Roman Catholics and Evangelicals

Before I state my opinion about the book, allow me to swiftly present my background: I was born of an Eastern Orthodox father (thus I am officially an Orthodox), raised as a Catholic by my mother and my school, and I've recently getting quite acquainted with the Protestant doctrines. So I can safely say I am not blindly biased toward any of those three main Christian lines of thoughts, as I cherish them all and think each has a good reason why it exists. As for this book, it was written by two highly respected "moderate" evangelicals in an effort to present the Catholic faith along side the Protestant one and compare them. In the first part, the areas of doctrinal agreements are presented. This was a much needed part as people nowadays tend to only concentrate on the differences making the two faith seems like at a bitter war, neglecting the deep agreements on THE most essential doctrines such as the revelation of the bible, the notion of God and his character, the fall of mankind, Christ and his God-Man central place in our salvation, the role of the church, ethics, and the general thought about the last days. Plus it underlines their common heritage and common stand in our society. It was a pure pleasure to read this part, as it shows you that the foundation and basis of our Christian faith is ONE! I was even amazed at how much alike their doctrine of justification is, knowing that this is one of the crucial topics where the debate rages between Catholics and Evangelicals. In the second part comes the area of doctrinal differences. Here the authors discuss the apocrypha (is it sound to include the apocrypha as canon of the old testament?), the scripture (what should dictate our doctrines: scripture alone or scripture plus tradition?), the infallibility of the Pope (is he the earthly head of the church with infallible decisions?), the doctrine of justification (are we saved by our faith alone, or by faith and works?), the sacraments (did Christ establish seven or two sacraments, and are they means of receiving grace or simply symbols of grace?), the system of the church (does the new testament establish priesthood or does it teach that all believers are priests and thus can approach God directly?) , Mariology (Is Mary our mediatrix, co-redemptrix, queen of heaven? Is it biblical to pray to her, to saints, to venerate relics?), and finally the purgatory (Heaven/Hell, or Heaven/Purgatory/Hell?). Each topic is first presented from the Catholic point of view with the corresponding scriptures to back their doctrine and the tradition and literature of some of the early church fathers as support. Then the authors present their refutation of each of the points then go to build a positive case for their evangelical doctrine. The presentation was honest and most importantly extremely gentlemanly; the authors talk with a sincere and appropriate language, avoiding any bashing or fanatic sarcasm. Although the book is biased (it's impossible for such a bo

Since the reformation, the schism in the Western church has been great and caused a disunity among Christ's body. This work, presents a fair and balanced view about both sides (Geilser-Protestant/MacKenzie-Catholic: note -MacKenzie argues from teh Catholic viewpoint as a former Catholic, but is himself now a Protestant). They both, as one reviewer put it, "go out of their way", to present non-emotional and non-trigger igniting arguments that only increase tensions. The format increases the superiority of this book. The first section addresses the "agreements" between the two bodies. This is important, because there are many things in common between the two. Section two speaks about the differences. This is well done, and easy for the lay reader to understand. This is not a debate and it is not written as an evangelistic tool to sway individuals from one side to another (even though both would prefer if you were in their camp). The third section is on areas where we can cooperate together when going into the world. Part two and three clearly demonstrates that we have more unity among each other than most want to admit. The differences are still great, but they should be discussed in a manner of love and honesty. These authors do their best to do just that. The book is great and I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn the other side and encounter them with a more pure heart. Not all the issues are discussed in fullness, however, this book is trying to speak to laity, not scholars and therefore, a more in-depth book would be self-defeating. This work is just right.

I bought this book on a whim one day while browsing books, and I was very pleased with what I found. I had previously read Catholicism and Fundamentalism by Karl Keating, as well as some books by Scott Hahn, Stephen Ray, among others. Reading those works, I became familiar with the arguments, and subsequently, the critiques of less than fair polemic works.The positive comments from Catholics on the back cover (no less a figure than James Akin praised the work for its fairness) made me give in and buy it. The first section was wonderful, presenting the great amount of agreement we have in very charitable terms. The second section, where differences are discussed, the authors seem to go out of their way to "get it right." Most Catholic arguments for a given position are presented, and then refuted in generally kind, charitable terms. There are some exceptions though, where they leave out the most convincing arguments for the Catholic position. One glowing example is the chapter on justification. On page 227, some Catholic Scriptural arguments for their position are presented, and they cite such things as Matthew 5:12, 25:34, Romans 2:6, among others. Curiously missing from this, and hence never discussed, is James 2. One has to wonder why they would decline to interact with the one verse in the whole Bible that contains the clause "faith alone", and condemns it (James 2:24).While I think that many of their arguments are very inadequate, and at times they seem to apply a double standard when quoting the fathers (depending on if the fathers seem to support or refute their positions), others are very well presented. In fact, their chapter on baptism got me thinking very, very hard. Wonderful stuff indeed.This work stands miles apart from other works that are often used to refute Catholicism. In general, other books written in opposition to Catholicism lack scholarship, as if the authors don't want their readers to check the sources, but rather just accept what they're presented as fact (oftentimes fabricated out of thin air). Further, some authors show no interest in presenting the Catholic defense of a given doctrine. Geisler and MacKenzie go out of their way to footnote everything, present facts fairly, and make a genuine effort to initiate REAL discussion about the issues, and that is something that is greatly needed. Readers who are truly interested can easily identify and consult the source documents in their own time. This is the book I give to my staunch Protestant friends who need to learn what the Church really teaches, but won't trust Catholic sources.The actual arguments and methodology contained within only merit 4 stars from a scholarly and logically consistent point of view, however, given that this book sets a new standard in dialogue, I have to give it 5. I truly hope this sets an example for the future of dialogue between Catholics and Evangelicals.

The best evangelical book about this subject on the market. This book ist intellectual honest and fair and not a polemical pamphlet. You can see what both have in common and where the real differences are. A must read for everyone who is interested in this subject.

As an evangelical, I found this book to be very helpful in providing a fair treatment of this topic. Rather than trying to paint Catholics in a negative light, Geisler attempts to sort throught the theologies of Catholics and evangelicals in order to find out what things we agree on and also those things with which we disagree. Unlike some evangelicals, Geisler doesn't appear to be on a 'witch hunt'. He seems sincere in trying to have honest dialogue with Catholics and I think this is the main strength of this book. Some of the differences addressed in this book are the canon of Scripture, papal infallibility, the role of sacraments, the role of Mary, purgatory, and justification. Geisler highlights areas of theological agreement and those practical areas such as evangelizing non-Christians, social reform, and education where evangelicals and Catholics can find common ground.This book contains a wealth of information that would benefit Catholics and evangelicals along with helping us to better understand each other. Geisler and MacKenzie have given all of us a great resource for further dialogue. Buy this book if you are the least bit interested in getting to know the 'other side' in a more accurate light. This goes for Catholics and evangelicals.