Every Protestant or Evangelical who writes Medieval Fiction, or just wants to understand the period needs to read this book.
It presents the real story of the Church in Medieval Era, covering everything from heresy to the Crusades, to scholarship and education, and it has sections devoted to the major personalities and events of the nearly four centuries covered. Be warned: almost everything on all these subjects is contrary to what many of us (I refer to the Evangelical community) have probably been led, or raised to believe.

Massacres and witch burnings were not the official policy of the church, nothing like "millions" of people were burned for heresy, and neither was that policy. Burning was actually the secular punishment for heresy, and was not used often. This book actually goes into the laws surrounding it, and some of the beliefs of the actual "heretical" groups.

The sections on St Francis of Assisi and his contempraries, the Franciscan movement, as well as some of the church reform movements were also very interesting. Now, some might be skeptical because of the Catholic publisher, but everything looked well-referenced (from various history books) and the author came over as truly objective. He wasn't afraid to criticize certain figures but also gave praise where it was due.

Prepare to be challenged and gripped if you read this book, but to finish it knowing a lot more. You won't regret it.

Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for approving my request for this title.

The Church and the Middle Ages (1000–1378): Cathedrals, Crusades, and the Papacy in Exile by Steve Weidenkopf is such an excellent look at this unique time period. The author presents history in an easy to read format. It is easy to read not because it is lacking in information since it is packed with details. Instead, the author's excellent writing shines through, making the Middle Ages come alive in a way that I have never seen in a historical text. The Middle Ages is such a unique time period yet it is foundational for much of what we have today. This book is a wonderful look at this time period and I highly recommend it to history buffs and general readers alike. I loved it! I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.

I found this book to be well written and easy to read. The author has a vast knowledge of his subject and contained many interesting facts on Medieval Church history. The narrative was naturally bent toward Çatholic dogma and once this is acknowledged in the narrative, I found it to be a very good read. The periodic sections inviting the reader to "be the judge" I found jarring and unnecessary. I thank the publishers and Netgalley for an ARC of this book. I would recommend the book for academic or interested lay reader in the beliefs of the medieval Christian.

A well researched, informative and well written book that made me learn something more about Catholic Church in the Middle Age.
It's a complex era and I appreciated how well this book is written.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I have read 15 volumes by James B. Stenson going back to 2006 but seem to have only reviewed one of them. They were recommended back in 2006 when I had just become a Father. This is the first of his works that I have picked up from the Catholic Truth Society, all the rest have been from Scepter. I grabbed this volume primarily for even after 14 years of parenting I know that I can keep improving. Second, I grabbed it because I remember well how good other books from Stenson were. And Third I have been on a real Binge read of books and booklets from the Catholic Truth Society. In fact I have read over 175 of the books and booklets from the CTS in the last few years and show no sign of slowing down. This volume was published originally by Scepter, reprinted by the Catholic Truth Society in 2013 and the eBook edition released in 2017. But back to this volume. This book comes in at a slim 50 pages but is it ever worth the read. The description of the booklet is:

“Packed with all the advice, guidance and common sense you need on your journey as a parent. A guide that sets out the importance of the role of mothers and fathers, underpinned by Christian principles.”

And the longer description of the eBook is:

“A practical eBook, packed with all the advice, guidance and common sense you need on your journey as a parent. While bringing up children is a great responsibility, many problems can be overcome through simple solutions. This text sets out the importance of the role parents have and shows how that role must be expressed through nurturing and encouraging one’s children along a path to responsible caring adulthood.

Giving pointers on such subjects as: the interaction between parents, the setting of rules, the building of a family unit, how to communicate with both small and adolescent children, what the ultimate goal of effective parenting should be, and much more, it will be a great help for even the most experienced mothers and fathers and novices alike.”

That is exactly what you get, a fantastic little guide, and with the size of the book it is one you could return to again and again. Refresh by rereading it from time to time. And that is what I plan on doing, usually I remove the download as soon as I finish an eBook, but I left this on my device so I will see the cover again and give it a reread.

The chapters in this book are:

A Job Description for Parents?
The Vision of Parent Leaders
Rules That Make a Family Work
Discipline in the Family
Parents and their Adolescent Children
Family Health-Check
Effective Parenting in a Nutshell

This book begins with these words:

““I wish I had known all this 25 years ago!” That’s what I’ve sometimes been told after my conferences on successful parent leadership. The words, said in humour but sometimes with wistful regret, came from older parents whose children had already grown and left home.

I have written on parent leadership, the fruit of my 30 years’ experience with families, so that you, a young parent, won’t have to express this same regret in the future. I’ve written this booklet so that you can form a clearer idea of how other parents have lived as great leaders in family life and have succeeded with their sacred mission: to raise their children right. I want to help you form a ‘job description’, so to speak, on how to succeed as a leader to your children.

When I say ‘succeed or fail’, I don’t mean parents’ methods of discipline, or how they keep their children under control, or how they handle the daily challenges in family life. These are short-term achievements, but only part of the whole picture.

Parents really win success with their children only in the long term. Parents succeed with their children when they grow up to become competent, responsible, considerate and generous men and women who are committed to live by principles of integrity - adults who bring honour to their parents all their lives through their conduct, conscience and character. Raising children to become adults like this is what parenthood is all about.”

He goes on to state:

“What I set out for you in this booklet is intended to be descriptive, not prescriptive. That is, I don’t claim to have all the answers about family life, and I don’t know anyone who does. What I’m doing here is describing the kind of thinking and action - the compass of parenthood - that great parents have lived by and taught me in the course of my professional career. If you find something here of help to you, then this booklet has done its job.”

If you are a parent or expecting I strongly recommend that you pick this book up and read it. Even after reading many books by Stenson years ago I greatly benefited from reading this one. This is a book I wish I can come across earlier. And to be honest I should go back and read or reread many of his other works. But this is an excellent starting place. And I hope the quotes above have raised your interest enough that you give this book a try, I am certain you will not be disappointed!

An excellent resource for all parents from the Catholic Truth Society!

Note: Review will post on my blog February 19th and then GoodReads.

This is a very brief history of the Church in the Middle Ages, spanning almost 400 years in 200 pages. Because of this, I think this would be an excellent book for those who just want a brief overview of events during this time, or for those looking to refresh their memory. Even though a lot of this was review for me, I did learn quite a few things and I have a little list of people/events that I want to research further. The book is broken up into little sections, which makes for a quick and enjoyable read.

While this book is pro-Catholic, Weidenkopf does make quite a few mentions of faults with the Church/Church members during this time. He doesn’t depict the church as infallible, which I appreciated.

One thing I don’t like is the title of the “You Be the Judge” sections. I like the topics chosen, but the author isn’t letting the reader be the judge. In order for that to be the case, both sides of the issues would need to be presented and left open for the reader to decide which is the most accurate. Instead, only one stance is presented. These sections should instead be titled something like “Setting the Record Straight”.

All in all, I would recommend this book to those interested in theology, Catholic history, and European history.


Thanks to Steve Weidenkopf, Ave Maria Press, and NetGalley for an ebook of this text in exchange for an honest review!

Throughout history, the church has played an integral part in the everyday life of the people. Throughout the different periods, it would have different impacts, but the Middle Ages brings the church into more of a focus. With the crusades, the church was at the forefront, encouraging and supporting those who took up the cross.

But, it was not without conflicts, and many rulers and church leaders would butt heads, leading to some very interesting turnouts, and bringing many figures a lasting legacy in history.

This was a great book, full of information! I enjoyed it fully, and this is an author that I look forward to seeing more from in the future.

This was an amazing time period! So much change and growth. There are consolidations, opportunities, great places of learning being established, magnificent churches and cathedrals being built. Of course there is also the dark underbelly of political maneuvering and other chicanery in the upper echelons of society, but the lower and middle classes were moving up and gaining power! Mostly, the book is concerned with the Catholic church and it's place in the world- it was the only in it's world (or wanted to be) so this book will not only interest arm chair historians, but those interested in the Catholic church. It's well researched and not as dry as some accounts of the time period I've read.

This volume is part of Reclaiming Catholic History series. The introduction to the series points out the difficulty of presenting unbiased histories and how it is the intent of the imprint to attempt to convey God’s view, which “should provide the objective meaning of history.” This is their justification for presenting a Christian history that tells a story that is meant to be accessible and entertaining. Going in I feared this meant it will also place too little emphasis on actual historical facts, or fabricate facts to better support their preferred narrative. Unfortunately, my concerns turned out not to be too far off.

The first chapter is an overview of the medieval world, with hierarchies, feudalism, the three Orders of society, and the other basics one usually gets in an introductory history course. It is a solid grounding to give readers some idea of the world they’ll be reading about, but as the book deals primarily with ecclesiastic men, the actual value of the information to the text is limited.

Its second chapter discusses papal reform, beginning with Cluny and its importance as a model during a time when papal behavior was at an all-time low. It then moves on to discuss reform-minded leaders such as Leo IX and the organizational changes instituted to try to ensure a more holy see, and these lead into the Great Schism (Chapter 3). From there we look at Pope Gregory VII and the Investiture Controversy (Chapter 4), which brought the papacy into conflict with secular rulers over who did and did not have the right to appoint bishops (spoiler: Pope, yes; kings and emperors, no). Excommunications and denouncements flew, with Henry IV’s subjects even being freed by the Pope from their obligations to serve their king, who retaliated by appointing his own antipope.

The next two chapters deal with the Crusades and comprise about a third of the book’s length (understandable: there were a great many crusades. These chapters utterly fail to maintain the previous chapters’ scholarly level of writing. Chapter 5 (in the ARC I’m reading) opens with “In the late tenth century, a mentally unstable man began his reign...Al-Hakim initiated a persecution of his Christian and Jewish subjects, perhaps to illustrate his Mulsim bona fides.” They also call him “the mad caliph,” which is a traditional way of referring ot him, but still not a good look for a modern history text.

The persecution of Jews, which historically resulted in the genocide of entire towns, gets a whole two paragraphs in one chapter and a You Be the Judge (YBJ) section in another which argues that the Church actually tried to protect the Jews from pogroms. More time is spent defending the idea that crusaders were in no way motivated by selfish desires for land or weath (or even the promise of plenary indulgence), but offering no concrete evidence to support the premise. The second chapter on the Crusades also opens with an effort to justify Innocent III’s sometimes questionable actions, and has a YBJ section which seems to argue that it is the epitome of exaggeration to call the Fourth Crusade a great crime against humanity. Later chapters espouse a similar apologist view of future crusades against Europeans and the work of the Inquisition.

The main body of text is occasionally interrupted by Up Close and Personal sections detailing relevant individuals’ lives. There are also You Be the Judge (YBJ) sections, asking readers to consider controversies related to the chapter topic, although by the end of the YBJ the author has informed the reader what the correct response is. These interruptions, thoughtfully, come at the end of paragraphs rather than interrupting the flow of the work as textbooks are wont to do. The book also makes extensive use of endnotes, with robust reference and suggested reading sections at the end.

It would be easy to recommend this book to a reader in need of an somewhat simplistic overview of, well, the topics mentioned in the title. Someone who has failed to attend a college course for the entirety of its discussion on the Middle Ages might be able to eke out a passing grade by reading this book and recalling its contents on essays, though as I stated, the book’s scope truly is limited to religious matters and only touches on external subjects to provide a bare minimum of context. Also, it must be noted that the sections on the Crusades and heresy are not written at the same scholarly level as the rest of the text.

A Well Written Book.

“The Church & the Middle Ages (1000–1378) by Steve Weidenkopf and Mike Aquilina, is a very informative and easy to read book of about 200 pages

It must be understood before hand that the authors never meant to be in in-depth discussion of this almost 400 year history of our church.

