The Catholic Apologetics section of The Catholic Legate is dedicated to providing our visitors with conventional Catholic Apologetics, including biblical, theological, and historical issues surrounding the Catholic Faith. Each topic-page is divided into sub-categories: articles, dialogues, debates, and Q&A. Visitors who are interested in suggesting an article or asking a question are encouraged to e-mail us their request. Should you wish to dialogue with one of our staff on an apologetics subject, please be sure to read our Limited Confidentiality Policy beforehand.
Art Sippo's Recommended Reading List for Catholic Apologists
To learn more about each book or to place an order, please click on it's title. Blanket endorsement can be given to certain Catholic authors without reservation. Everything these folks have written is worth reading:
Mortimer Adler
Aristotle for Everybody
Paideia Proposal : An Educational Manifesto
Six Great Ideas
The Great Ideas : A Lexicon of Western Thought (Scribner Classics)
Truth in Religion: The Plurality of Religions and the Unity of Truth, an Essay in the Philosophy of Religion
The Difference of Man and the Difference It Makes
How to Read a Book
James Akins
Dave Armstrong
Hillaire Belloc
The Crisis of Civilization
Characters of the Reformation : Historical Portraits of the 23 Men and Women and Their Place in the Great Religious Revolution of the 16th Century
The Crusades : The World's Debate
Essays of a Catholic
Europe and the Faith
Great Heresies
How the Reformation Happened
The Mercy of Allah
G. K. Chesterton
All Things Considered
The Annotated Innocence of Father Brown
Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens
Autobiography of G. K. Chesterton
The Ball and the Cross
Brave New Family : Men and Women, Children, Sex, Divorce, Marriage, and the Family
Chaucer
The Club of Queer Trades
Collected Nonsense and Light Verse
Collected Works G.K. Chesterton V. 16
The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton : Christendom in Dublin, Irish Impressions, the New Jerusalem, a Short History of England, the Patriotic Idea,
Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton : Collected Poetry : Part 1
The Everlasting Man
Orthodoxy
Father Brown of the Church of Rome : Selected Mystery Stories
Heretics
George Bernard Shaw
The Outline of Sanity
Christopher Derrick
Church Authority and Intellectual Freedom
Escape from Scepticism : Liberal Education As If Truth Mattered
Honest love and human life: is the Pope right about contraception?
Rule of Peace : St. Benedict and the European Future
That Strange Divine Sea : Reflections on Being a Catholic
Too Many People : A Problem in Values
Trimming the ark: Catholic attitudes and the cult of change
C.S. Lewis and the Church of Rome : a study in proto-ecumenism
Joy Without a Cause : Selected Essays of Christopher Derrick
Tim Gray
Mission of the Messiah; On the Gospel of Luke
Boys To Men: The Transforming Power of Virtue
El regreso a casa, el regreso a Roma
Rome Sweet Home : Our Journey to Catholicism
A Father Who Keeps His Promises : God's Covenant Love in Scripture
First Comes Love: Finding Your Family in the Church and the Trinity
The Gospel of Luke : The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible Revised Standard Version
Hail, Holy Queen : The Mother of God in the Word of God
The Lamb's Supper : The Mass As Heaven on Earth
Catholic for a Reason: Scripture and the Mystery of the Family of God
Scott Hahn Audio Cassettes
Tom Howard
The Achievement of C. S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis : Man of Letters : A Reading of His Fiction
Chance or the Dance : A Critique of Modern Secularism
Christ the Tiger
Evangelical Is Not Enough : Worship of God in Liturgy and Sacrament
If Your Mind Wanders at Mass
Liturgy Explained
On Being Catholic
Splendor in the Ordinary: Your Home as a Holy Place
Chance or the dance?
Lead, Kindly Light : My Journey to Rome
Catholicism and Fundamentalism
Controversies : High-Level Catholic Apologetics
Nothing But the Truth
The Usual Suspects : Answering Anti-Catholic Fundamentalists
What Catholics Really Believe--Setting the Record Straight : 52 Answers to Common Misconceptions About the Catholic Faith
Steven Kellmeyer
Pat Madrid
Any Friend of God's Is a Friend of Mine : A Biblical and Historical Explanation of the Catholic Doctrine of the Communion of Saints
Pope Fiction: Answers to 30 Myths and Misconceptions About the Papacy
Search and Rescue : How to Bring Your Family and Friends Into, or Back Into, the Catholic Church
Where Is That In the Bible?
