How Not to Share Your Faith – The Seven Deadly Sins of Apologetics

How Not to Share Your Faith The Seven Deadly Sins of Apologetics

As a professional apologist, Mark Brumley sees this renaissance as an immensely good thing–an essential part of the Church's evangelical mission. Even so, grave dangers attend the apologetics renaissance. Some of them are so serious that, left unaddressed, they threaten to undermine the good apologetics can accomplish. Brumley calls these dangers the Seven Deadly Sins of Catholic Apologists and Evangelization. Like the seven deadly sins of the moral life, they are "deadly" not merely as isolated, individual acts but as vices or evil habits–habitual tendencies to act in a certain way. In this volume, Brumley exposes them for you.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Well Done and Much Needed
The biblical charter of Catholic apologetics is 1Peter 3:14-15:

Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,

but in your hearts reverence Christ as

Lord. Always be prepared to make a defense

to any one who calls you to account for

the hope that is in you, yet do it

with gentleness and reverence

But far too often Catholic apologists seem to have shortened this in their heads to "always be prepared to make a defense to any one" and then added silently — implicitly, but really — "the best defense is a good offense." The end result is not effective apologists but offensive Catholics.

Brumley provides a welcome correction that is stern without being preachy and will certainly make those who follow its advice not only more effective apostles but also better Christians.

I particularly like his section on what he calls "apologetic gluttony" which is the mistaken and misguided attempt to "prove" all of the mysteries of the faith, essentially biting off more than can be chewn. I expect that this may be a temptation that converts are particularly prone to. In telling the story of how you became convinced of the truth of the faith, it's easy to make it seem like an intellectual achievement rather than a gift of God.

4 Stars Well-written and helpful
How Not To Share Your Faith shows the mistakes people make when trying to talk to others about their faith. This book is helpful in that it discusses in detail what to avoid when arguing with someone about your faith. It can be easy to think you are going about the discussion the right way, when in reality you are making everything worse. This book seems to be written mainly for apologists, but I think everyone who wants to defend their faith can glean something useful from this well-written book.

5 Stars Good intentions aren't always enough. . .
There are plenty of well-intentioned people who want to stand up for what they believe and to defend their faith. They most especially want to bring others to the truth. This is a good and loving thing to do. But good intentions are not enough. There are ways that work and ways that don't. This book exposes the pitfalls that you'll want to avoid when sharing your faith. It is easy to read and very practical, with examples of better ways that are more likely to win minds and hearts.

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