Book Review: Bearing False Witness by Rodney Stark

Bearing False Witness: Debunking Centuries of Anti-Catholic History by Rodney Stark

Bigotry is something that seems ubiquitous in human societies. While no one looks at themselves as bigoted, they can point plenty of fingers at other individuals, groups, or institutions as deliberately or inherently/systematically biased. While contemporary media has its darlings who are legitimate victims of stereotypical attitudes, the fact is a lot more people and groups have been and are targeted by misinformed opinions and accusations. This book focuses on the Catholic Church, which has had plenty of legitimate criticisms but also a whole host of falsehoods and wild exaggerations. 

Author Rodney Stark makes an important distinction in his introduction, "I am not a Roman Catholic, and I did not write this book in defense of the Church. I wrote it in defense of history." [p. 7] He looks at issues like the Inquisition, slavery, the Crusades, Anti-Semitism, and suppressed Gospels from historical research, i.e. what actually happened. He considers the contexts both of the events and of subsequent authors (like those of the self-proclaimed Enlightenment in the 1600s and 1700s), many who had a lot of influence and personal bias against the Church. Stark acknowledges shortcomings while setting the record straight. His writing is very straightforward and honest, with plenty of endnotes and an extended bibliography. If you want a more in-depth and accurate appraisal of the Crusades or Galileo's condemnation or Pope Pius XII's relationship with fascism, this is the book for you.

It's amazing how many egregious errors stick around for centuries and centuries.

Highly recommended.

The book is discussed in A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast #315. Check it out!