Radio Apologetics Audio Cassette
The Hold Fast to the Traditions You Were Taught Catholic-Protestant Debate Audio Cassette
The Does the Bible Teach Sola Scriptura? Catholic-Protestant Debate Audio Cassette
The First Catholic-Mormon Dialogue Audio Cassette
The "Search the Scriptures" Catholic-Protestant Debate Audio Cassette
Catholics and the Rapture: Will You Be Caught Up Or Left Behind? Audio Cassette
There's Something About Harry: A Catholic Analysis of the Harry Potter Phenomenon Audio Cassette
An Introduction to Islam: A Catholic Answer to the Call of the Minaret Audio Cassette
The Speak the Truth in Love Conference: An Introduction to Catholic Apologetics Audio Cassette
Ralph McInerney
Disputed Questions on Virtue : Quaestio Disputata De Virtutibus in Commune and Quaesito Disputata De Virtutibus Cardinalibus
Priests
Boethius and Aquinas
Steve Ray
Crossing the Tiber : Evangelical Protestants Discover the Historical Church
Upon This Rock : St. Peter and the Primacy of Rome in Scripture and the Early Church (Modern Apologetics Library)
Mark Shea
By What Authority? : An Evangelical Discovers Catholic Tradition
Making Senses Out of Scripture: Reading the Bible as the First Christians Did
This Is My Body : An Evangelical Discovers the Real Presence
Frank Sheed
Theology and Sanity
What Difference Does Jesus Make?
Map of Life : A Simple Study of the Catholic Faith
To Know Christ Jesus
Steve Wood
Christian fatherhood : the eight commitments of St. Joseph's Covenant Keepers
Study Guide for Beginning Apologetics
Marcus Grodi
Certain Catholic authors are very good with some reservations:
Peter Kreeft: Is too favorable to Luther especially in his book
"Fundamentals of the Faith : Essays in Christian
Apologetics." Otherwise his work is excellent.
Back to Virtue : Traditional Moral Wisdom for Modern Moral Confusion
Best Things in Life
Between Heaven and Hell
C.S. Lewis for the Third Millennium : Six Essays on the Abolition of Man
Catholic Christianity : A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs Based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church
Christianity for Modern Pagans : Pascal's Pensees
Handbook of Christian Apologetics : Hundreds of Answers to Crucial Questions
Making Sense Out of Suffering
A Refutation of Moral Relativism : Interviews With an Absolutist
Robert Sungenis
Not By Faith Alone
Not By Scripture Alone
Not by Bread Alone: The Biblical Evidence for the Eucharistic Sacrifice
Certain non-Catholic authors can be generally recommended as
well:
C. S. Lewis - No real reservations on any of his work.
Particular favorites:
Mere Christianity
Screwtape Letters
Miracles
Pilgrim's Regress
The Space Trilogy :
Out of the Silent Planet
Perelandra
That Hideous Strength
The Narnia Chronicles
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
The Horse and his Boy
The Magician's Nephew
The Silver Chair
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Last Battle
Austin Ferrer - Anglo-Catholic priest (Confessor of C. S.
Lewis)
Particular Favorites:
The Freedom of the Will
Commentary on Revelation
J. N. D. Kelly - A very reliable Anglo-Catholic Scholar.
Particular Favorites:
Early Christian Doctrines
Early Christian Creeds
The Oxford Dictionary of Popes
Jerome: His Life, Writings, and Controversies
Golden Mouth (Biography of St. John Chrysostom)
Jaroslav Pelikan - Former
Lutheran, recent convert to Eastern Orthodoxy
Particular Favorites:
Jesus Through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture
Mary Through the Centuries: Her Place in the History of Culture
Christianity & Classical Culture: The Metamorphsis of Natural Theology in the Christian Encounter with Hellenism
Imago Dei : The Byzantine Apologia for Icons
The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine (5 Volumes):
1- The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition 100-600
2- The Spirit of Eastern Christendom 600-1700
3- The Growth of Medireview Theology 600-1300
4- Reformation of Church and Dogma 1300-1700
5- Christian Doctrine and Modern Culture since 1700
Specific Book Titles:
The Catechism of the Catholic Church – Know this book inside out and you
will know Catholic teaching. Whenever possible relate your
studies to the Catechism’s treatment on any given topic.
The Baltimore Catechism (Fr. Connell’s Edition) – What I
was catechized with in grammar school in the 1950’s. Simple
questions with deceptively simple answers that are much more
profound than they first appear. My memorization of these
questions and answers as a child has been a large help to me in
apologetic work. The themes in the catechism are limited and so
this is not a truly comprehensive resource, but it is a good
foundation to build on. Get one for your kids and test their
memories like a spelling bee.
Iustitia Dei (2 volumes) by Alister McGrath – The best
treatment on the history of the doctrine of justification.
