Truly surprised no one has said this one, THE HOLY BIBLE! To be a good apologist you need to know what’s in the Bible, Everyone has a different approach to learning the Bible. Bible studies are great, but at home on your own, here’s what i have done, and still do. Start with the New Testament. Read everyday! A chapter a day. you could skip Mark at first, but come back to it later on. I would also skip Hebrews and Revelation at first too, not because they aren’t worth reading, but because they are the hardest to understand and comprehend. Understand the New Testament as a whole first. This is not going to be an overnight process, attend bible studies if possible. After you have a basic grasp of the new testament then go back and start taking Hebrews and Revelation in, in very small bights. Don’t expect to be memorizing chapter and verse right off the bat. First worry about knowing which book something is in. Then later on, you can worry about which book and chapter, and when you are a pro, then worry about the verse. Once you have a very good understanding of the New Testament, then start your study over again, this time using cross referencing to Old Testament passages. At first, you only really need to know what Old Testament passages point to New Testament passages. Once you master that, then you can keep studying the OT to flesh out more detail.
If you don’t know your Bible, you will not be a successful Apologist.
Next, You need to know the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Don’t settle for the pocket edition, get the big Green one. This is because the big green one has a scripture index in the back, so when your reading your Bible, and want to know what the church says about something, look up that in the index, (big green edition only) and it will tell you what paragraph number(s) to look in. Once there you will find other cross-references to paragraphs of a similar topic and or citations to official Church Documents.
These two books are essential to any Apologist.
Hope this helps,
God Bless you all
j
