Apologetics

Absorbing and compelling reading from beginning to end, AA -1025 Memoirs of the Communist Infiltration Into the Church is a must read for every Catholic today and for all who would understand just what has happened to the Catholic Church since the 1960's.

In the 1960's, a French nurse, Marie Carre, attended an auto-crash victim who was brought into her hospital in a city she purposely does not name. The man lingered there near death for a few hours and then died. He had no identification on him, but he had a briefcase in which there was a set of quasi-autobiographical notes. She kept these notes and read them, and because of their extraordinary content, decided to publish them.

The result is this little book, AA-1025 Memoirs of the Communist Infiltration Into the Church, a strange and fascinating account of a Communist who purposely entered the Catholic priesthood along with many others, with the intent to subvert and destroy the Church from within. His strange yet fascinating and illuminating set of biographical notes, tells of his commission to enter the priesthood, his experiences in the seminary, and the means and methods he used and promoted to help effect from within the auto-dissolution of the Catholic Church.

No one will read this book without a profound assent that something just like what is describer here must surely have happened on a wide scale in order to have disrupted the life of the Catholic Church so dramatically.

In response to actual questions many people have asked him about angels and demons, well-known author and philosophy professor Peter Kreeft separates fact from fantasy and myth from reality as he answers 100 common questions about these spiritual beings. Based on a very popular college course he teaches on this subject, this book responds to the incredible amount of interest in angelic beings and attempts to clear up some of the misinformation abounding in the numerous books today on what we know about these mysterious spirits.

Drawing on the Bible, traditional Church teaching and St. Thomas Aquinas, Kreeft gives straight, clear answers to the perennial and philosophical questions asked about angels and demons throughout time. In his typical lucid, profound and sometimes humorous style, Kreeft answers such questions as ''What are angels made of'', ''How do angels communicate with God'', ''How do angels communicate with us'', ''Do demons, or devils, or evil spirits really exist?'' and many more. Includes angel art.

Answering Jehovah's Witnesses walks you through the doctrines of the JWs, revealing where and why they're wrong--giving special attention to favorite verses and standard topics that a JW will use in rejecting the Catholic faith. The book provides helpful and practical suggestions for sharing your faith with Jehovah's Witnesses and planting seeds of truth. Planting seeds is easier than you might think. While most JWs appear to be well-informed Scripture scholars, they're just reading from a script with canned answers to your objections. For the most part they're surprisingly unfamiliar with the Bible. It doesn't take much to throw a monkey wrench into their belief system. Answering Jehovah's Witnesses will show you how.

Are Roman Catholics and Evangelical Protestants really together, united in a common faith in Jesus Christ? Yes, according to the teachings of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). No, according to some Evangelical Protestants, such as Francis A. Schaeffer and R. C. Sproul, and more recently Gregg Allison and Leonardo De Chirico.

Author Eduardo Echeverria is a committed Roman Catholic theologian doing theology within the normative tradition of confessional Catholicism, and thus in the light of Catholic teaching, this critical study is an ecumenical work. A member of the more than twenty-year-old American ecumenical initiative, Evangelicals and Catholics Together, Echeverria writes, "I have roots in the Evangelical and Reformed traditions and hence I listen attentively to the writings of fellow Christian theologians from these traditions of reflection and argument. In this ecumenical light, I engage the Evangelical Protestant writings of Gregg Allison and Leonardo De Chirico." Furthermore, this study is a work in receptive ecumenism; it follows the guidelines stipulated by Vatican Council II's Unitatis Redintegratio in order to promote mutual and improved understanding between Roman Catholicism and Evangelical Protestantism.

Answers You Need for the Tough Questions About Your Faith

Atheists are launching a new wave of attacks against Christianity and faith in God. It's hard to know how to handle their claims that they have a more enlightened, scientific, and sophisticated worldview. How can you respond with precision to arguments against your faith?

With instructive clarity, Dr. Louis Markos confronts the modern-day atheists' claims that new evidence disproves the existence of God. In fact, you will find that the proof they peddle is not new at all. Rather, they recycle claims that have already been disproven by Christian thinkers of the past...claims that you can silence today with the same solid logic.

Equip yourself to defend your beliefs from a deep well of knowledge and conviction. Stand in confidence that the trial of public opinion versus universal truth has already been held--and God is the victor.

Atheistic and agnostic writers are aggressively attacking traditional religious beliefs. Philosopher and prolific writer Peter Kreeft is up to the challenge in this work of popular apologetics aimed at both teens and adults. The masterful Kreeft tackles sixteen crucial issues about the deeper meaning of life. The questions that Kreeft explores range from, Is faith reasonable?, Can you prove there is a God?, and Why is Jesus different?, to Why is sex so confusing?, Why is there evil?, and Why must we die?

