Reasons to Believe – How to Understand Explain and Defend the Catholic Faith

Reasons to Believe How to Understand Explain and Defend the Catholic Faith

This book unravels mysteries, corrects misunderstandings, and offers thoughtful, straightforward responses to common objections about the Catholic faith.

Bestselling author Scott Hahn, a convert to Catholicism, has experienced the doubts that so often drive discussions about God and the Church. In the years before his conversion, he was first a nonbeliever and then an anti-Catholic clergyman.

In REASONS TO BELIEVE, he explains the "how and why" of the Catholic faith — drawing from Scripture, his own struggles and those of other converts, as well as from everyday life and even natural science. Hahn shows that reason and revelation, nature and the supernatural, are not opposed to one another; rather they offer complementary evidence that God exists. But He doesn't merely exist. He is someone, and He has a personality, a personal style, that is discernible and knowable. Hahn leads readers to see that God created the universe with a purpose and a form — a form that can be found in the Book of Genesis and that is there when we view the natural world through a microscope, through a telescope, or through our contact lenses.

At the heart of the book is Hahn's examination of the ten "keys to the kingdom" — the characteristics of the Church clearly evident in the Scriptures. As the story of creation discloses, the world is a house that has a Father, a palace where the king is really present. God created the cosmos to be a kingdom, and that kingdom is the universal Church, fully revealed by Jesus Christ.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Fantastic beginning apologetics book
Scott Hahn wrote the modern book on apologetics… oh golly, how lame am I? But seriously, Hahn studied his way into the Catholic church, reading hundreds upon hundreds of books and considering arguments from all sides. He brings this wealth of knowledge into this book. The book goes through the whole spectrum of apologetics, from theism, to Christianity, to Catholicism. It isn't horribly and deeply in depth, but it isn't supposed to be. This is supposed to be an introduction, a book for one to get their feet wet and take in an overview of the basic arguments for Catholicism.

The first section deals with arguments for the existence of God. The second chapter deals with common Protestant objections (Mary, Eucharist, Papacy, etc.) But it is the third section which goes into some very interesting typology that one may not have seen before. Hahn in careful detail elaborates on the kingdom of David being fulfilled and passed on to Jesus. It's very fascinating stuff, and Hahn goes into much more detail than I have ever seen. I've also never seen a serious attempt at a rebuttal of this whole typological understanding that Hahn goes through in the third section. Just this last (third) section alone is worth buying the book.

Since most all the other reviews mention all the good of this book (and I agree), I will only mention one thing that I didn't like but that probably isn't the author's fault. And that is the fact that not only are the footnotes in the back of the book as opposed to the bottom of the page, but the footnotes aren't even made on a page. In other words, while reading the book, you have no way of knowing if something is referenced other than jumping to the back of the book and seeing if there is a footnote. That's a pet peeve of mine. But that's really the only problem.

4 Stars Great book
Another great book by Dr Hahn. Not as easy a read as some of his more personal books but definitely valuable. Many insights.

3 Stars Good book but not worth the money
This book is a brief intro to the field of Catholic apologetics. I'm not saying that it is a bad book or poorly written, it is a good book but it is meant for those who are clueless with regards to defending the Catholic faith on biblical grounds. Quite simply, it's not worth the money because you can find better material for free on the internet.

5 Stars Reasons to Believe:How to Understand, Explain and Defend the Catholic Faith
This book is only a couple of hundred pages long. However, it is susinct and very understandable. Scott Hahn does a wonderful job for those getting strarted on the journey home to the Catholic Church. I do recomment this book very highly.

2 Stars reasons to believe
I've read numerous other Hahn books and I find this one difficult to follow. Not an easy read that's for sure. At least not for me…

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