Monks and Mystics: Chronicles of the Medieval Church

History Lives #2

by Mindy Withrow, Brandon Withrow

Daily Readings

Genres: History, Church History, Biography, Christian, Nonfiction, Christian Non Fiction, Childrens

Unknown Binding

First published November 1, 2005

About the author

Mindy Rice Withrow is co-author with her husband, historian Brandon Withrow, of the 5 volume History Lives series for young adults. A former magazine editor and communications director, she now works as a concept creator and content strategist for an uber-cool digital agency. She reviews books at mindywithrow.com and at discardedimage.com, where she is Fiction Reviews Editor.

Reviews

[Jonathan Weaver · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic look into the Medieval Church with only a few individuals among the vast and numerous names during these years! I liked that they started with the "first Pope" but tried to give a ranging perspective of saints and their allegiances or rebellions of the Greek Orthodox or Roman Catholic Church. Some of the chapters were very difficult for my 9 yo son to follow due the sheer amount of names, places, and councils as is normative in medieval history. Overall, this series is a great narrative exploration of church history and we are excited to get the next one!

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book three in a series of five. This book focuses on a number of Christians from the Middle Ages with a brief biographical episode retold in story-form. The book does a good job of portraying the heroes of the faith in ways that help us understand what kind of person they were--what they were known for, and knits them into a larger story of God's Kingdom advancing on earth.

I read this out loud to my kids.

[Shaun Marksbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good continuation to the series. I was a little disappointed that it was a little soft on the dangers posed by the Muslim invasions which prompted the crusades. Still, in all, a very moving telling of history. Recommended!

[Annie Bruza · Rating 4 out of 5]

This second installment of a five book series making church history more accessible to children was just as great as the first. I love how it uses stories to glimpse into the lives of the great believers who came before us as well as major events that shaped church history.

I think more specifically to this book I would’ve liked to have seen some mention of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Since this book deals with the time period after the Great Schism between the Eastern and Western churches it seemed odd that we only followed people in the Western Church.

I’m excited to keep reading this series and to one day read them with my own children.

[Christina Eastwood · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cleverly got up to look a bit like something from the Horrible Histories series and beautifully presented inside, I was hoping for something like a fresh presentation of the information in Vreugdenhil's God's Care and Continuance of his Church which is so badly translated from the Dutch as to be useless. I was disappointed: this book has some serious flaws. "Modern Protestants disagree with quite a few medieval ideas" it says but never explains why or who is correct. Of course we know that "men and women of the middle ages were not always wrong" (p.12) but unless the wrong ideas and the right ones are clearly pointed out from Scripture this information is not very useful, especially to a child.
The idea of fictionalised scenes from church history interspersed with commentary is an excellent one but the commentary needs to be more useful than this. The standard of background research is revealed by the mention of potatoes in the Rome of 593AD and tea in Florence in 1376! A child reading this book will get little help in understanding the issues and characters of church history- or of what life was like back then either.

[Brenna Donnelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative book.
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[Sarah Norton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Monks and Mystics is Volume 2 in a 5 part book series on the history of the church written with children ages 9-14 in mind....but all ages will appreciate these stories.

Volume 2 spans from 550-1500AD. This volume includes topical chapters like What is Islams?, How Did the Pope Get His Name?, What were the Crusades? and How the University was Born. Which were extremely helpful in understanding the history of the church and secular history which is those times were one in the same. This volume also looks at the lives of people like Charlemagne, Thomas Aquinas, John Wyclif and John Hus.

This series has been so helpful in understanding the origins of the early church, church history, secular history and why God alone is the authority of the church.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read the first two books in this series, and both have one main drawback: they rely too much on dialogue and not enough on narrative storytelling. The dialogue gets confusing and tiring.

However. These books are an interesting way to learn about church history from a biographical perspective.

