Friday, October 09, 2009

Listening, again...

...to Gombrich's A Little History of the World. Suzanne in a recent post gave me the idea to listen again. Amazing to think it has been three years since we listened to it, back when we took Number One to his sophomore year at ND. We still love it, although the older kids are amazed at at how much History they have learned since than, that wasn't told in a History book for children.

The chapter on the birth of Christ, compared among the other children History books of children we also love such as Hyllier's (our very favorite) and Van Loon's, is superbly done.

For anyone who have used Mary Daly's First Timeline, these are all excellent sources for subsequent study.

4 comments:

J.C. said...

I'm so glad you posted about this! I recently downloaded the audio version of Grombich's Little History of the World (also on Suzanne's advice a while back...), but I right at the beginning I got apprehensive about the references to evolution... Since it's on my computer and I was unable to load it on any portable devices we have, I haven't able to listen to it in advance. I wondered if you remember off-hand if there are any problematic sections that need censoring or follow-up explanations. Thanks!

Ana Braga-Henebry said...

I am married to a scientist, and ignoring geological records here is not an option, so no young-Earth-Theory for us. I grew up with educated parents how taught us the Church teaches there is no problem acceptance the theory of evolution if we keep it Theo-centric, and it is what we believe. We don't know how or when, but we believe God, our Creator and loving Father, has created Man in His image at some point. Does this help? If you prefer, I recommend skipping the first chapter of both Hillyer's and Gombrich's books, and I believe also Van Loon's.

J.C. said...

Oh no, Ana, I think you've mistaken me for a crazy fundamentalist Protestant! I know exactly where the Church stands, and there is a broad spectrum where reasonable and devout Catholics may find themselves. I guess I assumed you would know that we are pretty much on the same page in this subject! My question to you was meant to be of a more specific nature--a concern with turns of phrases that may subtly deny Catholic dogma. Certain tenets and vocabulary used to discuss evolution of man were of obvious concern to me as I have young children, but I was actually wondering more about other areas that might require vigilance--colonization of the New World, Crusades, the Reformation, errors of Modernism, to name a few.

Ana Braga-Henebry said...

Alas, J.C., short of the Catholic Textbook Project history books, which are by far the best in that aspect, there isn't a perfect one out there. Now, as I said before somewhere, Gombrich is *very* respectful with mentions of the One, True God, and also he has a fabulous chapter on the Counter-reformation all about the life of Saint Ignatius of Loyola!