Rating: 
Summary: Sentimental journey
Review: I was appalled at this book. I thought it would document the history of Christian anti-Semitism, but most of it is just the author's protracted musings about his own life, his own little disappointments, his pious practices, his own beef with the Catholic Church on sex and authority. He offensively uses the suffering of Jews to bolster his own self-importance and his trendy brief against John Paul II.
Rating:
Summary: Occult purpose
Review: I'm afraid it's become clear that a group of "Catholics who love their Church" have decided to caricature the history of Catholic-Jewish relations in order to promote their own anti-Catholic agenda.Carroll joins the paparde of Cornwell and Wills expressing feigned "shock" over an anti-Semitism they have concocted by a biased use of documentary evidence. They then go on to their real target: the teaching of the Catholic Church on faith and morals, especially as espoused by John Paul II. For a real take on the problem of sin in the Church, read John Paul II's letter on the millenium.
Rating:
Summary: Pride and Prejudice
Review: Having pioneered the anti-Catholic novel (Prince of Peace) and the anti-Catholic autobiography (An American Requiem), the excommunicated author now provides us with an anti-Catholic documentary. The "history" here is easy to dismiss. The author simply focuses on the apparently anti-Semitic statements of Catholics over the centuries and discards the many Catholic condemnations of anti-Semitism. The hatchet job on Pius XII and Pius XII, clear and early opponents of Nazi racism, is nothing short of libel. The author's constant interruption of the narrative by his own lachrymose musings on his troubles with the Church and the bizarre conclusion, where he demands that the Catholic Church abandon its most basic beliefs, reveals the bias fueling the entire sad enterprise. Is an anti-Catholic soap opera next?
Rating: 
Summary: Apotheosis of the New Journalism
Review: This book gets 5 stars for the topic and 1 star for the writing. The "New Journalism" is a style of writing/reportage where the author, writing non-fiction, constantly intrudes with his own opinions. Of course, Carroll has every right to do so except he labels his book "A History". I stopped reading when, during a section on the Crusades and the slaughter of the Jews in a town where Carroll had lived, he interrupted the narrative to point out that he had had his first drink there. WHO CARES? I also found his writing style difficult, prolix and digressive. That's the ultimate great shame of this book since his topic is extremely important - the long and shameful treatment of the Jews by the Church and the Christian world. I believe this book could have been cut to a third of the size with a better writer. To Carroll's credit, he does more than wring his hands. He leaves the reader with a five point program to reform the Catholic church: 1) remove the anti-judaism from the Christian bible 2) eliminate worldly power from the Church 3) reform the basic theology of Christianity 4) promote democracy within the Church 5) let the Church truly repent of its anti-Jewish ways As a Jew, I have always wondered how Christians live with their own history. All my Christian friends solve this problem by telling me that whoever performed such acts of cruelty (in Jesus's name, of course) are definitionally not true Christians. Besides giving themselves an easy out, I think they are also intellectually dishonest by never asking themselves why these people who did consider themselves true Christians *could* have acted this way. At least Carroll admits that Christians do have an inglorious past and tries to understand why. For this he deserves credit.
Rating: 
Summary: Profound ignorance of true Jewish history
Review: The author has obviously read no part of the Talmud, which is the foundation of Judaism. The Talmud reviles Jesus, his mother Mary and all Christians. Even most Jews do not know of this content in the Talmud. As in any religion or "group" of people, no two people are alike. What the Church and all Christians should be doing is neither praising, nor condemning Jews, but praying for them. It is too bad that Mr. Carroll missed that point. Jesus himself denounced the Pharisees (rabbinical council) and justly so, as their teachings still have the minds of Jews enslaved today, but He did not denounce Jews in general. It is one thing to show sympathy, but it is a terrible error when done out of ignorance!
