dangus,
Just a quick comment about the 1911 Encyclopedia Brittanica. I remember very clearly in graduate school when I was working on my master’s in medieval history, our professor, a Protestant, pointed out that historians loved the 1911 edition because it had so many well know historians on the editorial board and writing staff. It was well known, however, that that staff also leaned heavily toward the anti-Catholic side.
Take, for instance, the author of the following articles:
“Celibacy; Concubinage; Indulgence; Knighthood and Chivalry.”
The author was none other than the well known anti-Catholic G. G. COULTON. What is all the more interesting in his case is that he was thoroughly wipped, and embarrassed, in a battle with Fr. Herbert Thurston over exactly those topics because - like a devout anti-Catholic - he relied far too heavily on anti-Catholics for material and believed them implicitly without ever checking their work. Here’s the story of how G.G. Coulton was thoroughly embarrassed: http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/1996/9605clas.asp although the whole article doesn’t seem to be posted anymore. Perhaps it is only posted here because it is only in book form these days: http://books.google.com/books?id=ik0MVInYfF8C&pg=PA193&lpg=PA193&dq=HERBERT+THURSTON,+S.J+on+g.+g.+coulton&source=bl&ots=wxoUMug9kL&sig=LmEevNh_6DiTBLMgEN7xTdq2P_s&hl=en&ei=FFk9SufXF5LaMYnNiKwO&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1
In either case, it’s worth the read.
Catholics generally were allowed to only write articles that could not be disputed:
“DELEHAYE, REV. HIPPOLYTE, S.J. (H. DE.)
Bollandists; Canonization; Hagiology; januarius, St; Lawrence, St; Margaret, St; Martyrology; Saint; &c”
So, known anti-Catholics got to write most if not all of the articles about both Protestant and Catholic things that might be disputed, while Catholic got to write ZERO articles about Protestant things and little of controversy about their own faith. Convenient, huh?
In my defense, I spent my life working electronic warfare, not history or theology - although I have a good but spotty knowledge of military history. And frankly, darn near everyone who writes on these subjects has a bias. I also quoted New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia...which doesn’t seem to be a hotbed of Protestant thought.