Recommend good books for protestants

[tassitus]

I have a non-Catholic friend who’s reading, and appreciating, Dave Armstrong’s A Biblical Defense of Catholicism. It seems to answer most of the questions, and correct most of the misapprehensions, he has about Catholicism.

I really would like to recommend St. Francis de Sales’ The Catholic Controversy, but that might just anger your friends - it’s the equivalent of “tough love” in book form on the Catholic/Protestant issue.

 

[novusCatholic]

Unabridged Christianity: Biblical Answers to Common Questions About the Roman Catholic Faith
by Fr. Mario P. Romero

 

[anjoh66]

I am just about to begin reading this book

ignatius.com/Products/HCATA-P/handbook-of-catholic-apologetics.aspx

It seems to be a nice book and can just as well be read also by protestants.

 

[fide]

I have some protestant friends in a bible study. 8 of us total, 5 Catholic 3 Protestant. All good friends and all well versed in Scripure. Does anyone have some favorite Catholic books they have experience with, that give a good representation of Catholicism for the protestant? I have given the one guy some Henri Nouwen which he really liked, but still they don’t understand the Catholic point of view very well. I suggested he read some JP2 encyclicals but he wasn’t interested. Chesterton maybe? I have not read Chesterton. Any thoughts

If he is drawn to matters of spirituality - to understanding the human journey to the holiness that is our common vocation - he will find insights in the Catholic Church that are simply not available elsewhere. There are many truly great writers on the matter (Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Bernard of Clairvaux, …) - a contemporary resource that could be helpful, that presents this very Catholic spirituality, is The Ordinary Path to Holiness. It’s in paperback and digital format, at Amazon and B&N.

 

[HisIsTheCrown]

I would not go that way.
The Protestant are well above average versed in the Bible.
BUT, the trouble lies on the following: the Protestant think they can interpret it individually as Catholics think that the interpretation belongs to the Community along the Centuries gathered around the Pope.

As long as the Protestant do not accept this or do not accept that Catholics are built that way, there cannot be mutual understanding.

To tell you the truth there are billions and trillions of interpretations of the Protestant. One loses patience for some many opinions…

Well, I repudiate my own answer now. I think it is out of place, and out of the subject and off topic.
I would say the documents of the Vatican II make a contemporary excellent view of the RCC.

 

[Stubbylegs]

If you’re looking for something a bit more substantial (yet still fairly accessible for most people), I quite liked Thomas Howard’s On Being Catholic, but if you’re looking for something with less of an apologetic focus, that may not be what you’re looking for.

He does explain the deeper meaning of the Mass, the Eucharist, hyperdulia of the Blessed Virgin, and all sorts of other things that may be points of contention for many Protestants. He does so without browbeating Protestants at all, and is quite respectful of Protestant viewpoints when discussing the points where Protestants and Catholics do not agree.