Whether you like or dislike the study of history, you'll find this book an interesting, fun read. The author capitalizes on what is the most preferred way of learning - experiential and visual learning. Using the tangible, Mike Aquilina explores Church History in an intelligent, conversational, interesting fun sharing. Clearly Aquilina loves what he shares and it's infectious. It's a great book for learners, teachers and those interested in Church History.

Although I express my Christianity as a Protestant I am fascinated by the Catholic Church and our joint and divided history. This topic was shown well in this book which I found very interesting. Some of the topics I was surprised by, such as Arms and Armor, but when brought into context made sense. I was also surprised but pleased to find Barney, the purple dinosaur mentioned.
This was an enlightening read and is a recommended primer for those interested in the history of the Catholic Church.
I was given this book by NetGalley and the publisher. This is my voluntary and impartial review.

How do we study history? For most of us, we would hit the books or listen to some historians explain the stories of the past. Others would go deeper into the science of archaeology or ancient artifacts. Modern technology gives many of us a way to search for information about the past. For author Mike Aquilina, "stuff" matters because they all tell a unique story. More specifically, the history of the Church could be traced through the examination of objects. These objects are then situated in seven eras:

1) The First Century Church (Apostles and Martyrs)
2) The Roman Empire (First to Third Centuries)
3) The Dark Ages (4th to 8th Century)
4) The Middle Ages (5th to 15th Century)
5) The Renaissance and Reformation (16th to 17th Century)
6) The Age of Revolutions (18th to 19th Century)
7) The Global Village (Our Modern 21st Century World)

The key idea is that these objects tell a story. Beginning with the first century Church right through to modern era, readers get to see real stuff being used as pointers to the past. The silver star in Bethlehem's Basilica of the Nativity confirms what the ancients had seen prior to the birth of Christ. Not only does it represent eye-witness accounts, it affirms the story as depicted in the Bible. We read about paving stones, wooden posts, ancient amulet, catacombs, and many fascinating events in history. The chains of Peter show us how the apostle Peter was imprisoned, even tortured. As we move on to the Roman era, the monuments like the Colossus bring us back to the times of persecutions and political chaos prior to the Edict of Constantine. Even soil in Jerusalem's Basilica of the Holy Cross were used to remind us about the purpose why they were there in the first place.


The Dark Ages is a time of transition amid the uncertainty after the fall of Rome. With Christianity losing ground to Islam, books were preserved. Relics were kept. Icons, vessels, and coins are all symbols of the past. Even a wine vessel gives us a glimpse of a time of disappearing infrastructure, ransack by bandits; risky travel; loss of social graces; and a world in need of leaders. The coin of the Umayyad Caliphate reminds us of a time in which the Muslims dominated large parts of Europe and the Middle East at a time where the author perceives: "Christianity had spread by persuasion. Islam was spreading by force." Interestingly, objects during the Dark Ages are few when compared to the later periods. This is probably due to the disarray and confusion happening at that time with no order or infrastructure in place to maintain a library or a sense of history.

The Middle Ages is time where religious art flourished due to the monarchs becoming patrons of the arts. It was the golden years of a society defined by the marriage of religion and state. Literature were written. Written language was either invented or improved. Missionary activities increased and the Church had unprecedented growth. With it came corruption as well as the ugly crusades. Religious wars ensued and contributed to lots of disillusionment with religion playing her role in society. Then came the Renaissance (printing press, compass, science, arts) for the general public and the Reformation (symbolized by the Wittenberg door) for the Church. Both are movements that pushed back against the ills of the Middle Ages. Gradually, we move on to the objects depicting the Age of Science, Politics and Revolutions. There was the Declaration of Independence of the New World out in North America. The guillotine was an advanced form of executing criminals, also used to eradicate political opponents. The Holy Water bottles showed the continued influence of the Church in spite of the declining popularity of the religious institutions. Readers who prefer an era more relevant would be intrigued by the last section of the book, which deals with the "Global Village." Here, there are familiar things like newspaper headlines; voting ballots; fountain pen; the radio; parking passes; the abortion pill; and so on. The author tries to go global by including a Korean cathedral; a San Salvador altar of sacrifice; as well as offerings given by pilgrims from all over the world. All of these give readers a tiny glimpse of the oceans of history and events in the past from a tiny perspective through the eyes of the author. A different author might retell the story in a different way but that does not change the facts of history. So, what will we get out of reading this book? We read about a big story of human progression from the eyes of the Church.

