Infiltration... Top selling catholic book on amazon

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I’m currently reading the book, and from what I’ve read so far, my opinion would like up exactly with yours.
 
I have read the book, minus the appendices. My review (here, my Amazon review was quite different):
It seems more like preaching to the choir than thorough, scholarly research. It has some nice info, but its claims are not backed by nearly enough argumentation nor sources. Some things are sourced, but some are not. Then, there’s the question of “why should we believe this document?” Etc.
It also offers egregiously ridiculous, liberal interpretations of certain documents like Vatican II and Amoris Laetitia (the CDF has already clarified concerns over AL).
There also seems to be little argument concerning VII causing certain problems–rather, it seems to be implied that it is due to a difference in numbers, when there could be multiple, complex reasons for it. In other words, it appeared to be faulty post hoc ergo proptor hoc reasoning.

Some details seem unnecessary.

Now for the good:
It does have some good sources, and includes a translation of the full Alta vendita. Of course, fault would be in thinking because something like the Alta Vendita exists it means it succeeded.

Overall, it presents the usual recognize and resist arguments, but in a bit more of a formal way. It falls to flimsy argumentation and apparently fallacious reasoning. Would not reccomend.
 
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After reading your review I’m quite inclined to buy the book.
I’m not well familiarized with Dr. Marshall, I know he’s quite important in the US Catholic scenario, and I saw some bits of his video here and there, but I’ll give it a try.
If anyone could, politely, summarise his views and positions, that would be great.
 
RobynP said:
catholicculture.org

Infiltration: An idiot’s guide to the problems of the Church​

To my great sadness, Sophia Institute Press has just published Taylor R. Marshall’s Infiltration: The Plot to Destroy the Church from Within. The publisher is offering it under its “CRISIS Publications” imprint, designed to address pro
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After reading this poor review I must reproduce here one of the comments present at that website.

Posted by: Philopus - Jun. 05, 2019 6:55 PM ET USA

I’m finding it hard to accept your criticism as anything remotely objective when you come out with guns blazing with statements such as “pointing out the absurdity of a crazy relative,” “fundamental stupidity of the book”, and “reminiscent of McCarthyism.” You have inspired me to buy the book now just to judge from an “Idiot’s” perspective.
 
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Personally, I watch channels like Dr Marshall and Church Militant only for issues of normal doctrines from a traditional perspective. I avoid all the hate against strong defenders of the faith like Cardinal Wuerl and others. Most (but not all) of the content on these sites it not in line with Church teaching and must be avoided.

This book should be avoided.
 
He is Catholic. That’s first and foremost.
His views, in brief, include that modernists/freemasons/communists infiltrated the Church (essentially, the Alta Vendita was successful) and that this eventually led to various proclamations of Vatican II, which he views as overwhelmingly negative and modernist. Eventually, this led to the current pontificate. He believes in “recognize and resist”, as in, he believes Pope Francis is the pope, but that a strict view of infallibility should be taken, and anything not said infallibly can be heterodox, and that these heterodox things need to be avoided (“resisted”).
As I complained in my review (above), much is left wanting in argumentation and evidence, though some things are sourced (while others are not) and partakes in quite ridiculous interpretations of documents so as to demonstrate the “modernist” tendency.

I think some people are better off reading it, but if you think you can cut through the bad stuff and hold onto the good, without falling prey to some of the faults of the thing, then there are some interesting sources/notes in there, but none that I would say would make it worth getting.
 
Just a thought for the posters here.

Maybe read the book before smashing the author, his intentions and the title.

He could be completely wrong and unfounded. Or he could have done tons of research and be right.

But you would never know until you read it.

Food for thought.
 
Petrus1 said:
If anyone could, politely, summarise his views and positions, that would be great.
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I just happened to stumble across Taylor Marshall’s website one day, while searching for a particular topic. His earlier articles and videos were centered around teaching and apologetics. For example, he posted a lengthy audio commentary on the book of Revelation, which was quite good. He’s also authored a few books, most notably were The Crucified Rabbi, The Catholic Perspective on Paul and The Eternal City. Which, regardless of what one may think of his most recent book, these books are almost always given good reviews for being orthodox and upholding Catholic teaching.

