Catholic and Enjoying It!
…sends me an Emergency Request on behalf of a reader. I give it and my reply here:
Subject: Emergency Question! What books to give to a would be convertMark, I just got the following comment on my blog, and I do not have any list of books to give him:Wow, I might need to convert!Though now that my comment is somewhat near the top, I do have a question for John. (And anyone else whod care to interject.For someone such as I who was raised in fundamentalist anti-Catholicism, rejected it as the crass bigotry it is, and now finds himself as a Christian without a denomination; what would be your recommended reading for someone seeking a logical and historical basis to accept Catholicism as the one true church.If it helps, as it is now Im coming from a prima scriptura perspective and I cant seem to rectify having a sole human authority who is deemed as infallible (with little to no scriptural basis for such authority). Im also having an issue seeing the Catholic church as an unbroken institution reaching back to Peter taking into account the instances when it was hijacked by corrupt humans (the Borgia popes for example) or in instances when the Holy Spirit could not be said by any sane Christian to have a hand in its actions. (The Inquisition, etc.)Yes, I am honestly asking to be converted. I realize thats an odd occurrence.
Here’s a bit:
My 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 and Mary, Mother of the Son. All but the last are available here: www.mark-shea.com/books.html A 3
CD set based on By What Authority, This is my Body and Mary, Mother of the Son
(called “An Evangelical Discovers the Catholic Faith”) is available at that
link as well. In addition, I have a piece in infallibility here: http://www.mark-shea.com/infallibility.html (In brief, the corruption of certain Popes is evidence for, not against, infallibility. Because infallibility is not the guarantee of episcopal sinlessness, but rather the guarantee that no matter how sinful and stupid an apostle or his successor may be, God the Holy Spirit will make sure that the Church never defines an error as a dogma.)
As to the Papacy, the best resources I know are Stephen K. Ray’s Upon this Rock (http://www.amazon.com/Upon-This-Rock-Scripture-Apologetics/dp/0898707234/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333066589&sr=8-1),and
Jesus, Peter & the Keys: A Scriptural Handbook on the Papacy by Scott
Butler, Dalgren and Hess.
is my Body: An Evangelical Discovers the Real Presence and Mary, Mother of the Son. All but the last are available here: www.mark-shea.com/books.html A 3
CD set based on By What Authority, This is my Body and Mary, Mother of the Son
(called “An Evangelical Discovers the Catholic Faith”) is available at that
link as well. In addition, I have a piece in infallibility here: http://www.mark-shea.com/infallibility.html (In brief, the corruption of certain Popes is evidence for, not against, infallibility. Because infallibility is not the guarantee of episcopal sinlessness, but rather the guarantee that no matter how sinful and stupid an apostle or his successor may be, God the Holy Spirit will make sure that the Church never defines an error as a dogma.)
As to the Papacy, the best resources I know are Stephen K. Ray’s Upon this Rock (http://www.amazon.com/Upon-This-Rock-Scripture-Apologetics/dp/0898707234/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333066589&sr=8-1),and
Jesus, Peter & the Keys: A Scriptural Handbook on the Papacy by Scott
Butler, Dalgren and Hess.
G.K. Chesterton:
Thomas Howard
Peter Kreeft
A Summa of the Summa
Josef Pieper
Josef Pieper
Scott Hahn
Hope that helps!
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