M
Mercury3
Guest
Is there anything wrong with reading books by Protestant authors provided that Catholics are careful and knowledgeable that the work is from a non-Catholic? For example, I love C.S. Lewis, and it seems many orthodox Catholics share this love. Mere Christianity was crucial in getting me back in the Church (he seesm to be a closet Catholic sometimes). Or someone like Dietrich Boehnhoffer? Or Francis Collins’ book “the Language of God?” Or Callistos Ware’s works on Orthodoxy? And obviously great Catholic apologists and intellectuals like Alice von Hildebrand and Peter Kreeft read and use such material in their work. I would never want to read anti-Catholic of strongly Evangelical stuff (Francis Schaeffer, etc.) or even Evangelical works on the Bible or specific doctrine, but it seems that some Protestant writers can be spot-on at times.
Is this a case where a Catholic needs to use his own judgement and not look for minute rules and regulations? I always just used my common sense and my knowledge of the Catholic Faith in weighing the value of such books, and it was always clear when the doctrine is Catholic or not. I know I am home in the Church and that it is the Church, but someone I read on the internet claimed that this was a grave occasion of sin. Somehow I think God gave us a brain and a conscience for just this sort of thing (After all, even pagan writers like Plato and Aristotle can be read).
Is this a case where a Catholic needs to use his own judgement and not look for minute rules and regulations? I always just used my common sense and my knowledge of the Catholic Faith in weighing the value of such books, and it was always clear when the doctrine is Catholic or not. I know I am home in the Church and that it is the Church, but someone I read on the internet claimed that this was a grave occasion of sin. Somehow I think God gave us a brain and a conscience for just this sort of thing (After all, even pagan writers like Plato and Aristotle can be read).