Book Review: The Fathers Volume II

I just finished reading Pope Benedict XVI's The Fathers Volume II.  The book covers twenty-three Fathers of the Church that range from the 5th-12th centuries.  The book itself is simply the written account of Pope Benedict's papal talks at his General Audiences that are held on Wednesdays.  I found the book to be a real page turner, but that is generally the case whenever I find myself curled up with a history book.

Most of the chapters in this book are less than 10 pages long.  So the accounts of each of the Fathers is pretty much bite sized.  One could easily pick up this book and find that they want to delve deeper into the story of a particular Father and go on to read a more in depth account.  Because of the brevity of the chapters, someone who is looking for a manageable account of the Church Fathers could easily pick up this book and spend a few minutes and cover a Father at a time.

I liked how the book read more like a story than history.  That alone makes this a book that won't feel daunting for those who don't really like to read boring history books. (Is there such a thing?)  The cool thing about each chapter is Pope Benedict finds a way to show us how the valuable lessons or insight brought to us by a particular Father pertain to our lives and our Church today.  I was several chapters into the book before I caught on to this stealth catechesis. (What can I say? Sometimes I'm a bit oblivious.)

This review was written as part of the Catholic Book Reviewer Program from The Catholic Company. For more information on The Fathers Volume II, visit The Catholic Company.  I received a free copy of this book from The Catholic Company in exchange for my honest review.