Recommendations for your Catholic library!

Finally, I have begun my promised (preliminary) list of book recommendations! This page is a work in progress, and it will change over time. When it is all done being a regular post, I will permanently link it to the top of my blog, and I will alert you to any important changes or additions as they happen.

Here we go….

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Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic, by David Currie

 

This is the book I constantly recommend for Protestant evangelicals who are thinking of becoming Catholic, or for Catholics who desire to speak to Protestant evangelicals about Catholic beliefs. It's simple and thorough, written to members of Currie's own dismayed family upon his conversion to Catholicism, in language that they could understand.

The chapter on "Authority Focused" is worth the price of the book, as it historically illustrates (with charts and stories, in a way I've never seen before) the breathtaking protection from heresy that the Holy Spirit has provided to the Bishop of Rome (the Pope) throughout the centuries.

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Any Friend of God's is a Friend of Mine, by Patrick Madrid

By far the most common questions I get from Protestants are question about the Communion of Saints: Praying to saints (more accurately, asking them to pray for us), statues vs. idols, relics, prayers for the dead and Purgatory, honoring Mary, etc. Anything and everything about the saints and their connection to us is discussed, and common Protestant objections are addressed with Scripture, history and logic.

I love, love, love that this book is short and clear and easy to read. Excellent resource!

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Handbook of Christian Apologetics, by Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli

This is that book you need when answering atheists, secularists and skeptics on the big issues of God and Christianity. Using Aristotelian logic, Kreeft and Tacelli (philosophy professors) bring clarity to questions such as:

Do faith and reason conflict?

Does God exist?

How can God allow evil?

Is there life after death?

Was Jesus raised from the dead?

Is Christianity the only true religion?

... and more.

If you love sound reasoning, clarity, the Socratic method, and intellectual rigor, you'll love reading through the chapters of the book (which can be read in any order). It's especially helpful when you have teenagers in the house! 

Handbook of Christian Apologetics was written from a "mere Christianity" (Protestant and Catholic) perspective; later the authors produced Handbook of Catholic Apologetics, and from what I've heard, it's quite similar to the first book, but with some Catholic specifics. Get either one as a staple for your library.

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The Spirit of Catholicism, by Karl Adam

A classic (first edition was in 1924), a personal favorite, and one of the only books I've read twice. Absolutely beautiful presentation of the Catholic Faith, almost poetic. I really cannot say enough about it. 

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The Prove It! books for teens, by Amy Welborn

If your teens are asking the bigger questions about the Catholic Church (or God and Jesus in general), send one or more of these books their way. No nonsense, to the point, just the kind of clarity their seeking minds crave in this era of fuzzy thinking. Adults who need answers will get a lot out of the series, too.

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The Ordinary Path to Holiness, by R. Thomas Richard

I described this earlier as a book that changed my life. Why don't Catholics know about the three traditional stages of holiness anymore? Well, now you have no excuse. It cleared up so much for me, and suddenly, the path to holiness was visible -- even somewhat linear -- and made sense. I could get my bearings and identify where I was (not too far on that path, ha ha) and where I needed to go. I'm not even close to the goal, but at least I see the road and all the signposts.

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The Way of the Disciple, by Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis

When young, serene, beautiful cloistered nuns get positively schoolgirl-giddy while recommending a book to me, I listen! I immediately bought and read this great work and was as enthralled as they were. In this book, the reader is placed as an unseen witnesses in the midst of six familiar gospel scenes and is given new insight into what it means to be a disciple of Christ. The chapter on the woman at the well ("The Abandoned Pitcher") has never left me. I imagine it leaves most Christian women swooning. Little book, huge impact.

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Gut Check: Confronting Love, Work, and Manhood in Your Twenties, by Tarek Saab

Anyone who knows me in real life has heard me decry the catastrophic "crisis of manhood" that has befallen our men and our culture. Tarek Saab (a former contestant on The Apprentice who is also supernaturally handsome incredibly wise) has written the story of his own crisis, in a brutally honest manner that young men (late teens and up) will appreciate. Tarek went on a humbling journey from confused college kid to materially successful businessman to devout Catholic. The parents of sons will also benefit from reading his story.