There are a few sections that I thoroughly enjoyed. First, was this discussion of the crusades and the breakdown of each individual crusade’s purposes and results.

In addition there are small sections to break down the individual hero/saints of this timeframe called “Up Close...”These are incredibly well written and wet the appetite of the reader. Finally the small section called “You Be the Judge,” calls for the reader to engage with the topics.

As a Permanent Deacon, I find this a valuable addition to my bookshelf. It will help me understand the real facts of Catholic history, particularly as a quick reference while teaching an RCIA class or even giving the homily.

I highly recommend this book

"a copy of this book was given to me for the purpose of a fair and unbiased review."

This is part of a series produced by the Roman Catholic Church to dispel the myths surrounding the church during the time of the Middle Ages.

Steve Weindenkopf however doesn't shy away from the scandalous goings on in the Roman Catholic Church and the social order.
With short snippets of history, ranging from the crusades to the great schism between the Eastern church and the Western church and the schism within the Western Church along with personal profiles and section which let the reader decide on a controversial subject.
The Church in the Middle Ages gives the reader a short introduction, book is only 141 pages long, which will no doubt cause the reader to go to a more deeper read.

At less than 200 pages this is an informative and enjoyable gallop through the high middle ages. However, its brevity and pace means that important nuances are occasionally lost.

I particularly enjoyed the sections on the Crusades as the author’s passion for social and political history shone through the prose. We learn what occurred during the crusades, but also why they occasionally went awry. Dealing with misconceptions the author explains that Crusaders were hardly motivated by greed when it cost up to five times their annual income just to travel to the Crusades (Location 37%).

At times, the fast pace leads to some over-simplifications. We learn that the Church promoted social mobility (9%). Yes, but up to a point. Illegitimacy remained grounds for refusing entry to some religious orders. We learn that the Church worked to reduce slavery (14%). Yes, but that was Christians enslaving fellow Christians. Enslaving Muslims was a rather different matter.

The book’s treatment of intellectual history felt rushed and incomplete. We are told that St Anselm is noteworthy for his Aristotelian contributions to theology (79%). That’s an unusual perspective, and so it needs explaining. Peter Lombard’s work is called a “Book on Sentences” (79%). Usually, in English, it is just referred to as ‘The Sentences.’ Disappointingly, theology seems to stop at Aquinas (d.1274), even though the title of the book covers the era until 1378. What about Duns Scotus (d.1308) and Ockham (d.1347)?

The book is written for Catholic readers, correcting non-Catholic misunderstandings of medieval history. A major misunderstanding arose when Reformation writers rejected Scholasticism as a form of (unscriptural) bad theology. I would have expected the author to address that issue, as its implications endure into the modern era.

Overall, I found the writing generally engaging. However, I didn’t care for personal asides describing the leader of the Orthodox as ‘childish’ (23%) and the leader of Muslims as a ‘mad caliph’ (35%). The book would have benefited from some sharper editing in several places.

(My comments are based on the digital paperback version of the text, as it was two months prior to publication. I thank the publishers for kindly giving me a review copy).

'The Church and the Middle Ages' is easy to read and hard to put down. I found this book an intriguing overview of a time in history I knew little about. As a Protestant, I appreciated the nuanced view of this time, particularly the reflections on the crusades. I felt that the author helped illuminate my somewhat cliched understanding of much of what happened during this period. The book seems to examine the history of this period methodically and with integrity. I enjoyed the "Up Close and Personal" section, looking at particular individuals of the time. This book made me interested to read more in the series.

Wow. I enjoyed this book so much! I know I am one of those people who really likes Church History, so that is not surprising. However, this book is much more than just Church History.

Steven Weidenkopf posits that you cannot understand the Middle Ages without understanding the place of the Catholic Church. And this is exactly what he sets out to do in his writing. This book is brilliant.

If you have ever done any reading on the Middle Ages, you have likely come across some blatantly false things that are simply there to advance anti-Catholic propaganda. That is not something that you need to worry about with this book.

