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Devil's Advocate: Facing My Inner Anti-Catholic
What if the voice of your deepest doubts and difficulties about Catholicism rose up in the form of a human being and challenged you to a defend your most foundational beliefs? That’s the task Trent faces in Devil’s Advocate: a dialogue with his own best objections against the faith he professes and defends. In this engaging series of conversations with his anti-Catholic alter-ego, Trent battles challenges on topics such as: God: You can’t believe that God is a person when most philosophers say that―at best―God is just a force. The problem of evil won’t allow it! The Resurrection: Why say that Jesus truly rose from the dead when simpler explanations suffice? Why believe in this miraculous story but reject those in other religions? Abortion: Would you really tell a pregnant woman she must keep the baby even if doing so will kill both of them? The Bible vs. the Pope: Doesn’t it make more sense to put your faith in the unchanging word of God over Catholic leaders who keep making new teachings? Hell: How can you believe that God tortures people in hell forever? What if it were your own child? The voice of doubt does not mess around―not for Trent, and maybe not for you, either. But in Devil’s Advocate, you’ll find that there’s a better option than ignoring those doubts you can’t quite beat. You have what it takes to face them . . . and Trent will show you how.
Review
"Few people know a belief-system better than a convert. Trent Horn’s journey of faith and research has uniquely prepared him to be know both sides of several different perspectives. In Devil’s Advocate: Facing My Inner Anti-Catholic, Horn channels his inner-skeptic and goes toe-to-toe with himself turning his inner monologue into a delightful and insightful dialogue. Horn versus Horn is a debate match up you’ll not want to miss! I highly recommend this book.” --Gary Michuta- Author of Revolt Against Reality, Speaker, and Radio Host
About the Author
After his conversion to the Catholic faith, Trent Horn earned a master’s degree in theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville, a master’s degree in philosophy from Holy Apostles College, and is pursuing a master’s degree in bioethics from the University of Mary. As a staff apologist for Catholic Answers, he specializes in teaching Catholics to graciously and persuasively engage those who disagree with them. Trent models that approach each week on the radio program Catholic Answers Live, where he dialogs with atheists, pro-choice advocates, and other non-Catholic callers. Trent is also an adjunct professor of apologetics at Holy Apostles College and the author of numerous books, including Answering Atheism, The Case for Catholicism, and Why We’re Catholic – Our Reasons for Faith, Hope, and Love, and Can A Catholic Be a Socialist?
Review
"Few people know a belief-system better than a convert. Trent Horn’s journey of faith and research has uniquely prepared him to be know both sides of several different perspectives. In Devil’s Advocate: Facing My Inner Anti-Catholic, Horn channels his inner-skeptic and goes toe-to-toe with himself turning his inner monologue into a delightful and insightful dialogue. Horn versus Horn is a debate match up you’ll not want to miss! I highly recommend this book.” --Gary Michuta- Author of Revolt Against Reality, Speaker, and Radio Host
About the Author
After his conversion to the Catholic faith, Trent Horn earned a master’s degree in theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville, a master’s degree in philosophy from Holy Apostles College, and is pursuing a master’s degree in bioethics from the University of Mary. As a staff apologist for Catholic Answers, he specializes in teaching Catholics to graciously and persuasively engage those who disagree with them. Trent models that approach each week on the radio program Catholic Answers Live, where he dialogs with atheists, pro-choice advocates, and other non-Catholic callers. Trent is also an adjunct professor of apologetics at Holy Apostles College and the author of numerous books, including Answering Atheism, The Case for Catholicism, and Why We’re Catholic – Our Reasons for Faith, Hope, and Love, and Can A Catholic Be a Socialist?
176 pages, Paperback
Published August 26, 2022
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87 people want to read
About the author
Trent Horn
29 books340 followersAfter his conversion to the Catholic faith, Trent Horn pursued an undergraduate degree in history from Arizona State University. He then earned a graduate degree in theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville and is currently pursuing a graduate degree in philosophy from Holy Apostles College.
Trent is a regular guest on the radio program Catholic Answers Live, a lecturer who speaks across the country on issues related to the Catholic faith, and the author of two books, Answering Atheism and Persuasive Pro-life.
Trent is a regular guest on the radio program Catholic Answers Live, a lecturer who speaks across the country on issues related to the Catholic faith, and the author of two books, Answering Atheism and Persuasive Pro-life.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 18, 2023
This book was a quick read: it flows pretty naturally. I think Trent did a good job being honest with the scope of the book, and it’s power to convince people of his belief system. It’s by no means a full apologetic; it is no official defense of anything, but a broad defense of the questions that come up in Trent’s everyday life that pertain to the Catholic faith. If you’re looking for a full explanation of the fine tuning, cosmological, efficient causality, or other arguments for the existence of God you won’t get it in this book. But, you will get the reference to those arguments (albeit somewhat vaguely) in the dialogue and the fact that the amount of arguments for the existence of God, converge in an epistemologically sound belief in the existence of God. You can read his or his coworkers other books for those subjects in depth. Critics will say he made their point of view a strawman and uncharitable supporters will say he obliterated the naysayers.
I think it was rather balanced—he acknowledged his bias while providing strong defenses (without going into extreme detail as he is accustomed to doing) because this wasn’t the intent of the work. My favorite quote I’ll put it in all caps so they hear it in the back: THERE IS NOOOOOO MAGICAL GROUP OF UNBIASED PEOPLE!!!! One of the quotes I will have to think about more went something like this “Money is like evidence; you don’t need a lot of it if you have enough of it” *not a direct quote* and then he proceeds to list evidence for believing in a claim. Rereading that sounds contradictory but I hope it’s understandable haha. For example, let’s say my belief is that I believe said triangle is a right triangle, and I said it’s a right triangle because the sides had lengths of 3, 4, and 5; I also said a similar triangle had sides of 6, 8, and 10 which also happened to be a right triangle; and finally I said the angles all added up to 180 so I believe it’s a right triangle. That’s kind of how it felt his defenses went. If you’ve listened to his podcasts you’d get his line of argumentation and understand how he would go in depth. But he doesn’t provide the mathematical proof of the theorems that state all the properties of a right triangle: certain lengths just make up a right triangle ( 3,4,5; 8,15,17; 7;24;25; etc), all angles will add up to 180 in every triangle, Pythagorean theorem, etc but he mentions said theorems as reason for belief.
The book opens with addressing atheism (problem of evil, problem of pain, problem of Hell) in the section called “difficulties with evil” I appreciate that he will give really dark examples of evil (without being vulgar) to challenge himself and ground his belief in difficult questions. “Difficulties with revelation” had some stuff I felt was timely for me to read, and I’d like to read more on the contents of this section. “Difficulties with the Church” was also very relatable: horrendous Catholic Bible interpretations appearing in Catholic Bibles, well thought out Protestant qualms with Catholicism (sola scriptura and two chapters on Mary). Finally “difficulties with moral teachings” closed the book. The final section was probably my favorite but also the most challenging. The Catholic faith, if lived out faithful to the teachings of the Christ transmitted via the Church, call for a difficult life. We all fall short of the moral calling and Trent talks about how he falls short and the not so pretty positions we should stand by if we are to be congruent with a Biblical and Apostolic faith (euthanasia, abortion, the nature of marriage, living for the next life and not just this life)
I’ll have to read an abortion apologist soon because it just does not make sense to me in the slightest; I really feel like that the chapter on abortion was a good defense against some of the “best” arguments I’ve heard him engage on abortion.
Meager Moral Fruits (1 & 2) were my favorite chapters because he acknowledged where he needs to grow, where the Church needs to grow, and where all Christians need to grow.
I don’t know Trent, but I listen to a lot of his podcasts and watch his YouTube frequently. I think he was very honest to what he believes and defends his beliefs with integrity; he didn’t sacrifice his integrity with the writing of this book.
David (devils advocate): you make a living defending the Catholic faith, there’s no way you are going to write a book that cancels your meal ticket…if it really weren’t true you’d have to give up your meal ticket. Would you really do that?
Trent: I expect the same from others; I’ve heard stories of Protestant pastors giving up everything to become Catholic. If I would encourage that kind of sacrifice in the pursuit of truth then I’d have to be willing to do the same.
I think it was rather balanced—he acknowledged his bias while providing strong defenses (without going into extreme detail as he is accustomed to doing) because this wasn’t the intent of the work. My favorite quote I’ll put it in all caps so they hear it in the back: THERE IS NOOOOOO MAGICAL GROUP OF UNBIASED PEOPLE!!!! One of the quotes I will have to think about more went something like this “Money is like evidence; you don’t need a lot of it if you have enough of it” *not a direct quote* and then he proceeds to list evidence for believing in a claim. Rereading that sounds contradictory but I hope it’s understandable haha. For example, let’s say my belief is that I believe said triangle is a right triangle, and I said it’s a right triangle because the sides had lengths of 3, 4, and 5; I also said a similar triangle had sides of 6, 8, and 10 which also happened to be a right triangle; and finally I said the angles all added up to 180 so I believe it’s a right triangle. That’s kind of how it felt his defenses went. If you’ve listened to his podcasts you’d get his line of argumentation and understand how he would go in depth. But he doesn’t provide the mathematical proof of the theorems that state all the properties of a right triangle: certain lengths just make up a right triangle ( 3,4,5; 8,15,17; 7;24;25; etc), all angles will add up to 180 in every triangle, Pythagorean theorem, etc but he mentions said theorems as reason for belief.
The book opens with addressing atheism (problem of evil, problem of pain, problem of Hell) in the section called “difficulties with evil” I appreciate that he will give really dark examples of evil (without being vulgar) to challenge himself and ground his belief in difficult questions. “Difficulties with revelation” had some stuff I felt was timely for me to read, and I’d like to read more on the contents of this section. “Difficulties with the Church” was also very relatable: horrendous Catholic Bible interpretations appearing in Catholic Bibles, well thought out Protestant qualms with Catholicism (sola scriptura and two chapters on Mary). Finally “difficulties with moral teachings” closed the book. The final section was probably my favorite but also the most challenging. The Catholic faith, if lived out faithful to the teachings of the Christ transmitted via the Church, call for a difficult life. We all fall short of the moral calling and Trent talks about how he falls short and the not so pretty positions we should stand by if we are to be congruent with a Biblical and Apostolic faith (euthanasia, abortion, the nature of marriage, living for the next life and not just this life)
I’ll have to read an abortion apologist soon because it just does not make sense to me in the slightest; I really feel like that the chapter on abortion was a good defense against some of the “best” arguments I’ve heard him engage on abortion.
Meager Moral Fruits (1 & 2) were my favorite chapters because he acknowledged where he needs to grow, where the Church needs to grow, and where all Christians need to grow.
I don’t know Trent, but I listen to a lot of his podcasts and watch his YouTube frequently. I think he was very honest to what he believes and defends his beliefs with integrity; he didn’t sacrifice his integrity with the writing of this book.
David (devils advocate): you make a living defending the Catholic faith, there’s no way you are going to write a book that cancels your meal ticket…if it really weren’t true you’d have to give up your meal ticket. Would you really do that?
Trent: I expect the same from others; I’ve heard stories of Protestant pastors giving up everything to become Catholic. If I would encourage that kind of sacrifice in the pursuit of truth then I’d have to be willing to do the same.
September 22, 2022
An interesting book that is written in a dialog style where a Catholic apologist interacts with his inner skeptic.
June 25, 2023
I liked this book. It was simple to read in a fun format to help you work through struggles in the faith. I especially appreciated the last chapter about ways to handle your own doubts vs difficulties, since we all have different things we wrestle with within ourselves.
November 1, 2024
Trent does a good job exploring the doubts people may have about the Catholic faith, but I felt the responses were somewhat lacking. He raises some good points, but it felt like the skeptic had the upper hand most of the time. This could be the point, since the book is a dialog with his inner-skeptic, but I'm not sure who would benefit from this. Catholics without doubts don't need it, Catholics with doubts may not feel very comforted by it, and I don't know if anyone who isn't Catholic would be convinced by this.
June 12, 2024
Jun 2024. I'm a sucker for dialogues; this volume has 20.
Promising note near the beginning: Horn is also a reader of Kreeft.
Finished, much better than CASE FOR CATHOLICISM. Not as a good as Kreeft--there is too little drama and too much discourse--but still good. He really does entertain clever, subtle, strong challenges to the Faith.
Promising note near the beginning: Horn is also a reader of Kreeft.
Finished, much better than CASE FOR CATHOLICISM. Not as a good as Kreeft--there is too little drama and too much discourse--but still good. He really does entertain clever, subtle, strong challenges to the Faith.
December 24, 2024
I loved this book! Very funny, yet gets the message across.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews