03029cam a22003733u 450000100060000000300070000600500170001300600020003000700050003200800410003701000130007804000110009104100170010205000070011910000320012624500360015826400510019430000470024533600260029233700260031833800360034449000230038050000310040350801860043452016990062053400650231965300480238465300330243265300310246583000230249685600740251985600430259399900190263678085UtSlPG20260610134817.0mcr n260607r20261926utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d  a26022091  aUtSlPG 7aen2iso639-1 4aBX1 aBelloc, Hilaire,d1870-195314aThe Catholic Church and history 1aSalt Lake City, UT :bProject Gutenberg,c2026  a1 online resource :bmultiple file formats  atextbtxt2rdacontent  acomputerbc2rdamedia  aonline resourcebcr2rdacarrier1 aThe Calvert series  aRelease date is 2026-03-02  aTim Lindell, Daniel Lowe, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)  a"The Catholic Church and history" by Hilaire Belloc is an apologetic treatise written in the early 20th century. It argues that historical study does not disprove the Catholic Church’s claim to divine and infallible authority, and it sets out to rebut, rather than to prove, that claim. The work classifies and answers moral and intellectual objections, from alleged factual errors and deceit to the charge that the Church is merely a man‑made religion.

The opening of the work establishes its defensive purpose, defines “the Church,” and lays down premises: apologetics removes obstacles rather than proves the Faith, reason is absolute in its sphere, and only the Church’s accredited organs bind doctrine. It then rejects prosperity-as-proof and maps two lines of attack: moral (claims of doctrinal error, conscious fraud, and over-organisation) and intellectual (the Protestant corruption thesis and a broader sceptical thesis). Belloc argues that no solemn Church definition has been historically disproved, distinguishes development from contradiction, and rebuts classic cases—the Donation of Constantine and Galileo—by separating historical mistakes or disciplinary acts from dogmatic authority. He contends that organisation is a necessary mark of a living, authoritative society, not evidence against divinity. Turning to the Protestant line, he contrasts organic development with corruption, proposes tests of innovation and critical date, and claims heresies debut as novelties while no clear moment of “decline” can be fixed; the section closes by framing the modern sceptical challenge that all religion is man-made. (This is an automatically generated summary.)  pOriginally published:cNew York: The Macmillan Company, 1926  aCatholic Church -- Controversial literature  aCatholic Church -- Doctrines  aCatholic Church -- History 0aThe Calvert series4 uhttps://archive.org/details/catholicchurchhi0000bell/page/n7/mode/2up40uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78085  c118805d118805