Customer Reviews

The Catholic Verses: 95 Bible Passages That Confound Protestants

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"Irenic" is not the first word that ordinarily comes to mind when a book is subtitled "95 Bible Passages That Confound Protestants," but in this case, it's just proof of the old adage about judging books by their covers. The only beliefs that come under attack in this book are the ones that have been frustrating ecumenical dialogue and poisoning discussions with anti-Catholic stereotypes for far too many years. For Catholics, this book will come as a reassurance that Catholicism is firmly rooted in the Scriptures. For Protestants, it will provide a valuable opportunity to reexamine the hard questions that every faithful Protestant should be able to answer. But for all readers, the lesson is that those who gloss over serious study of Scripture in making reckless attacks on fellow Christians do so at their own peril.

One feature that distinguishes this book from many other works is the genuine respect that Armstrong bears for the other side of the aisle. He cites arguments by famous Protestants from Calvin to Luther, Wesley to Kelly, not to tear them down but to demonstrate the amount of effort they put into forming their own conclusions. The point of these demonstrations is to illustrate that even thoughtful, devoted, and scholarly men can reason their way to different conclusions about these passages, and that in most cases, the Catholic view is no less thoughtful or reasonable an explanation. In an attitude of genuine intellectual humility, Armstrong constantly repeats a simple theme: "recognizing that reasonable men can disagree, here is why I believe what I do." Exercising the rare poise found in such writers as Jaroslav Pelikan, Armstrong makes his case strongly and convincingly while maintaining a profound respect for his opponents' intelligence.

The book covers a number of Catholic distinctives that frequently arise in Protestant-Catholic dialogue, such as ecclesiology, the role of tradition, the papacy, and justification. On these issues, there is no new ground covered that has not been discussed at length in a number of places, but the advantage here is that the presentation is clear and concise, focused particularly on developing the strength of the Biblical argument. This is extremely helpful for beginners in Catholic theology, but it also reminds more advanced students just how effective it can be to make a simple, focused Scriptural argument that goes back to basics. Time and time again, Armstrong demonstrates the power of such arguments to convey the Catholic message.

What impressed me most, though, was Armstrong's handling of sensitive moral issues in the final three chapters. In discussing clerical celibacy, contraception, and divorce, he bring an optimistic and idealistic perspective centered firmly in Christ to areas that have become overwhelmingly dominated by cynicism. Armstrong's positive view of human nature and the human condition is a refreshing change from the modern worldview that envisions people as being doomed to gross moral failings. His presentation is an excellent example of how sound moral teaching founded in the Gospel can truly be a light to the world.

I recommend this book without reservation, and I encourage my fellow Catholics to take the study of these verses to heart and to commit them to memory. They are excellent reminders of how the Catholic faith is rooted in the Word of God.

I read this book as part of my studies to decide whether I ought to join the Catholic Church. I strongly recommend it to anyone who might be considering the same, as well as to those who unknowingly suppose that Catholicism is somehow inherently unbiblical. It's just not so.

Sadly, many folk suppose that a book such as this must be characterized by doing violence to the plain meaning of the text. Mr. Armstrong does an admirable job of demonstrating that in many cases, it is not the Catholic but rather the Catholic's opponent who has run roughshod over Scripture. Representative examples:

1) Did Christ tell the rich young ruler to believe something, or to *do* something in order to be saved?

2) The Protestant supposes that the word "justified" means something different in James than elsewhere in the Bible, rather than letting Scripture interpret Scripture. There's a reason why Luther didn't like this Epistle: he couldn't wedge it into his "faith alone" model.

The subtitle of the book is a reference to Luther's 95 Theses; this could lead someone to suppose that Mr. Armstrong's book is intended as a refutation of Luther's work. While in certain respects (as in the discussion of James) this may be the case, that's not the primary focus of the book. Rather, the author presents us with 95 different examples of biblical passages that are often misread or misunderstood by Protestants and which demonstrate the biblical character of Catholicism.

Perhaps the most glaring omission from the book is that it lacks an index. Perhaps this can be added in a future edition. The table of contents is fairly extensive, which certainly helps, but a book like this is particularly useful as a reference work, and the absence of an index is why I'm only giving it 4 stars.

