Doors to the Sacred: A Historical Introduction to Sacraments in the Catholic Church

Martos' text is an essential reading for anybody interested in the history and theology of sacraments, especially individuals involved in the religious education of adults. well written, extremely complete and, above all, very candid. I found his comments to be very balanced.

Joe Martos' book is quite detailed on the history of the Sacraments. The first part of the book is about sacraments in general: sacraemtns in all religions, beginnings of the Christian Sacraments, Development of the Catholic Sacraments. He writes about the Protestant relationship to the Sacraments and the problems that Martin Luther had with how Catholics were doing Sacraments. In the second part of the book he goes into detail on each of the seven Catholic Sacraments. The book is so detailed and philisophical at times it makes it difficult to stay focused on the reading. This book is used in many college courses on Sacraments. It is NOT a light read, nor does it give much on the rites of today's sacraments. It is a historical perspective.

Martos's treatment of the history of the sacraments is comprehensive and very enlightening, and presented in a clear and orthodox manner. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in the Roman Catholic view of the sacraments or in Church history.There are only two disappointing aspects. First, Martos's treatment of the later 20th century gives the impression that sacramental theology is now indefinite, but that this does not matter as long as the believer finds their concepts to be "doors to the sacred." Secondly, he has the rather annoying tendency to use American RC parishes as illustrations of the promise of Vatican II fulfilled. For example, in his treatment of the sacrament of Reconciliation, he overly stresses "communal guilt" and such "corporate" sins as racism, and suggests that sacramental confession of individual sins fell by the wayside because of this new "awareness." Both are faulty concepts which he presents as if they were highly positive.It is a fine reference work, but serious theological students will need to be certain it is one of several.

Discovering the history of how the sacraments were celebrated and changed over the last 2000 years makes them come to life as real encounters with the human risen Lord. Joseph Martos gives us a very readable, interesting and extremely informative new understanding of the sacraments in this updated, after the Second Vatican Council, rendition of his earlier work on this topic. Frequent confession went from non-existent in the first century, to encouraged, to condemned by a Church Council as conducive of frequent sinning and therefore a scandal, to encouraged again for spiritual growth by the Church today. Did you experience a roller coaster of emotions about confession? So did the Catholic Church, as outlined by Martos. Read about all of the sacraments and develop an entirely new appreciation of them, as our tradition presents them. When you whet your appetite on one, you'll want to read about them all. Do yourself a favor and grow in your Catholic Faith today - read the Doors to the Sacred.