McGrath is an evangelical Anglican and so his viewpoint is
colored by Reformation concerns, but his treatment of Trent is
balanced based primarily on Fr. Jedin’s work. McGrath makes
it clear that all of the major Catholic thinkers prior to the
Reformation were clearly and consciously anti-Pelagian. In the
summation of Volume 1, McGrath admits that the distinctive
Protestant teachings on justification represented a
“theological novum” when compared with historical
Christian teaching. In the early portions of Volume 2 (pages
15-21), McGrath points out how Luther’s views differed from
those of St. Augustine. There is no similar book on this topic.
For a detailed Catholic critique, see the review in the June 1990
Issue of The Thomist.
Justification and Sanctification by Peter Toon –
Evangelical/Anglo-Catholic Scholar. This book surveys the various
versions of the doctrine of Justification among major historical
thinkers including St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. Shows in
detail how Luther deviated from previous Catholic teaching.
Kinship by Covenant by Scott Hahn – I cannot recommend this
work more highly! This is Dr. Hahn’s doctoral dissertation
and can be obtained from UMI in Ann Arbor, Michigan or from St.
Joseph’s Communications. A scholarly yet accessible
compendium which shows the continuity between the Old Testament,
the New Testament, and distinctive themes in Catholic theology.
Every educated Catholic can and should read this book.
"Kinship by Covenant: A Biblical Theological Analysis of
Covenant Types and Texts in the Old and New Testaments"
Ph.D. Diss, Marquette Univ (Ann Arbor: UMI, 1995; revision to be
published by T & T Clark , forthcoming 2001).
Not By Faith Alone by Robert Sungenis – Another must for the
Catholic apologist! There is no other book like this in print. It
is an extended apologetic on the Catholic doctrine of
justification and a refutation of specific Protestant claims.
This is only one in a series of books Bob is writing on
apologetic themes. All of them deserve careful reading.
Not By Scripture Alone Edited by Robert Sungenis – Detailed
refutation to the Protestant claim that the bible should be the
sole rule of faith. Of particular note is Joe Gallegos’
chapter demonstrating that the Church Fathers did not believe in
Sola Scriptura.
Retrieving the Tradition and Renewing
Evangelicalism: A Primer for Suspicious Protestants by Daniel H. Williams – Doctor
Williams is a Protestant Scholar and an expert on the Arian
Heresy. This book is his attempt to educate his co-religionists
on the real truth about the Patristic Era. Of special note is an
appendix in which he shows that Sola Scriptura cannot be found in
the Patristic period and explains why this is so.
Radio Replies (Vol 1) (Vol 2) (Vol 3) by Fr. Mortimer Carty and Fr. Leslie Rumble –
Reprints of transcripts from a1930’s and 1940’s
Australian Catholic radio program which refuted many of the
charges that Protestants were making against the Church.
Virtually every objection Protestants and skeptics raise is
covered here in detail.
The Apostolic Fathers (Several editions) – This collection
contains the earliest Christian writings that were not made part
of the New Testament. They show that in the late 1st and early
2nd Century the Catholic Church had monarchical bishops, the
three-fold ordained ministry (bishops, priests, and deacons),
confession of sins, belief in Eucharistic sacrifice, belief in a
substantial Real Presence of Christ’s body and blood in the
Eucharist, marriage performed as a ceremony in Church, and
acknowledgment of both St. Peter and St. Paul having been
martyred in Rome. The edition by Lightfoot has the added benefit
of quotations from lost works attributed to the Apostolic Fathers
by later authors.
On Faith and Works by St. Augustine – Part of the Paulist Press
series Ancient Christian Writers. This short treatise shows how
St. Augustine REALLY approached this question. I read this after
my debate with James White on the topic of Justification and I
was surprised at how similar my line or argument was to St.
Augustine’s.
On Free Choice (or On Freedom of the Will) by St. Augustine – Another volume in
the Paulist Press series Ancient Christian Writers. St. Augustine
addresses the notion of free will before he became embroiled in
the Pelagian controversy. This edition includes his reflections
on this issue AFTER becoming involved in the Pelagian controversy
from his book The Retractations. St. Augustine concludes that we
need to have a freedom of indifference in order to be sinners and
to absolve God for responsibility for our sins.
A Summa of the Summa by Peter Kreeft – An excellent abridgment of the
Summa Theologiae of St. Thomas Aquinas that hits the high points
with helpful commentary. It uses the actual words of St. Thomas
form selected sections of the Summa. For those wanting an
introduction to St. Thomas, this is a good place to start. This
is not easy reading but it is worth the effort and it will equip
you to deal with the master’s work in its entirety. After
reading this book, get a copy of the full text of the Summa and
you will be able to refer to it often.
Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma by Ludwig Ott - An amazing resource that
suffers from a mediocre to poor English translation based on an
edition from the 1950’s. This book is still in print in
Germany in a more current edition. If you read German, get that
recent German Edition. Meanwhile, the English edition is still
important albeit not a s faithful to Dr. ott’s work as it
could be. (To Ignatius Press: we need a new translation!)
