Rating: 
Summary: Resentment
Review: The author's attack on the Catholic church is not serious.He seriously distorts the Church's record on anti-Semitism. Astonishingly he simply ignores well-known statements by Pius XI and Pius XII against anti-Semitism. One would never know from reading this book how the French, Dutch, Italian, British, and American bishops denounced the persecution of the Jews by the Nazis. The real issue, of course, is not the Church and the Jews. It's the attempt of an angry ex-priest to denigrate his church by libel.
Rating: 
Summary: A thinker
Review: A refreshing look at an issue by a thinking Catholic. It is easy to criticize a religion, while remaining an unbeliever. Here we have a profound thinker who faithfully abides by the tenents of Christianity, yet subjects to soul searching the history of his faith. There will, of course, be the spontaneous knee jerk reactions of those Catholics that cannot countenace any criticism of their church who will disparage this noble literary work. Man was created in Gods image. Perhaps the worst crime that this author points to is the Church's attempt to think for its constituents. The history of the Church's stripping of mankind's rights to free thought is at the root of the Church's anti-semitism. They should know, however, that God does want us to think independently.
Rating: 
Summary: I hadn't planned a review
Review: I actually hadn't planned to review this book, but when I read some of the writings of those who had I thought I should. First, let me say what I think the book isn't. It is not an anti-Catholic scree as some might have you believe. The fact that some have interpreted it thus tells you a whole lot more about them than it does about the book. So what is the book about? Briefly, its thesis is that Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular have adopted the theological position that faith in Jesus Christ represents the one and the only route to salvation. This thesis should not be controversial to anyone familiar with Christian doctrine. The implication of this thesis is that all other proposed routes, and especially the one proposed by the Jews, who should "know better" are false. The tradition of Judaism, as well as all other religious traditions, thus become not only mistaken, but wrong and even dangerous. The book documents how this tension between Christianity/Catholicism and its self-defined rivals has played out in history, and how it created the moral and intellectual environment in which the Jews would be at best marginalized and despised. And how at worst, they would become victims of violence and murder. It's worth the read. And I would say to its hostile reviewers that it's worth a re-read. The history of the holocaust has to be understood as a product of Western civilization, within which it happened. In this context, it is necessary to examine how the major institutions of the west, including the Church, created the environment in which the holocaust could occur. No one should blame the messenger if the message is unwelcome.
Rating:
Summary: Passionate Christian attacks Church history and theology. .
Review: ...without ceasing to be Catholic. Arriving at the conclusion of Mr. Carroll's book with his bold prescriptions to heal the Church and Christian faith, one is tempted to hang and shake one's head and say, "Oh, what a dreamer! If only such could be." What Mr. Carrol is calling for is nothing short of a Reformation. And with the careful work of authors such as Mr. Carroll, the heated debates his work is sure to encourage, and other voices of lovers of truth and faith, we just might see the dam of false reverence and tradition burst, and the world swept by a religious revolution more far-reaching and profound than all the political transformations of modern times. The kind of open and forthright dialogue, introspection and contemplation that Mr. Carroll provides in his book Constantine's Sword, finally, could, pave the way to make such possibility a reality.
Rating:
Summary: Not 100% Accurate but a Must Read
Review: A brilliant analysis from an undoubtedly highly intelligent man. He does frequently play off the fact that he is a Catholic who loves his church so that cannot be ignored. But, contrary to what many of my fellow reviewers are saying, he was not excommunicated so: (1) one wonders where they get that from and (2)it should not be the sole factor anyway by which the book is judged. What is new and interesting is how he concisely (for 2,000 years of history) describes the events that contributed to (or he might say caused) anti-semitism in the world, culminating (one hopes) in the Holocaust. The facts of the anti-semitism he describes are true and the contribution of the causing events he describes is likely true as well. What is more controversial is: (1) how much of a cause are those events? and (2) is there another way to look at the priniciple actors other than the way he has done so? For me, the most significant matter he focuses on is that the gospels when they spoke of the Jews' opposition to Jesus, and what Jesus may have said about that, were speaking of internal disagreements within the Jewish community (which included Jesus during his life). However, the gospel stories have been passed on as bases for hatred of Jews as a people distinct from Jesus's people. If this one matter were better understood by Christian's and accepted, it alone would lower the amount of anti-semitism in the world by a huge amount. The book is worth reading for its story telling and well thought out analysis even if there is a disagreement with the conclusions.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant work
Review: I just finished reading James Carroll's book, and I found him to be a brilliant writer. Weaving together both two thousand years of Church history and his own personal spiritual journey, Carroll makes a strong case that the Catholic Church's anti-Judaism (starting with the Gospels) created a significant foundation for the anti-semitism of individual Catholics, and further that the history of the Church's approach to Jews bore fruit in the near genocide of the Jewish people in the 20th century. Some of the other reviewers of this book on this Amazon.com page seem to focus on character assults against Carroll, but I'm not sure how their hatred of him changes the history that he presents. I think it will become a classic work on the Church's relationship with the Jewish people, and hopefully it will lead to a reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the people who still live out the religious tradition of which Jesus was a part.
Rating:
Summary: Pure American fantasy
Review: The author says: Polish Catholics from the nearby towns of Oswiecim and Birkenau rallied to the nuns' defense. Fights broke out. "One More Horror at Auschwitz," read a headline in a British paper. "They crucified our God," a boy screamed during one demonstration. "They killed Jesus." I lived in Poland for 20 years, was very involved in the Church life, and had never heard this expression "They crucified our God". Believe me, this is very American. No Pole uses such expression. It's true, we acused the Jews of unethical money lending practices and other questionable practices. Many such accusations had merits, though.
Rating: 
Summary: The Facts
Review: I don't know what the religious status of the author has to do with the quality of his argument. But for what it's worth, James Carroll discusses his excommunication in his memoir, An American Requiem. There's no doubt about the facts here. As for the book, it's a wash. Carroll writes well, even if his prose is always too sentimental. But he's not an historian. This is a risible cartoon of Catholicism's teaching on Judaism. For those of us who have read his puerile, anti-Catholic columns in The Boston Globe, it's all sadly predictable.
Rating:
Summary: Correction of Correction
Review: For what it's worth, James Carroll is indeed excommunicated. In his earlier autobiographical works, he openly discusses his feelings toward his excommunciation. He was excommunicated when he married his wife without proper dispensation from his promise of clerical celibacy. You can disagree with this church policy, but Carroll has always acknowledged that his religiously invalid marriage involved the penalty of excommunication. We should all pray for this tragic man.
Rating:
Summary: Execrable
Review: Is James Carroll undergoing a breakdown? He certainly gives that impression as he meanders and whines his way through this bloated and panic-stricken attack on the Catholic Church. It's open season on Catholics, and Carroll is the Elmer Fudd of Catholic-bashers. For a former priest, his total lack of understanding and appreciation for the history of Roman Catholicism is amazing. His suggestions for "improving" the Church are the equivalent of decatholicizing it; suggestions that are remarkable for their fatuity and destructiveness -- e.g., diminishing the importance of the Cross as a symbol of the Church, thereby ensuring that non-Catholics will breathe more easily around us. Obscene and imbecilic! And his fanatical and desperate attempts to prove that Catholicism was the handmaiden of Nazism is nothing more than a means of jumping on the author's-tour bandwagon with Garry Wills, John Cornwell, and other anti-Catholics. This is an exceptionally ugly and stupid book -- truly in a class by itself.
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