Catholicism: The Pivotal Players (Word on Fire)

Bishop Robert Barron is what we call a "game-changer." He and his talented team at Word on Fire have brought Catholicism, more specifically evangelization, into the 21st century with the groundbreaking Catholicism series. The follow-up program, Catholicism: The New Evangelization was a smaller and more intimate documentary. The latest release in this growing umbrella is Catholicism: The Pivotal Players.

Catholicism: The Pivotal Players is divided into two volumes, with the second volume not released yet. In the first volume, we receive individual lessons on the following figures - St. Francis of Assisi, St. Thomas Aquinas, Bl. John Henry Newman, St. Catherine of Siena, G.K. Chesterton, and Michelangelo. The second volume covers St. Irenaeus, St. Augustine, St. Benedict, St. Ignatius, and Bartolomé de Las Casas. Each person has a specific title that reflects their contribution to the Church. For example, St. Francis is the Reformer and G.K. Chesterton is the Evangelist. The study is divided into thirteen sessions with one introductory session and then two sessions for each pivotal player. If you click here, you can see a sample lesson from the study guide on St. Catherine of Siena.

Each lesson in the book begins with an outline of the particular episode. There is then a short biography on the pivotal player as well as some context for their life. We also get a glimpse at the Church during the time this person lived to further help set the backdrop. We are then presented with Questions for Understanding, which include references to both Sacred Scripture and the Catechism. These are followed by Questions for Application, which are meant to serve as reflection questions in our own life and spur us to be more like St. Catherine or G.K. Chesterton.



As expected, the videos are masterfully done. Bishop Barron films from on scene, showing you the beauty of the global Catholic Church and again providing context for the pivotal player. He does a wonderful job presenting each player in an approachable manner. Bishop Barron's brilliance is on display as always, but he presents it in a manner that not only increases your knowledge on the subject matter, but your appreciation and hopefully devotion as well. Looking at the people selected for this series, I must say I am pleasantly surprised. We have clergy and laity, saints and not, and men and at least woman. I would have liked to seen a little more representation from the Eastern Church, and perhaps at least one more woman, but when you have the wealth of pivotal players we do, I imagine it was hard to whittle it down to the number they did. If you liked the original Catholicism, then your parish will need to get Catholicism: The Pivotal Players.

This program was provided to me for free by Word on Fire in exchange for an honest review.

Primacy in the Church from Vatican I to Vatican II (NIU Press)

Primacy in the Church from Vatican I to Vatican II is a book written by the Very Reverend Maximos Vgenopoulos, who is the Grand Archdeacon of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I. In this book, the author examines the concept of papal primacy from an Orthodox perspective using the two most recent "ecumenical" councils as a guideline. Vatican I issued the Dogmatic Constitution Pastor Aeternus, which defined the doctrine and affirmed papal infallibility. Vatican II issued the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, which reaffirmed Vatican I and also reaffirmed the doctrine of collegiality of bishops.

The book spans four chapters, two on Vatican I and two on Vatican II. Two of the chapters go into great detail on each of the councils, including what led to the councils being called and key declarations on papal primacy. The heart of the book, however, is the other two chapters, which include Orthodox reactions to each council. To my great surprise, there was disagreement among the Orthodox reactions. Each chapter begins with several figures arguing against Catholicism and primacy and then concludes with several other figures, not necessarily arguing for primacy, but presenting a more balanced view. The arguments in this book basically boiled down to several Greek Orthodox people against primacy and several Russian Orthodox people against the Greek Orthodox arguments.

John Zizoulas is the name you will see repeatedly in this book, as he has a unique theology on primacy. He starts by saying that Catholics and Orthodox do not agree on the role of Peter in the New Testament, so using history as an argument for or against primacy is futile. For him, it is the principle of "the one and the many" that will prove to be the most fruitful for discussion and dialogue. He then compares the ordering of local churches to the Trinity, because even though the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are equal, there still exists a hierarchical order with the Father being the first. Zizoulas also agrees with Alexander Schmemann in the belief that primacy is necessary to "express and manifest the unity of the Church at the regional and universal levels."