Catholics are often accused of two things, not knowing the Bible, and being an unbiblical religion. While the first part may sadly be true in many instances (though nowadays that tide is turning), the second part is not, and this book sets out to bolster the position that in fact all of Catholic belief and practice is grounded in scripture, or at least flows from scripture.
Armstrong lays out clear explanations of how various Catholic beliefs are not only found in scripture, but are strongly supported by it. His writing is clear and his arguments are strong. There was only one verse that I thought felt like he was fishing, but other than that I think it flows nicely.
I think slinging Bible verses back and forth is a poor way to discuss religion, but at least this book should stimulate conversation, and help people, both Catholic and not to understand why Catholics believe many of those things that we do.

"Bible Difficulties" are what Protestant-Evangelical scholars call the result of comparing desperately different Bible texts that create paradoxes. (e.g. Romans 3:28 suggests we are saved by faith but James 2 and Hebrews 11 points to works. This is a paradox and not a contradiction, Armstrong points out because both are required and only possible through God's Grace) For the Protestant, correlating these texts into a cohesive theology is difficult.

Armstrong suggests that a number of linguistic fallacies are necessary to keep the Protestant lifeboat afloat, including: Special Pleading, Attacking the Strawman, Obfuscation, Appeal to Emotion, and the False Dichotomy of Either/Or instead of using the And/Both argument. This naming of fallacies is what I believe to be long overdue in the Catholic-Protestant dialogue. Fallacies are the language of polemics, which is the art of selecting evidence and ignoring the counter evidence to support a foregone conclusion.

Armstrong's technique in The Catholic Verses is unique among the Catholic apologetics. Similar to other books, the text is divided into topical chapters --- The Church, Divisions and Denominationalism, Bible and Tradition, The Papacy, Justification and Salvation, Judgment and Good works, Baptism, The Eucharist, Penance, The Communion of Saints, Relics and Sacramentals, Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead, The Blessed Virgin Mary, Clerical Celibacy, Divorce, and Contraception --- 16 in all.

Rather than just explain the Catholic position, Armstrong begins each section with a collection of Bible "proof" texts that do two things at the same time. They (a) support the Catholic position on the topic, and (b) undermine the Protestant position by using Protestantism's own technique-the Bible Alone.

The uniqueness of Armstrong's approach is what comes next. He liberally quotes Protestant leaders and commentators on these same verses and puts these quotes next to each other, and in one situation summarizes their conclusions in a table to prove that Protestants cannot interpret these passages with any consistency or assurance of absolute truth.

Armstrong adeptly points out that the main reason Protestants can't agree among themselves on doctrine is because they're too preoccupied with NOT being Catholic.

An enlightening byproduct of Armstrong's analysis is how much Protestant doctrine has reversed itself from the original Reformers to today. Anti-Catholic sentiment wrongly claims that Catholicism has changed or reversed fundamental dogma over the centuries, leading Catholicism into corruption. While many who are ignorant of Catholic doctrine believe this, no one has ever been able to point to a single doctrine where such a reversal has occurred. Not the same is true of Protestantism, and Armstrong proves it by comparing the original Reformer's claim with contemporary Protestant theology... well, with some contemporary Protestant theology, insomuch as there's little agreement.

The Catholic Verses is an accessible explanation of why Protestants continue to sidestep, ignore, mumble, or just pretend certain Bible verses do not exist, while, at the same time claiming to hold the Bible up as the inspired, inerrant Word of God which contains everything we need to know for Salvation -- and that is a contradiction, not a paradox. A belief Catholicism holds as well. Armstrong gives ample and convincing evidence that when you look at the Bible through Catholic eyes, it all fits together and makes sense, there are no contradictions, there is absolute truth, and God and Jesus become real instead of a mystical uncertainty with which Protestantism, in their irrational protest, must be satisfied.

I too, miss an index, but the TOC is comprehensive and adequate.

Stan Williams, Ph.D.

Raised Baptist in the 70s and 80s then being Presbyterian since, including Youth Minister for a while, I found this book to be an excellent source of information.

Dave puts together compelling arguments and does an excellent job of presenting both sides of the argument by quoting Calvin, Luther etc... In the past year I have been reading a number of books on Catholicism and I rank this up with the best of them information wise.

My only warning or thought to some who might purchase this is to remember what Dave does and is. He is an Apologist so he likes to argue. For me this was fantastic because I LOVE to argue my point. However some people do not and might get offended at the way some of the conclusions are presented. I personally did not, I loved it, yet I would pick and choose which of my Protestant friends to give this too and might start them out with something else first.

I've also found the author's website to be a treasure trove of information. I look forward to his continual desire to help people find Christ's Church or rekindle the flame if they are already there. I'll be picking up some of his other books as well. I start my RCIA classes next month.