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Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, edited by Scott Hahn

As the wonderful Gayle Somers told me a few months back: No Catholic apologist should be without this study Bible on his shelf. Enough said.

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Books I have reviewed previously on the Bubble (and which I will incorporate more neatly into this page when it becomes a permanent fixture at the top of my blog), include:

Architects of the Culture of Death, by Donald DeMarco and Benjamin Wiker (guest post by my husband)

The Kristin Lavransdatter Trilogy, by Sigrid Undset (best Catholic novels, ever! Get the Tiina Nunnally translation)

What We Can't Not Know, by J. Budziszewski (which I recommend as the one book you should read this year)

If Protestantism is True, by Devin Rose (clarity, logic, big-picture apologetics)

The Church and New Media, edited by Brandon Vogt (a must for Catholic bloggers, with 100% of proceeds going to the developing world)




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Just Curious: Lenten Reading

Okay, so I am very curious about any spiritual reading you have planned for Lent!

Every year before Lent rolls around, I get so excited about picking a special book for the season -- which I never actually read. Sigh. For years, I intended to read What Jesus Saw From the Cross. Then, for a couple of years, I was going to read Holy Thursday. Both still sit on my shelf, unread.

So this year, I have a new strategy. I am going to read a book that I've already read and loved.

Years ago, when I was in the aftermath of learning all of this, I discovered the diary of an anonymous French priest who lived a hundred years ago, published in a little book called Descending Fire: The Journal of a Soul Aflame. While I read, I was completely swept up into the mystical and very real relationship between a sanctified soul and God. Oh my word, talk about a thrilling, fulfilling romance! Knowing the spiritual delight that I am in for, it will be easy for me to accomplish my Lenten reading this year. (Is that cheating?)

Okay, how about you? What will you be reading this Lent?


*Note, I promise I did not steal this idea from Jen at Conversion Diary!! :)

Books in the Bubble: Kristin Lavransdatter, my favorite novels!

About a decade ago, I was reading tons of doctrinal and theological works, and I had no interest in novels.

Then one day, I was watching an EWTN program called Bookmark. They were discussing a novel (actually a trilogy) about a 14th century Norwegian girl named Kristin Lavransdatter. I was especially interested to hear that the author, Sigrid Undset, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928 for this body of work. (Although Undset was not a Catholic when she wrote Kristin's story, she did later convert to Catholicism.)

Now, normally I would not be interested in a decades-old historical novel set in a country to which I have no connection and in an era with which I am not acquainted. However, there was something compelling about the thought of following a young Catholic girl as she transforms -- physically, emotionally and spiritually -- through all the stages of her life.

From what was being discussed on the TV show, I knew I would relate to this fictional character both as a woman and at the level and themes of our shared Catholic faith.

Plus, it seemed super cool and important to read a work that had won a Nobel Prize!!!!!  :)

Soooo, I bought the first book. And it sat on my shelf for about two years.

Finally, when I grew weary of doctrinal books, I picked it up. Not only did it live up to the expectations that I'd set for it, it exceeded them. The seven hundred years that separated Kristin's world from mine melted away. I quickly read the next two books in the series, and I can tell you that I've never been sadder to say good-bye to a literary character. In fact, I think I refused to say good-bye, as Kristin (and old Norway) has stayed with me through the past eight years. The minute I finished the books, I knew I would re-read them.

Kristin's story is divided into the three main epochs of her life:


Kristin Lavransdatter I: The Wreath. The story of Kristin from childhood up through her engagement.



Kristin Lavransdatter II: The Wife. Kristin as a wife and mother.



Kristin Lavransdatter III: The Cross. The conclusion and redemption of Kristin's life.


**If you decided to read the trilogy, make sure you get the Tiina Nunnally translation (from the original Norwegian).

Let's just say that Kristin is not a perfect woman. Like all of us, she is very real, flawed and complex. Although I connected with Kristin profoundly, I know at least two people who couldn't get past her deeper character flaws to embrace her. (But they still loved the books).

After reading Undset's masterpieces, I became enamored again with novels, and specifically Catholic novels.

Good literature enriches the mind and the soul, so if any of you have good novel recommendations, please let me know!




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