Growing up, I often had the opportunity to speak up on behalf of the faith. By the time I was in high school, I like to think I was fairly eloquent when doing so. I grew up grounded in the Catholic faith and always had friends and acquaintances from Baptist or evangelical backgrounds, so it was common to have friendly discussions about the meaning of Christianity and, particularly, the role of the Catholic Church. I discovered apologetics as a teenager, and I have carried that interest into my priesthood. For those exploring the faith or helping others to do so, I want to share some of the best resources I have found.
As you will see, I got a little carried away, but I don’t want to eliminate any of the books. The first resource listed in each category is where I would start. And if you can only read five, start here:
Trent Horn, Why We’re Catholic.
Christopher West, Theology of the Body for Beginners.
Patrick Madrid, Surprised by Truth.
C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man.
Brandon Vogt, Why I Am Catholic (And You Should Be Too).
Apologetics
Apologetics is not the science of saying you’re sorry. Rather, it comes from the Greek apologia and means “defense of the faith.” It recalls the first letter of St. Peter:
Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope (1 P. 3:15).
Learning to defend the faith brings a lot of joy and is best accomplished in community. Find someone else who has the same interest.
General Apologetics
Trent Horn. He has written some great books on apologetics. I would recommend Why We’re Catholic. This is the best book I have found for our students coming into the Church. He lays out the various topics well in a way that is digestible for the modern reader.
Peter Kreeft, Handbook of Christian Apologetics. This book gives a lot of answers and will be especially helpful for people seeking a rational explanation of the faith.
Brandon Vogt, What to Say and How to Say It. Vogt lays out his arguments forcefully and organizes his topics well.
Brandon Vogt, Why I Am Catholic (And You Should Be Too). This is a great book with personal testimony and reasons for being Catholic.
Jimmy Akin, The Salvation Controversy. Jimmy Akin from Catholic Answers has decades of experience in apologetics. He does a great job laying out the important topics and bringing people the truth in an understandable way.
Bishop Robert Barron, Catholicism. He turned his hit TV series into a book. It is very worthwhile showing people the beauty of the faith, but may be a bit heady for some.
Christology
Brant Pitre, The Case for Jesus. This great theologian helps the reader to see why it is clear that Jesus truly existed and is who he claims to be.
Existence of God
Matt Fradd, Does God Exist? A Socratic Dialogue on the Five Ways of Thomas Aquinas. Matt Fradd explains things in a way that is down to earth.
Edward Feser, Five Proofs of the Existence of God. This philosophy professor is one of the foremost experts on the five ways of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Pope and the Church
Patrick Madrid, Pope Fiction. In the tradition of 1990s Catholic speakers, Madrid loves puns but gives a coherent defense of the Catholic teaching on the papacy.
Secularism
George Rutler, A Crisis in Culture. As Christianity has been consistently plagued by attacks in the West, secularism has risen as a new religion. Fr. Rutler explores the meaning of this for Christianity and for the world.
New Age
Mitch Pacwa, Catholics and the New Age. He explores his own experience with New Age ideology during his priestly formation and explains why this is incompatible with Catholic teaching.
John Bartunek, Spiritual But Not Religious. Fr. John does a wonderful job of laying out the way the world often looks at spirituality today. He helps the reader to understand why spirituality without religion does not work.
Sexuality and the Human Person
Christopher West, Theology of the Body for Beginners. Christopher West has helped “translate” Pope St. John Paul’s teaching for generations of Catholics, especially in the United States. This book is a very helpful introduction to the best of what the Church teaches about the meaning of the human body.
Jason Evert, Male, Female, Other? The author explores the meaning of sexuality in the face of a world that seems to be redefining everything.
Helpful Church Documents
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Dominus Iesus. This Declaration explains clearly what the Church teaches about the uniqueness of Jesus Christ and the role of the Church in salvation.
Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium. The Gospel of Jesus Christ grants us true joy.
Pope St. John Paul II, Redemptor Hominis. His first encyclical letter is a great help to falling in love with Jesus and his Church.
Catechism of the Catholic Church. This is a great resource, but can be difficult to just read straight through while lying on the beach.
Stories of People Coming Home to the Church
Patrick Madrid, Surprised by Truth. These are great stories of men and women finding their way to or back to the Church. I remember fondly reading this as a teenager.
Scott and Kimberly Hahn, Rome, Sweet Home. The Hahns chronicle their conversion story, echoing much of what was reported in Scott’s pivotal conversion story tape that we all listened to in the car during the late 1990s. One of the big surprises for me was how different their journeys were, despite being married to each other.
Sohrab Ahmari, From Fire By Water. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to grow up a secular Muslim in Iran and become Catholic in the United States? Ahmari tells the tale, and his journalistic talent makes it that much more exciting.
St. John Henry Newman, Apologia Pro Vita Sua. This man went from being an Anglican cleric to a Catholic priest and eventually a cardinal. As part of the Oxford Movement in England, he sought always the truth, and this led him to the Catholic Church.
Podcasts
Matt Fradd, Pints with Aquinas. He has lots of fascinating conversations with figures from Catholicism and beyond. Apologetics comes up often.
Jason Evert, Lust is Boring. Speaking about the meaning of human sexuality, the discourse comes back constantly to the value of human existence and Christ, thus serving as a good impulse towards learning about the faith.
Catholic Answers. This service out of San Diego has been forming people in the faith for decades.
Lila Rose, The Lila Rose Show. She gives a feminine voice to talking about the Catholic faith.
Other Helpful Books
C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man. What does it mean to be human? C.S. Lewis explores the question in this short book.
George Weigel, The Courage to be Catholic. He gives great perspective on what it means to be Catholic in a world that tends to criticize the Church.
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity. This book has helped countless men and women to encounter the Christian faith. People might need an extra nudge to discover the Catholic faith.
Timothy Radcliffe, What is the Point of Being Christian. Written by an English intellectual, this book explores the faith from a rather heady angle.
Cardinal Josef Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI), God and the World. This is one of the most beautiful interviews ever, discussing what it means to be Christian and Catholic.
Pope St. John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope. This book is comparable to Ratzinger’s God and the World. It brings hope at the same time that it draws the reader closer to the Church.
G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy. Although a bit older, his thought is coherent and points the way to Christianity, specifically Catholicism.
A friend asked me what books I would suggest for apologetics, so I came up with this list. It was great to go back over so many titles I’ve read over the years and brought some things to my radar that I need to pick up again. Exploring the faith is wonderful, and doing it with a friend is even better. Hopefully, we can all be the guiding hand, leading another person closer to the truth. Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (cf. Jn. 14:6).