The Real Story of Catholic History: Answering Twenty Centuries of Anti-Catholic Myths

by Steve Weidenkopf

Anti-Catholics like to paint Church teachings in a way that makes them seem vain, backward, or superstitious, all in the hope of drawing people out of the Faith and into sects or unbelief. Catholic apologists fight back with facts and sound arguments. But there’s another area where the Church’s enemies tell their own false story of its history. Whether it’s from the media, in classrooms, or out of the mouths of pastors and politicians, we’ve all heard a version of Catholic history filled with unrelenting violence, ignorance, worldliness, and bigotry. It’s enough to make many believers question whether the Church truly was founded by Christ! This kind of attack requires no less of a response from those who know the truth. In The Real Story of Catholic History, Steve Weidenkopf gives it to you. Weidenkopf (The Glory of the Crusades) collects over fifty of the most common and dangerous lies about Catholic history and, drawing on his experience as a historian and apologist, shows how to answer them simply and powerfully. Whether it’s claims about Catholicism’s supposedly pagan origins, old myths about Galileo or the Inquisition that never seem to go away, or more modern misconceptions that anti-Catholics cynically exploit, The Real Story provides the desperately needed corrective. Packed with research and diligent in pursuit of the truth, while never whitewashing or explaining away the Church’s past faults when they’re found, The Real Story of Catholic History is an essential resource for every Catholic’s bookshelf.

Genres: Catholic, Christianity, Religion, History, Church History, Nonfiction, Medieval History

257 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 5, 2017

About the author

Steve Weidenkopf is a Lecturer in Church History at the Christendom College Graduate School of Theology in Alexandria, Virginia. He has given numerous presentations and seminars on Church History, marriage and family life, human sexuality, and theology throughout the U.S. and Canada.

He served as the Director of the Office of Marriage & Family Life for the
Archdiocese of Denver (2001 - 2004) and as an advisor to Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. and was an instructor at the Our Lady of the New Advent Catechetical Institute.

Steve is a member of the Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East - an international academic group dedicated to the field of crusading history and is also a Knight of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

Reviews

[Steven R. McEvoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an interesting read. As someone with a Religious Studies degree and a specialization in Roman Catholic Thought there was much in this book that was familiar to me. But Steve ties it together in a single volume. This book is really a must read for any Catholic. For as followers of Christ we need to be able to give an answer.Part of the description of this book clains:

"Whether it's from the media, in classrooms, or out of the mouths of pastors and politicians, we've all heard a version of Catholic history filled with unrelenting violence, ignorance, worldliness, and bigotry. It's enough to make many believers question whether the Church truly was founded by Christ!

This kind of attack requires no less of a response from those who know the truth. In The Real Story of Catholic History, Steve Weidenkopf gives it to you."

And I agree. And if you combine reading this book with his The Glory of the Crusades, you can answer so many objections to Catholic church history.

This book contains 9 sections and 55 numbered chapters. The sections in this book are:

Introduction
Combatting Anti-Catholic Historical Myths
I The Early Church
II The Middle Ages
III The Crusades
IV The Inquisition
V Renaissance and Reformation
VI The Modern World
VII The Papacy
VIII Missionary Activity
IX A Mixed Bag
Afterword

This book was easily accessible. And any Catholic would benefit from reading it. It covers questions and responds to myths that go back to the beginning of the Church. Not just those that have become more popular to spout it public in recent years. It is thoroughly researched and very well documented. In fact, it has over 680 quotes, drawn from an incredibly wide range of sources. But I must state this book is not politically correct, it is not even cautious in presenting the truth, and the historical views on topics that a minority are trying to change through public opinion, sometimes even from members of the clergy. This book stands of the solid rock of history and tradition to defend the faith, both from without and from within. It is a testament to real history, and what actually happened, not modern reinterpretation! And as such it will stand out from the vast majority of works being published today.

As stated earlier this book is an excellent resource. It is a book every Catholic should read! So pick it up and learn how to respond to the myths and untruths that are so widespread today!

Read the review on my blog Book Reviews and More.

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2018 Catholic Reading Plan!

