Excellent overview of the Church in the medieval era. Deducted a star for being a little too dry and textbookish. ( )

F. Donald Logan's A History of the Church in the Middle Ages runs from the Roman period through to 1492, mostly dealing with the papacy and other aspects of the institutional church but also addressing issues such as lay beliefs and practices and religious architecture. It's a little dry and at points Logan is prone to overly complicated sentences but I think it could serve as a useful textbook for an undergraduate survey course. I did catch one or two minor errors, however, and rolled my eyes at the digs at feminist historians—in a section on Hildegard of Bingen, no less! ( )

Medieval here means from 500 to 1500. The author tries to balance the history of the church as a political and religious institution with the history of individual religious feeling and piety in so far as that is knowable or recoverable by the historian.

It is a very readable account marred by poor proof reading and editing in places (letters and words missing or whole clauses and sentences repeated on the same page or nearby pages). ( )

This carefully organized and easy-to-read history would make a fantastic text for an undergraduate survey course, a useful resource for grad students and teachers, and a good read for anyone even remotely interested in medieval Europe and Christian history.

Particularly engaging for a general audience are the author's treatment of the Crusades (particularly the first; it's a shame that only the first and fourth are covered in any depth, but perhaps this would've stretched beyond the book's intended scope?) and Chapter 9, in which the reader is treated to highly informative and also highly entertaining "profiles" of a few famous 12th century figures: Abelard and Heloise, Thomas Becket, and Hildegard von Bingen.

Logan weaves in references to trade and economics, politics, literature and art, as well as emphasizing 'church history' proper (doctrines, orders, etc.)

The result makes for a cohesive narrative... and yet, thankfully, Logan also reminds the reader from time to time that the job of the historian or student of history isn't just to seek out and enjoy an objective, linear, cohesive reading of 'facts' and indisputable documents, but to ask questions. (And so, where the facts at hand leave contradictions and unknowns, Logan openly points that out too. I, for one, really appreciate a scholar who'll do that.)

I had not read anything by Logan prior, but will do so happily if I come across his work again.

(from a review I left on Amazon) ( )