Unlike some of the other readers, I - as a Protestant who wanted to know more about Catholicism - did not see the ugliness in Armstrong's writings mentioned by other reviewers.

Content-wise, Armstrong raises very good points and appeals to scripture, as well as history, to back up the Church's teachings. We have a tendency - Protestant and Catholic alike - to white-wash history and our heroes and point out the sin and error in a person's life to justify our attacks on their doctrinal stances. Ad hominem attacks, I believe they are called.

I liked this book - it remains in my nightstand drawer and I take it out at least weekly to skim over the verses. Would I buy it again? Perhaps not... at least not at full price... but it's not nearly as awful as some reviewers would have you believe!

Look for it at the library. If you like it, buy it.

Recommended.

The theme of this book is an interesting one -covering ninety-five biblical verses as a kind of symbolic response to Fr. Martin Luther's 95 Theses tacked by legend to the door of the Wittenburg cathedral in late 1517. And the manifested intention to demonstrate that there can be plausibly argued from a biblical standpoint for many of what Mr. Armstrong calls "Catholic distinctives" is amply sustained -though there is a variegated quality of his arguments in the book notwithstanding of course. This was unquestionably a very ambitious undertaking on the part of the author and for that fact alone he deserves some credit.

This book has a few weaknesses which affect the overall text. For one thing, it is very choppy in spots with the manuscript needing improvement by smoothing out some of the rough structural barbs. I should in fairness note in stating this criticism that part of that is perhaps inevitable if one looks at the pattern of the book and its intentions. For example, as the book is based on specific verses, there will be inexorably a greater degree of commentary interspersed with other sources. And of course the aforementioned commentary and use of sources will also bring to it certain unspoken and unsubstantiated presuppositions of the author no matter how one tries to avoid this -and the latter cannot be done justice in a volume such as this.

But that point noted, Mr. Armstrong is usually good at recognizing the principle that more formally developed concepts need not be present in later fullness in earlier periods of time: what Catholics refer to as development of doctrine. Mr. Armstrong understands the concept better than most but it is nonetheless one with its limits and not the magical "one size fits all" remedy that he at times appears to think it is. Mr. Armstrong also has a tendency to overplay his hand a bit through the use of statements of a more absolute nature where theologically there is more room than he appears to presume. But this criticism is one that is hardly applicable to him alone -I note it here nonetheless because it needs to be accounted for by the reader to receive a fuller picture of the author's work itself.

Despite the manifested intention to avoid triumphalist tonalities in the book, Mr. Armstrong while generally succeeding in this area nonetheless does involve a bit of sardonic phrasing in spots -seemingly at the points where either his arguments are the weakest or the internal contradictions of some of the sources he critically interacts with happen to be. John Calvin is a particular target in this area but considering the snide way Calvin approaches a number of subjects in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, it is hard to fault Mr. Armstrong for taking a bit of schadenfraude in puncturing the balloons of bombast common to Calvin's methodology even if in other areas one could find it easier for this criticism to have a bit more weight. (And I emphasize "a bit more" because on balance this book is light on explicit triumphalism: something which is to Mr. Armstrong's credit.)

On specific matters, to compile a detailed sketch would take more time than I have so I will note what is particularly well done section by section. The sections on The Church, Bible and Tradition, Papacy, Communion of Saints, and Prayers for the Dead are all despite the overall structural weaknesses noted earlier very solid in content and argumentation. (Likewise the sections on Baptism and Eucharist.) I could quibble with a few additional bits but they would not detract from my view of these sections at all so I will leave it be for now. The Communion of Saints section also possesses some nice nuances to it which someone familiar with the boilerplate elements of this subject could well appreciate -the same is the case for the section on Prayers for the Dead.

Other sections which are also good (albeit not to the extent the ones already noted are) include the ones on Penance and Relics/Sacramentals. The problem with these sections that I discerned most is brevity primarily: they require a lot more exposition due to being more implied in the scripture than the others noted thus far. It is also questionable in my mind if including these subjects in the book was a good idea for those reasons but what is there is good so I will leave it at that.

The section on Divisions/Denominationalism is on balance good but it has more weaknesses to it than the other sections noted thus far. For one thing, it needs to emphasize that the only divisions Mr. Armstrong intends to be critical of are ones that pertain to faith. In failing to do this, it leaves Mr. Armstrong open to those who point out areas of diversity in Catholic philosophy, theology, application of moral/ethical principles, geopolitical matters, etc. as a presumed "refutation" of his position in this section. If he were to in a subsequent edition make this delineation clearer, it would vindicate this section from the sort of criticism I noted above.

