Apologetics 101

By Sal Ciresi
Herald Columnist
(From the issue of 6/12/03)

Before entering the apologetics apostolate, the interested Catholic must have a firm understanding of Christian doctrine. These teachings are rooted in the perennial Magisterium of the Catholic Church. Many excellent books reflect these teachings; the following texts are presented for consideration.

For starters, a trustworthy catechism is foundational for the apologist. The two catechisms promulgated by the Catholic Church, best studied in tandem, are the 1566 Roman Catechism and the 1997 Catechism of the Catholic Church. "Local" catechisms that are beneficial are Gasparri’s The Catholic Catechism; Hardon’s The Catholic Catechism; Lovasik’s The Apostolate’s Family Catechism; Morrow’s My Catholic Faith; and Pope St. Pius X’s Catechism of Christian Doctrine.

In conjunction with catechisms, books on theology proper will shed light on Catholic faith and morals. Three classics by Sheed are A Map of Life; Theology for Beginners; and Theology and Sanity. Also noteworthy are Ott’s Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma; Premm’s Dogmatic Theology for the Laity; Von Rudloff’s Everyman’s Theology; and Saunders’ Straight Answers. A fine complement to these texts is Shaw’s Encyclopedia of Catholic Doctrine.

Numerous multi-volume sets address Catholic truth from a wider theological, historical, and philosophical perspective. Helpful collections are Baker’s Fundamentals of Catholicism 1-3; Pohle’s Series of Dogmatic Text Books 1-12; Tanquery’s Manual of Dogmatic Theology 1-2; and Tixeront’s History of Dogma 1-3. Encyclopedia sets in this mold are Habermann’s The Catholic Encyclopedia 1-18; McDonald’s The New Catholic Encyclopedia 1-15; and Daniel-Rops’ The Twentieth Century Encyclopedia of Catholicism 1-150. Dictionaries are also handy, such as Attwater’s A Catholic Dictionary; Hardon’s Modern Catholic Dictionary; and Parente’s Dictionary of Dogmatic Theology.

Apologetic research is bolstered by the Magisterial excerpts compiled in Denzinger’s The Sources of Catholic Dogma. Similar texts are Clarkson’s The Church Teaches and Most’s The Bottom Line. Tanner’s Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils 1-2 is a useful source. The ecclesiastical documents in these books can be retrieved with a computer from EWTN (www.ewtn.com) and Peter’s Net (www.trincom.org).

Theological research should always have a Bible nearby for reference. Two noteworthy translations are the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition and Douay-Rheims Bible. A Bible handbook is indispensable, such as Fuentes’ A Guide to the Bible and Breen’s A General Introduction to the Study of Holy Scripture. Sources that explain the Catholic Church’s safeguard of the Bible are Kelly’s The New Biblical Theorists; Most’s Free From All Error; and Taguchi’s The Study of Sacred Scripture.

Research for apologetics is enriched by the Church Fathers. Introductory texts on Patrology are Beatrice’s Introduction to the Fathers of the Church; Hamell’s Handbook of Patrology; and Wuerl’s Fathers of the Church. Patristic writings keyed to doctrinal subjects are found in Jurgens’ The Faith of the Early Fathers 1-3 and Willis’ The Teachings of the Church Fathers. Biographical information and sizeable Patristic quotations are contained in Quasten’s Patrology 1-4.

All Catholics should understand the theology and philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas. His gems are Compendium of Theology; Catechetical Instructions; Summa Contra Gentiles; and Summa Theologiae. Books that assist in understanding these classics are Farrell’s A Companion to the Summa 1-4; Gilson’s The Christian Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas; Glenn’s A Tour of the Summa; Kreeft’s A Summa of the Summa; McInerny’s St. Thomas Aquinas; and O’Donnell’s Hooked on Philosophy.

Apologetic materials can now be mentioned. Useful sources are Alexander’s College Apologetics; De Sales’ The Catholic Controversy; Duggan’s Beyond Reasonable Doubt; Fenton’s We Stand with Christ; Gibbons’ The Faith of Our Fathers; Glenn’s Catholic Apologetics; Keating’s Fundamentalism and Catholicism; Laux’s Catholic Apologetics; Mirus’ Reasons for Hope; Most’s Catholic Apologetics Today; O’Brien’s The Faith of Millions; Rumble and Carty’s Radio Replies 1-3; Sheed’s Catholic Evidence Training Outlines; Sheehan’s Apologetics and Catholic Doctrine; Staples’ Nuts and Bolts; and Thurston’s No Popery! These books give a broad overview of standard apologetics, rather than a strict focus on a single topic.

The texts mentioned above are accessible at most parish libraries or local bookstores. Undoubtedly, many popular books and subjects have been overlooked in this article. Hopefully, these treatises mentioned here can serve as building blocks for a theological and apologetic library.

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