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The Faithful: A History of Catholics in America
James M. O’toole
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Description for The Faithful: A History of Catholics in America
Paperback. Offers a panoramic history of the American Catholic laity. This title tells the story of this ancient church from the perspective of ordinary Americans, the lay believers who have kept their faith despite persecution from without and clergy abuse from within. It focuses on the intricacies of prayer and ritual. Num Pages: 384 pages. BIC Classification: 1KBB; HRAX; HRCC7. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 210 x 140 x 24. Weight in Grams: 480.
Shaken by the ongoing clergy sexual abuse scandal, and challenged from within by social and theological division, Catholics in America are at a crossroads. But is today’s situation unique? And where will Catholicism go from here? With the belief that we understand our present by studying our past, James O’Toole offers a bold and panoramic history of the American Catholic laity.
O’Toole tells the story of this ancient church from the perspective of ordinary Americans, the lay believers who have kept their faith despite persecution from without and clergy abuse from within. It is an epic tale, from the ... Read morefirst settlements of Catholics in the colonies to the turmoil of the scandal-ridden present, and through the church’s many American incarnations in between. We see Catholics’ complex relationship to Rome and to their own American nation. O’Toole brings to life both the grand sweep of institutional change and the daily practice that sustained believers. The Faithful pays particular attention to the intricacies of prayer and ritual—the ways men and women have found to express their faith as Catholics over the centuries.
With an intimate knowledge of the dilemmas and hopes of today’s church, O’Toole presents a new vision and offers a glimpse into the possible future of the church and its parishioners. Moving past the pulpit and into the pews, The Faithful is an unmatched look at the American Catholic laity. Today’s Catholics will find much to educate and inspire them in these pages, and non-Catholics will gain a newfound understanding of their religious brethren.
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Product Details
Publisher
Harvard University Press United States
Place of Publication
Cambridge, Mass., United States
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 7 to 11 working days
About James M. O’toole
James M. O’Toole is Charles I. Clough Millennium Professor of History Emeritus and University Historian at Boston College. He is the author of The Faithful: A History of Catholics in America and the editor of Habits of Devotion: Catholic Religious Practice in Twentieth-Century America.
Reviews for The Faithful: A History of Catholics in America
[O’Toole] relies on a wide range of source material, writes in vivid detail and, above all, pays a great deal of attention to religious practice and ritual. It is this last that distinguishes The Faithful from previously published histories of American Catholicism… He is certainly not the first to write Catholic history from the perspective of the people in the ... Read morepews. But it is true that his narrative eschews, to a much greater extent than other surveys, expositions of ideological or political conflict among the church hierarchy. Instead, he frames his book in a manner designed to capture the myriad ways in which ordinary American Catholics have lived, prayed and practiced their faith… It is the Catholic faithful more broadly who stand to gain the most insight from reading this book… [It] deserves a wide readership.
Kathleen Cummings
America
Especially timely… This is not so much a history as, in this case, a penetrating, deftly worked summary of organizational and liturgical developments, formal and informal, in the American Catholic Church with emphasis on the role and influence of the laity.
Katherine A. Powers
Boston Globe
[A] splendid new history of Catholics in the United States.
Rodger Van Allen
Commonweal
O’Toole crams an array of stories, profiles and statistics into his book that will make it a welcome addition to the shelf of anyone interested in the country’s religious culture. His focus is on how the relationship between rank-and-file Catholics and the church has changed since the country’s colonial era… O’Toole’s prodigious research and engaging writing ensure that The Faithful: A History of Catholics in America will be the authoritative work on this subject for quite some time.
Claude R. Marx
St. Petersburg Times
An intriguing book, brimming with wisdom. It studies the evolution of U.S. Catholicism by dividing it into a half-dozen historic segments, from the Colonial ‘priestless church’ to the muscular, immigrant-fed church a century ago, to the reformist, post–Vatican II church and beyond.
Rich Barlow
Boston Globe
O’Toole’s history, focusing especially on personal narratives, makes for captivating reading… A history worth reading.
Kirkus Reviews
O’Toole deftly tells the history of lay Catholics in America. Beginning with the priestless church of the Colonial period, he goes on to explore the church in the democratic republic, the immigrant church, the church of Catholic Action, the church of Vatican II, and the church in the 21st century.
Augustine J. Curley
Library Journal
For readers who are familiar with the church, the primary joy of this book will be found in checking their own experiences against those described by O’Toole. Still, the genial style of writing together with a plentiful amount of fascinating tidbits will keep all but the most jaded expert going.
Publishers Weekly
Solidly researched, engagingly told and insightfully interpreted, The Faithful is the first comprehensive history of lay Catholic prayer, politics and creative fidelity to church teaching, even in times of crisis such as the present. It could not come at a better time, as American Catholics struggle to reclaim a legacy of moral leadership and stalwart service to the nation.
R. Scott Appleby, University of Notre Dame The Faithful is a truly original and mature work that gives us a rich history of American Catholics. There is simply no comparable book.
David O’Brien, College of the Holy Cross An ambitious narrative history of American Catholicism, written with great historical range and attention to lived experience. It has profound contemporary resonance. This courageous book, unafraid to explore the story’s darker moments, is destined to become the new standard text on American Catholicism.
Robert Orsi, Northwestern University O’Toole surveys the lay Catholic experience in America with remarkable breadth and mastery. Lively and accessible, this book provides a valuable introduction to American Catholic history.
Leslie Tentler, Catholic University of America Show Less
