Reviews for A Church to believe in

The average rating for A Church to believe in based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-08-17 00:00:00 Eric Crowder I was once told that the history of the Catholic Church could be divided into three parts. These periods were from: 1. Christ’s Resurrection 2. the Church merging with Constantine (Holy Roman Emperor) into a church/state about 300 AD and 3. Vatican II in the 1960's. Presently, the Roman Catholic Church is seen by progressives as being in a reactionary state that is pushing for a return to pre Vatican II days. The author of this book, an American cardinal, was very bright, influential, well respected and a leader in Vatican II reforms. He presents, in my opinion, an excellent account of the authenticity of Vatican II as being a restoration or return to the first period in the Church’s history. The disparity within the Catholic Church today includes questions regarding such areas as optional celibacy, authority, infallibility of the pope, ecumenism, role of women, homosexuality, divorce, inclusivity, language etc. This book is a reflection of the struggles of spiritual people deciding whether to return to the roots of the Church, or to retain a Church/State mentality and structure. I feel that Avery Dulles' explanation and reflections on the state of the Church are brilliant. It is a slow read unless you are a theologian. I am not, but nevertheless, I feel I got a lot out of this book.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-11-29 00:00:00 Kwai Hung Yu A collection of related essays edited together into a single book, A Church to Believe In is effectively a group of related thoughts about ecclesiology. Its focus on ecumenism and Cardinal Dulles's studied knowledge hark back to a time (the 1970s-early 80s) with many of the same rifts in the Catholic Church, but in a very different atmosphere. There was plenty to ponder while reading it in 2018, and the very fact of reading it was a bit of an antidote to the pessimism easily engendered by focusing on current events.