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| The Catholic Verses: 95 Bible Passages That Confound Protestants | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 19 reviews)
Sales Rank: 65653
Category: Book
Author: Dave Armstrong
Publisher: Sophia Institute Press
Studio: Sophia Institute Press
Manufacturer: Sophia Institute Press
Label: Sophia Institute Press
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 235
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.8
ISBN: 1928832733
Dewey Decimal Number: 230.2
EAN: 9781928832737
ASIN: 1928832733
Publication Date: June 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
So good I passed it on to a friend. January 7, 2009
This book is a great rundown of some of the common differences and misconceptions between the Protestant Church and the Catholic Church. The information is clear and easy to understand while remaining informative and entertaining. This book was so full of pertinent information that I passed it on to a fellow Catholic and asked that when he was done that he pass it on to anybody else who might enjoy. I gave it 4 stars because at times the author waxes sarcastic. When you're right about something there is no need ever to condescend and I felt that to be distracting.
 A must-read for Catholics November 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When I was in college, I came every close to abandoning my Catholic faith because of Biblical arguments I was hearing from Evangelical friends which seemed very clear-cut and convincing. It was about two years and quite a few books later that I found a great many counter-arguments that were even more convincing. And so I remain a Catholic today - mostly due to Biblical evidence and logical reasoning.
The problem is that too many Catholics today are hearing only one side of the argument - the Evangelical side. Many have no idea that resources like this exist. I bought this book about two years ago, and I still have it on my desk shelf as a quick reference (along with the Bible and William A. Jurgens' "Faith of the Early Fathers").
Dave Armstrong does a wonderful job of making this subject readable and easy to understand. I particularly like his method of constructing fictional dialogs between two points of view to illustrate both sides of a debate. In true Thomistic fashion, he always presents the opposing view with a thorough and sympathetic argument right before he completely turns it on it's head. Armstrong is not one to "whip a straw man". He's a scholar through and through. I recommend all his books to anyone who has questions about the Faith.
I think the only one who does Catholic apologetics better is James Akin - maybe.
Regarding the comments from some negative reviewers about Dave's supposed combative tone. Rubbish!
Just check out his website and see the admirable way he deals with online debaters who attack him (it happens often - sometimes personally). Dave won't shy away from a spirited debate, but he's always a gentlemen and a scholar.
 95 verses for 95 theses October 25, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Unlike some of the other readers, I - as a Protestant who wanted to know more about Catholicism - did not see the ugliness in Armstrong's writings mentioned by other reviewers.
Content-wise, Armstrong raises very good points and appeals to scripture, as well as history, to back up the Church's teachings. We have a tendency - Protestant and Catholic alike - to white-wash history and our heroes and point out the sin and error in a person's life to justify our attacks on their doctrinal stances. Ad hominem attacks, I believe they are called.
I liked this book - it remains in my nightstand drawer and I take it out at least weekly to skim over the verses. Would I buy it again? Perhaps not... at least not at full price... but it's not nearly as awful as some reviewers would have you believe!
Look for it at the library. If you like it, buy it.
Recommended.
Great stepping stone to the Church September 6, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I believe God was working through my friend who cajoled me into reading this. Thanks to Dave Armstrong, I am now seriously looking into the Catholic faith in a new light. This book presents a well organized scriptual defense of the key doctrines dividing Catholics and most Protestants. The thing I like about it is how is refutes all the common counter-arguments, bringing us to the final winner (in most cases): the Catholic Church. There are much more than 95 Catholic verses in the Bible; but this book is a great way to both introduce Protestants and arm beginner apologists.
On Balance A Thought-Provoking, Interesting Read With Some Originality... May 6, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
The theme of this book is an interesting one -covering ninety-five biblical verses as a kind of symbolic response to Fr. Martin Luther's 95 Theses tacked by legend to the door of the Wittenburg cathedral in late 1517. And the manifested intention to demonstrate that there can be plausibly argued from a biblical standpoint for many of what Mr. Armstrong calls "Catholic distinctives" is amply sustained -though there is a variegated quality of his arguments in the book notwithstanding of course. This was unquestionably a very ambitious undertaking on the part of the author and for that fact alone he deserves some credit.
This book has a few weaknesses which affect the overall text. For one thing, it is very choppy in spots with the manuscript needing improvement by smoothing out some of the rough structural barbs. I should in fairness note in stating this criticism that part of that is perhaps inevitable if one looks at the pattern of the book and its intentions. For example, as the book is based on specific verses, there will be inexorably a greater degree of commentary interspersed with other sources. And of course the aforementioned commentary and use of sources will also bring to it certain unspoken and unsubstantiated presuppositions of the author no matter how one tries to avoid this -and the latter cannot be done justice in a volume such as this.
