Thomas F. Madden Audio Books

Renowned professor Thomas F. Madden focuses his expertise on what has been called the most beautiful city in the world—Venice.

As late as 1518, plans were laid by Pope Leo X and the monarchs of Europe to set aside their internal quarrels and once more embark on a holy crusade to wrest the Middle East from the Ottoman Turks.

Part three is a richly detailed look at St. Augustine, Beowulf, St. Thomas Aquinas, Authurian legends, Dante, Gothic art, and other highlights of the period.

Entrusting the apostles to continue the work he had started by instructing them to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit...," Jesus kindled the fires of a new religion in a world largely dominated by polytheism, cult leader worship, and mysticism.

If you're curious about the Crusades, this lecture from professor Thomas F. Madden sets the stage for what became a 400 year war between Christians and Muslims over the Holy Land and between competing sects within these religious ideologies.

As the world entered the modern age, the Catholic Church faced new challenges to its authority, both from without and within.

Esteemed history professor Thomas F. Madden explores the reformations that swept across Christendom in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

For many, the Inquisition conjures Gothic images of cloaked figures and barbarous torture chambers. So enmeshed is this view of the Inquisition in popular culture that such scenes play out even in comedies such as Mel Brooks' History of the World and Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Part four provides a close look at the period from the Renaissance to the Scientific Revolution and into the early Enlightenment.

Renowned professor Thomas F. Madden turns his scholarly eye on the intrigue and politics swirling about the Medieval Church.