Kreeft provides thoughtful, lucid, and persuasive answers for believers, unbelievers, and seekers to consider. As always, Kreeft is insightful, inspiring, and entertaining. This book is ideal for those exploring faith for the first time, as well as for confirmation and religious education classes. It's an intellectual and spiritual feast! This is vintage Kreeft.

The good news of the Gospel is as exciting as a murder mystery. For at its heart there is a murder: the murder of God two thousand years ago in Jerusalem. And this God is the greatest of mysteries: who He is and why He put us here, and why He came here and what His plans are for us. The story is literally a matter of life or death - eternal life or death.
-- Peter Kreeft

Be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in you.
-- 1 Peter 3:15

From the cross Jesus gave us his mother to be our mother, too: a singularly holy model, consoler, and intercessor for our spiritual journey. Yet most Protestants, and too many Catholics don't understand the role that God wants her to play in our lives. In Behold Your Mother, Tim Staples takes you through the Church's teachings about the Blessed Virgin Mary, showing their firm Scriptural and historical roots and dismantling the objections of those who mistakenly believe that Mary competes for the attention due Christ alone. Combining the best recent scholarship with a convert's in-depth knowledge of the arguments, Staples has assembled the most thorough and useful Marian apologetic you'll find anywhere. Relevant and essential -- Mary matters. Read Behold Your Mother and find out just how much.

What are the best things in life?

Questions like that may boggle your mind. But they don't boggle Socrates. The indomitable old Greek brings his unending questions to Desperate State University. With him come the same mind-opening and spirit-stretching challenge that disrupted ancient Athens.

What is the purpose of education?

Why do we make love?

What good is money?

Can computers think like people?

Is there a difference between Capitalism and Communism?

What is the greatest good?

Is belief in God like belief in Santa Claus?

In twelve short, Socratic dialogues Peter Kreeft explodes contemporary values like success, power and pleasure. And he bursts the modern bubbles of agnosticism and subjectivism. He leaves you richer, wiser and more able to discern what the best things in life actually are.

"In The Bible Is a Catholic Book, Jimmy Akin shows how the Bible cannot exist apart from the Church. In its origins and its formulation, in the truths it contains, in its careful preservation over the centuries and in the prayerful study and elucidation of its mysteries, Scripture is inseparable from Catholicism. This is fitting, since both come from God for our salvation. If you re a Catholic who sometimes gets intimidated by the Bible, The Bible Is a Catholic Book will help you better understand and take pride in this gift that God gave the world through the Church. We are the original Bible Christians! And even non-Catholics will appreciate the clear and charitable way that Jimmy explains how the early Church gave us the Bible and how the Church to this day reveres and obeys it."--provided by publisher.

In this profoundly insightful and highly readable book, Thomas Nash brilliantly refutes the common charge that the Mass is "unbiblical." As you'll discover, the story of the Mass goes deeper than the Last Supper and Christ's Passion and Death. Indeed, it's part of an unbroken story that begins in the Garden of Eden and continues today in your local parish.

Working systematically through Scripture, Nash offers an authoritative explanation of salvation history, showing how the Old Testament prefigures -- and the New Testament wondrously records -- Jesus' one self-sacrifice of Calvary which is mysteriously made present at each and every Mass. Nash's meticulous, Scripture-packed analysis relies on hundreds of Bible passages to show that the story of the Mass is inextricably linked with the story of the Bible.

The Catholic Church has in recent decades been associated with political efforts to eliminate the death penalty. It was not always so. This timely work reviews and explains the Catholic Tradition regarding the death penalty, demonstrating that it is not inherently evil and that it can be reserved as a just form of punishment in certain cases.

Drawing upon a wealth of philosophical, scriptural, theological, and social scientific arguments, the authors explain the perennial teaching of the Church that capital punishment can in principle be legitimate--not only to protect society from immediate physical danger, but also to administer retributive justice and to deter capital crimes. The authors also show how some recent statements of Church leaders in opposition to the death penalty are prudential judgments rather than dogma. They reaffirm that Catholics may, in good conscience, disagree about the application of the death penalty.

Some arguments against the death penalty falsely suggest that there has been a rupture in the Church's traditional teaching and thereby inadvertently cast doubt on the reliability of the Magisterium. Yet, as the authors demonstrate, the Church's traditional teaching is a safeguard to society, because the just use of the death penalty can be used to protect the lives of the innocent, inculcate a horror of murder, and affirm the dignity of human beings as free and rational creatures who must be held responsible for their actions.

By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed challenges contemporary Catholics to engage with Scripture, Tradition, natural law, and the actual social scientific evidence in order to undertake a thoughtful analysis of the current debate about the death penalty.

Do you feel uncertain about how to share your Catholic faith with others, especially as society increasingly rejects religion? Why not follow examples from the scriptures and saints to guide you?

In this five-week guide to becoming a daily disciple of Jesus in a post-Christian culture, popular speaker, bestselling author, and experienced FOCUS missionary Kevin Cotter presents thirty-five brief and engaging meditations that provide Catholics with the conviction and tools for sharing Jesus with others.