[Jenny Felber (Wildflower Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this book….I’m reading it to my kids but I’ve found the chapters are much longer and more drawn out than the first book “Peril and Peace” and often we go back into “memory land” and it’s hard to keep track of who we’re talking about any more.
Also disappointing that this series has gone out of print and are becoming very difficult to find n

[Maxime N. Georgel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Les Bâtisseurs, en français. Suite des Fondateurs, qui racontent l'histoire de l'Église primitive. Ce volume raconte l'histoire de l'Église médiévale.

Accessible, passionnant, le public est bien visé. Mes enfants les liront, Dieu voulant !

[Aden .V]

Monks and mystics is a great book. It teaches you about all the popes and bishops as well as important people from the past. It's choice of characters i outstanding and its quite the book. Overall, this book is a must read if you love ancient history!

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m reading these books out loud to my two youngest. It’s a great and engaging way to learn some church history together. Thus is an area we often lack teaching in, and I do think it’s important. Would definitely recommend these for reading aloud together as a family.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice book for history of early church figures.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Middle school level book on the church in the Middle Ages. Series of stories about historical figures that established the church.

[Sean Harding · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second book in the church history series for younger readers, that does make history come alive and is very engaging.

[Ali · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is about the medieval church. It contains stories of different people during that time.
Some people it talks about are: Gregory the Great, who was an archdeacon in Pope Pelagius's time, Anslem, who was an archbishop and died in 1109, Francis, who thought he was destined to become a knight, but ended up becoming a monk and founding the Franciscans, and John Wycliffe, who wrote against the wrong things that the church was doing, like being too concerned about wealth and power.
It also talks about different councils, the crusades, and the first university.
This was a pretty good book, but I got bored reading it. History isn't my favorite thing to read, but it's still a good book.

[Kristina Seleshanko · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give this book 3 1/2 stars. Although I love the first book in this series, and although "Monks & Mystics" follows the same basic format of presenting the stories of notable Christians in a novelized fashion, this book is flawed because of its presentation of the Crusades. Some sort of balanced explanation of this famous era in history is required, yet the authors seem to avoid approaching it head on. Although they tell stories related to the Crusade, they never truly explain the reasons behind the various crusades, beginning with Muslim invasion of Europe.) This really mars an otherwise terrific book.

[Emma Filbrun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like the first volume in this series, Peril and Peace, we found Monks and Mystics to be absolutely fascinating. Mindy and Brandon Withrow have done a superb job of bringing the medieval church to life through stories of famous people from various times. Some are heroes; some (in my opinion) are villains. All are real people who really lived.

Read my full review here.

[A Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provided a great overview and historical context of Christianity in the Medieval Church. It synced up with the Middle Ages studies the kids and I are doing and I'm glad for this resource. It will be a great read-aloud series for the kids in the next year or two--or even an independent reader. I'm anxious to read the rest in the series! (borrowed from Mystie)

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a decent overview. I found myself longing for deeper study. I read this because it is a part of my child's school curriculum, and I feel for her age 11 this was a good book. As an adult though it left me wanting deeper content.

[Stephanie Sheaffer · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's fascinating to learn more about church history. Like its predecessor (Peril & Peace), however, the book lacks cohesion and an easy flow. The characters tend to all sound the same and the stories blend together - which makes it difficult to remember key historical moments.

[Peter Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good children's introduction to several characters from the Medieval church. Written in a lively style that kept my boys' attention.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good overview of the high points of the medieval church for children.

[Ebookwormy1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why was this particular title so slow for us? It might have more to do with our exhaustion and a difficult family time than inconsistency on the part of the authors.

[Hans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good.I like history,so of course I loved every bit of it.:) Anyone who loves history like me will probably like it to!

[Daniel Moss · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Wycliffe and John Hus...Wow! Two new heroes of mine. I need to find biographies on these two guys!

[Dawn Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite Medieval history "spines." Fictionalized sketches of historic figures.

[Jaeger Matthias · Rating 4 out of 5]

I Loved It!