A Listers

This was inspired while reading H. W. Crocker's Triumph: The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church, chapter 10.

May I present to you the A-listers of (Catholic) philosophic thought?

Aristotle
Augustine
Ambrose
Aquinas
Averroes
Abelard
Anselm
Anthony (two of 'em)
Athanasius
Albert

Just something odd I noticed, this prevalence of Catholic thinkers (and non-Catholic thinkers used by Catholic thinkers to further Catholic philosophy) beginning with the first letter of the alphabet.

I'm about half-way through Triumph. It's a readable and decent introduction to the history of the Catholic Church, though at times I find myself lost in a cavalcade of names and dates: popes and saints, Roman and Byzantine emperors, European kings and princes, Muslim sultans and caliphs.

Two small problems I have with it - and believe me, the effort writing this down is almost greater than the problems are worth.

First, I note smack-dab on the cover at the top a blurb by "Sean Hannity, FOX NEWS," which puzzles me. See here.

Second, this cements my hunch that this book is the Fox News of Catholic History. Whereas Fox News is "my country, right or wrong," Triumph is "my Church, right or wrong." Now don't mischaracterize me. I despise exponentially more the hand-wringing and veiled hatred NPR / CBS / NBC / ABC / CNN / PBS / MSNBC / New York Times / Washington Post has for our country and, even more so, the Catholic Church. But the Church is an institution of men, and all men are sinners. We all fall short of the mark, all of us, me and you and him and her. Everyone. But the Church is carrying on the most noble work of all given by the most noble Man of all, Jesus Christ. That's why I love it.

A fuller review of Triumph when I finish it, perhaps, in a week or so.