The Twentieth Century Encyclopedia of Catholicism was characterized in the publisher’s notice thus: “Universal in scope, comprehensive in concept, this is the [sic] reference work covering every aspect of Catholic belief and thought.” This volume, number 77 in the series of 150 volumes, and fourth in the six-volume Part VII: The History of the Church, must be reviewed in that context.
While the brevity of the book does not allow for a careful analysis of any one of the host of important issues mentioned, there is a keen appreciation of the interrelation, not only of one event to another in the history of the Church from the thirteenth to ca. 1450, but of the facts of Church life to the facts of secular life as well: “The Church had penetrated all forms of western life, but they in their turn had moulded the Church” (p. 117). This is not a reference book nor, in the narrow sense, a scholarly one; rather it is a mature, rapid, and balanced sketch. The initiated student would find here a helpful summary but an inadequate introduction. Of particular interest for readers of this journal is the instructive treatment of the Inquisition (pp. 19-22).
