This book – The Ecumenical Councils of the Catholic Church: A History (author: Joseph E. Kelly) – is anything but a dry read.  

More than just a book for religious historians, this book provides wide details and context on how church leaders came together – and sometimes didn’t come together – over the centuries to debate and articulate Christian theology.

I count myself among the bibliophiles who believe that every word of a book should be read to consider the book as having been read.   In the case of this book, there is so much historical detail about each council, and historical context surrounding each council, and absorbing trivia that I am finding myself selectively choosing how much to summarily read about each time period the first time through this book (I may satisfy myself with selectively reading the book once through and keeping it a reference book).   “Really?,” I found myself pondering.  “A, B, X, Y really happened at this or that council or during this or that period in Church history?!?!?”  As I read, I am scribbling trivia on sticky-notes to tell friends and fellow church folk about what I am learning about the history of the Christianity’s twenty-one ecumenical councils.  As many of us know, the first council was the Council of Nicea in 325 through to Vatican II in the 1960’s. 

Just this afternoon, I learned that an Empress was involved in the second council of Nicea in 786/7.   Some councils were more ecumenical than others – in some cases, the councils were more heavily attended by bishops from the east than bishops from the west; today, individual denominations decide for themselves which of these historical councils were “ecumenical” (of note, the book’s author provides a listing within the book of which denominations consider with councils to have been ecumenical).

For non-historians, reading this book seriously will take the reader into reading additional books to learn more about the history and context of what was happening at the time of each council. 

There’s plenty in this book for both historians and fans of religious trivia.   It’s a book that really needs to be read over time so as to really absorb the content covered for each time period.

Kim Burkhardt blogs about faith at The Hermitage Within. Thank you for reading this faith blog and for sharing it with your friends. While you are here, please feel welcome to provide support to sustain this blog ($$).