Rating: 
Summary: A "brutally honest" & concise History
Review: Hans Küng does a brilliant job of compacting the Roman Catholic Church's theological/ideological, geo-political, economic, and social development of the past 2000 years in just 200 pages. Küng discusses Catholicism (ecclesiastical development) within the larger viewpoint of the development of Christianity. As such one will learn quite a great deal also about the Eastern Orthodox Church and some valuable details about the splintering Reformation movement.While reading this book, I could not help but think that if Küng had lived during the late Middle Ages and published this book he would have been another John Huss burned at the stake or another excommunicated Marin Luther. It helps to realize that Küng is an "insider" (lived in the elite Collegium Germanicum, studied philosophy and theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University, and participated to the Vatican II Council) to the Catholic Church, yet he has a very ecumenical view towards Christianity (and even towards other world religions). I was surprised to find out that Küng still remains a Catholic even though he challenges the infallibility of the pope. Throughout the book Küng reports the historical events objectively but towards the end of the book he seems to set up his agenda for Ecumenicalism and Reform ('restoration instead of renewal') within the Church (Roman Catholic). I wish all the listed historical facts and developments would have a documented bibliography (but then the subtitle of the book would not be "A Short History.") The index was useful, and having a Chronology table was a big plus.
Rating:
Summary: Kung's radical view of the church
Review: Yes, Hans Kung has an agenda - to reform the church and bring it back to its biblical roots. This shows clearly in his history, espeically as he writes of the church in more recent times. His criticisms can be sharp, but that is partly because they are so on the mark. This is a book by a man who is STILL a Catholic, despite being censured by the church for his opinions; he writes from within the church, and with a view toward reforms which could once again make the Catholic church central to Christianity. Christianity in its truest forms has always been a radical religion. Kung exemplifies this. Read this book for the insights, deep erudition and wisdom Kung has to offer.
Rating: 
Summary: Not hardcore realism, but a good survey
Review: Hans Küng, a long-established theologian, has written a very good survey of how the Catholic Church has evolved from its earliest days in the days of the apostle Peter to the present era of John Paul II and the infallible papacy. The book is very well worked out and follows a clear chronological pattern attempting to outline how the Church evolved through the various eras from the early Church to the reforms of such popes as St. Leo IX and St. Gregory VII, through the time of the Inquisition of the last eight hundred years. Küng explains everything as much as possible in terms of the teaching of the New Testament, and is very consistent in the way in which he bases his thoughts on various popes on this. We see in particular how the Church became at odds with moderninty during the era of Pius IX and the First Vatican Council, and the continuous struggle of the Church for relevance since then. We also see an unusually good description of the Old Catholic schism, seldom discussed by any other writer but of at least some purely historical value even though no bishop joined them. There is a good and clear (if hardcore pro-papalists might see it as heretical) view on the popes of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and of Opus Dei, the Legionnaires of Christ, and other right-wing sects in the Catholic Church. However, Küng most unfortunately shows his age in the way in which he asks "which Church has a future" and speaks of "a Vatican III". Whilst that was an exceedingly serious question throughout the Montini papacy, twenty-five years of the Wojtyla papacy have meant that the future of the Catholic Church is more clearly mapped out for the next few centuries than it ever has been in the past. After "Ordinatio Sacerdotalis" and "Ad Tuadem Fidem", there can be no doubt that the Church of the third millenium will be increasingly authoritarian and theologically doctrinaire given the composition of the present College of Cardinals. Despite the fact that one wishes for a more reasonable assessment of where the Church is headed in light of the past decade, as good a survey of the Catholic Church's history as one will easily find.
Rating:
Summary: Every Catholic NEEDS to read this book!
Review: Whether you agree or disagree with the author's positions, you have to admire his extensive research on the history of the Catholic Church. Just as examples, he explains the departure of the Jews from the early Christians, the reasons for the splits between the East and the West, and the effect of various historical figures on the church. Also, I have never been so well informed of the reasons behind some of the church's doctrines and positions, or so shocked at what some of actual reasons for them were. It is amazing how some of the major doctrines of the church were created after the first 1000 years of its institutional history, not in Biblical times, and the sheer gall of some of the early Popes requiring all catholics to accept what were financially-based positions, cloaked with the fabric of papal infallibility. The author also relates the saga of Popes excommunicating Popes, and a period when there were three Popes reigning at the same time, or was it four?
If you are Catholic, you owe it to yourself to read this book to obtain a true understanding of your history. If you are not Catholic, read it anyway. It is one of the best books on the history of an institution that has been with us for 2000 years.
Rating: 
Summary: One side of the issue
Review: Hans Kung surely knows what he is talking about. This book however sounds quite angry, much more so than the more moderate and deeper "Christianity", which is of course much thicker. The one problem I have after reading his book is that if there was nothing more to church history than all these negative facts, it would not have survived 2000 years. Histories of the church seem all to focus on politics, power and intrigues. What about thinkers, philosophers, theologians and "regular folks" who really kept religion alive? I am still looking for a more balanced history of the church. Kung's "Christianity" was, I felt, more balanced.
Rating:
Summary: brilliant brief "pocketbook" history of the Church
Review: A superb short history of the Catholic Church written by a theologian with a gift for concisely expresssing major theological issues in a way a lay person can understand. For example,I've never read a better exposition on Luther and his theological beliefs... .I only regret that this short history ,despite its captivating detail, read so fast...
Rating: 
Summary: A new view of an old church
Review: I was surprised how much the author packed into this little book. The beginning fifty or so pages did a fairly quick history job in explaining events and people. The Vaticun II part read like a liberal wishlist of how to destroy and rebuild the church in their own image. I realized the (Roman) Church is suffering from the many recent events but most are caused by what appears as the liberal agenda from within. I'm sure the American Catholic Church will use this as a gathering point for their new theology and use it to their advantage.
Rating: 
Summary: Kung's dissenting history
Review: Unfortunately, Modern Library Chronicles chose Kung for its introductory volume on Church history. Here and elsewhere, Kung questions the validity of the Resurrection, the primacy of the Pope in Church hierarchy, clerical celibacy, and the sacrament of Penance, among other things. It's no wonder the Vatican revoked Kung's status as a Catholic theologian for insistently denying papal infallibility and the full divinity of Christ. Kung arrogantly would replace 2,000 years of Catholicism with his own vision of a congregational, protestant Church. ** Read H.W. Crocker III's "Triumph: the Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church" or Alan Schreck's "The Compact History of the Catholic Church."
Rating:
Summary: An important viewpoint, not to be ignored by the faithful.
Review: How tempting it is to forget that the Catholic Church has survived precisely because it has ultimately embraced the visions of REFORMERS who listened to God but were considered dangerously close to heresy in their own lifetimes. These include Paul of Tarsus, Origen, Anselm of Canterbury, Francis of Assisi, Thomas Aquinas, Ignatius Loyola and Matteo Ricci, to name just a few. How sad it is that the hierarchy was unable to do the same when first confronted by Martin Luther. Sadder still that it has again been unable to do so when confronted by Hans Kung.
Rating:
Summary: Not recommended reading for orthodox Catholics
Review: It is not so much a history as an attempt to redesign the church. It fails to grasp fundamental Catholic principles such as: God's word is the person of Jesus Christ. The word comes to us through tradition and divine revelation - not in written scripture alone. Not recommended reading for orthodox Catholics.
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