As a convert to Roman Catholicism, it's easy to see why the doctrine of papal primacy has been a cause of disagreement and discord. I found myself pleasantly surprised reading this book, as it was thought out, balanced, and unbiased. Granted, it was a challenging read and an academic read, but I expected nothing less. For that reason, it took me a bit longer to read this book than I anticipated. I found myself reading and re-reading sections to try and fully grasp what was being said. The general conclusions section in the end proved extremely helpful in making things clearer for me. The real beauty of this book is that Orthodox and Catholics alike can benefit from reading this work.

This book was provided to me for free by Northern Illinois University Press. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

Catholicism Blog Tour Day 1 and a Contest

Welcome to Stuart's Study. Today, I am kicking off a blog tour for the world-renowned book Catholicism by: Fr. Robert Barron. In order to celebrate the release of this book in paperback and pay respect to the fact that it has sold over 100,000 copies, Image Books and Word on Fire are hosting this blog tour and sponsoring a contest where the winner can win a trip for 2 to Rome and Paris. You'll have to read to the end of this post to find the contest link though. (Don't cheat and scroll down early!) Today, I will be featuring Chapter One, entitled "Amazed and Afraid."

Chapter One serves as the jumping off point for Fr. Barron's book Catholicism. Before we embark on his epic journey through Roman Catholicism, he sets the stage and provides in great detail who Jesus is. We first look at Jesus' humanity. "Deus fit homo ut homo fieret Deus (God became human so that humans might become God.)" Ponder that for a minute. God in His infinite majesty and grandeur humbled Himself and took on human form. However, he didn't come and make Himself a worldly Caesar, king, or pharaoh in some great city. He was born in an insignificant town to a poor teenage girl, and with His birth the world was never the same again.

After His birth, there is little mention of His childhood except for two instances in the Temple - His Presentation and His Finding. We instead jump straight to His ministry. Fr. Barron points out that other great religious teachers (Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius) insisted the focus be on their teachings and words. Jesus wanted the focus on more than His teachings and words. He wanted people to be drawn to Him; to develop a personal relationship with Him. By doing so, they will develop a personal relationship with God the Father.

The rest of the chapter is not only my favorite part of this chapter, but quite possibly of the book. Fr. Barron opens up the Old Testament for us and explains the four-fold mission of the Christ. 1. Gather the scattered tribes of Israel. 2. Cleanse the Temple of Jerusalem. 3. Definitively deal with the enemies of the nation. 4. Reign as Lord of Heaven and earth. After reading detailed explanations of each of these four things, it puts a new light on the Gospels and how one reads them. We can also better understand why Jesus performed certain actions, like his Healings.  Yes, there was mercy involved, but God was also calling His children back to Him through Jesus.

To enter the contest click, here. Tune in tomorrow at Seasons of Grace as Kathy Schiffer highlights and reviews Chapter Two of Catholicism entitled, "Happy Are We: The Teachings of Jesus."

Fr. Barron Friday (Image Books and Word on Fire)

It's a double review here again at Stuart's Study. Today, I'll be reviewing two Fr. Barron products. One of them is his world famous book Catholicism and the other is his latest project Tre Ore. This coming Monday, I will be kicking off an Image Books blog tour to celebrate Catholicism selling 100,000 copies and being published in paperback as well. Also on the blog tour, I will link up a contest that Image Books and Word on Fire are co-hosting where you can win a trip for two to Paris and Rome! Now let's get to the reviews!

If you've seen the Catholicism series, then this book will prove to be nothing new under the sun. In fact, this book is almost a transcript of the video series. This is both good and bad. It is bad because the book will never match the visual appeal of the videos. They were breathtaking presentations that brought us to many great landmarks of Roman Catholicism. However, there is a lot of dense material in the videos that is easy to miss, unless you rewind and re-watch several times. Having it presented to you in book format gives you a chance to see the words in front of your face, chew on them a bit, and hopefully understand. There are many great parts in this book, which Roman Catholics (and I stress Roman Catholics) will appreciate, including focus on the Mass, the Sacraments, and great saints. Now don't get me wrong, this book and series has done a great deal of good for a great many people. Instead of telling you about the good parts, which you can read in the hundreds of reviews on Amazon, I will tell you about the parts that bothered me.

