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010 _a26022091
040 _aUtSlPG
041 7 _aen
_2iso639-1
050 4 _aBX
100 1 _aBelloc, Hilaire,
_d1870-1953
245 1 4 _aThe Catholic Church and history
264 1 _aSalt Lake City, UT :
_bProject Gutenberg,
_c2026
300 _a1 online resource :
_bmultiple file formats
336 _atext
_btxt
_2rdacontent
337 _acomputer
_bc
_2rdamedia
338 _aonline resource
_bcr
_2rdacarrier
490 1 _aThe Calvert series
500 _aRelease date is 2026-03-02
508 _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)
520 _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.)
534 _pOriginally published:
_cNew York: The Macmillan Company, 1926
653 _aCatholic Church -- Controversial literature
653 _aCatholic Church -- Doctrines
653 _aCatholic Church -- History
830 0 _aThe Calvert series
856 4 _uhttps://archive.org/details/catholicchurchhi0000bell/page/n7/mode/2up
856 4 0 _uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78085
999 _c118805
_d118805