which Catholic Dogma Book?

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I want to learn Catholic Dogma - I’ve seen two books recommended: Denzinger’s Enchiridion and Ott’s Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma.

Which one should I get, or should I get both?
 
They are two very different things. Denzinger is a compilation of primary sources (papal and council documents) in chronological order. Ott is a general systematic manual. Ott is probably better to start with. Denzinger is good if you want to see the history of how the Church has taught those truths.

Also, a late 1950s edition of Denzinger is online in English for free in a few places like here:

http://patristica.net/denzinger/

The latest edition is in Latin and French here:
http://catho.org/9.php?d=g1

I don’t think Ott is anywhere online free.
 
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Thanks, I think I’ll go for Ott then as I want a general manual. Looking at it, there appear to be two editions in print of the same book - is there any difference (except price) in the two?
 
The newer addition has documents from Popes not included in the first (like Benedict XVI, though I don’t think anything of Pope Francis’ would be in there).
 
Are you looking at the one from Baronius Press or are there more editions out there?
 
I would definitely recommend getting both of them. They complement each other (Ott cites Denzinger for example).

The latest edition of Denzinger (or if you want to call it by it’s official name, the Enchiridion Symbolorum et Definitionum or Compendium of Creeds, Definitions and Declarations on matters of Faith and Morals, or just the Enchiridion) is the 43rd Edition edited by Peter Hunermann (and translated by Robert Fastiggi and Anne Englund Nash) published in 2012 by Ignatius Press. It is dated up to the Pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI (Denzinger does not publish very often so we will have to wait a decade or so before having any of Pope Francis’s magisterial documents contained therein). If you want definitive pronouncements on any issue pertaining to faith and morals, Denzinger will likely have it. (For example I never knew duelling was punishable by excommunication).

Ott’s Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma is available from both TAN Books and Baronius Press. The one from Baronius is much more expensive but it has a new typeface (although the text is apparently similiar), is edited by Robert Fastiggi (with (name removed by moderator)ut from the likes of Canonist Edward Peters) references the more recent edition of Denzinger (as well as several documents issued by the 2nd Vatican Council) and has a foreword by Bishop Athanasius Schneider.
 
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I agree with the above comments. I just want to post a warning about the Denzinger, however.

If you plan to buy a used or old edition, please note that many do not have the English translations. We have an edition from the seventies at our seminary which is only in Latin and Greek. The latest editions, however, are very good because they not only have the original document, whether in Greek or Latin, and the English translation but also has side by side original texts if the Council documents were published in both languages for the East and the West.
 
Thanks for this Johann, I think I’m erring towards getting a copy of Denzinger first as there seems to be only one edition of that, so it is easy to decide on. I may then decide to get a copy of Ott’s Fundamentals but I’m not sure yet whether to go for the original unadulterated TAN version or the (double the price) Baronius edition.
 
The Baronius edition of Ott is much superior to the TAN version (of which I have had a paperback copy for 25 years). Most significantly, the Baronius edition corrects many errors in the TAN translation. (It is unjust to imply that the Baronius edition is adulterated.) Also, the Baronius edition is much easier on the eyes: it has a larger typeface and neater, clearer printing. (I suppose that would matter more for an older person than for a younger one.)

There is a PDF version of the TAN book here: Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma.

Also, here is a PDF of the 30th edition of Denzinger, English only: The Sources of Catholic Dogma. Note, it dates from 1955, which means it’s pre-Vatican II and has a different numbering scheme than the current Denzinger.

You could use the PDF versions to, at the least, give you a better idea of how the books are organized and what material they present.
 
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Thanks for the links ELCore, is anyone else finding it hard to download Fundamentals from the link?
 
Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils (2 vols) is a great resource that I have. I bought the set for $99 15 years ago when I was in RCIA. It’s an amazing resource but unfortunately without a reprint it’s become cost-prohibitive. So very worth it though if you can chance upon a set.

And St Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae. In all seriousness, it’s amazing and not often enough read by contemporary Catholics. It has a particular high-scholastic rhythm to it. But if you can wrap your mind around the rhythm, it’s so very worth it. There almost isn’t a possible dogmatic question that you could think of that Aquinas hasn’t addressed in some manner in the ST.
 
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