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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
an intriguing, well-written primer on Catholicism,
By
This review is from: More Biblical Evidence for Catholicism: Companion to a Biblical Defense of Catholicism (Paperback)
Catholic apologist Dave Armstrong's great book "More Biblical Evidence for Catholicism" is clear, concise, and readable, with easy-to-understand language. The Protestant vs. Catholic dialogues culled from Armstrong's Internet debates do a good job of showing Protestant fallacies and supporting Catholic claims. Armstrong uses very sound logic throughout the book. The Apocrypha, or Deuterocanon, is mentioned in Appendix Three (see below), but does not have a chapter of its own. Here are the contents of the chapters, and then the appendices:
Chapter One defines the Gospel, defends sacramentalism from a Biblical perspective, and argues that the Catholic view of justification (infused, actual, internal, and transformational) is correct, as opposed to the Protestant view (extrinsic, imputed, forensic, and external). Chapter Two contains three short dialogues concerning Sola Scriptura, the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and penance. Chapter Three denies the claim that Catholicism is half-pagan, borrowing rituals and practices from pre-Christian Romans, Babylonians, and Persians, with attention paid specifically to holidays like Christmas and Easter, and devotional practices such as praying the Rosary. Chapter Four refutes the notion that sin and sinners in the Catholic Church disprove its ecclesiological authority. Chapter Five points out that, unlike early Protestantism, Protestant Christians today often take a "quasi-relativistic" and "unbiblical" view that key doctrinal differences are "not only permissible but healthy and to be expected." Chapter Six explains why Catholicism is neither Pelagian (believing that humans have no original sin and can be righteous merely using free will) nor Semi-Palagian ("the first steps towards the Christian life were ordinarily taken by the human will and that Grace supervened only later"). Chapter Seven defends the thesis that the Eucharist is indeed Biblical and correct exegesis leads to transubstantiation. Chapter Eight explains why the Catholic Mass is not idolatry, and why Mass is radically different from the Israeli worship of the golden calf in Exodus. Chapter Nine shows why the Protestant doctrine of Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone) is unbiblical and unhistorical. Chjapter Ten debunks the claim that the Catholic Church historically has suppressed Bible reading and opposed translations like an "avowed enemy of Holy Scripture." Chapter Eleven demonstrates why Sola Scriptura is illogical, inconsistent, impractical, and improbable. In Chapter Twelve Armstrong argues against the Protestant notion of a "perspicuous Apostolic message," pointing out that Protestants can't agree on TULIP, baptism the Eucharist, church government, regeneration, sanctification, whether Catholics are Christians, women clergy, divorce, the utility of reason, etc. Chapter Thirteen argues that Catholic Church infallible authority is ultimately necessary and unavoidable. It argues against the Protestant dichotomy between Church authority and Biblical authority. In Chapter Fourteen, Armstrong argues that Purgatory has a Biblical basis and that it does not deny the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice on the Cross. He examines the nature and duration of Purgatory. In Chapter Fifteen Armstrong argues that it is not at all farfetched to say that Mary was without original sin (the Immaculate Conception) and was sinless for the rest of her life, is the Queen of Heaven, and is the Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix. Armstrong dissects Protestants' alleged Biblical disproofs of Mary's sinlessness, etc. Chapter Sixteen defends the thesis that Catholic Mariology is in fact Christo-centric, and points out that the "Co" in Co-Redemptrix means cooperative and not having equal function, a common misinterpretation. The chapter quotes from the Lumen Gentium, stating, that Mary's role "neither takes away from nor adds anything to the dignity and efficacy of Christ the One Mediator." The chapter refers to Mary as a Blessed Virgin, but does not go into detail about why the Bible says she is a perpetual virgin. In Appendix One Armstrong affirms his deep respect for Protestants. Appendix Two is a transcript of a radio interview in which Armstrong talks about his conversion from evangelical Protestantism to Roman Catholicism. Appendix Three lists 150 reasons to be Catholic as opposed to Protestant, backed up with over 300 Biblical citations. He undermines Protestantism, mentioning its "absurdly late appearance," lack of a way to definitively settle doctrinal issues (partly due to the lack of a definitive teaching authority), lack of priesthood, the false dichotomies it creates (e.g. between the Bible and Christian Tradition), false doctrine of Sola Scriptura, the intercession of saints, etc. He mentions many theological, moral, and spiritual strengths of Catholicism. Appendix Four compares and contrasts Roman Catholicism and Greek Orthodoxy regarding ecclesiology, the papacy vs. caesaropapism, ecumenical councils, doctrinal development, modernity, contraception, and divorce. I am a non-denominational Christian. I think it will take me at least a year's worth of thorough research to definitively decide which is true: Catholicism or Protestantism. However, this book, which should be a part of the libraries of both Catholics and Protestants, has given me a jump-start. I look forward to reading more of Dave Armstrong's work.
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best for the stated purpose...,
By
This review is from: More Biblical Evidence for Catholicism: Companion to a Biblical Defense of Catholicism (Paperback)
From the Introduction of More Biblical Evidence for Catholicism:________________________________________________________________ "Once again my purpose is to accumulate biblical arguments in support of distinctively Catholic doctrinal positions, with Protestant readers particularly in mind (as well as Catholics not overly familiar with the Bible)." Dave Armstrong's books are simply the best for explaining the Biblical foundations of Catholicism, especially to Protestants considering conversion or simply wanting to understand how Catholics read scripture and for preparing Catholics to deal with Protestant objections to their faith. I would recommend first "A Biblical Defense of Catholicism" then follow up with this book. Dave's website is a great resource as well: ...
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A continued good job.,
By Marcel LeJeune (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
This review is from: More Biblical Evidence for Catholicism: Companion to a Biblical Defense of Catholicism (Paperback)
This book is a follow-up to the first book by Armstrong titled "Biblical Evidence for Catholicism". In this book Armstrong has continued to provide his readers with more of the same. Of course "the same" would be a good, rational argument on the Biblical nature of Catholicism. The only thing this book lacks is more arguments that admit that not everything in the Catholic faith can explicitly be "proven" by the Bible. But, Armstrong has certainly met the goal that he set out to accomplish. That is to show that the Bible and Catholicism are not contradictory, but rather complimentary. I recommend this book along with his first book, especially the debates that Armstrong has provided us with.
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