Called is an accessible guide to evangelization for the average Catholic. Through short and simple daily meditations, you will gain everything you need to begin sharing the Gospel, including the conviction that you can and should be evangelizing their faith.

Based on the principles of evangelization taught by the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS)--where Kevin Cotter is the senior director of curriculum--Called invites you to delve into powerful scenes from Jesus' life, plus stories from the lives of saints such as Augustine, Mother Teresa, and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, as you explore how the call to discipleship is at the heart of scripture in ancient Israel, the life of Jesus, and the apostolic Church.

Cotter leads you on this five-week journey as someone who understands the challenges of talking about faith with friends and the sacrifices needed to invest in others. He encourages you to step outside your comfort zone as you open your eyes to Jesus' call to discipleship.

Week One: As you reflect on Jesus' initial call of his disciples and how he calls you to radically love and follow him in your everyday life, you deepen your relationship with God and complete the first stage of becoming his disciple.

Week Two: You examine the characteristics of a daily commitment to discipleship--daily prayer, submission to God's will, regular Confession, frequent reception of the Eucharist, acting in love.

Week Three: You discover how our current culture, which places little value on faith, compares to the world Jesus faced. You develop, like Jesus, the desire to save our world and draw others to God.

Week Four: You unpack the tools Jesus used to touch every person he came into contact with. Through Jesus' example, you will become equipped with what you need to reach others for him.

Week Five: You learn that you are called not just to be a disciple but to be one who makes disciples of others.

You will come away with the understanding that being a disciple of Jesus is not optional for Catholics: it is essential to our identity as members of a missionary Church. Jesus showed us how to evangelize and called us to be his disciples. Now, more than ever, it is time to be just like him.

Plasma physicist Ian Hutchinson has been asked hundreds of questions about faith and science:

What is faith and what is science? Are they compatible?

Are there realities science cannot explain?

Is God's existence a scientific question?

Is the Bible consistent with the modern scientific understanding of the universe?

Are there scientific reasons to believe in God?

In this comprehensive volume, Hutchinson answers a full range of inquiries with sound scientific insights and measured Christian perspective. Without minimizing challenging questions, he explores how science and Christianity are mutually supportive and intellectually consistent. Both God and science truthfully address our curiosity and destiny. Find answers to your deepest questions.

Is there credible proof that Jesus of Nazareth really is the Son of God? In The Case for Christ, Lee Strobel, former legal editor of the Chicago Tribune and New York Times bestselling author, retraces his own spiritual journey from atheism to faith and builds a captivating case for Christ's divinity.

In this revised and updated edition of The Case for Christ, Strobel cross-examines a dozen experts with doctorates from schools such as Cambridge, Princeton, and Brandeis, asking hard-hitting questions--and taking a deeper look at the evidence from the fields of science, philosophy, and history.

In his comprehensive investigation, Strobel doesn't shy away from challenging questions, including:

How reliable is the New Testament?

Does evidence for Jesus exist outside the Bible?

Is Jesus who he said he was?

Is there any reason to believe the resurrection was an actual event?

What does all of the evidence point to--and what does it mean today?

Winner of the Gold Medallion Book Award and twice nominated for the Christian Book of the Year Award, The Case for Christ has been adapted into a major motion picture and has now sold over 5 million copies worldwide.

This edition includes scores of revisions and additions, including updated material on archaeological and manuscript discoveries, fresh recommendations for further study, and an interview with the author that tells dramatic stories about the book's impact, provides behind-the-scenes information, and responds to critiques of the book by skeptics.

Strobel's thorough examination reads like a captivating, fast-paced novel. But it's not fiction: it's a riveting quest for the truth about history's most compelling figure. Discover The Case for Christ today.

Praise for The Case for Christ:

"Nobody knows how to sift truth from fiction like an experienced investigative reporter, or to argue a case like someone trained at Yale Law School. Lee Strobel brings both qualifications to this remarkable book. In addition to his own tremendous testimony as atheist-turned-Christian, the author marshals the irrefutable depositions of recognized "expert witnesses" to build his ironclad case for Jesus Christ. The Case for Christ sets a new standard among existing contemporary apologetics."

--D. James Kennedy, PhD, senior minister, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church

There is nothing like this on the market. It is interesting, engaging, and crucial material.
--Norman Geisler

This is an accessible, comprehensive, and persuasive resource providing detailed evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. It also demonstrates how to share the material clearly, honestly, and definitively. Included is an interactive CD which tests the reader's knowledge of the material by using an entertaining TV game show format.

[The authors] have distinguished themselves as leading experts on the evidence for this all important event.
--D. James Kennedy

Written by the leading evangelical apologist on the resurrection and an up-and-comer

Includes an interactive CD to cement the information from the book

Written for lay people but includes extensive footnotes that scholars will find valuable

Includes charts, diagrams, and a detailed outline for quick reference