CRITIQUE & REVIEW: American Catholics in the Public Square Explained in Denver Archbishop’s “Render unto Caesar"

Archbishop of Denver Charles J. Chaput has done a great service to Catholics and non-Catholics alike in his important and very readable “Render unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living Our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life.” Archbishop Chaput does a great job of explaining the Catholic worldview and how Catholics are expected to live their faith. As a Catholic, I appriciated the clear, comprehensive discussion of the true meaning of Vatican II. For non-Catholics, this short book will give them a better understanding of the 2,000 year-old tradition of the Church and its interaction with the state from Constantine's conversion to today's abortion debate.

CRITIQUE & REVIEW: “Constantine the Great: The Man and his Times” by Michael Grant

“Constantine the Great: The Man and his Times” by Michael Grant is another entry in my “Year of Rome” theme. I have not been able to find a good biography of Constantine so this one had to do.

The author is truly a subject expert but not a very elegant writer. His work suffers in comparison to Anthony Everitt's who wrote two prior “Year of Rome” books I recently read, one on Cicero and the other on Augustus.

Grant does his best to breakdown the various biased accounts of Constantine’s life and times to portray the truth as he discerns it. He succeeds in only the barest sense. I finished the book without really knowing Constantine’s motivations. Where the coherent narrative of a flesh and blood person? Grant is so focused on revealing an unbiased account of the facts culled from Christian hagiography and pagan polemics, we lose the man.

A great case can be made that Constantine the Great was one of the ten most influential humans ever to walk the planet. Grant’s work is valuable but I still await a deeper study of the man.