Book Recommendation

[Cardinalsong]

1. Catholic and Christian: An Explanation of Commonly Misunderstood Catholic Beliefs by Alan Schreck
   This book was extremely helpful to me. It picks out all of those Catholic beliefs and practices that make Protestants gasp and gives well-reasoned, scriptural explanations for them. Even if you are not entirely convinced, you realize they might not be as crazy as you thought

Besides the Bible itself, this was the book that really got the ball rolling. Not that I was ever against Catholicism, I just was entirely ignorant on what Catholics really believed. It was a great help!

 

[allischalmers]

You’re so funny, allischalmers! How could a Baptist book which promotes the Protestant error of “once saved, always saved” challenge a Protestant’s thinking, as the OP requested??

I think that calling "once saved always save a protestant error is like calling God a liar

 

[Fidelis]

I think that calling "once saved always save a protestant error is like calling God a liar

You can’t call God a liar for something he never said. God isn’t the author of this error.

Perhaps you can start the 10,496th thread on the error of “once saved, always saved” to avoid further derailing the OP’s original topic?

 

[Steve_M]

1. Catholic and Christian: An Explanation of Commonly Misunderstood Catholic Beliefs by Alan Schreck
   This book was extremely helpful to me. It picks out all of those Catholic beliefs and practices that make Protestants gasp and gives well-reasoned, scriptural explanations for them. Even if you are not entirely convinced, you realize they might not be as crazy as you thought

I found this book especially helpful as an introduction to the various Marian beliefs. It helped me to “let my guard down” for lack of a better phrase, towards the Catholic faith.

 

[Cardinalsong]

I have got to check out Peter Kreeft! He seems to be held in high esteem around these forums…

Anyway, I know this isn’t a perfect book that will convice everybody, but I just finished reading No Price Too High by Alex Jones. He was a Pentecostal preacher, when he decided to research Christian history. Along the way, he decided to restore his services to its “true” Christian form. It had a loud outcry from his people, who protested that it was becoming “too Catholic”. That’s when he really started researching. I wish I had the exact quote, but he said that this religion was begun in the 1800s. This religion began in the 1600s, this in the 1500s. But the only Christianity true to form was the one begun in the Upper Room, 2000 years ago. And that was Catholicism.

He began sharing his findings with his “flock”, not quite ready himself to convert. But as time goes on, he decides himself and persuaded a quarter of his people to convert to Catholicism, because they all realized that it was the true Christain religion.

It was a quite nice story, and I learned a few things from him. He eventually became a deacon just so he could keep ministering

I’ve read it twice so far! Very inspiring story!

 

[Fidelis]

Returning to the original topic of this thread, the book I would most recommend to a Protestant, especially of the “non-denominational”/non-liturgical type is Thomas Howard’s “Evangelical Is Not Enough.” Howard is the convert brother of evangelical icon Elizabeth Elliot.

This book makes converts!

 

[allischalmers]

You can’t call God a liar for something he never said. God isn’t the author of this error.

Perhaps you can start the 10,496th thread on the error of “once saved, always saved” to avoid further derailing the OP’s original topic?

The OP asked for books that would challenge a Protestants thinking. This book would not only challenge the thinkiing of some Protestant thinking but also some Catholics as well

 

[RobNY]

More great stuff. Thanks, guys. I’ve managed to get my hands on a copy of Catholicism and Fundamentalism. I must say that I wasn’t aware of all the inaccuracies Boettner’s book. I’m embarrassed for Boettner.

So does Karl Keating have any recent stuff?

Thanks,

Hey Stewart,

There is a poster here named PhilVaz who seems to know a lot about the various Catholic/Protestant debates that have gone on. I’d recommend looking for his site (bringyou.to apologetics) and emailing him, or PM’ing him about it. He’s a very nice guy and his site has a boatload of good apologetics.

As for books–

Well, I love books, and I’m trying to think what would be best for you. This seems to plant you in the realm of, “intellectual” so if I recommend a hard book, I assume you’ll have fun tackling it.

Here’s a few general groupings:

1. Are you familiar with the Fathers of the Church?

a. The primary sources. The apostolic fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus of Lyons. Catholic.com carries a book called Early Christian Writings which has much of the apostolic fathers. Justin Martyr’s first two apologies for the faith are very good. You can find these online at sites like newadvent.com or ccel.org, but if you want them in print look for what I said, or ask me about what I have.

There are so many fathers, it is tough to give you just a little bit to read. Athanasius’ “On the Incarnation” is fantastic and is a good later work (and a fairly quick read). Likewise, Augustine’s Confessions is a seminal work.

Now, this is a lot of reading but in some broad strokes… related to the Fathers. J.N.D. Kelly has a book which is considered the standard, Early Christian Doctrines, which summarizes early Christian beliefs. He is an Anglican priest, but nevertheless it’s a good book.

As for theory, refer to Cardinal Newman’s Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, which is essential for explaining development in doctrine. In writing it, he himself converted from Anglicanism to Catholicism.

1. Sola Fide. Or, “faith alone.”

Stay away from Bob Sungenis when it comes to science, but when it comes to old-fahsioned apologetics against Protestants he is fantastic. His book Not By Faith Alone is an extremely formidable apologetic book. I’m only part of the way in, and quite frankly, he’s already demolished the position. Really. He has other books such as Not By Scripture Alone, and one of the Eucharist which are also supposed to be good. I’m not familiar with those.

1. Learning about the Catholic Faith, and Saints.

If you want to learn about the Catholic faith, the Catechism of the Catholic Church is fantastic. The recently released Compendium of the Catechism is the Catechism boiled down into question and answer format and is a very quick read.

If you’re interested in something a bit harder, Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) did write an, “Introduction to Christianity.” Realize that this is German theology, which can be admittedly… dense, at times. The few excerpts I’ve read from it were good, though.

Lastly, the saints. There is no saint more heart-warming than St. Therese of Lisieux, also known as the Little Flower. Read her autobiography, “Story of a Soul.” You can read it online at various sites, such as Project Gutenberg, but if you want to buy it, look for an unabridged version which includes things omitted in original editions.

God bless.

-Rob

 

[Subrosa]

I have got to check out Peter Kreeft! He seems to be held in high esteem around these forums…

Anyway, I know this isn’t a perfect book that will convice everybody, but I just finished reading No Price Too High by Alex Jones. He was a Pentecostal preacher, when he decided to research Christian history. Along the way, he decided to restore his services to its “true” Christian form. It had a loud outcry from his people, who protested that it was becoming “too Catholic”. That’s when he really started researching. I wish I had the exact quote, but he said that this religion was begun in the 1800s. This religion began in the 1600s, this in the 1500s. But the only Christianity true to form was the one begun in the Upper Room, 2000 years ago. And that was Catholicism.

He began sharing his findings with his “flock”, not quite ready himself to convert. But as time goes on, he decides himself and persuaded a quarter of his people to convert to Catholicism, because they all realized that it was the true Christain religion.

It was a quite nice story, and I learned a few things from him. He eventually became a deacon just so he could keep ministering

Hey! This is the one I was gonna put in.!

Here is a link anyhow…

ninevehscrossing.com/Order-NPTHBook.html

Subrosa