Theology books for at-home learner?

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I’m wanting to learn more about theology, but I can’t dedicate the time for another collegiate study. I have read Frank Sheed’s “Theology for Beginners” which was wonderful (though it took me awhile despite it’s small size). I have also started, and then stopped, JPII’s Wednesday Audiences on Theology of the Body…which is a difficult read for me.

Anyway, aside from Apologetics books and ECF’s (which I have plenty of and have been studying), does anyone have recommendations for a layman who wants to study theology at home more deeply? Are any of the college level texts available to the general public?
 
I like everything I’ve read by Sheen. You should try out Thoughts For Daily Living. I found it to be a great read, and now I’m on Life of Christ (longer, in depth, but very accessible)
 
Any book used in a college level theology course would be available to the general public. There is no super-secret stash of books for theology students’ eyes only. 😉

Church documents are a good place to go, though, as you have experienced, there can sometimes be a learning curve with making sense of them. For a good understanding of theology, I think John Paul II’s Fides et Ratio is a good place to start. The International Theological Commission recently published the document Theology Today: Perspectives, Principles, and Criteria which is also helpful.
 
For my Church and the Sacraments class, one of the books we have to read is “Called to Communion” by Pope Emeritus Benedict. XVI. It’s probably my favorite of the ones we’ve read. And really anything by him is perfect.
 
Thanks for the great advice and tips folks! I always said I would NEVER go back to school because I dread “studying” and reading…and not I have found something I simply love and can’t stop reading about it! 😃
 
I think, from the posts, we have an abundance of materials at our disposal. It just reaffirms my own thoughts that I’d better get reading!
 
I so wish that I would have studied theology formally, but we former protestants needed nothing but Sola Scriptura and a few works by Martin Luther! lol.

I suggest anything by Dr. Scott Hahn, especially “Lamb’s Supper,” ,“Hail Holy Queen,” and his book on confession (sorry – can’t remember the title right now and I am somewhere over the Pacific heading to Tokyo). For a deeper study on the relationship between the OT and the NT, I suggest Dr. Hahn’s work entitled, “A Covenant of Kinship.” I think that is the title, at least.

One of my personal favorites is “Faith of the Early Fathers,” Vols. 1-3, edited by William Jurgens (spelling?). Also, anything by Archbishop Fulton Sheen. After all, “life is worth living!”

May Christ be with you!
 
Some other thoughts … Jimmy Akin’s books are great for us lay folk. As said in the movie Office Space, “I celebrate his entire catalogue.”
 
trevor1055 said:
I so wish that I would have studied theology formally, but we former protestants needed nothing but Sola Scriptura and a few works by Martin Luther! lol.

I suggest anything by Dr. Scott Hahn, especially “Lamb’s Supper,” ,“Hail Holy Queen,” and his book on confession (sorry – can’t remember the title right now and I am somewhere over the Pacific heading to Tokyo). For a deeper study on the relationship between the OT and the NT, I suggest Dr. Hahn’s work entitled, “A Covenant of Kinship.” I think that is the title, at least.

One of my personal favorites is “Faith of the Early Fathers,” Vols. 1-3, edited by William Jurgens (spelling?). Also, anything by Archbishop Fulton Sheen. After all, “life is worth living!”

May Christ be with you!
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It is “Kinship By Covenant”. That is Dr. Hahn’s doctoral dissertation edited into a more palatable form. It definitely gives you insight into his overall approach. Incidentally, any Hahn book is something that is used in college theology courses (at least in his classes :p). Many of them are basically summaries of the classes he teaches.
 
Two suggested authors: Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., and Jean, Cdl, Danielou, S.J… Two greats!
 
Anything and everything by Hans Urs von Balthasar and Henri de Lubac. For the first, my first recommendation would be Credo: Meditations on the Apostles’ Creed, which is in many ways a tiny summary of his entire body of writing. For the second, I’d recommend starting with Catholicism: Christ and the Common Destiny of Man.
 
Joe_5859 said:
It is “Kinship By Covenant”. That is Dr. Hahn’s doctoral dissertation edited into a more palatable form. It definitely gives you insight into his overall approach. Incidentally, any Hahn book is something that is used in college theology courses (at least in his classes :p). Many of them are basically summaries of the classes he teaches.
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Thanks Joe! Now off to Finland of all places …
 
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