the serious scholar seeking to add to his religious knowledge. In this case the book is a useful introduction to a highly complex, developing organisation.

But, how many people fall into the third category? Not many, I reckon. If you are casually inquisitive you will learn more from talking with a practising Catholic or a priest. If you are seriously seeking a way out of secular liberalism or empty religiosity then there are far better guidebooks to a Catholic life than this one. Again, I'd suggest you get along to a church, or talk with a practising Catholic or priest, or attend an Alpha course.

Overall, I wish this had been a more overtly evangelical book about a living faith that empowers millions. Instead it suffers from being written for a secular unbelieving age being a text that in unpicking the actuality loses the overall picture and purpose of Catholicism.