Reasons to Believe

March 12, 2007
Many times in its 2,000-year history, the Catholic Church was under tremendous scrutiny and even persecution, thus necessitating the faithful to provide a cogent and passionate explanation of doctrine to skeptics. These explanations developed into a formal branch of theology known as "apologetics." Hahn, an increasingly popular theologian, speaker and writer, has grabbed the doctrinal baton with books like The Lamb's Supper
and Hail, Holy Queen.
Here he presents a contemporary apologetics for those who feel a need to defend their faith in the postmodern world. Hahn certainly knows the Catechism, and his writing is concise and certain. He unabashedly declares the Catholic faith to be "the only Christian body that professes one faith, undivided, unchanged, throughout the world and throughout the ages." While some may be persuaded by this rhetoric, such phrases will come across to others as overly triumphalistic, especially since the history of the church includes many doctrinal disputes and painful clashes over belief that Hahn glosses over. Readers wrestling with doubts about their faith may not find much solace in Hahn's work, but Catholics who feel the need to articulate their viewpoint to fellow believers and nonbelievers could benefit from Hahn's clear explanation of doctrine.

June 1, 2007
Hahn (theology, Franciscan Univ. of Steubenville; "The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth") has written a basic book of apologetics for Roman Catholic theology. Apologetic theology attempts to offer reasonable arguments in defense of religious beliefs, but it is generally considered a weak form of discourse precisely because it is so defensive. Readers looking for new reasons to believe in Christianity won't find them here; these are just old arguments repackaged in contemporary language. Hahn relies on natural theology, proofs for the existence of God, the dialectic between good and evil, arguments about the limitations of reason, the claim that the Bible says it's so, the testimony of the saints, and the teachings of the pope for his defense of the faith. Weakest is probably his criticism of non-Catholics and his claim that only Catholics can properly understand the Bible. Is this not old wine in old wineskins? Not recommended.James A. Overbeck, Atlanta-Fulton P.L.

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