Lawrence S. Cunningham (1935–2025)

This is a well organized and well thought through, well, introduction to Catholicism. Cunningham does a good job of keeping everything fairly well grounded, although he's also clearly engaged in apologetics. The most striking thing about it, aside from the excellent 'Further Reading' suggestions is, however, the absolutely abysmal prose and editing. I particularly like the way Cunningham/his editors treat definite articles as optional, leading the text to sound like a work in Russian being show more translated into English by a native Russian speaker. Among the other horrors, see the extra negation:

"current writers on spirituality have been keen to deny that an interest in Christian spirituality is not to be construed as involving only and exclusively personal growth in holiness."

the grammatically incomprehensible (there's no subject in this sentence):

"By giving women alternatives to cloistered seclusion or the traditional path of marriage and motherhood, women were able to use their intelligence... in a wide range of activities earlier closed off to them."

and the presumably unintentionally comedic:

"It is on the basis of the above belief that Catholic morality insists that people must take seriously duties as members of the human community and, in addition, must give due recognition to human rights of all people while, at the same time, resisting the notion that certain classes, races or other human cultural characteristics that differentiate by the fact of that difference have the right to discriminate or lessen fundamental human rights due to every person."

I, too, hate stuff that differentiates because of differences and makes you think you can discriminate. But boy, a bit of discrimination on the part of the author with regards to sentence structure wouldn't go astray.

No doubt this seems petty, but consider that at the end of the day he wants you, dear reader, to take his religion seriously. And how seriously can you take the religion of a man who can write such barbarisms as "It is always a challenge to rise up to the challenges of the legitimate need for reform while attempting to balance that need against the task of fidelity to the past"?

Challenging challenges, those. show less

'The Catholic Faith: An Introduction' is simply and clearly written, and it presupposes no technical background. The presentation is right on target for the undergraduate classroom. The book not only sets out basic Christian teaching; it also challenges its readers to come to terms with their Catholic heritage. Professor Cunningham admirably conveys a Catholic sense of human living in its religious and moral dimensions. The material here is ideally suited for class discussion.' - William E. show more Reiser, S.J., Holy Cross College show less

Wonderful survey of the worship spaces at Notre Dame. Matt Cashore's photography is, as always beautiful.

Lawrence Cunningham and Keith Egan offer a concise and accessible thematic overview of the various ways Christians have approached God in prayer and practice.