His overall views, if I had to summarize them, would be very orthodox and favoring the traditional interpretations of Catholic teachings and traditions. He considers himself to be a Thomist and I even think he labels himself as more of a Catholic philosopher, as opposed to a theologian. So you’ll find his videos and articles full of references and teachings that reflect those of Saint Thomas Aquinas.

I’m not sure exactly when he begin his videos that were directed more towards dealing with errors and problems within the Church, but I believe it happened within the last year to a year and half. The video that he did with Patrick Coffin, is a good one to watch, because in it, all three men recount the time frame when they became “red pilled”, as they so often call it now, to much of what was happening in the Church and especially with regards to Pope Francis. Meaning that they could no longer, in good conscience, keep defending and explaining, all of Pope Francis’ statements and actions.
 
Petrus1 said:
You have inspired me to buy the book now just to judge from an “Idiot’s” perspective.
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I felt the same way after reading the article and the other thing after reading the review that bothered me was that only those who donate to Catholic Culture were allowed to comment on his review. Kind of limits responses a little bit.
 
Kei said:
His views, in brief, include that modernists/freemasons/communists infiltrated the Church (essentially, the Alta Vendita was successful) and that this eventually led to various proclamations of Vatican II, which he views as overwhelmingly negative and modernist. Eventually, this led to the current pontificate. He believes in “recognize and resist”, as in, he believes Pope Francis is the pope, but that a strict view of infallibility should be taken, and anything not said infallibly can be heterodox, and that these heterodox things need to be avoided (“resisted”).
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Thanks!
Now that I know his positions and views I’ll make him a member of my “good people” list.
Crusader13 said:
The video that he did with Patrick Coffin, is a good one to watch, because in it, all three men recount the time frame when they became “red pilled”, as they so often call it now, to much of what was happening in the Church and especially with regards to Pope Francis.
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Thank you too!
I’ll take some time now to watch this video.
It seems quite interesting.
 
So you are saying that you trust every review on Amazon? Every review is true because someone wrote it? That is nonsense. Modern internet marketing includes writing good reviews for your product and negative reviews for your competitions product.
 
Babaganoush said:
So you are saying that you trust every review on Amazon? Every review is true because someone wrote it? That is nonsense.
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As I thought i mentioned above, there are ways which might help a person to weed out at least some of the phony reviews. At this point Infiltration has 1026 reviews. I look for reviews where the person is a verified buyer of the book and where the reviewer has a record with many other reviews, both good and bad. If the reviewer has only one review (or even only two or three) and he is not a verified purchaser of the book, I would tend to be suspicious of his review.
Amazon lists 88% of the 1026 reviews as 5 star
10% are 4 star
1% are 3 star
and 1% are 1 star.
In any case, I usually read several of the 1 star reviews. This goes for whether the review is for a book or for some other product.
 
The best way to evaluate a book like this is to ask: what kinds of positive actions will I now take on now, benefitted by the book, that I wouldn’t have done without this book.

My suspicion is that most, if not all readers applaud the book because they already agreed with it before reading. It provides a little more detail to a larger picture they already had in mind.

But if reading this book benefits no new constructive action by you, personally, then it is mere entertainment, or thrill. Well documented thrill, with lots of foot notes

Watching a disaster movie, the larger the better, is more fun than watching a video about how I could initiate or improve the tedious work within my reach.

Thrill entertainment never results in specific work, by me.
 
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Crusader13 said:
The video that he did with Patrick Coffin, is a good one to watch, because in it, all three men recount the time frame when they became “red pilled”, as they so often call it now, to much of what was happening in the Church and especially with regards to Pope Francis.
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Yesterday I had a great time watching this specific video and others from him and honestly, he doesn’t seem to be "a crazy relative”, as described in that “review” from Catholic culture.
His criticism sounds well based and respectable, different from other sources.
 
I wonder how many who will read this book are familiar with all of Marshall’s views, like women shouldn’t work outside the home, Catholics should move to be in closer proximity to a Latin Mass so they don’t have to endure the Ordinary Form, we should refer to Muslims as Mohammedans, Islam is evil… Judging by his tweets he’s also a defender of Alex Jones.
 
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