Antichrist

by Robert Bellarmine, Philip Wolfe (Foreword), Ryan Grant (Translator)

In the 16th century, the chief doctrine of the Protestant reformers was that the Pope was the Antichrist. Therefore, St. Robert Bellarmine, the greatest controversial author of the Reformation period, turned his pen to answering the challenge which resulted in a pure shredding of their position. Bellarmine's argumentation begins first with Scripture, then with the Fathers of the Church, then with appeals to reason and the later Theologians. He first shows that the Protestant explication does not match up to the texts of Scripture that treat on the Antichrist, then he shows that the Pope cannot be Antichrist since Antichrist has not yet come, giving proofs from the Old and New Testaments and then the Fathers, along with the contradictions of the Protestants themselves. He continues with a discussion of 666, the mark of Antichrist and many other things that not only defend the Church, but also show the positive teaching of the Church Fathers and the Tradition in regard to Antichrist.

"I am delighted that the eschatological mission of the Holy Fathers Enoch and Elias, so well testified to in Sacred Tradition, but virtually forgotten in our day and age, will become more widely known.
"We owe a real debt of gratitude to Ryan Grant for bringing this work to a wider audience. I pray that it receives a very wide reading." -Fr. Philip Wolfe, FSSP

"In the history of the writings about the Antichrist, other than the Fathers, the text of St. Robert Bellarmine is of prime importance. —Fr. Chad Ripperger, PhD

"Mr. Grant has once again done the Catholic world a great favor by making available yet another mini-treatise of the great Counter-Reformation Doctor, St. Robert Bellarmine, rightly feared by all the Protestant controversialists as one who shreds every anti-Catholic argument with cogent reasoning and an encyclopedic knowledge of Scripture and Tradition. This translation of the saint's probing commentary on the identity and work of Antichrist is more pertinent than ever, not only because the Protestant arguments he is dealing with have never entirely disappeared, but also because we are living in an age of exponentially intensifying evil that might well make many Catholics wonder if we are living in the end times. Since Antichrist is the very herald of the end times, it behooves us to study carefully his features and characteristics, as drawn for us by St. Paul and other inspired authors." -Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, Wyoming Catholic College

"Here is a timely book for an age when many are looking around for the Antichrist, often seeing foreshadowings of him here and there. Is he alive? Is he walking the earth? In seeking to answer these questions, many in the past (i.e., various Protestants leaders and writers) have actually aided his coming by becoming Antichrist themselves. To avoid this pitfall, read this excellent book penned by a holy doctor of the Church." —Fr. Sean Kopczynski, MSJB

Genres: Theology, Christianity, Catholic

176 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 4, 2016

About the author

Saint Robert Bellarmine, SJ was an Italian bishop, cardinal, theologian, and an influental figure of the Counter-Reformation. He was canonized a saint in 1930 by Pope Pius XI and named a Doctor of the Church in 1931. He is also known as Roberto Bellarmino.

Reviews

[Tyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This treatise is a defence of the Church and a defence against those who posit the Pope is the Antichrist. If you're looking for something comprehensive, then this is what you are looking for. In it, St Robert Bellarmine explains the teachings in Scripture on the Antichrist by explaining the views of the fathers and deducing the most probable interpretations with an impeccable logic. When it comes time for him to show how the views of the heretics, like Luther and Calvin, on Antichrist, are false, he wastes no time in showing the absurdity of their positions with much wit. Heavy reading if you're looking for some general view on the Antichrist, but it is a fantastic apologetic work against the heretics and their reasons for calling the Pope Antichrist, and a summary of the teachings contained in scripture and the fathers.

In terms of the english prose of the translation, it is very clear and easy to read.

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I bought the book I thought I was going to get more information on Antichrist. I certainly did, but it came in a more indirect way. It came through the rebukes against the Protestants who thought the Pope was Antichrist. Obviously, this claim has been proved wrong many times over. Nevertheless, while an indirect explication of Antichrist, I still had a certain enjoyment in reading this because his writing is clearly addressing some very "special" people.

[Dawn Axelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book to do some research for my writing. Father Wolfe said, paraphrasing, if you want to read a book on the Antichrist, this is a solid one. Another priest once said that if you don't actively study your faith, modernism is just so in the water, in the air, in everything that without a singular grace or active study you are going to fall into error.

Which is all to say that I planned to read this book without an expectation that I was going to enjoy it. But I thoroughly did. Antichrist is certainly not a book to take to the beach (as if I really needed to say that), but it was unexpected and funny in an intellectual way. I heard a talk given by the translator once, where he said that it took a long time for St. Robert Bellarmine to be canonized. I thought at the time, oh, how sad and unfair. Yeah... no. As much as I love him and love his book, I can definitely understand the long list of enemies. He's not quite to St. Jerome level of caustic, but he is on that continuum.

Back to the book itself. I expected it to be more of an explanation of the Antichrist based on Scripture. A closer idea of this book would be an analogy of a YouTube video wherein someone posts the content:

"No doctor or writer from the time of the Apostles, nor even any theologian or canon lawyer has confirmed, instructed and consoled the consciences of those in the lay state as remarkably and beautifully as I have. Through a singular grace of God I know this for certain, because neither Ambrose nor Augustine, who are best in this matter, are equal to me in this" (I promise I am not making this quote up).

In this analogy, St. Robert Bellarmine would be the guy in the comments section poking holes in all the bombast. Obviously it is more intellectual than an average social media squabble, but he does correct even basic errors that are rampant in our times. Paraphrasing, he once said of an elementary mistake: logicians call that begging the question.

I loved his sense of humor. I loved his fire for the truth. I loved that he could admit that St. Ambrose got things wrong on this point, St. Justin Martyr cannot be defended on this other point. The modern way to argue is so tribal now. I cannot think of a modern thinker who would speak thusly about a Church Father and yet would continue to use that same man to help shore up another argument later in the book.

This was particularly helpful because St. Robert Bellarmine too was a man of his own time and did not get absolutely everything right either. He could not have known about modernism, the synthesis of all heresies, so he thought that the heretical woes of his time were quite possibly the worst before the Antichrist arrived.

In all honesty, I learned more about the Antichrist from solid Catholic priests on YouTube. This book is much more about what the Antichrist is not, rather that what he will be, due to the nature of St. Robert Bellarmine's work. But this book was amazing in terms of critical thinking and seeing problems that seem ever-so-modern through a four hundred year old perspective. It has great wit, and yet it also taught me a few things that I never would have expected from this sort of book. So, even with its shortcomings, I highly recommend it to traditionally minded Catholics.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little over my tiny brain, but informative.