Rating: 
Summary: Christians against Jews or Jews Against Christians
Review: This excellent recompilation of facts and analysis about the relationship of the church and Jews, since Jesus crucifixion was deeply impacting to me. Particularly coming from a former priest. Always it has been difficult to me to realize what came first, Jews being accountable for what have happened to them, or are they victims of the fact that human beings don't accept differences, particularly among "large groups". Being different has proven to generate very tough responses from others. Differences almost always perceived as threatening. Jews, first because they believed in a single (and not physical) God, then because they didn't accepted Jesus as the messiah, and also because Jewish Religion doesn't promote proselytisms, has been considered as different. Because of those differences, Jews had received unlimited hatred and aggressiveness, particularly from the occidental world, where the Catholic Church has been dominating not only in religious matters but also in politics and government, since Constantine decided to adopt the Christian religion for him and for the Roman Empire. This book reflects very clearly how the cross, have had two very different and contradictory meanings for Jews than to Catholics. While for Catholics the Cross symbolize the sacrifice of the son of God for the sake of humanity, Jews had experience the image of the Cross as a real Sword that had hurt almost every Jewish community all over the world for 2000 years. Another insightful aspect of this book is that it clearly reflects that human beings, particularly in large groups, can be manipulated to the point of doing whatever they are told to do, in name of their God or nation, not considering that their actions are absolutely opposed to what their God taught or expect from them. What could be less Christian than killing others for being different? . James Carroll clearly taught us that the Church had in the past, a very inadequate conduct against other human beings, in particular to Jews. This conduct was one of violence, murder and far away from Jesus principles.
Rating:
Summary: Catholic narcissism in the guise of a vague politics
Review: This may be a well-intentioned book, but it is potentially very dangerous. Carroll's project seems to be to convert the Holocaust into simply yet another occasion for Catholic guilt. While it may pose as a history, CONSTANTINE'S SWORD is actually more of a confessional and theological work. Carroll refuses to view the Catholic Church as a down-and-dirty political institution. His view of Catholic anti-Semitism is somewhat naive as he converts it into a doctrinal issue, rather than a powerful -- and often unconscious -- cultural force. I found his occasional and casual use of the institution of American slavery as an "analogy" for anti-Semitism offensive. His opportunistic use of news items to thematize his personal conflicts was also misguided as it occludes the specificity of current events, transforming them into yet more, incessantly-available aspects of his personal struggle.
Rating:
Summary: Endgame
Review: As professional reviewers have argued, this is not a work of history. Carroll systematically distorts, suppresses, and makes up evidence to prove his preconceived point: that the Catholic Church is an anti-Semitic institution. He makes this point to discredit the church that excommunicated him and which he now despises. Even more bizarre than the laughable "scholarship" in his pages is his plea for a new church. This church will not only reject the Catholic church's moral positions. It will reject both the Old and New Testaments as inspired books. It will abandon belief in the divinity of Christ and even in salvation. And this is supposed to be the work of "a Catholic who so loves his church," as the book blurb and many amateur reviewers on this site insist?
Rating:
Summary: Predictable
Review: What a tired genre! An ex-priest "courageously" takes on his former church and (surprise!) finds the church wanting. The tissue of biased citations, omission of counter-evidence, and tendentious interpretation does not give a serious presentation of the complex history of the relationship between Catholics and Jews. For a serious, scholarly study of the recent chapter in this history, read the fine work of Richard Rychlak and Pierre Blet.
Rating:
Summary: Faked Facts
Review: Other reviewers have pointed out the distortions used by the author. What is most disturbing, however, is the fabrication of evidence by the author. One example: The author claims that toward the end of his life John XXIII had a conversation with a priest who asked him: "How are we going to refute the charges against Pius XII's silence during World War II?" According to the tale, John XXIII answered: "How can we refute the truth?" In fact, such a conversation never occurred. And the author knows it. In an earlier book Carroll had cited this legend and immediately said that it was apocryphal. No biographer of John XXIII had ever heard such a phrase. In fact John XXII had told several journalists that his own rescue work for Jews in Turkey had been done at the express command of Pius XII. He had bitterly condemned those who were beginning to weave the legend of Pius' "silence" in the early '60's.
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