Separated Brethren: A Review of Protestant, Anglican, Eastern Orthodox & Other Religions in the United States

This is a very excellent book on a Catholic layman's view on non-Catholic religions. Mr. Whalen has been updating this book since the late 1950s. The book has progressed since before the Second Vatican Council and, as the Roman Catholic Church has changed its view on non-Catholic religions, so has the book. Mr. Whalen has enlisted the cooperation of spokespeople of the other religions. This is a good book for Catholics seeking to know what other religions believe through the lens of a Catholic layman. It is also an excellent book for people of other religions to see what Catholics believe about their religion and other religions.

Though written from a Roman Catholic perspective, few comparative religion studies are as balanced as this classic work. As a former Presbyterian I was especially interested in the section on Presbyterian denominations and was thrilled to find such detail in such concise form. This works exceeds even similar works by Presbyterian authors I have read. Concise yet thorough and immensely fair, this work delivers where so many others have failed. For depth of research and balanced explanation, there is no finer work. A must have for anyone hoping to unravel the major religions and Protestant denominations in America. Of course, describing Protestant denominations alone is a challenge since it is an attempt to hit a moving target - so often they morph and branch into the plethora of contradictory views. Yet Dr. Whalen has managed to organize and convey the key distinctives in Protestantism and also take on other non-Christian-based religions at the same time. A tall order filled in a relative small package of objective study. Very well done.

Of all the books on my shelf, Wm. Joseph Whalen's Separated Brethren is among the most instructive and the least dispensable. This is the first book I bought after converting to Catholicism, but that is not why I treasure it. Its pages are now yellowed and its cover worn, but I treasure it because it has everything I want in a book. It is concise, easy to read, gripping and addresses an issue that anyone who seeks truth should examine if he is truly sincere in his search. Which Church is the true one? Whalen answers this clearly by presenting the facts of history.Whalen's Separated Brethren is not apologetic in style, but it is apologetic in effect as it enumerates with certainty the post-apostolic origins of non-Catholic, Christian religions. Like Foxe's Book of Martyrs? Read this. You will be blown away when you see the other side of the coin. Are you a Christian who would like to see the early Church restored? Read this and find that She never died. She is, perhaps, unrecognizable, but only because She has grown more wise and beautiful.Whalen also brings together in one volume the teachings of all the mainline Protestant traditions, as well as some cults and some non-Christian traditions. I would like this book to be in the hands of every Catholic who thinks that it doesn't matter which church you go to. They are NOT all the same. A quote from "Critic" on the back cover calls this book "a masterpiece of synthesis." Well said.

"Separated Brethren" was first published 40 years ago and has been revised and updated twice since then. That this book is still around is proof of its being an excellent one-volume reference guide on religious denominations in the United States; I myself found this title very instructive and well-written. The book mostly concerns Christian denominations not in union with the Roman Catholic Church, yet author William J. Whalen includes non-Christian religions as well, such as Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, the Baha'i faith, and the better-known cults. Given the fact that Mr. Whalen is Catholic and Our Sunday Visitor is a well-known Catholic publishing house, the book compares the beliefs of the "separated brethren" to Catholic teaching, yet it is remarkably objective at the same time. Mr. Whalen does not fall into a condescending or critical mode; he simply discusses the origins of the different churches and describes their beliefs. He will at times provide slightly droll commentary on teachings that appear odd to mainstream Christians, especially teachings from denominations that claim to be Christian such as the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses. A lot, though, has happened in the non-Catholic religious world since this third edition of "Separated Brethren" came out in 1979; take, for example, the merger of two major Lutheran churches in the United States; the establishment of ultra-traditionalist Catholic groups which have separated from Rome; the rise of Messianic Judaism; renewed debates in the larger Protestant denominations on matters of morality; increased defections of conservative Anglicans/Episcopalians into the Catholic Church; and the role of the Orthodox churches in a post-Communist Russia and Eastern Europe. All these events, plus the hopelessly outdated church figures some 20-plus years old, make it necessary for the book to be revised as soon as possible.

This is a sweeping, informative, wide survey of every major branch of Christianity (and several other non-Christian religions) practicing in the United States. This book is written, assuming a knowledge of Roman Catholic Chrisitianity (theology & ritual), which is used as the basis of comparison to all of the other denominations and sects of Christianity. This book primarily focuses on the differences these religions have from Latin Rite Roman Catholic Christianity. This perspective is due 1) to the author's background, 2) to the Roman Catholic publishing house which publishes this book, and 3) to the historical fact that the world's branches of Christianity formed in some way, directly or indirectly, as a reaction to (Western European) Roman Catholic Christianity, to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, or to pre-1054CE (CE=Christian Era) unified Catholic-Orthodox Christianity. Although this book assumes familiarity with both pre- and post-Vatican II Latin Rite Roman Catholic Christian theology & rituals, it is easily accessible by Catholic Christians practicing non-Latin Rites, Eastern Orthodox Christians, High Church Anglican Christians, and other Christians whose theology and/or rituals resemble Catholic or Orthodox Christianity's. This book is also accessible (with only slight mental translation) to Protestant denominations and sects, especially those readers who are well-versed in the history and theological underpinnings of their own faith. This book is "catholic" in that its perspective is that the Christian denominations and sects are all branches of one worldwide Christian church (presumably implying the divergent "separated" and convergent "brethren" in the title). This book is "orthodox" in 2 ways: 1) It tries to not teach heresy and 2) it assumes that there is a Christian Church which specifies an official interpretation of Christianity (e.g., Roman Catholic and/or Eastern Orthodoxy) from which various Protestant denominations and sects have diverged. If the reader keeps this perspective in mind, this book is extremely objective and is not overtly preachy or condescending. If the reader is violently offended to their very core (as I suspect that some Americans are) by the very concepts of catholicism (i.e., one worldwide Christian Church) or of orthodoxy (i.e., one official interpretation of Christianity), then the informative content of this book may at first be overshadowed by its catholic/orthodox assumptions & perspective. All Christians in the United States should read this book to understand how their religion fits into the history of the United States, into the history of the world, and into the diversity of Christian theology & ritual. This book has not been updated in nearly 2 decades. (Dear Our Sunday Visitor & Bishop John D'Arcy, please release an updated edition.) Thus, this book's statistics are dated and stale. But this quantitative tarnishing does not diminish the immensely-informative qualitative ex