Byzantium (I): The Early Centuries

[Byzantium (I): The Early Centuries]

NORWICH, John Julius

Year:

1989

Type:

Non Fiction

Public:

Adults

Tags:

History, Ancient, Medieval

Publisher:

Knopf

City:

New York

Year of publication:

1989

Pages:

416

Moral assessment:

Type: Thought

Nothing inappropriate.

Requires prior general knowledge of the subject.

Readers with knowledgeable about the subject matter.

Contains doctrinal errors of some importance.

Whilst not being explicitly against the faith, the general approach or its main points are ambiguous or opposed to the Church’s teachings.

Incompatible with Catholic doctrine.

Literary quality:

Recommendable:

Transmits values:

Sexual content:

Violent content:

Vulgar or obscene language:

Ideas that contradict Church teaching:

The rating of the different categories comes from the opinion of Delibris' collaborators

This is the first of a trilogy that make up a popular history of the Byzantine Empire (300-1450 A.D.). The book, while not scholarly, is well written and informative and will hold the reader’s attention. The history focusses mainly on the various rulers of the empire and their families.

In the course of the history, the author deals with many bishops, popes, emperors, ecclesiastical disputes and heresies (e.g., Arianism, Nestorianism, Monophysitism, etc.). In doing so, he tends to adopt a purely natural point of view, at times ascribing political motives to Church figures instead of a motivation based on faith and dedication to the Church’s supernatural aims. A person with solid Christian formation will be able to recognize this.

David Gallagher, 2020