The Catholic Verses: 95 Bible Passages That Confound Protestants

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.

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.

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 Ve

"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