1) The early Church and the Patristic age: 33-450AD [The Church grows from obscurity to become the dominant religion in Rome. The orthodox creed is ironed out amid numerous heresies and schisms.]
- The Early Church by Henry Chadwick
- The Rise of Christianity by Rodney Stark
- The Spirit of Early Christian Thought by Robert Louis Wilken
2) The Dark Ages: 450-1000AD [The Roman empire disappears in the West, and the Church forges a new civilization.]
- The Making of Europe by Christopher Dawson
- The Rise of Western Christendom by Peter Brown
3) The High Middle Ages: 1000-1300AD [The Church asserts her independence. The clash with secular powers. Universities and scholasticism. The crusades.]
- The Papal Monarchy by Colin Morris
- Religion and the Rise of Western Culture by Christopher Dawson
- A Concise History of the Crusades by Thomas Madden
- Inquisition by Edward Peters
- The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy by Etienne Gilson
4) The Renaissance: 1300-1500AD [The Great Schism. Conciliarism and the corruption it fostered. The flowering of Italian civic culture. The worldly popes.]
- haven’t found any particularly good books on this era yet
5) The counter-reformation: 1500-1800AD [Trent and the reform of the clergy. The wars of religion. Missionary efforts throughout the world.]
- The Refashioning of Catholicism, 1450-1700 by Robert Bireley
- The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico by Robert Ricard
- The Lost Paradise: an account of the Jesuits in Paraguay by Philip Caraman
6) The battle with liberalism: 1800-1960AD [Enlightenment, Revolution, persecution. The secular powers embrace godlessness, but the Church holds firm.]
- The Popes and the European Revolution by Owen Chadwick
- Prosperity and Plunder: European Catholic Monastaries in the Age of Revolution, 1650-1815 by Derek Beales
- The French Revolution and the Church by John McManners
- A History of the Popes, 1830-1914 by Owen Chadwick
- Religion and the People of Western Europe 1789-1989 by Hugh McLeod
- Earthly Powers by Michael Burleigh
- A Fight for God by Henri Daniel-Rops
- The Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century by Robert Royal
- The Cristero Rebellion by Jean Meyer
- The Spanish Civil War as a Religious Tragedy by Jose Sanchez
- The Vatican in the Age of Dictators, 1922-1945 by Anthony Rhodes
7) Debacle: 1960- [Surrender, betrayal, heresy, apostasy, hedonism, ruin.]
- The Desolate City by Anne Roche Muggeridge
Filed under: How we got to this point, The sacred |
You might want to check out Charles Trinkaus’ two-volume _In Our Image and Likeness_ for a historical study of (mostly Italian) Renaissance thought which understands that its different spiritual tone was still Christian and not pagan.
Hello Craig,
Thank you for the recommendation. This sounds like a good couple of books, and a good way for me to fill a gap in my knowledge of Church history.