Appendix:
A detailed List of chapter titles:
Introduction
Combatting Anti-Catholic Historical Myths
SECTION I
The Early Church
1 Jesus was not a real person. He was a mythical figure created by Christians.
2 The Christian faith is just a repackaging of pagan myths.
3 Christians borrowed Christmas and Easter from pagans.
4 Catholic beliefs about the Blessed Virgin Mary are derived from pagan sources.
5 Shortly after Christ founded the Church, it underwent an apostasy, becoming the corrupt Catholic Church. The true Christian Faith went underground until the Protestant Reformation.
6 The Catholic Church caused the fall of the Roman Empire.
7 The Catholic Church suppressed certain books of the Bible (for instance, the gnostic Gospels) to control Jesus' message.
8 Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, thus institutionalizing the Catholic perversion of the true biblical faith.
9 The early Christians believed Jesus was just a prophet, and not divine. The Catholic Church at the Council of Nicaea in 325 altered that belief by declaring Jesus to be God.

SECTION II
The Middle Ages
10 The collapse of Rome ushered in the Dark Ages of ignorance and misery.
11 After the fall of Rome, the Church persecuted pagans and practiced conversion by the sword.
12 The Church began mandating clerical celibacy during the Middle Ages so that it could acquire the clergy's family property.
13 Medieval churches kept bibles chained up to prevent people from reading Scripture for themselves.

SECTION III
The Crusades
14 The Church called the Crusades to slaughter Muslims.
15 Crusaders were motivated by greed.
16 Medieval Islamic culture was far superior to that of Catholic Europe.
17 The Crusades are the reason for modern Islamic hostility toward the West.

SECTION IV
The Inquisition
18 The Church created the Inquisition to enforce absolute conformity in religious belief throughout Europe.
19 The Inquisition frequently used sadistic torture methods, and killed millions of people.
20 The Inquisition controlled the minds of Catholics by creating an Index of Forbidden Books.
21 The Inquisition initiated the great witch hunts in Europe and the New World, leading to millions of innocent women being burned at the stake.

SECTION V
Renaissance and Reformation
22 The Renaissance witnessed a revival of classical arts and culture, which the medieval Church had long suppressed.
23 The Church forcibly castrated boys to preserve their high voices for singing in church choirs.
24 The Church is opposed to science, and persecuted Galileo for teaching that the earth revolves around the sun.
25 The Church sold indulgences and ecclesiastical offices. These abuses led to the Protestant Reformation.
26 Corruption in the Church was so bad that only something radical like the Reformation could fix it.
27 Luther and other Reformers were the first to translate Scripture into vernacular languages, which the Church had previously forbidden.
28 The Reformers were holy men who struggled heroically to free the true Christian faith from the superstitions of Rome.
29 After freeing Europe from the clutches of the Catholic Church, the Protestant Reformation inaugurated an era of peace and prosperity.
30 Queen Elizabeth I of England ushered in a new golden age for her people, who greeted the new Church of England enthusiastically.

SECTION VI
The Modern World
31 In the twentieth century, the Church was the willing tool of fascists.
32 Pope Pius XII did nothing to help the Jews during World War II.
33 After World War II, the Church helped fugitive Nazis escape justice.
34 The Church prohibits birth control to control women's lives, and to increase the number of Catholics.
35 The Church seeks to impose its teachings on democratic societies by telling its members how to vote.

SECTION VII
The Papacy
36 There was once a female pope named Joan.
37 The history of the papacy is rife with greedy, lustful, worldly, and incompetent popes.
38 Throughout the Church's history, popes have been concerned mainly with acquiring wealth and political power.
39 The pope is the Antichrist, and the Church is the Whore of Babylon.
40 The early Church did not recognize the primacy of the papacy.

SECTION VIII
Missionary Activity
41 The Church sent missionaries around the world in search of gold and land for European kings.
42 Catholic missionaries mistreated, enslaved, and forcibly converted native peoples in the New World.
43 Catholic missionaries worked as spies for foreign governments, and were rightly punished and executed for it.
44 Christopher Columbus was an agent of Western imperialism, cultural destruction, and genocide.

