Karl Keating

Karl Keating defends Catholicism from fundamentalist attacks and explains why fundamentalism has been so successful in converting Romanists. After showing the origins of fundamentalism, he examines representative anti-Catholic groups and presents their arguments in their own words. His rebuttals are clear, detailed, and charitable. Special emphasis is given to the scriptural basis for Catholic doctrines and beliefs.

An all-around decent and easy to understand apologetics book. Keating has a very "no nonsense" style of writing -- he tells the truth like it is and does not worry about what one may think. For this book's purposes, his voice works well to defend Catholic customs and beliefs that have been under attack by various groups.

While I personally like Keating, I wouldn't necessarily recommend him immediately to someone who knows absolutely nothing about Catholicism. There are other authors who can show more introduce one to the truths of Catholicism in a gentler yet, honest tone. Rather, I would recommend this to Catholics seeking to understand traditions in their faith better as well as those who take issue with Catholic beliefs and seek to understand why we believe what we do. show less

The book I read is the abridged edition by Augustine Institute, having 204 pages. I wouldn't give it a 4.1 rating because the book is a little tedious to read. It's a good book to gain understanding of some of the gaps in understanding between some Evangelicals (as they are called) and Catholics. For the Catholic who is moderately involved in his or her faith, doctrine (an understanding of what is believed) is important and pragmatic. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) testifies to show more the importance of doctrine. Doctrine is less well formulated in many (but not all) Protestant communions. Christians literally live and die by what they believe, and by the faith (trust) in what they believe. Sure - Christ is sympathetic to ignorance. So it's possible for the conscientious aborigine to be saved - but it rather tenuous to allow oneself to continue in ignorance. show less

Karl Keating has done a good job at taken the most common misconceptions that people have about the Catholic Church and placed it in an easy to find format. This book is perfect if you have not studied Catholic Doctrine. It will help you understand Catholics if your Protestant; and if Catholic it will be of aid in helping you answer the most common questions you will be asked by non-Catholics.

He starts off with a small quiz in the front of the book. To show how little everyone who picks the show more book up really knows about Catholic Doctrine. If he was trying to prove his point, I think he chose the wrong questions. They were all too easy to answer correctly. But I got his point.

I do recommend that all Christians, or anyone who wants to understand the Catholic Faith, pick up this book that has not studied doctrine. show less