About the Author

Richard P. McBrien is Crowley-O'Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. Educated at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, he has also served as president of the Catholic Theological Society of America. A leading authority on Catholicism, he is the bestselling author of Catholicism, Lives of the Popes, and Lives of the Saints, as well as the general editor of The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism. Most recently a consultant for ABC News, McBrien offers regular commentary on all the major television networks. He is also a prizewinning syndicated columnist in the Catholic press.

Reviews

As always McBrien's work is clear, concise and comprehensive in scope. Undoubtedly this book will become a standard ecclesiological reference point for students and teachers alike. -- Neil Ormerod Neil Ormerod, Professor of Theology, Director of the Institute of Theology, Philosophy and Religious Education, Australian Catholic UniversityWith characteristic clarity, Richard McBrien artfully tells the story of how Catholic theology developed over two millennia. In tracing the insights, conflicts, and fundamentals of Catholic thought, he has provided a superb resource for readers of all traditions. -- Mary C. Boys, s.n.j.m., author of Has God Only One Blessing? Judaism as a Source of Christian Self-UnderstandingThis is a superb book, as usual. What would we do without this great honest man and his great honest writing? -- Sr. Joan ChittisterMcBrien's encyclopedic text examining Roman Catholicism is destined to be the definitive theological work on the topic. . . . [T]his superlative, splendidly written text is accessible to anyone interested in understanding the Catholic Church's history and theology from a modern global perspective. Recommended for all libraries. -- School Library JournalCatholicism expert Richard McBrien offers the first modern history of the Roman Catholic Church. . . . Encyclopedic is scope, but accessible and written in layman's terms. -- Christian BooksellerA work breathtaking in its scope and yet manageable in its presentation. -- National Catholic ReporterThis distinguished scholar and professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, candidly sketches out the pastoral challenges to, and the internal tensions within, the church today. -- America MagazineCatholicism expert Richard McBrien offers the first modern history of the Roman Catholic Church. Encyclopedic in scope but accessible and written in laymen's terms... -- CBA Retailers and Resources, August 2008The Church is a lucid, balanced, and readable book-a work of integration that is always reasonable, well informed, honest, and deeply hopeful. -- Commonweal