Some non-Catholic books please

  • Thread starter Thread starter Racer_X
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
R

Racer_X

Guest
I would like to read some books from a non-Catholic or even anti-Catholic perspective, for the sake of balance. I mostly only read Catholic authors. It is not good to only view a contrary position through the eyes of its critics. Recommendations please?
 
One of the best books I ever read was Knowing God by J.I. Packer (I think I got the intials right). Even though he is protestant, he looks at both the love and wrath of God. He is not one of the protestant “just say the little prayer and live how you want cause you’re saved forever” folks.

I’m currently a protestant but in RCIA so am doing the opposite of you. I’ve read TONS of protestant books and am now reading Catholic books! Good luck with your endeavor.
 
I guess the most classic anti-Catholic book out there would be “Roman Catholicism” by Lorraine Boettner.

For a gentler, popular, vision of Christianity in general, “The Purpose-Driven Life” by Rick Warren.
 
I’d recommend that you read quality books from every perspective. Don’t read anti-Catholic trash unless you really have to.

One fairly moderate pre-Vatican-II mainline Protestant discussion of Catholicism is Jaroslav Pelikan’s The Riddle of Roman Catholicism. More recently Norman Geisler wrote a book on Catholicism. And still more recently, Mark Noll and Carolyn Nystro co-wrote a book called *Is the Reformation Over? An Evangelical Assessment of Contemporary Roman Catholicism.*I haven’t read the book, but I have read the article version of it in Books and Culture. Noll is one of the leading evangelical intellectuals now living, and I’d recommend the book highly just because it has his name on it (plus, the article was pretty good).

You might also be interested in some of the older Protestant literature, although most of it is pretty scurrilous. The most solid critique of Catholicism I know is Martin Chemnitz’s late-sixteenth-century Examination of the Council of Trent, in 4 volumes. It’s thorough and well-reasoned, and not too polemical, at least by 16th-century standards. It’s also worth dipping into the very polemical Foxe’s Book of Martyrs and the Mennonite martyrology The Martyrs’ Mirror.

If you’re looking for good books by non-Catholics more broadly, I’ll just suggest some names of authors (restricting myself to Protestants–the Orthodox can speak for themselves!):

OT scholars
William Albright
John Bright (Presbyterian, I think)
Gerhard von Rad

NT scholars
N. T. Wright (Anglican)
F. F. Bruce (Plymouth Brethren)
Gordon Fee (Pentecostal)
Bruce Witherington (Methodist)

Ecumenical theologians
Lesslie Newbigin (Congregationalist), especially Household of God
Geoffrey Wainwright (Methodist)

Systematic theologians
Miroslav Wolf (Pentecostal)
Robert Jenson (Lutheran)
Rowan Williams (Anglican)
Ephraim Radner (Anglican), especially The End of the Church (Rusty Reno, a student of Radner’s, wrote a related book called Living in the Ruins of the Church–but he has since become Catholic)
Thomas Oden (Methodist)
Scott Jones (Methodist)
William Abraham (Methodist), especially *The Logic of Renewal *and the much more difficult Canon and Criterion
Jerry Walls (Methodist), especially *Hell: The Logic of Damnation *and Heaven: The Logic of Eternal Joy
Stanley Hauerwas (Methodist, though currently attending an Episcopal church)
John Howard Yoder (Mennonite)
J. I. Packer (Anglican)

Patristic scholars
J. N. D. Kelly (Anglican)
Henry Chadwick (Anglican)
Peter Brown (Anglican, I think)

Reformation historians
Heiko Oberman (Reformed), especially Luther: Man between God and the Devil
David Steinmetz (Methodist), especially *Reformers in the Wings, Luther in Context, *and *Calvin in Context

*Historians of modern Christianity
Kenneth Scott Latourette, especially his History of the Expansion of Christianity
Mark Noll (Reformed)
Nathan Hatch (Reformed), especially *The Democratization of American Christianity
*George Marsden (Reformed)

These are all modern figures. Of course there are always the classics: Luther, Calvin, Bunyan, Edwards, Barth, etc. Do I dare list C. S. Lewis among them (certainly it’s probably that you’re already familiar with his work)? But beyond those, here are a few books that you might find worthwhile:

Johann Arndt, *True Christianity *(Lutheran, around 1600). Draws on medieval piety.
The hymns of John and Charles Wesley, especially the Hymns on the Lord’s Supper. Again, the piety here is closer to Catholicism than you might think.
And finally, a book I could have mentioned in the section on historical scholarship–Benjamin Warfield’s *Calvin and Augustine. *It’s a good example of how one major Protestant theologian (Presbyterian, turn of the 20th century) understood the relationship between Protestantism and the early Church.

This is not an exhaustive or even a very systematic list. I’m sure it could be criticized. But maybe something on it will arouse your curiosity.

Edwin
 
I think the name of the book was something like “The Church of Rome at the Bar of History” by Bill Webster sold by www.cbd.com. It was given to my but I only read a little bit of it.

allischalmers
 
If I were you I would stay away from anti-anything books. Much better to read the best of whatever it is you are investigating, and not bother with trash. Pick up a book by someone of another faith, talking about their faith. That is a good, honest way to find out how that person believes. And you can evaluate it for yourself, for what it is.

I don’t have time right now to make suggestions. But I will try to get back another time with a few.

