Now that the Catholic Practicum DVD is soon out of pre-pub an ships I hesitate about Church History and the Roman-Catholic Church. It could be a fine idea to cancel both the DVD and Oxford History of the Christian Church (16 vols.)! The latter is $619.95.
In somewhat alphabetical order, topics covered in the Church History works (and publication year 1980-2010):
Africa 1450-1950 (1996). SOMEWHAT INTERESTING. 720 pages, ⅜ of the pages interesting
Australasia (2004)
Church in Ancient Society (2003). INTERESTING. 742 pages
6th-9th century France (1983). INTERESTING. 472 pages
18th century France (2 vols.) (1998-1999)
German and Scandinavian Protestantism 1700-1918 (1999). NOT THAT INTERESTING BUT WOULD BE USEFUL IN UNI AND WHEN DISCUSSING WITH A LOCAL FRIEND WHO COMES FROM GERMANY. 716 pages, ⅜ of the pages useful
History of the Popes 1830-1914 (2003)
Papal Monarchy (1991)
Popes and European Revolution 1789-1815 (1980). A BIT INTERESTING, I'VE DONE A PRESENTATION IN COLLEGE THAT RELATES TO THIS. 656 pages, ⅓ of the pages interesting
England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales (2010). MOSTLY INTERESTING. 530 pages
Reformation in Britain and Ireland (2005)
Religion in England 1688-1791 (1986)
India (2010). INTERESTING. 600 pages
The Early Reformation on the Continent (2003). INTERESTING. 456 pages
The split between east and west-Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox (2005)
The cost for the interesting pages would be ¢17.4 a page. That is just slightly less than I thought but it would still be very expensive.
What also worries me, is that non-secular history works have a twist - that's the advice a scholar twice gave me. I'm not sure I have the energy to read through these huge tomes with a grain of salt - but it would be a necessary pain. I'm baffled that this kind of money is not enough for good books - aren't some of the older works in the Collection financed by the newer ones?!
The history would be studied in such a linear fashion - that's also something which makes me unsure.
