Catholicism Protestantism

The most profound characteristic of Western Europe in the Middle Ages was its cultural and religious unity, a unity secured by a common alignment with the Pope in Rome and a common language - Latin - for worship and scholarship. The Reformation shattered that unity, and the consequences are still with us today.

Within the chapters of this book, I wish to point out some of the central beliefs and historical characteristics of both the Catholic and Evangelical Christian churches. I will keep my discussion centered on major doctrines of each, due to the fact that both churches have a number of variations within their denominations and it would take literally volumes to go through each of these. It is my hope that none of my discussions that follow are perceived as an attack on either Catholics or Protestants because that is certainly not my intention.

From the surface, it sounds very nice and like an event of spiritual peace among these two major denominations, that would be such a wonderful thing to see happen but is it even remotely realistic or achievable? Maybe the more important question would be this: Does God desire for such opposed religious practices to reach a point of saying "Every road leads to God.", when the Holy Scriptures do not at all endorse such a position?

The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) was the most important Catholic event in the past five hundred years. Yet sixty years after its opening on October 11, 1962, its meaning remains sharply contested and its promise unfulfilled. In To Sanctify the World, George Weigel explains the necessity of Vatican II and explores the continuing relevance of its teaching in a world seeking a deeper experience of freedom than personal willfulness.

Nineteenth-century America was rife with Protestant-fueled anti-Catholicism. Elizabeth Hayes Alvarez reveals how Protestants nevertheless became surprisingly and deeply fascinated with the Virgin Mary, even as her role as a devotional figure who united Catholics grew. Documenting the vivid Marian imagery that suffused popular visual and literary culture, Alvarez argues that Mary became a potent shared exemplar of Christian womanhood around which Christians of all stripes rallied.

A memoir of the profound destabilization that comes from losing one’s faith - and a young woman’s journey to reconcile her lack of belief with her love for her deeply religious family.