SECTION IX
A Mixed Bag
45 The Church is one of the wealthiest organizations in the world.
46 The Catholic Church is responsible for more wars than anything else in history.
47 Sexual abuse is a pervasive problem among Catholic clergy, probably because of mandatory celibacy.
48 The Church is, and always has been, an oppressor of women.
49 Shadowy organizations such as the Knights Templar and Opus Dei have at various times secretly controlled the Church.
50 The Church has a long and ugly history of anti-Semitism.
51 The Church used to approve of or at least tolerate slavery.
52 The Church's teaching on homosexuality has changed, since there used to be a Catholic marriage rite for same-sex couples.
53 Marie Antoinette was a selfish and decadent Catholic queen who callously told her starving subjects to 'eat cake.'
54 The alleged 'Miracle of the Sun' at Fátima, Portugal, in 1917, was actually a mass delusion.
55 Catholic historians cannot be trusted because their faith compromises their objectivity.
Afterword

Books by Steve Weidenkopf:
The Glory of the Crusades
The Real Story of Catholic History
20 Answers: The Reformation
Timeless: A History of the Catholic Church
Epic Study Set: A Journey Through Church History: Questions & Responses with Alan Schreck

Read the review on my blog Book Reviews and More.

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2018 Catholic Reading Plan!

[Jeff Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very good compendium of responses to so many anti-Catholic myths throughout history. Succinct, but full of useful knowledge. It also contains numerous footnotes.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I chose to read this book because Trent Horn mentioned it on his podcast. Parts of it were great, but I felt like I couldn't trust the author for a number of reasons. He often made a straw man out of the opposing arguments and he made a steel-man out of the the Catholic Church. For example, he painted John Calvin as some sort of executioner because of a single occurrence largely out of his control, and, near the end, he downplayed the history of anti-Semitism in the Catholic Church. The earliest churches fathers absolutely wrote against mainstream Judaism – they had to to separate it from Christianity. I'm remembering several quotes from Justin Martyr. But this book doesn't mention those early fathers.

The most jarring part of this book was the word choice. I'm appalled that a book written in the year 2017 used the word "Indians" instead of "Native Americans". Weldenkopf knew that was offensive and chose to use that verbage. Do you see what I mean when I say he doesn't seem trustworthy? Additionally, he uses the word "retarded" several times when it isn't necessary. It's jarring. It feels like he didn't get an editor, and it made him lose my trust.

I'd recommend "The Real Story of Catholic History," to someone curious about a Catholic viewpoint. But I did not feel intellectually satisfied when I finished it. I felt like Weldenkopf was embellishing and withholding information. I think the greatest danger is that most readers, myself included, are largely ignorant of these historical events and don't have the time to fact check them.

[William Gill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short topical chapters centered around specific charges make this an easy book to read and digest. Weidenkopf does a good job of picking apart a wide range of anti-Catholic claims and arguments, but at times his picking becomes cherry picking and his presentation of Catholic history is bit too sanitized for my taste. At other times, his facts are plain wrong, such as his puzzling assertion that Luther did not attend the Diet of Worms.
All in all, this is a good starting point for someone who wants to explore the long list of calumnies and lies that have been propagated about the Church and the Catholic faith in general. At the very least, the reader should come away with plenty of new questions as to why so many persons and groups seem to feel the need to distort the facts and repeat ignorant falsehoods.

[Eduardo Garcia-Gaspar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una lista de 55 ataques en contra del catolicismo y las correspondientes respuestas con datos históricos. Una colección de utilidad para el católico que enfrenta esos ataques y críticas. Desde la afirmación de que Jesús es una figura mítica hasta el milagro del sol detenido en Fátima, pasando por la supresión de libros, las cruzadas, las torturas de la Inquisición y otras muchas. Una buena introducción a cada tema, con datos históricos y de breve exposición, lo que servirá al católico para dar una respuesta razonable. Lectura sencilla que responde a las usuales críticas y no sin buena dosis de realismo.

[Carl Hardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An in-depth look at the Real History of the Catholic Church

This look at the real history of the Catholic Church uses well documented historically accurate data to debunk many myths concerning the church Jesus started with Peter as his Rock. The synopsis at the end of each chapter ties the narrative and facts together. A must read for Catholic's allowing them to answer many of the questions brought against the Catholic Church by Protestants.

