The Case for Catholicism: Answers to Classic and Contemporary Protestant Objections PDF
Preview The Case for Catholicism: Answers to Classic and Contemporary Protestant Objections
THE CASE FOR CATHOLICISM TRENT HORN The Case for Catholicism Answers to Classic and Contemporary Protestant Objections IGNATIUS PRESS SAN FRANCISCO Scripture citations, unless otherwise noted, are taken from RSV-2CE. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from Revised Standard Version of the Bible—Second Catholic Edition (Ignatius Edition) copyright © 2006 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Church Father citations, unless otherwise noted, are taken from Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 10 vols. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing, 1885. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight, http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02101.htm. Portions of chapters 5 and 6 have been adapted from “Defending the Papacy”, Catholic Answers Magazine, September-October 2015. Portions of chapter 7 have been adapted from “God Chooses to Use Human Intermediaries”, Catholic Answers Magazine, March- April 2016. Portions of chapter 12 were used in the Trent Horn vs. James White debate “Can Christians Lose Their Salvation?” Georgia International Convention Center, January 18, 2017. Cover photograph: Stature of Saint Peter at the Vatican © www.123rf.com/alessandroo770 Cover design by Enrique Javier Aguilar Pinto © 2017 by Ignatius Press, San Francisco All rights reserved ISBN 978-1-62164-144-5 (PB) ISBN 978-1-68149-789-1 (EB) Library of Congress Control Number 2017945108 Printed in the United States of America For Thomas CONTENTS Preface Part I By Whose Authority? 1 Sola Scriptum 2 Sacred Tradition 3 The Old Testament Canon 4 The New Testament Canon Part II What Is the Church? 5 The Papacy, Part I 6 The Papacy, Part II 7 The Priesthood 8 The Eucharist and the Mass Part III How Am I Saved? 9 Baptism 10 Justification, Part I 11 Justification, Part II 12 Eternal Security Part IV What Is the Body of Christ? 13 Purgatory 14 The Intercession and Veneration of the Saints 15 The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God 16 The Immaculate Conception and Bodily Assumption Afterword More From Ignatius Press Notes PREFACE The motivation for writing this book came from the desire to publish a comprehensive defense of the Catholic faith in light of the five-hundredth anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Since the sixteenth century, Catholic authors like Saint Francis de Sales and John Henry Cardinal Newman have written eloquent defenses of Catholicism. But after the Second Vatican Council many Catholics saw apologetics as being antithetical to the council’s emphasis on ecumenism in the modern world. Fortunately, in the late twentieth century lay Catholics such as Karl Keating, Patrick Madrid, and Scott Hahn helped ignite a “renaissance” in Catholic apologetics. According to C. John McCloskey and Russell Shaw in their book Good News, Bad News: Evangelization, Conversion and the Crisis of Faith: In the decades since the Second Vatican Council, there has been a shift in apologetics away from simply defending the faith to spreading it. Without losing its grounding in sound arguments, apologetics has become more centered on Christ as he is present in Scripture. During the last two decades in the United States there has been a veritable explosion in this new apologetics, reflected in magazines, videos, Web sites, conferences, and the splendid ongoing work of the Eternal Word Television Network.1 As the five-hundredth anniversary of the Protestant Reformation drew near I realized that the field of Catholic apologetics was lacking a comprehensive, up-to-date, single-volume defense of the faith. The most famous previous entry in this genre was Karl Keating’s Catholicism and Fundamentalism,2 which was instrumental in my own conversion as well as the conversion of many others. While that book ably addressed challenges to the faith from Protestant fundamentalists, in the thirty years since its publication, new, more sophisticated Protestant apologetics emerged. This present work will address those arguments as well as objections found in those works that have their roots in the older Protestant Reformers—in particular, works by Martin Luther and John Calvin. One of the limitations of this book, however, is that each of the topics it addresses could be expanded into a book-length treatment. Indeed, several Catholic apologists have addressed these topics in single-book treatments, and their research and conclusions have been included in this current work. My goal in this book is to present the best arguments that previous Catholic apologists have made and also to complement those arguments with my own original research. Some of that research includes the findings of Protestant scholarship that supports arguments made in favor of the Catholic faith. Finally, I want to acknowledge the individuals and groups who made this book possible. First, I am indebted to the work of Catholic apologists who have gone before me. These include saints and scholars throughout Church history as well as modern apologists such as Karl Keating, Patrick Madrid, Tim Staples, Jimmy Akin, Steve Ray, Gary Michuta, Scott Hahn, and many others. I am grateful for the work of the Catholic Answers apostolate both in the counsel I have received from my colleagues there and in the role they played in forming me as an apologist. I am especially grateful for Jimmy Akin’s review of this manuscript and the suggestions he made that strengthened its arguments. Second, I am thankful for the editorial work of Ignatius Press and their guidance in the final stages of writing this book. Finally, I am thankful to God, who through his grace brought me into his family through baptism in the Catholic Church; I pray that all people can know the joy of following Christ and his Church like I have known over these past fifteen years. Part I By Whose Authority?
The list of books you might like
