I love reading conversion stories. There is something beautiful about how God reaches out to people, makes Himself a part of their lives, and draws them home to His Church. One of the many, many things I love about the Catholic faith is how reasonable it is. Simply put, Catholicism makes sense. With these interests, I was thrilled when I got the opportunity to review Brandon Vogt’s newest book: Why I am Catholic (And You Should Be Too).
Note: I received a free version of this book in exchange for an honest review.
There are a lot of good things about the book. I think the best thing about it is how it is organized; Vogt’s book is split into parts based on the true, the good, and the beautiful. Though Vogt shares portions of his personal faith journey and conversion, the book primarily focuses on providing information. This allows the book to find a good balance between personal testimony and apologetics. I loved that he synthesized information from a variety of sources so he had things like data and theological arguments. This is the first book I’ve read by Vogt, and I was very impressed with his writing style. Not only was the information solid, it was expressed in an eloquent way.
A potential downside (or upside) to this book is it doesn’t go into detail on some points that perhaps could’ve benefited from more depth. That being said, Vogt acknowledges that there is only so much that he can cover in the book. He alludes to other information and provides sources for readers to explore. In most cases, I think this is a great alternative to making this book heavy with details. The only part that I truly felt was lacking was the part on moral arguments relating to God. As someone who has spoken to atheists as much as Vogt, I would’ve expected a more thorough consideration of moral relativism. Though he touches on relativism later in his book, his claim that everyone accepts that there are things people accept as objectively wrong disregards that there are people who believe there is no such thing as objective wrong or right (or perhaps I met the few exceptions to that).
A small criticism I have of the book is that I thought the “rebellion” sections were a little cheesy. I understand where he was going with it, but it seemed weak in comparison to the rest of the book.
Though it is true that he didn’t present any radically new concepts, the way he presents the information is unique and interesting. Plus, with a Church that has been around for 2,000 years, there is bound to be some repeat information.
All that being said, Why I am Catholic (And You Should Be Too) is informative, interesting, and well-written. I think this book is best suited for Catholics who are questioning their faith or people who are considering Catholicism, but I would recommend it to anyone who wants a solid introduction to good reasons to be a Catholic.
You can read more of my book reviews here.
