Reviewed by Jo Rogers, MyShelf.com
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CONSTANTINE'S SWORD is a history of the conflict between the Catholic Church and the Jews. It is written by a former Roman Catholic priest who is faced with the historical fact of the Church's anti-Semitism, and cannot justify that point of view with Christian moral principles.

James Carroll left the priesthood because he could not in good conscience condone the Catholic Church's attitude toward the Jews.  He also felt the Church could have stopped the Holocaust in World War II if it had spoken out against Hitler's "Final Solution."  To find a way to keep this from happening again, he examined this conflict to seek its source.  He takes us through the history of the Jewish Christian conflict from the birth of Jesus through His crucifixion, the crusades, to the foot of the cross that now stands on the grounds at Auchwitz.  Both the Catholic and Jewish points of view are presented in detail.

Mr. Carroll has asked that all Christians read this book and participate in this study, and I heartily agree.  He has opened the eyes of non-Catholic Christians to two completely different points of view that we never dreamed existed.  The Jews considered Jesus a "failed Messiah" because he did not free Israel from Roman control.  The Catholic idea is that "the Jews killed Christ," therefore they are to be objects of Christian hatred.  The notion that Rome is glamorized in history and that the New Testament teaches hatred of the Jews is also a foreign concept to those of us who were not educated in Catholic schools.

I recommend this book to all Christians everywhere that want the persecution of Jew and Christian alike to end.  It is most enlightening, and gives us a place to begin a change for the better.
 

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