Enchiridion Symbolorum by Fr. Heinrich Denzinger (Edited by Fr.
Schoenmetzer). Compendium of Magisterial texts from the ancient
Church up through the works of John Paul II. The most current
version is in Greek, Latin, and German and published in 1999.
Ignatius Press is working on a new English translation, which
should be ready by early 2003. GET THIS BOOK! An unparallel
resource.
Sources of Catholic Dogma translated by Fr. Defarrari – A
translation of a 1930’s edition of the Enchiridion
Symbolorum. Several SERIOUS typographical errors. IF you have a
copy of this book, you need an errata sheet. Okay as far as it
goes but I am looking forward to the new English edition from
Ignatius.
The Christian Faith: Doctrinal Documents of
the Catholic Church by Fr.
Josef Neuner (Editor), Fr. Jacques Dupuis (Editor) - An English
translation of extracts from the Enchiridion Symbolorum arranged
topically. Helpful but not complete. No replacement for the
original texts in the Enchiridion. Some of the original texts
cannot be topically categorized. Bits and pieces of texts (e.g.,
from the Ecumenical Councils) are scattered throughout the book.
This layout is not conducive to showcasing the historical flow of
Catholic teaching.
The Faith of the Early Fathers by Fr. William A. Jurgens (Vol 1) (Vol 2) (Vol 3) – The best single compendium of quotations
form the Church Fathers on a variety of topics. Helps to point
you to Patristic works for a more complete treatment of a topic.
Navarre Bible Commentaries - The best series of Catholic biblical
commentaries in print. Based on original work done at the
University of Navarre in Spain under the auspices of Opus Dei.
International Bible Commentary William R. Farmer (Editor), Armando
Levoratti (Editor), Sean McEvenue (Editor), David L. Dungan
(Editor) – Pricey but very modern and loyal to the
Magisterium. The very best that Catholic scholarship has to
offer.
Catholic Study Bibles: There are no good ones in print. Ignatius
Press is working on a Study Bible with Scott Hahn based on the
RSV-Catholic Edition with new notes. Bob Sungenis also has one in
the works based on the Douay-Rheims version with copious notes
from the Fathers. Both of them promise to be excellent resources
when they are completed. They will be complimentary to each
other. The old Haydock edition of the Douay-Rheims version is in
print but its notes are outdated.
1) The 3 vol " Radio Replies " by Frs. Rumble and Carty. Get it from TAN and dive in. It covers everything you want to know and more. These priests had a Catholic apologetics radio show in the 30's. There is nothing new under the sun. There is an answer there for virtually every objection the prots can make.
2) Read the book " Martin Luther: the Man and the Image " by Herbert David Rix. A sane critique of Luther from a psychological viewpoint. There is nothing else like it. Get a copy and treasure it.
3) Read " Luther: An Experiment in Biography " by Richard Marius. Takes the picture of Luther drawn by Rix and fleshes it out into a story. Devastating to the Luther fan club. Caution: Marius is an atheist and the last chapter is pretty nasty. Read everything up to there and you will be VERY pleased.
4) Check out the book " The Reformation of the Heretics " by Euan Cameron if you want a real assessment of who the Waldensians were and what nonsense prots have passed off for the history of the Church until the Oxford movement revealed the true nature of the Early Church in the mid 19th Century.
5) Read the recent book " Not by Faith Alone " by Bob Sungenis. Excellent treatment of the Catholic view of justification and a critique of prot critiques of us. A MUST read.
6) James D. G. Dunn has a book "The Justice of God" co-authored by Alan Suggate. I liked it. Scott Hahn didn't. Check it out. It gives a good basic of recent revisionist views of Romans and Galatians.
7) Read the introduction and preface to Glenn Davies' book "The Obedience of Faith." This is the best single outline of the development of the new Pauline Scholarship that has rejected Luther et al's views on St Paul.
8) Read Alister McGrath's 2 volume work " Iustitia Dei " on the history of the doctrine of Justification. (There is an article in the June 1990 magazine "The Thomist" that is slightly critical of it which you should also read with it.) In this work, McGrath proves that all of the pre-reformation Catholic nominalists were consciously anti-Pelagian and anti-SemiPelagian. In the opening chapters of vol 2, McGrath shows the differences between St Augustine and Luther on Justification. If you know what Trent said in Session 6 on Justification, you will see that Trent was thoroughly Augustinian while Luther was not.
9) Fr Francis Clark's Book " Eucharistic Sacrifice and the Reformation. " Lotsa stuff on the Mass. Also some good things on the differences between us and the prots on soteriology. A MUST read.
10 ) Read St Augustine's treatise "On Faith and Works" published by Paulist. this is basically the outline of my argument used against James White in our infamous Justification debate 7 years ago.