Reasons to Believe: How to Understand, Explain, and Defend the Catholic Faith | 
 enlarge | Author: Scott Hahn
Publisher: Doubleday
Category: Book
List Price: $21.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  26 reviews
Sales Rank: 3280
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.8 x 1
ISBN: 0385509359
Dewey Decimal Number: 230.2
EAN: 9780385509350
ASIN: 0385509359
Publication Date: May 8, 2007
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Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 21 more reviews...
 "Powerful Reasons -- Powerfully Expressed" August 3, 2008
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
The term "apologetics" is often viewed negatively. Because of its etymological roots, many people view the word synonymously with "apology" in the common sense -- a labored defense of something done wrong, or a justification of that which cannot be justified. As practiced by certain individuals of disingenuous character, where beliefs are attacked either based on a false presentation of facts or upon personal bias against matters in question, this connotation is completely understandable.
More properly, apologetics is (as is described in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary) the systematic argumentative discourse in defense (as of a doctrine), or a branch of theology devoted to the defense of the divine origin and authority of Christianity. Done properly, and accepted in the spirit of seeking truth, apologetics is the highest of the theological sciences.
Scott Hahn, Professor of Theology and Scripture at Franciscan University of Steubenville, is an apologist of the highest order. A convert to Catholicism, former Presbyterian minister, and gifted writer, Professor Hahn has written a series of books on the Catholic faith. The books include such spiritual works as THE LAMB'S SUPPER: THE MASS AS HEAVEN ON EARTH, HAIL HOLY QUEEN: THE MOTHER OF GOD IN THE WORD OF GOD, and his journey to Catholicism, ROME SWEET ROME: OUR JOURNEY TO CATHOLICISM, co-authored with his wife, Kimberly Hahn.
REASONS TO BELIEVE: HOW TO UNDERSTAND, EXPLAIN, AND DEFEND THE CATHOLIC FAITH, is a book of Catholic Apologetics in the finest sense of the tradition. Using his skills as a teacher, Professor Hahn offers a well-written, engaging, and reasoned look at the Catholic faith, using extensive scriptural sources, logic, and facts to present his defense of the Church. Unlike other so-called apologists (the pamphlet under the windshield), he does not hide behind personal rancor and invective. Instead, he presents his arguments for the Catholic faith in a thoughtful loving manner -- as one would expect or demand of a Christian. In its scant 240 pages, REASONS TO BELIEVE is not a substitute for Sacred Scripture, or Catholic Catechism. Rather it draws upon the complementary sources of Scripture, Tradition, and Magisterium to justify the faith. He presents powerful arguments indeed in simple prose, articulating divinely inspired truths in words that are comprehensible to the average reader.
Reason and revelation are not incompatible. Natural and divine order are not compatible. The essentials of faith can be expressed intellectually and rationally. It is true theology -- faith seeking understanding.
Apologetics 101 July 26, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
By far the most complete apologetic book I have ever read. Dr. Hahn enables his reader the ability to provide solid defense of one's faith in the Church against agnostics to pagans to Protestants. I bought two additional books to give as gifts for my siblings. The reading is not easy, but then again, in such an important subject, there is no way the reading can be "easy." Highly recommend for RCIA teachers, Catholic adults, and anybody curious about why somebody would want to be called a Catholic.
Careful work of an honest author July 20, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Scott Hahn is an extremely careful writer, who has been very patient to choose the wording for his arguments. The book is well written, easy to read and fulfilled my expectations.
Speaking from his heart, the author gives an honest report on his view of the protestant faith he once embraced and the Catholic faith he now pursues.
Having St. Thomas on the cover is a testimony of his intellectual honesty by admitting it is not easy to find the path to belief and salvation.
Not reviewed June 29, 2008
1 out of 7 found this review helpful
I ordered this book because we are going to have a study class in Oct but I have not had a chance to sit down with it. I have other Scott Hahn books and all have been very good.
 Just a few words May 3, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is a worthwhile read. It will take your basic apologetics skills one level deeper. The author really envelops the reader in the Old Testement in a way that is refreshing. Instead of looking soley at the teachings of Christ, the author includes how the Church today is a fullfilment of prophesy and in accordance with the whole book. The beginning of the book is helpful in dealing with other than Christian faiths, atheists and agnostics.
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