Learn how not to undermine your own
apologetics efforts
Catholic apologetics is back. It's everywhere. As
a professional apologist, Mark Brumley sees this renaissance as an immensely good thing
— an essential part of the Church's evangelical mission.
Grave dangers
threaten good apologetics
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 Apologetics and Evangelization.
The deadly
sins of apologetics and evangelization exposed
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.
"In writing about the
seven deadly sins of apologetics, Brumley is not rejecting apologetics but rather
defending it from itself. He shows how an apologetics that seeks to prove too much can
undermine the very faith it is intended to support. He also shows how an apologetics that
builds on reason alone, instead of deferring to the word of God, can impoverish the faith
of Christians, as did liberal Protestantism.
"There is no need for
me to summarize the contents of this brief, lively, and eminently readable book. At a
moment when apologetics is gaining new vitality in English-speaking Catholicism, Brumley's
book could serve as a valuable handbook for all of the new apologists. It could save them
from the vocational hazards that are almost inseparable from their calling." — Avery
Cardinal Dulles, S.J., Professor of Religion and Society, Fordham University
"Our mission is to
advance God's work of redeeming and sanctifying the world, to bring all people to
salvation in Jesus Christ. The value of Mark Brumley's book is that he helps us see that.
He also gives us the tools to act on it. He is articulate, persuasive, balanced, and
sensible, and the spirit he brings to this marvelously readable, useful work demonstrates
Catholic apologetics at its best: zeal for the truth, informed by patience, respect and
love. I can offer no higher praise. — Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput,
Bishop of Denver
"This book should be
required reading for all amateur and professional Catholic apologists. It is genuinely
useful and totally trustworthy, faithful both to the Catholic faith and to human reason
and good sense, for it has obviously been tested under `battlefield conditions' and
verified." — Peter Kreeft, Professor of Philosophy, Boston
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