The Crusades were portrayed as they really happened, with all the messy details of shifting alliances and various cultures. They were not simply any one thing but a combination of very distinct historical circumstances working together.

One of the most important things I took away from this book is the premise that you cannot judge and interpret off the past by the standards of today. The past existed in a very concrete set of circumstances that need to be fully understood in order to actually understand how and why things happened the way they did.

This is supremely important as, in modern times, people have taken to interpreting the past through the lens of today which does not work. History exists in such concrete circumstances with political, social, religious, environmental, and interpersonal considerations. These all need to be evaluated in order to see a true picture of history.

Overall, I loved this book and the real presentation of history. Nothing is perfect in history and this book does not try to make the Catholic Church sound perfect. Rather, this book presents the messy details in all their truth and lets the reader see the connections between all the various facts we know about the Middle Ages.

This is by far the weakest book in the series. Although this supposed to be a Church history, Weidenkopf spends far too much time on non-church matters and not enough time on the history of the Catholic Church and its important role in this period.

As an author of other books on this period, he is not above using parts of these books as sections of the book. The authors of other volumes in this series have not done this and I found it disappointing to see it here.

I also objected to the way he used the Crusades as a focal point on the book. His detailed and mostly tactical, discussion of these wars was mind0numbing and it took space that could have better been spent elsewhere in such a short book.

Being such an interesting and formative time for the Catholic Church, this book should have been better.

Weidenkopf, Steve. The Church and the Middle Ages (1000-1378). Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 2020. $17.95

Steve Weidenkopf provides an accessible historical survey of the Catholic Church through the Middle Ages. It is important to note this book is published by a Catholic, written by a Catholic, and part of a Catholic Church history series. Each chapter includes two brief detours with a section looking at an individual ("Up Close and Personal") and towards the end of the chapter a section called "You Be the Judge." Weidenkopf writes well and succinctly. I love that any Christian could pick up a relatively brief book and be introduced to topics such as 'filioque' and 'investiture'. The author acknowledges many issues within the Catholic Church during this period and gives what I would consider a decent treatment of them within the scope of this book. As a Protestant, there were times I wanted more detail on scandalous issues. However, I recognize the need for brevity within a historical introduction. I would be interested in picking up copies of the other volumes in the series and would encourage any student of church history to do the same.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley for review purposes. My comments are independent and my own.

Steve Weidenkopf has firmly placed himself within the tradition of Christopher Dawson, Henri Daniel-Rops and Warren Carroll in his effort to intellectually, honestly and accessibly present the history of the Catholic Church.

This work is chronologically placed as the fourth volume of Ave Maria Press’ “Reclaiming Catholic History” series, which endeavors to provide a series of short, accessible introductions to eras of Church history. What sets this series apart is its approach to history which desires to free itself from the primacy of the present age in order to take seriously the world which the subjects inhabited and moved through, consequently taking religious motives seriously and, for the believer, the Providential acting of God in history. While socio-economic perspectives of history have often dominated, the field of crusade studies (to which Weidenkopf belongs) is among those which over the past several decades have endeavored anew to not write off the real, genuine religious motivations of Christendom. This is balanced by acknowledgement of the scandals, sins and mixed motives of a fallen humanity.

Weidenkopf succeeds in being comprehensive in scope, penetrating in detail and enabling of the reader. The reader will not miss any of the high points of this era, nor will they lack for context to enable them to understand the Medieval world or Church. The body of the text is easy to read and is supplemented with ‘You Be the Judge’ and ‘Up Close and Personal’ features. Additionally, the author provides valuable scholarly resources for those who desire to go deeper.

This is a valuable resource for Catholics at a time when Church history is often misunderstood and misrepresented; but especially when lessons of fidelity and renewal in the face of scandal can be pertinent to the present age. While written from a Catholic perspective, this primer could also be helpful to non-Catholics seeking an understanding of Western history which requires an understanding of the faith which permeated the period.