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Timeless: A History of the Catholic Church
All the makings of your favorite adventure story - drama, intrigue, promise, love, hope, and heartache spanning two thousand years...and YOU are a part of it! A History of the Catholic Church is a fresh retelling of the history of the Church. In this easy-to-read, not-your-average history book, Steve Weidenkopf introduces you to the vivid, dynamic story of God's work in the world since Pentecost. Along the way, you will meet the weird, wonderful, and always fascinating heroes and villains of the Catholic family tree. Read Timeless and you'll ABOUT THE AUTHOR Steve Weidenkopf teaches Church History at the Christendom College Graduate School of Theology in Alexandria, VA. He is the author of The Glory of the Crusades (2014), The Real Story of Catholic Answering Twenty Centuries of Anti-Catholic Myths (2017), and 20 The Reformation (2017). He is the creator, co-author, and presenter of the adult faith formation program A Journey through Church History and is a popular author and speaker on the Crusades and other historical topics.
576 pages, Paperback
Published January 10, 2019
130 people are currently reading
315 people want to read
About the author
Steve Weidenkopf
16 books44 followersSteve 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 30, 2019
Priceless
Many people will argue that this book is written by a Catholic, so therefore it is anti-protestant. Steve did a great job of keeping his bias out of the pages and presented to facts, unlike protestant writings that always paint the Catholic Church with the blackish paint it can find.
Many people will argue that this book is written by a Catholic, so therefore it is anti-protestant. Steve did a great job of keeping his bias out of the pages and presented to facts, unlike protestant writings that always paint the Catholic Church with the blackish paint it can find.
April 1, 2019
What an inspiring story for the Catholic Church, especially in today's time. I am forever grateful for Jesus Christ in setting up the Catholic Church to guide humans in matters of truth, morality, and a relationship with God.
April 14, 2021
Really good! Unlike many history books, this is not dry at all! It puts the 'story' in HISTORY
August 27, 2023
A wonderful and very readable journey through 2000 years of church history. Obviously when you cover that much ground in a single 538 page volume you are skimming the surface, however I appreciated the wider perspective that such an approach gives. This is a great place to start if you have not done much study of church history or just want a nice refresher. Either way from here you will now have the knowledge base to dig further into the original sources and specific time periods that interest you. As someone who has read extensively from the original sources, I found the scholarship to be first rate and very balanced especially around controversial historical periods and conflicts. Highly recommended for anyone interested in this subject.
December 2, 2022
Surprisingly readable for such a daunting book. Told as a story that keeps the reader engaged, and the author clearly did enormous amounts of research to compile all this info into one volume. Highly recommended!
March 6, 2019
Awesome Book!
This book gave me such a great understanding of the Catholic Church and its struggles over the years. This book is a must read whether you are religious or not.
This book gave me such a great understanding of the Catholic Church and its struggles over the years. This book is a must read whether you are religious or not.
June 19, 2023
Interesting Read, Highly Biased, Selective, and Solicitous to a Roman Catholic Narrative while Also Severely Negative toward non-Catholic Narratives
As a student of Biblical and Church History, this book was interesting to read. As a Protestant, it is important for me to read and listen to those who criticize my own faith tradition.
At the outset, the Biblical grounds cited by the author for Petrine Primacy are highly suspect at best. To describe Paul’s encounter with Peter at Antioch and described in Galatians as a “fraternal” disagreement embellished by Protestants is not only questionable, but really betrays the skew and bias of the entire book throughout when the author gives Rome and the Pope pass after pass even while claiming to be self-critical.
This is also true of the Jerusalem Counsel in Acts 15 as well as Peter’s profession about Christ in Matthew 15. I’m was even more convinced after reading this book that the establishment and evolution of Petrine primacy in the Romans Catholic Church is an unbiblical development conveniently emerging over the years in Church history and without warrant from Scripture itself.
As the quilted approach of the book’s whole cloth narrative as it progresses from one historical moment (and Pope) to another. The author proffers criticisms of Roman Catholicism, which become occasions for excuse making, blame shifting, and light criticism while the heavy criticism is saved for opponents, so even the criticisms seem to become back-handed complements as they unfold.
The development of early church fathers was fascinating to read despite selective self-serving narratives. And there were certainly great stories as well.
