Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews: A History

Carrol has the courage to question the basic tenets of the catholic church. He does an good job of showing that all of these tenets are in fact man-made tenets, many developed for political purposes. We need more God knowing men and woman with the courage to challenge antiquated religious dogma, dogma which has for centuries turned many of our more intelligent men and women away from organized religion and sadly away from God. It is encouraging to me to see books appearing on the scene like Constantine's Sword, An Encounter With A Prophet and Conversations With God - books which are more concerned with truth than conforming to any religious dogma no matter how ingrained that dogma is in our society.

Carrol writes an extraordinary book of incredible depth and substance. Carrol seems to understand that institutions are created by people and people have their own agendas both conscious and subconscious. Carrol has the courage to question what are often perceived as the basic tenets of the church, and does an excellent job showing that these man-made tenets often had an interesting an unique background. Although I teach history I was unaware that the apparitions at Lourdes only happened in the late 19th century. Additionally, many holocaust survivors make clear the efforts of individual catholics to help them, however the institution itself was largely dormant. While the Vatican may not acknowledge this, both the French and German bishops have come to terms with their malfeasance and nonfeasance. I think open-minded Christians and non-Christians will benefit greatly by this book.