As I’ve mentioned several times, I am participating in the 20 Answers Challenge Challenge from Catholic Answers. Since my last update, I have finished 5 more books.
As I’ve been looking through different sources, some seem to say that the 20 Answers Challenge was just for Lent and other say it was for the Lenten and Easter season. Obviously, my goal is to finish them by the end of the Easter season. I did get a little behind due to illness, but I am almost back on track.
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.
Overview
The latest chunk of finished books includes The Sacraments by Fr. Mike Driscoll, The Eucharist by Trent Horn, Miracles by Karlo Broussard, Mary by Tim Staples, and Angels & Demons also by Fr. Mike Driscoll.
I promise there is a reason I chose to read the books in this order. I had just finished reading The Papacy which is obviously very Catholic-specific. I continued on that trend to read The Sacraments. I went in more specific to The Eucharist. To transition between The Eucharist and Mary, I read Miracles which mentions Eucharistic miracles and Marian apparitions. I followed Mary with Angels & Demons because angels are in heaven with Mary. This order actually worked quite well for me. I read on a variety of topics but was still able to draw connections.
The Books
The Sacraments by Fr. Mike Driscoll explains the Biblical and historical reasons for the sacraments and why they are important to Catholics (and should be important to all Christians). I thought the book was informative, but I didn’t enjoy the writing style as much as other books in the series. It is still a great resource, but it just wasn’t my favorite (full review here).
The Eucharist by Trent Horn explains the Eucharist and provides defenses for disagreements. He also wrote about how Catholics can develop a greater devotion. I thought this was an excellent resource, and like all of Trent Horn’s writing, it was well-supported (full review here).
Miracles by Karlo Broussard explains miracles and addresses confusion related to them. He does a very good job eliminating potential confusion, and I appreciated that he addressed some points by walking through logical thought processes. I learned a lot from this booklet (full review here).
Mary by Tim Staples is one of my favorites that I have read from the series. The title is pretty self-explanatory, and this booklet is full of rich information. What I really appreciated about this book was that the author, Tim Staples, was a fundamentalist. I think this gave him unique insight into the topic (book review here).
Angels & Demons by Fr. Mike Driscoll again has another fairly obvious title. While the booklet largely focused on demons, I found that the booklet was both informative and engaging (book review here).
Conclusion
I have been really enjoying the 20 Answers Challenge. I have been learning so much about our rich faith, and I have actually been able to implement some of the apologetics knowledge I gained from reading the series.
Is anyone else still working their way through the books?
What do you think about the challenge?
Here’s the next update.