About a month ago, I shared that I was starting the 20 Answers Challenge from Catholic Answers for Lent. I wanted to take some time to share my progress.
So far, I have been staying on top of my reading plan and have completed God, The Real Jesus, Salvation and Death & Judgment I have been learning a lot about these books and have been genuinely enjoying this reading challenge. It has been, as the name suggests, a challenge at times because it makes me think harder about some of the topics, but I appreciate that it does that. As I work through the first four books, I think it may have been wise to pick books randomly rather than trying to do it thematically (these books were my “Christianity Basics” books) because there is the occasional overlap in information, but I also think that that can be beneficial and solidifying some of the points.
I have been working on writing slightly longer reviews on these books, and I will be sharing them in the coming weeks. If you don’t want to miss a review, please consider following me, or check back on my blog on Tuesdays.
God was good but also a challenging book to get through. It addressed some misconceptions about who God is and described why we the Christian God is the one, true God. Some of the arguments weren’t entirely new to me, but they did explore depths I hadn’t been exposed to before. Knowing what I do now, I would not have started the challenge with this book, but I did enjoy it. Here is my full review.
The Real Jesus was the second book I read, and I felt it was easier to process. I think the difference between this and God is how large of a scope it covered. While Jesus Christ is absolutely a huge topic, I think focusing in on the claims about his identity helps narrow down the topic a little. Here is my full review.
Salvation was the third book I read. This book describes the “basics” of salvation but also spends a considerable amount of time exploring the differences between the Catholic terminology and Protestant terminology and beliefs. It was really interesting to see what seemed like initially, large differences narrowed down to the core beliefs of Christianity. Here is my full review.
I finished Death & Judgment on Saturday. This book addressed what happens after we die: where we might go and how our lives on earth influence our eternal lives. I thought it was really good, and I’m glad I read it after Salvation as I felt it laid a good foundation. It is a lot of information, but it is done in such a way that you don’t feel buried by facts. Here is my full review.
Three of the four books I have read have been written by Trent Horn. I did enjoy the Jimmy Akin book as it was a different voice and style. Both apologists are excellent and produce quality work, but it is awesome to see apologetics articulated in unique ways.
How are you doing on the 20 Answers Challenge?
Here’s the next update on my progress in the 20 Answers Challenge.