Upon this rock : a history of the papacy from Peter to John Paul II

Content: Lecture 1. The See of Peter -- Lecture 2. The Papacy during the decline of the Roman Empire -- Lecture 3. The changing of the world -- Lecture 4. Birth of the medieval Papacy -- Lecture 5. The reform Papacy of the Middle Ages -- Lecture 6. The Papacy and the Byzantine East -- Lecture 7. The Papal monarchy -- Lecture 8. Decline of Papal authority in Europe -- Lecture 9. The Avignon Papacy and the Great Schism -- Lecture 10. Renaissance and Reformation -- Lecture 11. The Papacy in the Age of Revolution -- Lecture 12. The confrontation with nationalism and modernity -- Lecture 13. The era of world wars -- Lecture 14. A new engagement with the modern world: 1958 to present. Abstract: How the papacy, the world's oldest institution, gave birth to the West. Since Jesus Christ instructed the foremost of his Apostles, Peter, that he would be the rock upon which Christ would build his church, the papacy has survived the rise and fall of empires while continuing to assert an undeniable influence on world events