For starters, there is also a lot of bias in this book. Fr. Barron states that Protestants and Orthodox don't hold as firm a conviction on the doctrine of the Incarnation as Catholics do. I would agree with him regarding Protestants, but disagree regarding Orthodox. He mentions sacraments, Liturgy, bishops, cathedrals, etc. All of which the Orthodox have. He then uses an image from the Hagia Sophia (a once Orthodox Church) on the opposite page. Sadly, the whole book only shows you the Western view of Catholicism, and completely ignores Eastern Catholics. The Roman Rite is but one of the many rites in the Catholic Church. This book doesn't even mention them and gives the feeling of "If it ain't Roman, it ain't rite."

Also, I don't like how he highlights Thomas Merton so much in Chapter 9 on prayer. I have spoke with people close to Fr. Barron before, and they have told me that he was shaped "by two Thomases" - St. Thomas Aquinas and Thomas Merton. The Summa Theologiae dramatically shaped his early religious life and set him on the path to priesthood. However, it is Thomas Merton that I am wary of. Merton was a Trappist monk who got involved to excess with Eastern religions (primarily Buddhism and Zen) near the end of his life. In fact, Fr. Barron has readily admitted in some of his homilies that Merton went too far to Eastern religions. If he knows that, why bother to include him in the book? He seems like too controversial of a figure to include in a book that is supposed to be a broad strokes view of Catholicism for outsiders, inquirers, new Catholics, and/or uneducated Catholics. If they see Fr. Barron endorsing Thomas Merton and read Merton's later stuff, bad things could happen! I agree with Dan Burke who says the following:

"The Church is in no way lacking in solid and perfectly trustworthy writings on the spiritual life. I personally don’t know why anyone would want to carefully sift through this kind of literature when it is clear that Merton had serious issues even during the his “orthodox” period. It seems a bit like sifting through the refuse at the back of a good restaurant. You will no doubt find much that is of nutritional value, but why not just go take your seat at the table for the best and purest meals available? I would encourage you to stick with the spiritual doctors of the Church. To name a few, the writings of St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Catherine of Siena and St. Francis de Sales will more than meet your needs for spiritual guidance and you need not worry that you might be led down a path that leads away from the Heart of the Church."

So for the lack of focus on Eastern Catholicism and the heavy amount of Thomas Merton, I can only give this book 3.5 stars.

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review. For helpful links, click below:

• Author's Web Site
• More Info
• Read Chapter One
• Author Bio

Tre Ore: The Seven Last Words of Christ is a series of homilies that Fr. Barron gave at St. Patrick's Cathedral in 2012. Tre Ore stands for "Three Hours." This is a liturgical service that is held on Good Friday from noon until 3 PM, which remembers the time that Jesus hung on the Cross. The CD series itself is actually 90 minutes long and the contents are as follows:

Disc One

INTRODUCTION 4:08

FIRST: Father, forgive them, they know not what they do. 12:39

SECOND: Today you will be with me in paradise. 15:56

THIRD: Woman, behold your son. Behold your mother. 12:28

Disc Two

FOURTH: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 16:13

FIFTH: I thirst. 9:53

SIXTH: Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. 8:01

SEVENTH: It is finished. 7:27

CONCLUSION 2:54

I enjoyed these homilies. They were brief (ranging from 8 to 16 minutes), but poignant. For example, The First Word dealt with forgiveness. He touches on "turning the other cheek," and shows how this is a third possible response instead of "fight or flight." I particularly enjoyed The Second Word as this focused on St. Dismas the Good Thief. He was my RCIA saint, and he is largely forgotten in the Catholic world, despite being the first one to be granted Paradise. Topics addressed were sin, temptations, and addictions; how we use them to try and replace God and how it leaves us empty doing so. He also took the time to reveal a bit of his personality and how he is one who seeks glory, honor, and recognition. I could definitely relate to him there, and it was a nice wake-up call that these things can also be used to replace God if we let them.

In addition to the homilies, you get a little booklet with three to four reflection questions for each of the homilies. This booklet is glued to the CD case, which means you won't lose it unless you lose the CDs. However, it also means that you can't detach it, which made it a little inconvenient for me. Thankfully, the questions and answers can also be found on their website for easy printing. Overall, this was a very good program. I think it would have been great, albeit a bit more pricey, if it was a video recording that included hymns, moments of mediation, and the Way of the Cross like normally happens during the Tre Ore.

I received a copy of this from Word on Fire for free in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click the link and hit Yes!