Right before Lent began, I shared that I was taking the 20 Answers Challenge from Catholic Answers. The goal is to read all 20 books in the series by the end of the Easter Season. Since I’ve last written, I’ve completed three more books: The Bible, Scripture and Tradition, and The Papacy.
Overview
I really enjoyed reading these three books. I think reading these books in the order I did was really helpful in understanding the Catholic perspective on how God’s Word is revealed to us and how we ensure the proper transmission in the Church Christ established.
The Bible took an authoritative source of God’s Word that all Christians agree on, but explained it through a Catholic lens. Scripture and Tradition dug deeper into that topic, but also explained why Sacred Tradition is important. This established the basis for The Papacy. These teachings are unique to the Catholic Church, but they are crucial for the success of Christianity. The books could be beneficial to Catholics and Protestants alike.
Note
I have been working on writing slightly longer reviews on these books, and I will be sharing them in the coming weeks. I try to make it a point to balance book reviews with other content, so though the book reviews haven’t been published yet, they are written, and I’d love to answer any questions about the books I’ve read to date.
Thoughts on Books
The Bible was a useful booklet for explaining the Catholic understanding of how Scripture is to be interpreted. In addition to being informative and well-supported, I felt the style of some of the questions really lent itself to being a useful apologetics tool (full book review here).
Scripture and Tradition was a good book to read after completing The Bible. It expanded on how God’s word is revealed to us. The book expands on Scripture but also justifies the existence and necessity of Sacred Tradition. It provides a lot of support for each response, making it very informative (full book review here).
The Papacy explains not only why the papacy is biblically and historically supported, but also why it is necessary for the health of Christ’s Church. This is my favorite book that I’ve read from the 20 Answers Series so far (full book review here).
How are you doing on the 20 Answers challenge?
Here’s the next update.