Bede

God-free,

The standard work on the crusades remains Steven Runicman's three volume opus. It is a fantastic read, based entirely on the original sources and has lots of gory bits. On the Spanish Inquisition, the standard work is Henry Kamen which is sadly a bit dry. Unlike Runicman, he cannot turn scholarship into beautiful prose.

On WWII, no standard work on the Catholic Church's role is yet in existence. There are some sensationalist books by journalists like John Cornwall and apologetics from the other side as well. Your best bet is to use the index of big general WWII books like the Rise and Decline of the Third Reich.

Finally, Eamon Duffy's Saints and Sinners on the papacy is readable and has the stuff that you are probably after such as what Renaissance popes did to each other in the bedroom.

Yours

Bede

<a href="http://www.bede.org.uk" target="_blank">Bede's Library - faith and reason</a>

The Admiral

God-free

I don't suppose that Gorvy and Buffman are actually trying to discourage you in your quest, they are just giving their opinions which I respect and agree with to a large extent. But that doesn't answer your question.

I suspect that Gorvy and Buffman are both better equiped intellectually than am I to answer you but since they seem dis-inclined to do so I will try.

Since I am not a competent literary critic I can do little more than give you titles.

I would highly recommend the relevent volumes from Will Durants 10 volume Story of Civilization. Also, The Christ, by John Remsberg. The Jesus Legend and The Jesus Myth, both by G.A. Wells. A History of the Warfare of Science With Theology in Christendom, by Andrew D. White and for the WWII era, Hitler's Pope by John Cornwell which has received some criticism recently in this forum. Also, while it has been some time since I read it I think you would find some interesting material in William Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. I will re-iterate my previous suggestion of Alfred Loisy's book. As I said before, there are hundreds or thousands of books available. Because they necessarily fall short of containing 100% of the undisputed truth is no reason to give up and read nothing.

The Admiral

Godless Dave

It's not specifically about the Catholic church, but <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060925531/qid=1040318033/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-1627027-4143965" target="_blank">The Civilization of the Middle Ages</a> by Norman Cantor has a lot about the church's political history from the fall of Rome through the High Middle Ages.

Buffman

god-free

The Admiral is correct. I had nothing to offer for your first request. For your second one, you might find this info helpful. Though I have not personally read the books on Bede's post, they appear to be excellent recommendations with several repeated below.

CRUSADES

<a href="http://www.brighton73.freeserve.co.uk/bookstore/top/" target="_blank">http://www.brighton73.freeserve.co.uk/bookstore/top/</a>

<a href="http://www.crisismagazine.com/april2002/cover.htm" target="_blank">http://www.crisismagazine.com/april2002/cover.htm</a>

SPANISH INQUISITION

<a href="http://www.yale.edu/yup/books/075227.htm" target="_blank">http://www.yale.edu/yup/books/075227.htm</a>

CATHOLIC CHURCH WW II

<a href="http://www.vision.org/bkrev/br000309.html" target="_blank">http://www.vision.org/bkrev/br000309.html</a>

<a href="http://www.nobeliefs.com/ChurchesWWII.htm" target="_blank">http://www.nobeliefs.com/ChurchesWWII.htm</a>

Amos

Hey Admiral, Catholics are not Christians but at best Christians-in-becoming and once they become Christians they will no longer be Catholic because the religion itself will be like satan to them ("get thee behind me satan)."

May I remind you here that in following the footsteps of Jesus we are to take the inpsired message out of religion and upset the temple just like Jesus did after he had become the celebrated guest at the royal wedding.

So the arrogance you see is just caused by your own ignorance.

Bree

&lt;moderator hat on&gt;

Hey, isn't the topic The History of the Catholic Church?

&lt;moderator hat off&gt;

The Admiral

Amos

&lt;&lt;So the arrogance you see is just caused by your own ignorance.&gt;&gt;

I know that I'm ignorant, but I'm not proud of it and I even make feeble efforts from time to time to reduce the scope of my ignorance.

As for the rest of your post why I'll just stand back and let you and Gemma fight it out.

The Admiral

rdalin

I really enjoy the way christian sects accuse other christian sects of not being real christians. Why should anyone believe that your group - whatever it is - are the Real True Christians and everyone else isn't?

Enai

I know one, but it's written in german. It's "Die Kriminalgeschichte des Christentums" by Karlheinz Deschner. The first seven books are already published, I think there are some more to come. The author is said to be the authority on catholic cruelty throughout history.

You can read more about the author and his work <a href="http://www.deschner.info/index_en.htm" target="_blank">here.</a>

lunachick

Hiya, god-free.

I'm just wondering if you had a background in the Catholic Church - perhaps your family indoctrinated you at a young age? I don't know, but anyway...it's good to see someone making genuine enquiry. I'm sure there are many great resources both online and in print that the Infidels here will point you towards. Good luck in your search and Welcome to the forum!