Catholic Apologetics Books and Links

[Seeker]

There seems to be a lot of great Apologetics information out there.  I started this thread for us to share the best books and links regarding Catholic Apologetics with each other.  It might help those of us who are searching for answers to get there quicker.

[Seeker]

Bookwise, here's a start (please note, the ones in blue are probably best used as reference material rather than read cover to cover):

Answer Me This!, Patrick Madrid
Where is That in the Bible?, Patrick Madrid
Why is That in Tradition?, Patrick Madrid
Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth, Catholic Answers Pamphlet
Theology for Beginners, F. J. Sheed
What You Should Know About Church History, Charlene Altemose, MSC
Catholicism and Fundamentalism, Karl Keating
The Usual Suspects, Karl Keating
The Gift of the Church, Msgr Bob Guste
Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, Dr. Ludwig Ott
The Lamb's Supper, Scott Hahn
Hail Holy Queen, Scott Hahn
The Teachings of the Church Fathers, John R. Willis, S.J.
Refuting the Attack on Mary, Father Mateo
Upon This Rock, Stephen Ray

Wish I could say I've read them all, but I haven't. Most are based on personal recommendation, but some are based on good reviews I've heard from others.

God Bless!

[Melody]

Wow! I'm an avid reader & I love books, so I love this topic! Thx seeker! You already drew up a great list, so I'll do only three:

Here goes:

(01) Beginning Apologetics 1 ~ Fr Frank Chacon & Jim Burnham
This is a basic book of Apologetics which I def. suggest all Catholics read. Most questions that Protestants ask are answered in this one & it also includes teachings on how to approach apologetics & biblical references for everything. I think there are several parts to this series, but I've read only the first one.

(02) Pope Fiction ~ Patrick Madrid
I mentioned this book in another thread, so won't harp on too much!

(03) Rome Sweet Home ~ Scott Hann
Not really an apologetics book, but it is so from the heart & in your face that it really touches base with any Catholic who has doubts or any Protestant who's truly searching.

[Rev. Eric]

Hello Seeker and Melody,

I have a number of the books on your lists, and I agree that they make great reference material for apologetics.

I would add the various tracks from Catholic Answers, which are available online at www.catholic.com.

Furthermore, Karl Keating of Catholic Answers provides his own list of recommended apologetic material at:
http://www.catholic.com/library/Apologist_Bookshelf.asp

You will notice that he also recommends some of the stuff already listed in this thread.

Suggestions Concerning a "Working Bible":

I would also recommend that people have a "working bible".  This is a bible used for underlining passages that you want to remember for further use.  My own "working bible" has a color coordinated underlining scheme, such as green for passages concering "Purity and Holiness", orange for passages concering "Suffering and Consolation", blue for "Ministerial Duties", red for passages concerning "Apologetics", and so forth.

Furthermore, my bible has note pages stuck in the back that index everything I have underlined, within the noted categories.  This has been a valuable tool for doing "on the spur" apologetics.  Most of the bible passages that I have quoted in the apologetic discussions in the Glorify God Forum were already underlined and indexed in my bible.  My "working bible" is the Revided Standard Version, generally accepted (by Catholics and Protestants) to be the closest English translation of the original Hebrew and Greek.

Of course, such an underlined bible is good for a variety of purposes when people ask scripture questions in general, not just apologetics.  For example, a friend once asked me what the bible has to say about profanity, and (knowing that I had researched this before) I simply checked my working bible index under "Purity and Holiness" and immediately gave her Col 3:8, Mt 12:36-37, Eph 4:29, and James 1:26.

God bless,
-Rev. Eric

[Seeker]

That "Working Bible" is a great idea!  I've started highlighting and putting little stickies in my NAB translation, but I need a better way.  I think I'll start a "Working Bible" of my own.

[secretman]

Here is one of the top 50 Catholic Websites according to Catholic Rankings. Perhaps we must say that's the website of Dr. Bob Sungenis, Once Catholic, Once Protestan Minister, Once again Catholic, and currently Traditionalist Catholic.

