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

This book was organized and written incredibly well. Easy to read misconceptions explained and "debunked" in 2-3 pages each. This book is impossible to put down. There are so many myths/misconceptions tackled -- some I even believed to be completely true or partly true and some made me question my decision to return to the Catholic Church; things I've questioned before my return, that I found myself questioning again in recent years because I've heard them so many times since my return (12 years ago) -- that I now have a better understanding of historically, factually, and contextually. Note: I've fact-checked some things (especially about Luther and some of the things he's said that is indicated as quoted, but in reality it's quoted from another book about Luther, not Luther directly, in at least one or two instances) but I've found the author's account to be true for the most part and nothing was outright false either. I can't put this book down! So glad I found it in hardcover because I plan to read it again and again and refer to it often.

Well written and documented facts substantiate history as seen through the eyes of a Catholic! This book is an eye opener, a removal of the vail that blinds us from the truth. An excellent work!

Every person interested in religion should read this book. Factual and not mean spirited.

Read it, but most of the history I already knew. For someone with the knowledge, it would be very useful.

I was shocked to understand how many lies about the original Church, the Catholic Churches under Rome, founded by Jesus, on the Apostles with PETER as the Head, were initiated by Protestant "Reformers". YES, the evidence reveals that Jesus' original Church IS the same Catholic Church we have today - teaching the same doctrines. As lies are NOT part of Christianity, the real question is: What Was Going On With these "Reformers"? Who were they actually? WHAT were their REAL motives? This book ignited a desire to research this (and this book provides some clues and sources to that end). Turns out that almost all of these Reformers, Luther, Calvin, Tyndale, were not good men: greedy; self-absorbed; anti-women; anti-Jew; anti-truth, and with personal motives that Jesus would never approve. It is a wonder that Luther and Tyndale were Catholic Priests. Luther in his OWN words hated God (not kidding), hated Jews, and wrote that he wanted to personally burn every witch he could find. [In sharp contrast, the Catholic Church almost always responded to witches with treatment of both prayer and Catechism studies]. Luther also urged the bobles to use violence against the peasant resulting in some 100,000-130,000 peasants beign murdered by Luther's actions. He "admitted' his guilt, but then BLAMED GOD. Shameful. Much as today, some men join the Church priesthood to intentionally corrupt it. This book will make you question: WHAT really motivated the Reformation? It was clearly NOT about spiritual reform. EXAMPLE: Henry VIII of England murdered 8,000 Catholic priests and nuns and stole the wealth of the Church, paid and acquired for/by Catholics over many centuries. He stripped gold and jewels from all real Church Bibles (paid for and put there by believers to honor God). Elizabeth I, aided by William Cecil, enacted laws to criminalize Catholicism and killed anyone caught practicing it. Their goal was keep the wealth stolen from Catholics. The Reformation was about stealing and keeping the immense wealth that the Catholic People invested into their Church. FOLLOW THE MONEY - that is what motivated Reformers. DID YOU KNOW that Martin Luther ADDED the [German] word for "ONLY" (alone) to the original Greek BIBLE to create his By Faith Alone (Sole Fide) doctrine? Solo Fide is a highly UNBIBLICAL concept as is Sola Scriptura. Neither doctrine existed before the Reformers created them. Neither doctrine withstands honest Biblical studies. BUT the Reformers had to lie about the Church so they had to PRETEND these doctrines came from Jesus. Jesus left the World HIS Church, not a Bible. The Bible was canonized (put together from existing genuine documents in the late 300's). CALVINISTS: DID you know Calvin was a serial murderer who used his position and power to burn others, including other "Reformers," at the stake? Utterly immoral man who knew nothing of real Christianity. Sound like Jesus would approve of these men? NO. Protestants: you have a moral obligation to seek Truth. Historically, Truth is a major friend of the Roman Church and not kind to Protestant churches. Start with this book. MAJOR LESSON LEARNED from this book which inspired other reading and research: The Reformation, as taught today, was a fraud and arguably the greatest work of Satan as it split the Church Jesus Himself authorized and keeps it split.

The Catholic Church has been around for two thousand years. It has an extremely rich and variegated history that has witnessed everything from the height of the ancient Roman Empire to the current hyper-connected state of our globalized world. Given such length and complexity, it’s no surprise that we find many inaccuracies, oversimplifications and outright lies and myths used by the detractors and enemies of the Church in an effort to cast her in an unfavorable light. I have personally experienced such myths of Catholic history in the form of questions ranging from the legitimacy of the Crusades of the Middle Ages to the alleged atrocities of the Catholic inquisitions in medieval Christendom. What’s the average Catholic to do in the face of such challenges? Professor Steve Weidenkopf is a lecturer of Church history at the Christendom college graduate school of theology and a regular contributor to Catholic Answers’ published material. His most recent work titled “The real story of Catholic History: Answering twenty centuries of anti-Catholic myths” is a magnificent compendium of sound scholarship and apologetic finesse that seeks to put to rest the most vicious and pernicious myths of Church history. Without ever whitewashing the faults perpetrated by some of her members, Professor Weidenkopf deals honestly with the major events of Church history and applies a much needed corrective to the popular yet false narratives that still enjoy widespread circulation. At 55 yet succinct chapters, the book is staggering in the number of topics it addresses. All the major events in Church history that have been subject to gross distortions are aptly handled including some you probably have not heard of such as this one: “The Church began mandating clerical celibacy during the Middle Ages so that it could acquire the clergy’s family property.” We have the mission as Catholics to bear witness to the apostolic faith in word and deed. Equipped with Professor Weidenkopf’s new book, we can be more confident that the splendor of truth will shine more radiantly as we work for the advancement of God’s kingdom on earth.

Great read to counter tired ill-informed anti-Catholic talking points by protestants and fedora atheists.

This book is jam packed with refutation of the most common myths we hear against the Catholic Church. This book does a good job at dismantling them with accurate history and cited sources. I couldn't put the book down and blew through it in a few days. I highly recommend. It will aid in defense of the faith and a must have for your library.

There is a lack of homogeneity from chapter to chapter.. There are sections really well argumented and convincingly persuasive for sharing the evidences with a skeptic, yet others seem to fall a bit short and just superficially address the issue. Thankfully there is a lot of good material for historical apologetics.

The different dates of the Western and Orthodox Christmas and Easter were caused by the West's adoption of the Gregorian calendar over the Julian calendar in the 17th and 18th centuries. It had nothing to do with discussions in the earlier centuries. When it started, the Gregorian calendar moved the dates on about 11 days after the Julian calendar. Now, it is about 13 or 14 days ahead. The Eastern churches have simply stuck with the Julian calendar for liturgical purposes. I was disappointed to see that error in a book that is supposed to be correcting errors.

We love this book. It's so informative. Would recommend this to anyone to read.

Factual

Good