Light and Shadows: Church History amid Faith, Fact, and Legend (review)

Monsignor Walter Brandmüller, the former president of the Pontifical Committee on Historical Sciences, here offers fifteen previously published texts as they were revised for German publication in 2007, without their original footnotes. The book is directed at the kinds of questions posed by a popular audience concerning the Church's historical "record." Church history is considered from a believer's viewpoint. The translation reads well, although a comparison of page 16 of the German edition ("Diese Geschichte. . .") with page 22 of the English translation ("Despite this history. . .") will show that there are mistranslations.

The first essay, "Trust the Church?," mentions various theses of widely read authors, such as that the Qumran discoveries undermine the Gospel portrayals of Jesus. Hans Küng's list of errors of the Magisterium is countered with a list of Küng's errors. There is a "once-over lightly" character to some of the discussions, which will not satisfy all readers. Similarly, statements such as "[t]he mere existence of the Church in the year 2007 is . . . an irrefutable proof for her permanence" (p. 21) may strike some as rhetorical bravado. Brandmüller's observation that various writers do not sufficiently concern themselves with context to make their allegations clear might occasionally be turned against himself: He speaks of "the Bishop of Rome" around 70 AD without referring to the research that has been devoted to the first-century leadership of the Roman Church (and in the second essay, Brandmüller's discussion of St. Ignatius of Antioch does not note that the authenticity of Ignatius's letter to the Roman Church has been contested). But such things are more noticed by the historian than the general reader. Here and elsewhere, more distinction could be made between theological claims and what the historical record can establish. Throughout, Brandmüller distinguishes between errors in matters of faith and other matters.

The second essay explains papal primacy. As we live in a democratic age and some look forward to a time when the pope will be a sort of general secretary, Brandmüller observes as warnings against such thinking the drift into nationalism of the Orthodox churches and the fragmentation of doctrine of the Protestant churches. The third and fourth are fine essays on the role of Christianity in the unification of Europe and of the Enlightenment and French Revolution in its disintegration, and on the awakenings following each apparent disaster, the latter giving present hope. With the fifth essay, Brandmüller turns to more particular questions, first to a well-informed discussion of the historicity of the so-called infancy narratives and then to the medieval inquisition, the crusades, and the Lutheran Reformation. In treating this latter "from a Catholic perspective," Brandmüller is at his most polemical, showing the deceptiveness of the very idea of reform by return to origins.

After a lucid explanation of why Hubert Jedin's label, "the miracle of Trent," is appropriate, Brandmüller excellently considers three of the "awakenings" that he earlier noted have followed periods of apparent decadence. The first is the development of the baroque, characterized by "the tension and harmony between sensuousness and rationality" (p. 169). The second is French Catholicism after 1789. The third is German Catholicism in roughly the same period (see essay 14 and the two appendices). Essay 13 turns to the Second Vatican Council, and the final essay is an excellent exposition of Pope John Paul II's and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's reflections of the Penitential Act (Tertio millennio adveniente).

In sum, this is a most stimulating book. An American reader will find striking parallels especially between the German and American Christian attempts to come to terms with modernity.