The Catholic Church: A Short History

I read Fr. Hans Küng’s short book several years prior to his passing in 2021. What an extraordinary man, scholar, humanitarian and priest! This work is a very rapid-paced journey through Church history, often pausing to examine critical papacies in more detail. He does not limit his papal criticisms to the obvious excesses of the Renaissance popes. He is concerned how contemporary Catholicism will impact its future. It’s the sort of summary laypersons will appreciate. Ironically, Küng was a confrere of Joseph Ratzinger [the future Pope Benedict XVI] during the Vatican II Council. Küng honestly portrays the Church as an enormous, ancient and venerable body governed by quite fallible humans. Clearly, he endorses Lord Acton’s dictum that “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” He notes that it is dangerous to idolize the Church as “infallible” just as much as Protestant fundamentalists idolize their Biblical interpretation as infallible. He chafes at the traditionalist Catholic interpretation of Matthew 18:19-20 (the charge to Peter and the “binding and loosing” clause) to justify Church triumphalism. Küng clearly was in the ecumenical camp and lobbied for a Council-governed Church Hans Küng’s sort of Church would be a beacon by which all people of good will – entailing non-Catholic Christians as well as non-Christians -- might set their moral compass. History shall be kind to the vision and compassion of Fr. Hans Küng. Requiescat in pace, Father.

Kung should be mandatory reading for Catholics for in his work the unvarished truth is told - and a warning is given. The fact that Kung is able to see the fault's of the Church and is knowledgable enough to point out the faulty theology (not to mention blatant corruption) is a sure sign that he does love the Church, in the same way that true patiots point out the errors and missteps of our nation. Blind obidience not only allows the institution to give in to its baser tendencies, but at times results in a shift of perspective so sharp as to render it unrecognizable when compared with the original ideal. This is not love but idolatry and is the same sin that the Pharisees of Jesus' time had fallen into. They worship the Church, not the God who founded it. Were Jesus to return to earth today in human form, asking the same questions and pointing out the same errors, I am afraid that the Catholic Church would have the same reaction as did the Pharisees. It is their own power they are concerned with, not that which comes from God.

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.

Anyone who expects to get a detailed history of the Church from this book will be disappointed. Nonetheless, it is well worth reading. Kung clearly has a biased view and I admire him for admitting it upfront. Unlike some reviewers, I never thought Kung mad his arguments against papal infallability out of vengence or because of his difficulties with Church hierarchy. (In addition to admitting his bias, he also discloses his continued affection for the Church in spite of his troubles.) Rather, he offers a well-researched and well-thought out review of where the Church's stands on papal infallability, modernity, celibacy, women's ordination, etc. come from, which is NOT from the Gospel or the early Christians. Liberal Catholics will find that Kung articulates their opinions as well as their hopes for reform of the Church. But even conversatives will find much food for thought here.(...)

In all fairness to the reader, I am only halfway through this book; however, Kung is a very intelligent Catholic, who has remained in the Roman Catholic church for his entire life, and who has had a long, scholarly career; further, he is a Catholic priest as well as a scholar. Because of certain disagreements that he has had with the Roman Catholic church, they have revoked his credentials to teach as a Catholic theologian. Nevertheless, a theologian he certainly is, whether he is officially approved as such by the Catholic church or not. It would be a mistake to view this book as an unbiased history of the Roman Catholic Church, for Kung is clearly unhappy with the developing role of the papacy throughout the church's history. However, a historical analysis, by its very nature, involves not only the facts of history, but also an interpretation of those facts. As mentioned above, Kung is clearly biased against the papacy as it has developed.While I don't agree with all the views of Kung as presented in his book, I very much like it, and appreciate Kung's honest attempt to portray Catholic church history as he believes it to actually be, rather than merely regurgitating the Catholic church's claims for itself. Some who read it will certainly believe that he is too harsh and negative in his analysis of the Catholic church; however, I appreciate his honesty. He calls things as he sees them, even though his views on any number of matters differs with the Catholic church's claims about itself.

Brilliant, forceful, authoritative - what else would you expect from Hans Kung? However, this book is not so much a history of the Catholic Church as it is an anti papal polemic. Kung glosses over or ignores much of church history while he develops his major theme, the rise of the papacy and its corrosive influence on the Church.For those who actually want to read a short history of the Catholic Church (short being a relative term when dealing with a 2000 year old institution) I recommend the following:Concise History of the Catholic Church by Thomas S. Bokenkotter. Available from this site.For those who are interested in the rise of the papacy, Kung's book is a must read.