One very interesting book that you can probably find at your library is “Handbook of Denominations in America”, it provides a short history, number stats, and beliefs of several hundred faiths in the USA. It is updated regularly and I find it very fascinating.

cheddar
 
40.png
cheddarsox:
If I were you I would stay away from anti-anything books. Much better to read the best of whatever it is you are investigating, and not bother with trash. Pick up a book by someone of another faith, talking about their faith. That is a good, honest way to find out how that person believes. And you can evaluate it for yourself, for what it is.

I don’t have time right now to make suggestions. But I will try to get back another time with a few.

One very interesting book that you can probably find at your library is “Handbook of Denominations in America”, it provides a short history, number stats, and beliefs of several hundred faiths in the USA. It is updated regularly and I find it very fascinating.

cheddar
Click to expand...
I agree. Most anti-whoever books are filled with misquotes, or ones taken out of context or edited to make it seem like the position of the author is the only right one. Truly, why would we want to read, as cheddar so eloquently put it “trash.” Much better to read the good things they say about their own faith.

However, legitimate apologetics is always a good read, if it is done honestly. A Fundamentalist defending Christianity against a cult would be a good choice, but why read bad research and polemics from people with an agenda? You will only learn from them that they hate some other religious group–how enlightening can that be?
 
I also agree about not reading anti-catholic books. Actually as per my missal, it is mentioned in the examination of conscience.

I guess because it can really sow seeds of doubt in one’s mind.

I really stick to catholic books that have imprimatur on it. Then I know that it is approved by the church.

God bless
 
Try literature on the Emerging Church movement, of which Brian LcLaren is a leading figure:

…McLaren is popularizing the work of the late British missionary Lesslie Newbigin, who returned from a lifetime in India to spend his last years reflecting on the need for a new theology of mission. “According to Newbigin, the greatest heresy in monotheism is a misunderstanding of the doctrine of election,” McLaren says. “Election is not about who gets to go to heaven; election is about who God chooses to be part of his crisis-response team to bring healing to the world.”
Code: 
 McLaren doesn't just want to turn the doctrine of election upside down (or, as Newbigin argued, right side up)—he has questions about other cherished words in the evangelical vocabulary.
“I don’t think we’ve got the gospel right yet. What does it mean to be ‘saved’? When I read the Bible, I don’t see it meaning, ‘I’m going to heaven after I die.’ Before modern evangelicalism nobody accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, or walked down an aisle, or said the sinner’s prayer.”

It’s not that McLaren is interested in joining the liberal side of modern Protestantism. “I don’t think the liberals have it right. But I don’t think we have it right either. None of us has arrived at orthodoxy.”

Comments like these make many evangelicals nervous.
 
I think that the best non-Catholic Christian author is Ray Comfort. I really enjoyed the books ‘God doesn’t beleive in atheists’ and ‘scientific facts in the bible’.

If you want to get a protestant perspective, have a look at either “Luther’s small catechism”, or “Luther’s large catechism”. He actually agreed with the Catholic Church in many areas modern protestants don’t. Luther even used the Catholic rendition of the 10 commandments in his catechisms.

Jesus Freaks I and II were great too. They are about Christians who died for the testimony of their faith in Christ. Very sad, yet inspiring.
 
Of course a classic is “My Utmost for His Highest” and the little book “In His Steps” which spawned the WWJD movement.

Any library will have both of these.

cheddar
 
Strongly recommend:

Jesus Under Fire
Wilkins/Moreland

It will strengthen your faith.

BrianH
 
I like the writtings of Episcopal Bishop (retired) John Shelby Spong.
 
Racer X:
I would like to read some books from a non-Catholic or even anti-Catholic perspective, for the sake of balance. I mostly only read Catholic authors. It is not good to only view a contrary position through the eyes of its critics. Recommendations please?
Click to expand...

There is a lot of material published in the **Puritan Paperbacks **series which you might like - Ralph Venning’s “The Sinfulness of Sin”, is one of my favourites.​

Alexander Whyte (1836-1921) was the author of several series of “Bible Characters” - he had very wide sympathies, and seems to have a special liking for Philo Judaeus, Dante, Luther, Bunyan, Lancelot Andrews, Jakob Behmen, & Newman, as well as a large number of Presbyterians; he himself being a Presbyterian minister. He is never anti-Catholic.

Calvin’s Commentary on Genesis is on line, at ccel.org

John Jewel’s “Apology of = for] the Church of England” is here: anglicanhistory.org/jewel/ - in part only 😦
 
Thanks again, all!
40.png
cheddarsox:
Of course a classic is “My Utmost for His Highest” and the little book “In His Steps” which spawned the WWJD movement.
Click to expand...
Is that what started it? I thought it was The Imitation of Christ. 😃
 
Racer X:
Thanks again, all!

Is that what started it? I thought it was The Imitation of Christ. 😃
Click to expand...
No, silly! The New Testament started it! But “In His Steps” was “resurrected” about a dozen years ago as inspirations for the current WWJD movement.

cheddar
 
40.png
MusicMan:
I like the writtings of Episcopal Bishop (retired) John Shelby Spong.
Click to expand...
I post on a forum with Christians of many persuasions, and all the ones that tout the works of John Shelby Spong have become very liberal, and do not even believe in the Resurrection.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top