The History of the Church of Christ
by Pierre Daniel-Rops (Cluny Media, in ten volumes, from 27.95 US dollars/25.50 euros)
In the post-war decades, two authors stood out for many Catholics in Ireland. One was the Jesuit Father Frederick Copleston with his volumes of A history of philosophywhich was perhaps a little too academic for the average reader. The other notable series were the books of the French author who used the pseudonym Daniel-Rops. It should be noted that he was not a priest but a lay man of letters.
The first book I got from him was Jesus in his time (first published in 1945). I was given a copy of this much-reprinted book for Christmas after school. As far as I can remember, it was the first book of its kind I read, not for a course or for school, but purely out of interest.
This topic still interests me deeply today, because Jesus is certainly the key to so much else in his time.
Meaning
Between 1948 and 1963, Daniel-Rops published the ten volumes of his influential History of the Church of Christ. It is clear that these titles are consistent with the thinking and Catholic social developments that led to the Second Vatican Council. These facts are significant because, after completing a period of research and editorial development, Cluny Media has brought the entire series back to print in English translation in a beautifully designed edition.
I suspect that these books played an important role in developing the minds of many of those who once taught the rising generation, but more than that they contained the material upon which others based their faith, and if not their faith, then at least their respect for the best in Catholic thought.
“They should keep in mind that the complex questions surrounding the historicity of Jesus cannot be avoided or neglected.”
One is surprised that, although they have carefully reprinted the volumes on the Church of Christ, they have not yet thought of reprinting Jesus in His Time and the accompanying volume Israel and Antiquity on the peoples of the Bible.
But the story that Daniel-Rops develops in his long series was, for him, founded on these two earlier books. You cannot have the Church of Christ without dealing with the biblical background and the historical Jesus.
So when giving people the opportunity to familiarize themselves with this series, they should keep in mind that the complex questions surrounding the historicity of Jesus cannot be avoided or neglected.
clarification
People today have very strange ideas about church history, which may change when you read Daniel-Rops. Others have even stranger ideas about Jesus in his historical context.
These books could help to make people better informed. In a debate, you can only dismiss what you have at least tried to understand and process. It is very foolish to throw overboard the concepts of charity, justice and love of neighbor that have sustained European civilization for over two thousand years.
Details about the series can be found on the Cluny Media website. Delivery is free for orders over a certain price.
