Apologetics

Plot overview: After the tragic death of Mick O'Shea, a Catholic fireman from Philadelphia, his widow Tammy and their children are invited to spend the summer at the Kentucky farm of Tammy's brother Les and his family. The catch? Les is the fundamentalist pastor of a small homegrown "Bible-only" church. He believes it is his duty to "save" his sister and her family from the Catholic Church. The story centers on 17-year-old Michael, who is chosen as the preferred point of contact. At first, Michael is very uncertain about Scripture and feels that his uncle's explanations are right; however, Mick has given him a solid grounding in the Faith, so he seeks the answers in Mick's library.

The author does a fine job of portraying the characters with their struggles and motivations. For example:

• Michael's search for truth is realistic, keeping us guessing how it will turn out.
• Tammy allows her son to face the challenge, realizing that he is too old to just be told the answers. I love the way the author shows the impact of her prayerful support.
• Fundamentalists are beautifully shown to be motivated by charity, while at the same time the weakness of their sola scriptura position is exposed.
• I also enjoyed the contrast between the reactions of the characters who were seeking Truth and those who felt threatened by it. (As a convert, I can appreciate both positions!)

Not only is much excellent apologetic material included in a natural, enjoyable, and engaging format, but it is done with charity and even humility. Topics covered include the Inquisition, the papacy, the role of Mary, and the authority and interpretation of the Bible.

The richness of the Faith comes through in other ways as well. I especially loved the way the author portrays the uniqueness of the Sacrifice of Christ even as it is extended through time in the re-presentation of that Sacrifice in the Mass. Other elements woven into the story include questions of what is really important in life, the support of the Christian community, and the power of prayer.

All in all a very satisfying Catholic novel.

Highly recommended.

The 2003 release of the novel The Da Vinci Code created one of the largest literary crazes in recent history. With sales of almost 6 million in its first year, the novel gained a cult-like following. Author Dan Brown's ability to blend fact and fiction left many readers questioning what they really knew of the origins of Christianity. News is now out that we can expect to see the story in theaters in about a year. Certainly viewers will come away with many of the same questions readers had as to how much, if any, of the story line is factual, and how much is fiction.

Fortunately for those who want to sort out the facts, Amy Welborn has written decoding Da Vinci: the Facts Behind the Fiction of the Da Vinci Code. Welborn covers everything from the marketing of the book to the sources of information presented, and ultimately reveals a "startling number of blatant, glaring errors on matter great and small that should send up red flags to anyone reading the novel as a source of facts, rather than just pure fiction" (decoding Da Vinci p. 10). She also helps explain why this confusion over fact versus fiction is occurring when she states:

Historical fiction is a very popular genre, but in writing historical fiction, the author makes an implicit deal with the reader. He ... promises that while the novel concerns fictional characters engaged in imagined activities, the basic historical framework is correct. [Readers] trust the author is telling the truth about history. In The Da Vinci Code, imaginative detail and false historical assertions are presented as facts and the fruit of serious historical research, which they simply are not. (p. 21 italics added)

decoding Da Vinci is handily divided into a preface, a section entitled "How to Use this Book", an introduction which provides a plot synopsis, ten chapters (each addressing one key issue of the book), and an epilogue. The plot synopsis is thorough enough that you need not have read the novel to make use of this book. Each chapter also ends with further reading suggestions and questions for review and discussion. Readers can thus study particular issues in more depth on their own, or even use the material for a group study. The book is a quick read from cover to cover, but also organized so that each chapter stands on its own for easy reference.

Throughout her book, Welborn uses a tone readers will be familiar with from her Prove It series and other writings. Straightforward and to-the-point, she is never condescending or preachy. The book thus becomes a powerful tool to help counter the myths Brown has presented in his original work.

The up-coming movie release makes this book an important and timely choice for adults and older teens to read.

This is a really nifty overview of the faith organized into 16 segments over 6 pages:

The Transmission of Divine Revelation
The Blessed Trinity
God the Father
God the Son, Jesus Christ
God the Holy Spirit
Creation and the Fall, Redemption
The Holy Catholic Church
The Four Marks of the Church
The Blessed Virgin and the Saints
The Seven Sacraments
Grace, Justification and Virtue
Catholic Moral Teaching
Sin
The Commandments
The Last Things

Each segment gives a brief, but surprisingly complete, overview of Catholic teaching with references to the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Bible as well as details on when and where major dogmas of the Church were defined.

This seems like a great overview for parents and teachers wishing to get a better handle on Church teaching or for high school students in the midst of Catechism and Apologetics studies. Handy for general reference as well.

Here's a small sample, a segment from The Commandments section which explains the 5th Commandment:

5. You shall not kill (CCC 2318-30)

- Commands us to respect the lives of others and our own, honoring our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit.

- Prohibits murder, abortion, suicide, euthanasia, sterilization, mutilations and non-therapeutic amputations, kidnapping, gluttony, drug use, drunkenness, seeking revenge, anger, hatred, and illegitimate war.

Nicely illustrated with images of stained glass windows.

Thomas Woods, Jr. wrote a book to amend the erroneous attitude prevalent in society today – the Catholic Church has had only a negative impact on Western Civilization. Titled, How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization, Dr. Woods, a history professor at a community college in New York, details the many contributions of the Catholic Church throughout history, primarily during the “Dark Ages” and “Middle Ages”.

From science to natural law, from the university system to the system of architecture, from the theories of free-market economies to the theories of morality, Dr. Woods details the influence and innovations of the Catholic Church.

This is not an unbiased, unemotional textbook. Dr. Woods states from the beginning that he is trying to show his students, and his readers, that the Church was in the forefront as the Western World began to civilize, began to make laws to protect the innocent, began to build and trade and participate in the world. Woods’ love of his Church and desire to set the record straight are prevalent throughout the text.

Using contemporary and modern scholars’ work, Dr. Woods defends his thesis admirably. Often quoting even those who are known anti-Church voices – including Martin Luther -- the history professor gives his reader lessons on the Benedictines’ actions which helped spread the Gospel and keep the “light of civilization” burning during the reign of Barbarianism known as the “Dark Ages”. He also gives a detailed account of the spread of monasticism and the many examples of the spread of practical, technical, charitable and educational skills accomplished by these monks.
Today’s university system is also beholden to the Church for the ability to debate, discover and develop new theories of life. He explains that the creation of the university system, directed by the Church, was committed to reason and rational argument and that there was a spirit of inquiry that has amounted to “a gift from the Latin Middle Ages to the Modern World”. Further, the Church is responsible for retaining much of the valuable scholarship from the ancient times: “massive translation efforts brought forth many of the great works of the ancient world….including the geometry of Euclid; the logic, metaphysics, natural philosophy and ethics of Aristotle; and the medical work of Galen.”

Woods explains that science is another field where the Church has been unfairly disparaged in recent times. Astronomy (even with the problems with Galileo), optics, biology, geology, seismology are just a few of the subjects where Catholic religious and laymen delved and developed theories and understandings.

Law – natural, international and modern – can also be tracked to the influence and innovation of the Catholic Church. Economics and the free-market theories are a direct contribution of Jesuit scholars – long before the eighteenth century theorists who get the bulk of the credit for free-market theories.

Dr. Woods’ book can become a bit didactic in his vehemence to set the record straight. The reader must understand that this book has a stated bias and must further understand that Dr. Woods is championing a cause that negates much of the history all of us have learned. That said, this is a book that all Catholics should read – a book that will help us all to explain to others the great contributions of our Church over the past two centuries. Interestingly, Southern Catholic College, a newly formed Catholic school in Georgia uses this book for their Freshman History text book.