The Ultimate Apologist's Book List
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- Опубликовано: 2 июл 2024
- In this episode Trent shares nearly 50 book recommendations that will help anyone better defend the Catholic faith.
Timestamps
00:00 - Introduction
03:50 - Atheism
09:39 - Jesus/Resurrection
14:23 - The Bible
18:36 - General Catholic Apologetics
27:59 - The Papacy
30:00 - Saints and Salvation
35:00 - Life Issues
37:00 - Marriage and Sexuality
The List:
I'm not including classic works, the Bible, or magisterial texts. Also, inclusion on this list does not mean I agree with everything an author has ever said or even everything they say in the works listed. I simply find their works to be helpful overall in equipping the faithful. Finally, the fact that a work is not included is not indicative of my opinion toward the work or its author.
Note: (A) means the work is an advanced treatment of a topic.
Atheism
• Five Proofs of the Existence of God by Edward Feser
• One Less God than You by John DeRosa
• A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos by Geraint Lewis and Luke Barnes
• God and Cosmos: Moral Truth and Human Meaning by David Baggett and Jerry L. Walls
• How Reason Can Lead to God by Joshua Rasmussen
• Reasonable Faith by William Lane Craig (A)
• An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion by Brian Davies (A)
Jesus/Resurrection
• The Case for Jesus: The Biblical and Historical Evidence for Christ by Brant Pitre
• The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus by Gary Habermas and Michael Licona
• Investigating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ: A New Transdisciplinary Approach by Andrew Loke (A)
• The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition by Paul Rhodes Eddy and Gregory Boyd (A)
The Bible
• Hard Sayings: A Catholic Approach to Answering Bible Difficulties by Trent Horn
• The Historical Reliability of the Gospels by Craig Blomberg
• The Historical Reliability of John’s Gospel by Craig Blomberg
• On the Reliability of the Old Testament by K.A. Kitchen
• The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible by Curtis Mitch and Scott Hahn
• A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament by John Bergsma and Brant Pitre
Scripture, Tradition, and Authority
• The Bible is a Catholic Book by Jimmy Akin
• The Meaning of Tradition by Yves Congar
• Why Catholic Bibles Are Bigger by Gary Michuta
• Teaching with Authority by Jimmy Akin
• Not by Scripture Alone, ed. Robert Sungenis (A)
• True or False Pope: Refuting Sedevacantism and other Modern Errors by John Salza and Robert Siscoe (A)
General Catholic Apologetics
• The Case for Catholicism by Trent Horn
• Meeting the Protestant Challenge by Karlo Broussard
• A Daily Defense: 365 Days (plus one) to Becoming a Better Apologist by Jimmy Akin
• The Early Church Was the Catholic Church by Joe Heschmeyer
• The Fathers Know Best: Your Essential Guide to the Teachings of the Early Church by Jimmy Akin
• The Real Story of Catholic History by Steve Weidenkoppf
The Papacy
• The Papacy: What the Pope Does and Why It Matters by Steve Ray and Dennis Walters
• Pope Peter by Joe Heschmeyer
• Pope Fiction: Answers to 30 Myths and Misconceptions About the Papacy by Patrick Madrid
• The Papacy: Revisiting the Debate Between Catholics and Orthodox by Erick Ybarra (A)
Saints and Salvation
• Purgatory is for Real by Karlo Broussard
• Any Friend of God’s Is Friend of Mine: A Biblical and Historical Explanation of the Catholic Doctrine of the Communion of Saints by Patrick Madrid
• Behold Your Mother: A Biblical and Historical Defense of the Marian Doctrines by Tim Staples
• The Drama of Salvation by Jimmy Akin
• