The World In Which The Church Was Founded

History of the Church #1

by Philip Hughes

This volume covers one of the most critical - and one of the most interesting - periods in the history of the Church. It is, from the beginning, a period of revolt - the revolts of thinkers and 'mystics', of princes and kings, of bishops and monks, of capitalist bourgeois and proletarian workers. It is the story of the Templars, of the 'Avignon captivity' and the Great Schism of the West, of the councils of Pisa and Contance and Basel, of the Renaissance and the rise of the Ottoman Turks. It is the story, too, of philosophers (Duns Scotus and Ockham), theologians (Gerson, Nicolas of Cusa, and Cajetan)m and humanists (More, Machiavelli, and Erasmus). Popes of the period include Boniface VIII, 'Benedict XIII', Nicholas V, and Pius II, as well as the notorious Borgia, della Rovere, and Medici pontiffs. And, in these 250 years which culminated in the Reformation, come Wicklif, John Hus, and Martin Luther - and Catherine of Sienna, Vincent Ferrer, and Antonius of Florence.

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

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1948

About the author

Monsignor Philip Hughes (1895-1967) was a Roman Catholic priest and Catholic ecclesiastical historian. He taught post-graduate courses at the University of Notre Dame.

Reviews

[Sam U · Rating 5 out of 5]

A detailed treatment from a Catholic perspective of the early Church history from Our Lord’s days up till the 7th century in Volume 1 of this classic of Philip Hughes. Hughes explains the controversies and struggles among prominent theologians, between the Church and State (Byzantine Empire), Roman Primacy ( upheld by Eastern prelates and Councils even up till 7th century) and Caesaro-Papism (pushed by the Byzantine emperors, wittingly or unwittingly. Nevertheless, Hughes did not fail to point out that the various desperate attempts of the Emperors, with coercion and persecution, trying to secure the approvals from popes of their Christological heresies published in Constantinople is only another acknowledgment of the Roman Primacy in the early Church), whilst at the same time backing it up with lines from canons and acts of various Ecumenical Councils all pointing to the importance and esteem of the Pope held by the universal early Church.