The Great Apostasy

This is a great resource to know what went on throughout the dark ages

This document helps one understand the historical events as the original church, after the death of the apostles, gradually left the original teachings of Christ that he established while here on earth. It helps one understand how the various denominations that came out of the church came to be and why it was necessary for the original teachings to be restored before the return of Christ to the earth. This is my personal opinion.

All personal religious feelings aside, this is an interesting look at the early catholic church. Several reviewers have condemmed it as purely anti-Catholic rhetoric. The author makes a point in the book to say that it is a history of the corrupt nature of the Catholic church in the past, not a judgement on the present Catholic church. Differences obviously remain between Catholics and Mormons, but the Catholic church has come a long way from the history presented in the book.Everyone agrees that the Pope these days is a gnarly guy and that the Catholic church is a wonderful organization now that they're not torturing and burning folks. This history points out that the Pope's of old weren't quite so gnarly; orgies in the Vatican, murder, bribery, etc.The author cites work mainly from prominent non LDS historians so the only argument someone can really have is how the history is presented, ah well. To a Mormon or Catholic (or anyone else for that matter), this book is pretty interesting. It's pretty deep reading though.

I read this book while in dialogue with some members of the LDS church. I had made it clear to them that the issue which breaks (but does not necessarily make) the truth claims of the LDS is the great apostasy. While Talmage seems to be a good scholar and an intelligent man who writes well, there are many, many problems with the book. Talmage attempts to show the great apostasy using scripture (both the bible and the book of Mormon) and history. Both accounts are extremely unconvincing.As far as scripture data goes, Talmage quotes the same bible verses that one often hears from the LDS- Amos 8, 2 Thes 2, etc. without ever giving these passages any serious exegesis. They are simply quoted and the reader is left to assume that they are talking about the great apostasy. While many of them do talk about a falling away, there is simply no reason given (and indeed, none found in the biblical texts) to assume that these refer to TOTAL apostasys where Jesus' Church would be completely eradicated from the earth. In fact, the Amos 8 passage can be shown from scripture to not refer to the great apostasy. As any LDS member will tell you, Amos 9 talks about a reformation or restoration of the great apostasy discussed in Chapter 8. They then interpret this to be either the Protestant Reformation or the restoration of Joseph Smith. However, in Acts 15:13-18, we see St. James quoting from Amos 9 concerning the restoration:13When they finished, James spoke up: "Brothers, listen to me. 14 Simon has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself. 15The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: 16" 'After this I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, 17that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things' 18that have been known for ages.So even St. James believed that the restoration of Amos 9 had already taken place, which does huge damage to the Amos 8 great apostasy argument. Talmage also points out a passage in Isiah (I think) which talks about the EVERLASTING covenant being broken, and how the Mosaic or Abrahanic covenant is never referred to as everlasting, so Isiah must be talking about the new covenant of Jesus. However, the KJV DOES refer to the Noahdic covenant as everlasting in Genesis 9:16.The "history" of the great apostasy is equally unconvincing. The author finds as many quotes as he can from writers like Eusebius discussing rebellion and heresy, and concludes that there was a total falling away.I do give the author credit for waiting until almost 2/3 of the way into the book before he began a typical and uncontrollable Catholic bashing diatribe, where every tired old objection is leveled at the Catholic Church; from selling indulgences, to killing people, burning bibles, yada yada yada. It was almost as if to say "well, if all those bible verses and history doesn't convince you that the Catholic Church is wrong, this should!" The author does, however, admit that the Catholic Church is the only other Church besides the LDS who has a legit claim to being the true Church. This is evidenced in the endnotes of one of the Chapters where Talmage ADMITS that the Catholic teaching on the Eucharist has not changed, despite Protestant objections. He quotes some of the very early Church fathers (100-150 ad)to show that they had an understanding of the Eucharist like Catholics today do. But instead of concluding the obvious that the Catholic Church is the same Church as it was in Jesus' time, Talmage makes the egregious error of actually saying that this means that the great apostasy had ALREADY HAPPENED at this time; that is, the Catholic teaching on the Eucharist is a priori wrong, and if people believed it in 100 ad, it must mean that they had ALREADY become corrupted. Yet the strange thing is that there was corruption between 30-100 ad, and yet, 1900 years since, there has been no new corruption. You'd think that taht corrupt doctrine of 100 ad would have been corrupted again between 100-2000, but no. Very strange.

Great read. Very insightful yet brief. Touches on the history of the Roman Catholic Church, origin of many Protestant churches, and their apostasy, their (admitted) lack of authority, and their inconsistency with scripture.

Just getting started in this book. I have so many books started that it will take awhile to get through it but it is going to be a favorite. I highly recommend it to everyone.

This is a bootleg copy. It is not official and should be removed from the Amazon store.The printing format is obnoxious as it looks like some weird photocopies put together in a book format.

Fascinating look at the beginnings of the Christian Church.

This is a gift for a friend, it arrived as expected and the condition was good. Very good value.

Interesting and informative

Wish he was still writtig