In line with the general approach of the AMATECA Handbooks of Catholic Theology, this text offers an overview of the history of the church from a theological perspective.The first and last chapters present a theological view of church history drawn from the work of such thinkers as Jean Danielou, Gaston Fessard, Charles Journet, and Hans Urs von Balthasar. The second chapter is epistemological and methodological. Chapters 3 to 13 present the unfolding history of the church as a series of challenges from barbarians, feudalism, lay thought, ideologies to cultures. Chapters 14 and 15 sketch the variety of Eastern Churches and the different forms of Protestantism.

Author Biography

Guy Bedouelle teaches at the University of Fribourg.