The analysis of the Protestant Reformation (“revolution” according the author) and the “Reformation” at the Council of Trent (which couldn’t be a “counter-Reformation” because the “Protestant Reformation” wasn’t a “Reformation” but a “Revolution”)—as well as the leaders of the Protestant Reformation—was poorly done in my estimation. This is an area I’ve studied for decades. The response from the Counsel of Trent seemed thin and a poor response to Luther, Calvin, and the reformers.
In sum, it seems to me that the historical pursuit of assurance of salvation—or I should say the absence of assurance except through the Roman Catholic church— and the rejection of justification by faith alone is a most tragic biblical error from the beginning (Biblically speaking and not merely starting with Luther) ultimately leads to all sorts errors and attempts by Christians who long for assurance of salvation, leading generations of people into wearing all sorts of hair shirts in an attempt to earn God’s and the Popes acceptance.
After reading this history, I am more convinced than before that justification by faith alone is the hinge on which the church stands or falls.
As a student of Biblical and Church History, this book was interesting to read. As a Protestant, it is important for me to read and listen to those who criticize my own faith tradition.
At the outset, the Biblical grounds cited by the author for Petrine Primacy are highly suspect at best. To describe Paul’s encounter with Peter at Antioch and described in Galatians as a “fraternal” disagreement embellished by Protestants is not only questionable, but really betrays the skew and bias of the entire book throughout when the author gives Rome and the Pope pass after pass even while claiming to be self-critical.
This is also true of the Jerusalem Counsel in Acts 15 as well as Peter’s profession about Christ in Matthew 15. I’m was even more convinced after reading this book that the establishment and evolution of Petrine primacy in the Romans Catholic Church is an unbiblical development conveniently emerging over the years in Church history and without warrant from Scripture itself.
As the quilted approach of the book’s whole cloth narrative as it progresses from one historical moment (and Pope) to another. The author proffers criticisms of Roman Catholicism, which become occasions for excuse making, blame shifting, and light criticism while the heavy criticism is saved for opponents, so even the criticisms seem to become back-handed complements as they unfold.
The development of early church fathers was fascinating to read despite selective self-serving narratives. And there were certainly great stories as well.
The analysis of the Protestant Reformation (“revolution” according the author) and the “Reformation” at the Council of Trent (which couldn’t be a “counter-Reformation” because the “Protestant Reformation” wasn’t a “Reformation” but a “Revolution”)—as well as the leaders of the Protestant Reformation—was poorly done in my estimation. This is an area I’ve studied for decades. The response from the Counsel of Trent seemed thin and a poor response to Luther, Calvin, and the reformers.
In sum, it seems to me that the historical pursuit of assurance of salvation—or I should say the absence of assurance except through the Roman Catholic church— and the rejection of justification by faith alone is a most tragic biblical error from the beginning (Biblically speaking and not merely starting with Luther) ultimately leads to all sorts errors and attempts by Christians who long for assurance of salvation, leading generations of people into wearing all sorts of hair shirts in an attempt to earn God’s and the Popes acceptance.
After reading this history, I am more convinced than before that justification by faith alone is the hinge on which the church stands or falls.
June 24, 2019
I enjoyed the book and learned a lot, but there was definitely a bias towards the Western Roman Catholic Church. I felt some important events to the Eastern church were excluded. Additionally the discussion of the Great Schism was biased. Since we are one Church, an objective stance on this matter would have been a better approach.
February 26, 2021
An excellent, detailed and encompassing book of the history of the Catholic Church from the time of Jesus up to the present. A tome at 575 pages, it is a worthwhile book for those who enjoy history and want to know the story of Catholicism from its beginnings, to it’s painful past, and including it’s current challenges.
February 22, 2023
Well researched- extremely so- very informative. Really cool to see all this history pounded into one book. Interesting to see how many things we believe that are not true- especially in regards to the French Revolution. 👍🏻👍🏻
January 7, 2022
A good one volume history. The narrative is a bit convoluted at times and the account of the crusades seems unnecessarily thorough in comparison to other events the author covers.
September 25, 2023
Excellent book.
September 8, 2024
I thought I would learn more; maybe you will feel differently. Enjoy!
August 3, 2025
I love this book, all Catholics should read it.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews