The history of a 2,000-year-old office whose holders have shaped
world history, from St. Peter to Benedict XVI.Roman Catholic
tradition identifies popes as the successors to Peter, who
supposedly was - or at least helped appoint - the first bishop of
Rome. Yet in fact Christianity had no bishops until well after
Peter's death, notes Collins (Research Fellow/Univ. of Edinburgh;
Visigothic Spain, 2004, etc.). This kind of mythologizing has
carried the papacy through numerous near-death experiences. Secular
protectors, extraordinary pontiffs and luck (or providence,
depending on your take) have also played a part in helping popes
expand their spiritual authority even as their temporal powers
shriveled. The narrative covers such epic events as the schism
between Rome and Eastern Christianity, the Crusades, church
councils and the Protestant Reformation. But it does not neglect
peculiarities like the Cadaver Synod, in which a medieval pope's
enemies exhumed his corpse, arrayed it in robes before an
ecclesiastical court and convicted the moldering remains of perjury
and breaking canon law. Collins sprints through the centuries, but
his detail-saturated prose makes the book seem long. Grand themes
bob in a sea of names and dates, with even insignificant popes and
other bit players rating fleeting mentions. The author's
conclusions on major, controversial figures are invariably
balanced. He judges as "far from proven" the case against Pius XII,
whose failure to condemn the Nazis' treatment of Jews led historian
John Cornwell to dub him Hitler's Pope (1999). Collins does
acknowledge that Pius "was at the very least constrained by the
habitual caution that made him a good Vatican diplomat rather than
a natural leader of men in time of crisis." John Paul II gets kudos
for charisma and combating communism, but criticism for opposing
artificial contraception to halt AIDS and inertia in the face of
sex abuse by priests.A useful reference for students and diehard
fans of church history, but includes more than general readers will
want to know. (Kirkus Reviews)
A complete history of the Papacy - one of the most enduring and
influential of all human institutions. Few human institutions have
survived so long and played a continuously important role in world
history and affairs than the Papacy. From the time of St Peter to
the present day, this establishment has sought to make sense of
contemporary issues. Its story is a long and complicated one, full
of incident, ideas and the interplay of personalities. In this
masterful single volume, eminent scholar Roger Collins offers an
account of the entire arc of papal history, describing how its
authority was acquired and exercised, and in turn, challenged and
threatened; how it faced and overcame crises - both from within and
without; its relationship with Rome; the tradition of artistic
patronage; and the character and policies of individual popes.
KEEPERS OF THE KEYS OF HEAVEN is a vivid and revealing portrait of
an enduring body, chronicling two thousand years of ambition,
scandal, persecution, faith and glory.
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