Rating: 
Summary: Excellent summary of Catholic Doctrine
Review: The most comprehensive and historically-conscious summary of the full sweep of two thousand years of doctrinal development you can find in one volume. I highly recommend it to anyone who wishes to have a good intelligent overview of what and how the Catholic Church thinks and believes.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding compendium of Catholic theology.
Review: The survey of Catholicism is the best resource for people wanting an adult understanding of the Catholic faith. It is a comprehensive, intelligent approach to Catholic teachings in a way that restore people's pride in being Catholic.
Rating:
Summary: A very nice suvery
Review: This book gives a very nice overview over Catholicism as a whole. To any topic, the author presents the total spectrum of views, from conservative to liberal, without judging any of them. They are simply presented and the reader can judge for himself what he thinks of it. Even with controverial topics he objectively presents both sides of the issue. This way you get a really nice picture of the discussions going on in the church.The only way to be disappointed by this book is if you believe that McBrien should not have mentioned any other viewpoint than your very own personal "true" view. McBrien does not seem to forget any topic. I really enjoyed reading the chapter on Catholic spirituality, where he also mentions its history. Many other books just mention the Catholic history of involvment in politics and power, in his book I see that there is much more to the whole story than that.
Rating:
Summary: Read This When You Want a Catholicism for Modern Ears
Review: This book reminded me, a marginal Catholic, at a time when I was recovering from born again fundamentalism, how Catholicism may be presented in such a way as to respect the potential and dignity of thinking adults.
Rating: 
Summary: didactic tome
Review: This book was tiresome and sneering without being clever or lively. It is neither scholarly nor witty. Glaring factual omissions in coverage of councils.
Rating:
Summary: Summary of Development of Catholic Doctrine
Review: This is an ideal text for people who want a source for serious study of the Catholic religion. Although I am not a priest, I graduated from a Catholic college seminary around the time of Vatican II and have maintained a serious interest in my religion since that time. We intelligent adults are often left with two sources of information about our Church: (1) the superficial utterings of the popular press, and (2) the defensive writings of the Church in such sources as the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Although he has been routinely denounced by fundamentalist Catholics as a "liberal," McBrien actually presents a balanced view on important issues.
Rating:
Summary: PATHETIC
Review: Unscholarly and a great disservice to the Catholic Church. Fortunately, this book is already being forgotten and will be virtually unknown within the next 50 years, just like the writings of most insignificant theological works penned by mediocre university professors.
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