Catholic Apologetics International

One more! I find this site useful:

In Defense Of The Roman Catholic Church

What about this?:

Catholic Source


Here is one more site, is the site Of. Rick Salbato. I do not agree with some of his points of view:

Unity Publishing

God Bless U All!

[Seeker]

I have a "few" links to add to SECRETMAN's great recommendations.

Catholic Apologetics Apostolates

Catholic Answers Apologists
Catholic Answers (run by Karl Keating and already mentioned by Rev. Eric)
The Nazareth Resource Library (James Akin, works at Catholic Answers)

Others
David MacDonald Web Site  He's also a great Christian musician.  I highly recommend getting his CD!
Corunum Catholic Apologetics (Joseph Gallegos)
Apologia
A Catholic Response
Ecclesia Militans

The next couple sites also have excellent online debates/dialogues/replies  by the authors to criticisms from such well-known Protestant Apologists as Dr. James White and William Webster.
Defenders of the Catholic Faith (Stephen Ray Writings)
Defenders of the Catholic Faith (Writings by others)
Biblical Evidence for Catholicism (Dave Armstrong)

Resources[/font]

The Early Church
Church Fathers
Writings of the Early Church Fathers
Information and Writings on the Early Church

General
Catholic Encyclopedia
Church Councils
Library of Papal Encyclicals
Library of Theology
Online Catechism

Free Media
The Bible Christian Society with a few good tapes on certain Biblical topics such as the Rapture and the Sacraments.
The Mary Foundation with lots of great and free tapes and CDs regarding Confession, the Truth, Mary, the Mass, Theology of the Body, Raising Children, etc.

Online Bible Translations
Douay-Rheims Version
King James Version
New American Bible
Revised Standard Version

I have been to each of these sites and they all seem pretty good.  However, I may have missed something in my travels to them, so please let me know if any of the sites I posted carries info that appears to be in error or contrary to Catholic teaching.  

[DavidFilmer]

The Most Valuable Book I Own

I have a rather large library of theological books - it fills six full-height bookshelves (those Sauder particle-board things). It's about 65% Catholic; I also have protestant resource materials and nearly every significant anti-Catholic publication ever written.

This is mainly a research library, not a spiritual reading library (I have a smaller one of those).

But I have one book that I call "the most valuable book I own." My entire family knows which book that is. If I ever misplace it, it won't do me any good to ask for it by title, but if I ask, "Has anyone seen the most valueable book I own?" everyone knows exactly what I mean.

If I had to divest myself of my entire library save one book, there is NO QUESTION what book I would retain (assuming I could somehow keep a Bible). And the book I would keep is not even from a Catholic publisher or editor.

"The most valuable book I own" is the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, edited by F.L. Cross. I have the Second Edition; it has since been revised (and significantly expanded) into a Third Edition - it went from 1520 pages to 1824. I'm not talking about the "Consise" version of this work, which is nearly worthless; I'm talking about the full-blown, three-inch thick book (in nine-point typeface).

Want to know about Pope Leo III? The Council of Elvira? Melchizedek? Saint anybody? The Catholic Truth Society? The Crusades? The Septuagint? John Calvin? What did the heresy of Semi-Pelagianism teach? It's all there in brief but informative articles about topics spanning the entire history of the Church, right up to modern times.

But the most valuable book I own is also (by far) the most expensive - it currently sells for $105 on Amazon ($86 used). So this book is probably beyond the reach of many. But, if it is within your means, I highly recommend this excellent book. And even those with more modest budgets may find a copy in a used bookstore (maybe an older Second Edition, like mine) at a much more resonable price.

OK, on a whim I just checked eBay - theres a Second Edition going right now at $49 with no bids. And, checking "completed items" I see that some recent LUCKY DOG got a Third Edition for $20! Second Edition copies have also closed recently for $30 and $20. So keep your eyes open; you might pick up a real bargain!

[Melody]

Just a quick note of appreciation

We really have a fantastically pro-active family here don't we?

To add to all the other's time, effort & google searching (yeah, YOU know whom I referring to ), now we have a member who runs checks at ebay for us!

