Drawing on his years of experience as a Catholic writer, Philip Trower offers a long view of how the Catholic Church arrived in its present modern crisis. Whereas many analyses take the Second Vatican Council as their starting point, Trower turns his gaze back towards the previous centuries, searching out the roots of modern conflicts over authority within the Church, the nature of Scripture, the relationship with the secular world, and more. His central thesis is that the positive movement for reform, and the negative movements of rebellion against the Church's authority, grew up intertwined in the years preceding Vatican II, and that it was only in the period following the Council that the division between the two became clearer. His analysis introduces a host or persons and movements whose legacies endure. Philip Trower's accessible style of writing and his attention to detail offer the reader a clear understanding of where the Church has come from in its recent past. This book is essential reading for all who wish to understand the present and future direction of the Catholic Church.
