And Love - Why We're Catholic - Our Reasons for Faith

I recently converted and wish I had had this book during RCIA. Wonderful book. Mr. Horn does an excellent job of presenting the catholic faith and why we believe what we do and do what we do. I have spent most of my life as a Protestant and would suggest this book to anyone interested in learning more about Christianity.

I always look forward to new books by Trent Horn. I so enjoy his engaging and winsome writing style. There is intellectual heft behind his arguments presented in a challenging, but non-combative style.

He starts by discussing objective truth and defining terms regarding truth claims. While the discussion is around the self-refuting claims of moral relativism, he doesn’t use that term. The next chapter deals with “Why we believe in Science” and the problems of scientism. Since the Church vs. Science is such a commonly mistaken view it is important to address this early one.

The chapters go on to build on the existence of God and answering objections regarding Jesus and other common topics regarding the Church. All the chapters are fairly short, but packed with information. Throughout he is careful to define terms.

So overall a very good book as an introduction to various apologetics topics that can be used to shore up your own knowledge or given to someone who has questions.

Just read the book, “Why We’re Catholic.” Absolutely fantastic! The first 9 chapters are what any good Christian should believe, then the book turns more uniquely Catholic. More on the Catholic liturgy would have been nice, as that is so important. I have two other constructive criticisms: The first is how Trent handled the sexual abuse scandal. He tried to soften the sin by basically saying – ‘Look the Protestants have similar percentage of sexual abuse scandals.’ That may be true, but there are significant differences --- most of the Protestant scandals are heterosexual, most do not involve children, many are consensual (albeit adulterous). Reminds me when my brother got busted doing something wrong and his defense was “what about what Frankie did?!”
The reality is that some Catholic seminaries actually attract homosexuals. Many years back, one in NY was practically a sexual perversion clubhouse (according to a trustworthy source). Celibacy and pornography also contribute. They create a demonic synergy. Many men simple don’t have the gift of celibacy, but the Call is so strong, they become priests anyway. Some (not all) find some escape or relief in pornography, but after a while, that gets boring to them – so they view more bizarre things, that gets boring – then even more bizarre. Before they know it they are looking at gay porn and child porn – then some act it out (like the one in New England who had orgies in the rectory). I believe the VAST majority of priests are good, safe, honorable men of God – but there is a significant problem in the Church. I like Pope Francis’ zero tolerance policy.
Another discrepancy (at least for me) is the “ever-virgin” section of the book. Trent uses a false analogy (or false logic) regarding the word “until” (Mary remained a virgin “until” she gave birth). His argument doesn’t have much grammatically/linguistic support either in the Greek. His example “Until death” is a radically different figure of speech than “until birth” or “until graduation” and so forth. It’s apples and oranges. I have heard the argument he presents before and admit it opens up the realm of possibility, but that’s about it – it’s possible. I am open to the idea, but I simply have not yet heard a convincing argument for it, in fact, according to the Law it would have made Mary a bad wife never to have marital relations with Joseph.
These issues aside, the book is amazing! Not perfect (but what is?), but still amazing overall. A lot of great info and easy to read. I’m going to have my wife and kids read it and it has had a significant impact on my journey back to the Catholic Church.

Yes.This book makes many interesting points (like that the Catholic Church may indeed supported science heavily for 6 centuries (end of Middle Ages till around today)more so than any other institution.
Now as to the second part of my review title. In Sep. of 2014 it was shown in Discover magazine that water is indeed older than the sun. This agrees with genesis Chapter One. Important, Bible-located science facts like this and a round Earth hanging on nothing and much more support the Bible as indeed the word of God.

I bought this book simply for its explanation of how most Catholics view their faith. I am a Catholic myself, a convert, but I'm taken aback by this, and this book has stated the cultural Catholic schtick better than anything I've ever seen. Not recommended as a serious guide to being a Catholic or a Christian. Good for the purposes I bought it for.

This is a great introduction to the Catholic faith. The book is easy to read and the chapters are not long. I will be trying to place this book into many hands. This book is from Catholic Answers Press an apologetic resource so you can know that what your reading is the truth. So glad I read this book even though I'm a cradle Catholic.

Great intro to Catholicism and why you might want to be Catholic. It touches on all the important issues without being too dry or wordy. Really easy to read with logical, easy to understand explanations. Definitely recommend this to non-Catholics and Catholics alike.