Apologetics Follow-Up

Hi All,

Here are the much anticipated links as mentioned at the ColaYACs meeting last night. This list is not exhaustive and can certainly be expanded!

One caveat, the majority of links will be to Amazon for the sake of consistency (the links are not an endorsement for Amazon, you can certainly go to your own favorite book store to find these books; and don't forget St. Francis Catholic Shop on St. Andrews Road).

Apologetics:

The Beginning Apologetics series was put out nearly twenty years ago, but is still very good in helping to provide a firm grasp of the Catholic faith (the titles can be ordered separately or all together).

Where Is That in the Bible? is also a great little guide for cross referencing Catholic belief with Scripture. Please understand that this is a small book, so I strongly suggest using this with the aid of a Bible.

The Truth of Catholicism is more of a general read, but George Weigel does an excellent job of explaining some of the thornier issues that people have about Catholicism.

Catholic Answers is an excellent online source for Catholic apologetics.

Bible links:

The Catholic Study Bible. I recommend this edition because it has room to take notes, has a decent commentary on Scripture and it is the same translation that we use at Mass (the New American Bible).

The NAB is also available here.

The Jerusalem Bible. This translation is from a 1966 French translation. It is also considered more poetic. As an aside, there is also a The New Jerusalem Bible, but I do not recommend this version because it tries to use inclusive language at the expense of confusing language.

The Revised Standard Version - Catholic Edition. This is the standard academic version that most mainline Christian theologians use.

Bible Study Aids/Guides:

Understanding the Scriptures: A Complete Course on Bible Study. This is a great book for background information on the Bible.

More in depth "study guides" are the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible series put out by Ignatius Press (the link is only for the study guide on Acts; there are many other New Testament titles!). Although this series lacks specific books about the Old Testament.

Catechism:

Catechism of the Catholic Church. This is something that every Catholic because it is "a sure and certain standard for the teaching of the faith" (John Paul II). I recommend this specific version because it contains excellent footnotes, a glossary, index, Biblical cross references and church council cross references. The hard cover version is also easier to use because it's more durable and will stay open when you lay it on a desk.

The Catechism is also available online here.

The Compendium: Catechism of the Catholic Church is not a substitute for the larger full version of the Catechism, but is a convenient and concise little guide similar to the Baltimore Catechism that our parents used.

Thank you all for an excellent meeting! Please don't forget to email me or post some meeting topic suggestions on our blog or on facebook.

Christ's Peace,

Zach