Hurray for our family  

Melody

[Rev. Eric]

Concerning David's "most valuable book", next to the bible the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church is the reference work that I have used the most when doing research for my various seminary classes.

In terms of other good books for apologetics, let me add the following:

Fr. Smith Instructs Jackson by Archbishop John Francis Noll (the founder of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper).  This book was written as a easy-to-read catechism (as a dialog between a priest and someone undergoing instruction in the faith), but has a very strong apologetic leaning, both in terms of Christianity defended against skepticism, and Catholicism defended against Protestantism.  Noll's ability to explain complex ideas in down-to-earth concrete language is incedible.  I recently discovered this book and am extremely impressed with it - I cannot recommend it highly enough.  Rev. Albert Nevins has updated this book in light of Vatican II teachings, and it is available from Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.  It is not a very long read (less than 300 pages) and the copy I purchased was only nine dollars.

Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma by Ludwig Ott

Faith of the Early Fathers by William Jurgens (three volume set).  This set contains great English translations of important patristic works.  It also has a great index.  As I mentioned in another thread, so far I have only had to use my copy of Jurgens when discussing the Fathers in terms of apologetics.

Finally let me recommend a good biblical concordance.  For those unfamiliar with this, a concordance tells you where words are found in a bible, along with the section of the sentence where they are used.  For example, if someone asks you, "Where does the bible say that Jesus is a priest in the line of Melchizedek?", you can look up "Melchizedek" in a concordance and see every place in the bible where this name comes up.  The sentance frgaments then tell you to zero in on the listed passages from the Letter to the Hebrews.

But there are three very important things to keep in mind concerning concordances:

1)  Concordances come in different sizes - the smaller the concordance, the fewer references you'll find.  In other words, a small concordance will only make references to the most important uses of a particular word.  For example, it will not display every single place where the word "lamb", appears, but only the passages where the use of "lamb" was particularly significant.  So it will list John the Baptist calling Jesus the "Lamb of God" (Jn 1:29) but probably not the reference to a lamb as found in such passages as Hosea 4:16 ("Can the Lord now feed them like a lamb in the broad pasture?").

An "exhaustive" concordance, will give you nearly every instance of nearly every word in the bible.  This is a BIG book, but very handy.  I have an exhaustive concordance on my shelf and a "concise" concordance (which I believe is the next biggest) that I use in class or when traveling.

2)  As we all know, there are different English translations of the bible and not every bible uses the same English words.  For example, the King James Version uses the word "unicorn" whereas the Revised Standard Version uses the phrase "wild ox".  In light of this, a concordance is made for a specific translation of the bible.  The most popular concordances are made by Dr. James Strong (Nelson publishers), and I think that all his concordances are for the KJV.

3)  Furthermore, a bible such as the Revised Standard Version comes in a Protestant version and a Catholic version.  The difference between the two, of course, is that the Catholic Old Testament has the Deuterocanonical Books (which Protestants call the Apocrypha, i.e.: Wisdom, Maccabees, etc.).  So before buying a concordance, check to see which version it covers.

At this time, most of the concordances out there are Protestant works for, of course, Protestant versions of the bible.  I have a Concise Concordance for the NRSV ("with apocrypha" - i.e., it uses the Catholic canon of scripture) edited by John Kohlenberger III.  Nevertheless, despite being a "concise" concordance, it is not very big and its references are very limited.  Compare it's size to Strong's Concise Concordance of the KJV and you will see what I mean.

Personally, I use Strong's even though it is a Protestant work based on the King James.  Being a former Episcopalian, I am very familiar with the KJV so I am at home with its English.  If I am trying to look up something in one of the Deuterocanonical books then I resort to the above mentioned Concise Concordance to the NRSV.  Nevertheless, I am always on the lookout for a really good and extensively referenced concordance to the Catholic RSV or NRSV.  Having such a tome would be invaluable to me.

God bless,
-Rev. Eric

[Seeker]

With all these great suggestions, I'm going to have to expand my library out of my desk drawer to a real bookshelf.   I'll be checking Ebay soon myself for some good deals.