Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 230.2
EAN: 9780385509350
ISBN: 0385509359
Label: Doubleday
Manufacturer: Doubleday
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 240
Publication Date: 2007-05-08
Publisher: Doubleday
Release Date: 2007-05-08
Studio: Doubleday

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.

Customer Rating:
Summary: reasons to believe
Comment: I've read numerous other Hahn books and I find this one difficult to follow. Not an easy read that's for sure. At least not for me...

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Latter day disciple
Comment: Dr. Hahn is as eloquent in his writings about our Catholic beliefs, as he is when teaching orally. His deep faith and vast knowledge of all things scriptual are most inspiring. This book should be read several times by sincere apologists who do not know enough to stand on their own.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Reasons to Believe
Comment: Good book - some parts more dense and harder to apply to life than others. Overall, I would recommend the book. It was shipped in a very timely fashion and in good condition, by the way.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: LOVE SCOTT HAHN
Comment: Scott Hahn is an exellent resource for finding the truth and developing your spiritual life! He's a wealth of information!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: "Powerful Reasons -- Powerfully Expressed"
Comment: 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.

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