Biblical Defense of Catholicism

Biblical Defense of Catholicism #1

by Dave Armstrong

With a mastery of Scripture equal to that of the most committed Protestants, author David Armstrong here shows that the Catholic Church is the “Bible Church par excellence,” and that many common Protestant doctrines are in fact themselves not biblical.

Genres: Religion, Theology, Catholic, Christianity, Spirituality, Faith, Nonfiction

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2001

About the author

I was received into the Catholic Church in 1991 (was evangelical); conversion story in the book Surprised by Truth (1994). Articles: The Catholic Answer, This Rock, Envoy, & The Coming Home Journal. Many nationally syndicated Catholic radio appearances including Catholic Answers Live; Faith and Family Live. My website, Biblical Evidence for Catholicism, was online from March 1997 to March 2007. My blog began in February 2004 & contains more than 2500 papers (including more than 50 separate web pages and 570+ dialogues). Sophia Institute Press has published four of my 23 books: A Biblical Defense of Catholicism (2003), The Catholic Verses (2004), The One-Minute Apologist (2007), and Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths (2009). I am co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for The New Catholic Answer Bible (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), & editor for The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes Quips and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton (Saint Benedict Press / TAN Books: 2009).

Happily married to Judy since October 1984: three sons & a daughter.

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

My father-in-law gave me this book and I've thoroughly enjoyed it and been challenged by it. The author is a Protestant convert to Catholicism and he writes in a scholarly, logical way on the main theological and practical differences between the two camps. I'm a long-time non-Catholic Christian who is now planning on practicing Catholicism, initially because I thought the differences weren't that huge (and really, they aren't) and I married a Catholic man and want our family to attend services together. Now I am appreciating the wealth of history and knowledge in the Catholic church and the fact that they emphasize the sacraments as physical, sensory acts that aid and represent intangible beliefs.

In most part, Protestants "stand alone on the word of God" (lyrics from popular childrens' B-I-B-L-E song? anyone?) for theological decisions where as Catholics acknowledge many other sources of wisdom (church tradition, writings that aren't included in the Bible, and revelations from God). This book sticks to Biblical arguments only (solo scriptura), as the author reasons that this is the only source Protestants recognize.

I'd recommend this thorough, well-referenced book to anyone interested in the big differences between Protestantism and Catholocism, no matter whether you practice either faith yourself.

[Drew Van Gorder · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as apologetic works go (as I have read quite a few at this point in my life), this book was pretty decent. I enjoyed all of the grounding which Armstrong did in tying Roman Catholic tradition to both the Scriptures and to the first Saints of the New Covenant era. The only thing which I didn't like about the work is that it seemed to be too focused on defending Catholicism against protestants, rather than making an overall case for the Roman Catholic approach to Christianity as a whole. The other issue which I had was that Armstrong tended to lean heavily on the CCC for authority more than I would have. The reason this is an issue is that protestants (whom Armstrong addresses frequently) don't see the CCC as an authority and this might unnecessarily water down an otherwise effective argument.

[OkKhaos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Provides a good argument for Catholicism but I remain unconvinced. The smaller, more niche things like infant baptism, the apocrypha, and the Eucharist have a very good foundation in Scripture, but I found that large, fundamental dogmatic beliefs of Catholicism such as the Papacy, Apostolic Succession, and Intercession of Heavenly Saints to be a very far reach, requiring strenuous mental gymnastics and very specific inferences to argue for them.
Further, the core message seems to too far detract from Christ and focus heavily on tradition and following the beliefs of our fallible Church fathers. Protestantism has its flaws too, but this book is not all too convincing an account for Catholicism.
Finally, I found that the writing style is overly wordy, not all that cogent, and therefore quite boring. The sheer amount of Bible verses quoted is not enough to convince one of Armstrong’s argument, since diving into each verse cited brings one to the realization that each verse doesn’t necessarily prove the claim being made, unless one specifically infers the verse the way the author wants us to and argues we should infer it. This rhetoric CAN be dangerous in the long run.
Overall a solid book. Also love the material of this book. Pages are thick and feel nice, cover is a satisfying feel, margins are wonderful and the text is the perfect size and easy to read. Chapters are not all too long so it doesn’t feel like a chore to get through.

[Melissa Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written with references cited throughout and easy to understand. Ad a Catholic, this made my faith stronger and understand things better! Highly recommend!

[Paige Batten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall a good base level explanation of Catholicism. But at times intellectually deceptive with blanket conclusions.

[Victoria McMillen · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 Word Reviews:

👀🙏‼️🫣✌️

[Jason Townsend · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this to be an easy, fairly straight forward work of Catholic apologetics. As a bonus it's not even particularly condescending to protestants.