The Catholic Church: A Short History

Hans Küng does a brilliant job of compacting the Roman Catholic Church's theological/ideological, geo-political, economic, and social development of the past 2000 years in just 200 pages. Küng discusses Catholicism (ecclesiastical development) within the larger viewpoint of the development of Christianity. As such one will learn quite a great deal also about the Eastern Orthodox Church and some valuable details about the splintering Reformation movement. While reading this book, I could not help but think that IF Küng had lived during the late Middle Ages and published this book he would have been another John Huss burned at the stake or another excommunicated Marin Luther. It helps to realize that Küng is an "insider" of the Roman Catholic Church (lived in the elite Collegium Germanicum, studied philosophy and theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University and Catholic University in Paris, and was an active participant to the Vatican II Council; read his autobiography "My Struggle for Freedom: Memoirs"), yet he has a very ecumenical view towards Christianity (and even towards other world religions). The last chapter of the book is the chapter where Küng is making his case for a inter-religious-ecumenical world view that makes Christianity a sub-set of his ecumenical understanding. I was surprised to find out that Küng still remains a Catholic even though he challenges the infallibility of the pope, the "ecumenical" nature of past church councils (since the 12th century), and various church practices that crept in the church since the late Middle Ages. Throughout the book Küng reports the historical events objectively but towards the end of the book he seems to set up his agenda for Ecumenicalism and Reform ('restoration instead of renewal') within the Church (Roman Catholic). I wish all the listed historical facts and developments would have a documented bibliography (but then the subtitle of the book would not be "A Short History.") The index was useful, and having a chronology table was a big plus.