The last quarter of the book is of markedly less quality than the parts covered thus far -in part because the subjects move to more peripheral or controverted nature. For the sake of presenting a stronger product it would have been better to have either covered them in greater detail or passed these matters over completely. The section on Celibacy is written from a western perspective which gives the impression that there is one traditional approach to this matter instead of two. It would do Mr. Armstrong well in subsequent editions of this work to add a bit in there about the eastern tradition which allows for married clergy much as certain extraordinary provisions in the western church in recent decades do. In both traditions there is (albeit in differing ways) a recognition of the biblical principle of clerical celibacy so this revision would only strengthen the latter section of this book.

The section on Divorce suffers from a lack of completion akin to the one on Celibacy though not to the same extent. The main weakness here is the lack of distinguishing between the concepts of divorce and annulment. The latter is often called "Catholic divorce" but that expression is not accurate at all and failing to note the distinction in this section after the passages pertaining to divorce weakens the presentation here.

The section on Contraception is the weakest one in the book for a variety of reasons. The first reason is that it is a derivative concept which as I noted earlier is harder to cover than a primary subject. The second is that it is based on so little Scriptural reference and implied ones at that: making it by nature involving a lot more commentary. The third is that there are other objections raised against the OT passage he cited being interpreted as Mr. Armstrong does that he gives no credence whatsoever to. There are other factors too on this one but my guess is that this being an issue that was of particular resonance to Mr. Armstrong in his conversion is what prompted him to include a section in this book on the topic in question. But to cover the latter subject with the detail required and accounting for all parameters (including certain presuppositions Mr. Armstrong unconsciously and uncritically accepts) would to make the book a lot longer which is why it would have been better to have passed over it completely in this treatment.

To summarize this review, Mr. Armstrong attempts to cover an entire spectrum of ideas with this book. In doing this there will be a variegation of success and on the lions share of the topics covered as well as overall presentation, this book is a worthwhile read. But there are also some topics of which it would have been better to have a bit more material on to insure a more correct presentation. And there is exactly one subject which would have by the nature of the subject in question have benefited from being passed over with the idea of focusing on the ones where the greater strength of demonstration and argument can be made.

In closing, I with minimal reservation recommend this work for those who have questions as to the presumed "unbiblical" nature of certain Catholic beliefs and practices. It would serve well to help them realize that (whether they agree with them or not) there are arguments that can be made from Scripture for many "Catholic distinctives" which non-Catholics may have been led to believe did not exist.

When I was in college, I came every close to abandoning my Catholic faith because of Biblical arguments I was hearing from Evangelical friends which seemed very clear-cut and convincing. It was about two years and quite a few books later that I found a great many counter-arguments that were even more convincing. And so I remain a Catholic today - mostly due to Biblical evidence and logical reasoning.
The problem is that too many Catholics today are hearing only one side of the argument - the Evangelical side. Many have no idea that resources like this exist. I bought this book about two years ago, and I still have it on my desk shelf as a quick reference (along with the Bible and William A. Jurgens' "Faith of the Early Fathers").
Dave Armstrong does a wonderful job of making this subject readable and easy to understand. I particularly like his method of constructing fictional dialogs between two points of view to illustrate both sides of a debate. In true Thomistic fashion, he always presents the opposing view with a thorough and sympathetic argument right before he completely turns it on it's head. Armstrong is not one to "whip a straw man". He's a scholar through and through. I recommend all his books to anyone who has questions about the Faith.
I think the only one who does Catholic apologetics better is James Akin - maybe.

Regarding the comments from some negative reviewers about Dave's supposed combative tone. Rubbish!
Just check out his website and see the admirable way he deals with online debaters who attack him (it happens often - sometimes personally). Dave won't shy away from a spirited debate, but he's always a gentlemen and a scholar.

Dave Armstrong doesn't disappoint, on his latest. His Newest book is a remarkably thorough, and incredibly well written volume. He lays out 95 (in memory of Martin Luther's 95 so called abuses of/within the Church) key verses which scripturally form the basis for many Catholic beliefs. He also presents the Protestant argument to Catholic interpretations, and then pounces on the Protestant misenterpretations with a witty rebuttal. They didn't stand a chance.

As a Protestant exploring the Catholic Faith, I was surprised to learn that it is not Evangelical Protestants but the Catholics who take the Bible literally. This book is comprehensive and compelling in its Scriptural defense of Catholicism.