[Jedi C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Concise, clear, and Christ-centered, this book made evidence-based refutations of the most common claims against the Church. It explained it in easy-to-understand terms that did not devolve into oversimplification and situated each issue in its appropriate context, adding nuance and ultimately pointing readers to the source of the faith--Jesus. Excellent read for those who are starting their dive into apologetics.

[Tyler Carter Mills · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly had very little expectations going into this book as it seemed broad and therefore less focused, but I found the breakdown and correction of the myths to be sufficient and dense despite the short length. This is a good book for the laity to familiarize themselves about common myths and how to dispel them. This won’t win you an argument against a real apologist but for the common man you may come across this will be sufficient.

[Lannie Milillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Very easy to read and understand.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is clear and concise and well documented which is so important when reading apologetics I am going to take the Epics church history course this Fall. This book will be a graet companion to the study.
I was delighted to learn Mr. Weidenkopf is the author of the videos!

[Jeremy Bonnette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book of historical information in regards to Catholicism. The author does a good job of keeping each entry long enough to address the myth, but not too long as to become tedious to read. I checked this out from the library, but this is one that I wouldn't mind having on my own shelf to look at every now and then. It would be a good reference book.

4.3 out of 5 stars

[RamonIV]

Good but unapologetically biased (pun intended)

This is more of an apologetic work than a history, that was disappointing for me, as I bought this book with the expectation of reading dry history presenting hard facts, but instead it is a counternarative divided into apologetic topics.

[Celia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh my gosh, I love history, and I love my faith and the Catholic Church. That being said, Steve does a fantastic job of research and myth-busting to write a great book about 2000 years of history that shaped the world, for better. This is the kind of read where I did one chapter, or era of history, and let it simmer in my mind.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extremely insightful look at the Catholic Church's 2000+ year history. The book is organized in short, easy to understand chapters that address many of the most controversial attacks on the Church. The author was thorough with his sources, including a lengthy appendix, which in my opinion, is always a plus. Highly recommend.

[Morgan Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely a handy resource to revisit! Each chapter is roughly 2-4 pages long, and the book itself is divided into sections based either on a specific time period or topic, making reference work that much easier. The writing is not only engaging but also written in a way that's digestible and easy to understand for non-historians like me. Suffice to say, I learned a lot!

[Jeanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear and concise

Brief, clear answers of what really happened. Sources are in footnotes at the end of each chapter. I would have also liked a bibliography with summaries at the end. I also would like an index.

[Dennis J. Waszak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent source for Catholic apologetics.

This book was an easy read and excellent source for the beginner on Catholic apologetics. I would recommend this to anyone interested in learning about the historical basis on questions on Catholicism and the Church.

[Celz Lin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like the author wrote, there are really a lot of anti-Catholic books and I read some of them so I really searched for Pro-Catholic books (which aren’t many) to know their point of view. The author is also correct in saying that if you asked a Catholic person, he/she couldn’t defend the Catholic Church. Most people are really saying that the Roman Catholic Church killed a lot of people brutally (and Jesus was killed by the Romans and the Pharisees) of the crusades and inquisitions around the world. This book gives a balance into my studies.

[Juliana Feriani · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave this two stars. I found some of the information very interesting and relevant. However, when trying to debunk some of the "myths," writing, well, yes, the Catholic Church (or people within the Church) did do this, but so and so did worse, is not really debunking the myth.

[DALE · Rating 5 out of 5]

good read

History properly told helps us understand ourselves today. Too many historians tend to rewrite history for their time or for political or social reason and the real history gets lost. This book cuts through the myths.

[nvilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

History fans will not be disappointed!

Read provides excellent companion to author's lectures at the Institute of Catholic Culture. History fans will not be disappointed one bit.

[George M. Greene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good concise defense of the faith

I have taken Prof. Weidenkopf’s video lecture series and this book fills in additional details. Well written and very well sourced.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent resource for refuting all of the lies that we Catholics deal with on a weekly or sometimes daily basis.

[Michael Cates · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Book

This was extremely well formatted, in bite-sized snippets of information, that gave you enough data to refute the erroneous claims presented against the Church.

[Susan Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want to know the real history of the Catholic Church - read this book

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Catholic Church is rich in tradition and history. This book clears up many myths that people need to know.