There is a verse in the gospel of Luke where Jesus replied to the Pharisees: "I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." It was the occasion of Jerusalem entering Jerusalem which triggered much joy for the people hoping for a new king. Many people openly expressed their excitement by laying down their cloaks on the ground; singing and shouting out their praises; and many other expressions of happiness. When asked by the Pharisees to Jesus to keep his disciplines quiet or to drown out the revelry, Jesus told them that such joy couldn't be suppressed. In the same way, the objects described in this book all have a story to tell. We could ignore them but they all contain a story of long ago, something that we could learn from. When given time and discernment, we could trace a pattern, link up isolated events, and to form a picture of the past. This is what the 100 objects had been used, to link up the major events of history from the first century to the present. Of course, one may argue about the exact number of objects. Why not 200? Why not 500? Why not 1000? Aren't there other objects yet to be discovered? It would take a lifetime or more to just tell part of the story. I gather that the ability to piece the parts together also depends on the author's personal knowledge of historical happenings and circumstances leading to the discovery of these relics. It is thus fair to see this book as a snapshot or a glimpse of the past, and to help us appreciate more of the history, the tradition, and the sacrifices made for us to keep the faith. The Christian Church has a checkered history, and the objects do not prejudge. They merely describe what happened, especially what happened to them.

Perhaps, this book and the way the stories are told could inspire us to do the same where we are. Indeed, Mike Aquilina has given us a literary time capsule!

Rating: 4 stars of 5.

conrade
This book has been provided courtesy of Ave Maria Press and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.

We Catholics like our "stuff". While the trend in church buildings in the 1960's and 1970's may have been minimalist and utilitarian, today's new churches tend to look like churches with stained glass, statues and a sanctuary with a tabernacle front and center. We are physical beings and our senses can bring us closer to God.

A History of the Church in 100 Objects uses pictures of our "stuff" as leadoffs for chapters on the history of our faith. If you click the Amazon link above and page though the sample pages, you'll see that it is a beautiful book. As a history buff and a Catholic I found it fascinating and learned some new stories (because what is history of not his (and her) story?

Thanks to the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley. Grade: B+

An intriguing, fun, and enlightening way to look at the Catholic Church and its history. The authors use the objects pictured to tell us not only the basic history but to relate stories of saints and sometimes sinners and to reflect on both history and on aspects of the Faith.

A nice touch is that at the end of each short essay there are two books cited for those wanting to learn more. This creates a great jumping off point for further reading.

While sometimes they get historical facts wrong, as in the case of the essay on Palestrina. Its also possible to disagree with their interpretation of some items. Overall though, this is a very worthwhile book.

We have another title from this author, hopefully this will be added. This book is fascinating both from a Catholic perspective, and as someone interested in history. I really liked that the text supporting each image is pertinent, informative and concise. This book will help you see God's continuing hand in the out-folding of salvation history within His church and the world. An encouragement in these trying times. Recommended.

A History of the Church in 100 Objects is a delightful book. It is an easy and enjoyable read with each pictured object limited to two or three pages of discussion.

By definition, the limited space given to each object means that sometimes significant facts or events have had to be left out or over-simplified. Because of this at times the stories can feel a little one sided. However in saying this, the book never claims to provide an in-depth analysis of any topic. I am inspired to follow side paths, with book recommendations provided at the end of each little article.

The limit of 100 objects is also restrictive – much of church history has to be left out by definition. It would be nice to see a greater expansion of non-European and non-American objects or even more focus on the Orthodox and Protestant streams of church history. Maybe ‘A History of the Church with 1000 Objects’ could become the companion edition.

I particularly enjoyed the less well known objects that were selected – the Byzantine marriage ring or the parking pass for Vatican II.

One caution – this book is highly addictive. I found myself sitting down to quickly dip into the book and read about one or two objects, only to finally put the book down several hours later.

This book is a good introduction to the church history in general.

I actually found it quiet fascinating how much time was covered with those 100 objects and i loved that it included so many references to get more information if that was something the reader wishes to do for specific objects or specific historical moments.

If you are interested in learning more about history, specifically about religious aspects -what made them, where they came from, why they became religious artefacts and so on- this book is defiantly worth a look through.

Taking its cues from the secular New York Times bestseller A History of the World in 100 Objects, A History of the Church in 100 Objects is as much a counterpart to the former in the same way that Diana Butler Bass’ A People’s History of Christianity was the sacred flip-side to A People’s History of the United States. Thus, this kind of taking from the secular and making it sacred is nothing new. However, A History of the Church in 100 Objects can, in a way, stand on its own. It is educational as much as it is a curiosity, because this book certainly filled in some gaps in my knowledge about Church history. I learned something new in practically every chapter, all 100 of them.