But that point noted, Mr. Armstrong is usually good at recognizing the principle that more formally developed concepts need not be present in later fullness in earlier periods of time: what Catholics refer to as development of doctrine. Mr. Armstrong understands the concept better than most but it is nonetheless one with its limits and not the magical "one size fits all" remedy that he at times appears to think it is. Mr. Armstrong also has a tendency to overplay his hand a bit through the use of statements of a more absolute nature where theologically there is more room than he appears to presume. But this criticism is one that is hardly applicable to him alone -I note it here nonetheless because it needs to be accounted for by the reader to receive a fuller picture of the author's work itself.
Despite the manifested intention to avoid triumphalist tonalities in the book, Mr. Armstrong while generally succeeding in this area nonetheless does involve a bit of sardonic phrasing in spots -seemingly at the points where either his arguments are the weakest or the internal contradictions of some of the sources he critically interacts with happen to be. John Calvin is a particular target in this area but considering the snide way Calvin approaches a number of subjects in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, it is hard to fault Mr. Armstrong for taking a bit of schadenfraude in puncturing the balloons of bombast common to Calvin's methodology even if in other areas one could find it easier for this criticism to have a bit more weight. (And I emphasize "a bit more" because on balance this book is light on explicit triumphalism: something which is to Mr. Armstrong's credit.)
On specific matters, to compile a detailed sketch would take more time than I have so I will note what is particularly well done section by section. The sections on The Church, Bible and Tradition, Papacy, Communion of Saints, and Prayers for the Dead are all despite the overall structural weaknesses noted earlier very solid in content and argumentation. (Likewise the sections on Baptism and Eucharist.) I could quibble with a few additional bits but they would not detract from my view of these sections at all so I will leave it be for now. The Communion of Saints section also possesses some nice nuances to it which someone familiar with the boilerplate elements of this subject could well appreciate -the same is the case for the section on Prayers for the Dead.
Other sections which are also good (albeit not to the extent the ones already noted are) include the ones on Penance and Relics/Sacramentals. The problem with these sections that I discerned most is brevity primarily: they require a lot more exposition due to being more implied in the scripture than the others noted thus far. It is also questionable in my mind if including these subjects in the book was a good idea for those reasons but what is there is good so I will leave it at that.
The section on Divisions/Denominationalism is on balance good but it has more weaknesses to it than the other sections noted thus far. For one thing, it needs to emphasize that the only divisions Mr. Armstrong intends to be critical of are ones that pertain to faith. In failing to do this, it leaves Mr. Armstrong open to those who point out areas of diversity in Catholic philosophy, theology, application of moral/ethical principles, geopolitical matters, etc. as a presumed "refutation" of his position in this section. If he were to in a subsequent edition make this delineation clearer, it would vindicate this section from the sort of criticism I noted above.
The last quarter of the book is of markedly less quality than the parts covered thus far -in part because the subjects move to more peripheral or controverted nature. For the sake of presenting a stronger product it would have been better to have either covered them in greater detail or passed these matters over completely. The section on Celibacy is written from a western perspective which gives the impression that there is one traditional approach to this matter instead of two. It would do Mr. Armstrong well in subsequent editions of this work to add a bit in there about the eastern tradition which allows for married clergy much as certain extraordinary provisions in the western church in recent decades do. In both traditions there is (albeit in differing ways) a recognition of the biblical principle of clerical celibacy so this revision would only strengthen the latter section of this book.
The section on Divorce suffers from a lack of completion akin to the one on Celibacy though not to the same extent. The main weakness here is the lack of distinguishing between the concepts of divorce and annulment. The latter is often called "Catholic divorce" but that expression is not accurate at all and failing to note the distinction in this section after the passages pertaining to divorce weakens the presentation here.
The section on Contraception is the weakest one in the book for a variety of reasons. The first reason is that it is a derivative concept which as I noted earlier is harder to cover than a primary subject. The second is that it is based on so little Scriptural reference and implied ones at that: making it by nature involving a lot more commentary. The third is that there are other objections raised against the OT passage he cited being interpreted as Mr. Armstrong does that he gives no credence whatsoever to. There are other factors too on this one but my guess is that this being an issue that was of particular resonance to Mr. Armstrong in his conversion is what prompted him to include a section in this book on the topic in question. But to cover the latter subject with the detail required and accounting for all parameters (including certain presuppositions Mr. Armstrong unconsciously and uncritically accepts) would to make the book a lot longer which is why it would have been better to have passed over it completely in this treatment.
To summarize this review, Mr. Armstrong attempts to cover an entire spectrum of ideas with this book. In doing this there will be a variegation of success and on the lions share of the topics covered as well as overall presentation, this book is a worthwhile read. But there are also some topics of which it would have been better to have a bit more material on to insure a more correct presentation. And there is exactly one subject which would have by the nature of the subject in question have benefited from being passed over with the idea of focusing on the ones where the greater strength of demonstration and argument can be made.
In closing, I with minimal reservation recommend this work for those who have questions as to the presumed "unbiblical" nature of certain Catholic beliefs and practices. It would serve well to help them realize that (whether they agree with them or not) there are arguments that can be made from Scripture for many "Catholic distinctives" which non-Catholics may have been led to believe did not exist.
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