The book covers a lot of ground, some 2,000 years of it. Going from Roman rule to the Dark Ages to the Age of Chivalry to the Protestant reformation to European revolutions right up to the wars and technological advances of the 20th Century, it could be argued that this book bites off more than it can chew. As much as I learned from this history book, it just added new questions for me to ask. It tackles such a wide swath of history, there are bound to be gaps. To its credit, each chapter ends with two titles that you should consult for further reading, so consider A History of the Church in 100 Objects to be merely an introduction to the Church — a 101 course in a book.

But you’re probably going to ask, which Church? Ah, there’s the rub. This book is published by Ave Maria Press, a Roman Catholic publisher, so this is a history that is generously biased to the Catholic Church. In fact, Islam gets painted as a barbaric religion and us Protestants aren’t treated much better. A lot of the objects that are the focal point for the tales they tell in terms of a historical setting or place are, indeed, Catholic — though the authors do include the doors that Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to, if only to condemn Luther as someone who caused the killings of innocent German peasants by inciting people to do so in his writings. So, yeah, there’s a bias at work here.

If that doesn’t faze you, I’d argue that you should really hunt for a physical copy of A History of the Church in 100 Objects. You see, I read a galley of this book on my Kindle, and the lovely photos (some of which are sourced from stock photo agencies, though) render poorly on that device. I have to pause here and talk about the galley, even though it’s kind of bad form in publishing circles to do so. I only got to see about a quarter of the photos in this book, as there was a whole raft of photos that were missing from my digital ARC. This was frustrating, because the authors (who are, by the way, father and daughter) often would refer to something in the photo in their corresponding text. Also just as annoying was the fact that my copy lopped off vowels and consonants from words, which made reading sometimes difficult. I know that publishers sometimes have limitations with compatibility formats of e-galleys, but I really wish that they would take greater care in getting such copies to reviewers.

As it stands, I have to warn readers that since I didn’t see a final version of this book, that may colour this review somewhat. I really wish I could say more about the photographs, but what I did see was interesting enough — for the most part. When you get to the later chapters, you’re looking at marvels of the modern world such as satellite dishes (yawn). However, if you can’t get to Rome or Turkey or whatever country an artifact in question comes from, the earlier artifact pictures generally prove to be invaluable. They’re probably better in full colour. So that ends my rant, but also provides proper caution that you should really — if you’re interested in this book — go for a bound physical copy. Assuming there are no limitations there.

It’s the little-known tidbits that make this book what it is. I found out the significance of the letters P and X on Catholic symbols, for instance, and even learned that Benjamin Franklin tried to get the support of French Canada (which, of course, was largely Catholic) for fighting against Britain during the American Revolution. I even learned that certain colonies of the pre-U.S. were Catholic sanctuaries because British royalty had cracked down on Catholicism — so the New World was the place to send all of the Catholics. But, again, this points to the Catholic bias of the book — and the fact that these write-ups open up more questions than they answer. So how did evangelical Protestantism take hold in the U.S., for instance? What became of the Gnostics and Arians of early Christian history? Stuff like that.

All in all, A History of the Church in 100 Objects is great if you want a quick and dirty history (that’s slanted towards Catholicism) and maybe if you want a lovely picture book for your coffee table. If you’re looking for something more substantial — well, you have a lot of reading yet to do. Still, despite my frustrations with the e-galley and problems with the slant of the book and perfunctory explanations in some areas, A History of the Church in 100 Objects is not bad. It’s not great, but it’s not bad. I gained a deeper appreciation for Catholic Church history (and I was baptised a Catholic) and have a deeper appreciation for why things are the way they are in the Church. If that sounds appealing to you, then go ahead and devour this curious but flawed book. You, like me, might learn something new.

Interesting way to work through the history of the Christian Church. Range of objects considered varies from Christian "relics" to a wide variety of items associated with mostly significant historical or theological events. Each very readable chapter is concise and ends with resources for further study. Classroom teachers likely will find the information in this book a useful resource for enriching lectures.

What a treasure this book is. It is almost completely a Catholic history, but I found great value in its pages. From the early church through present day, the authors take us through a series of objects that provide signposts along the way. While that may initially seem like a minor detail, I found it to be a deeply enriching experience.

I am not Catholic, but I found myself feeling a kinship with this history. Some mystical, some practical, and all addictingly compelling.

Very entertaining yet incredibly informative and useful!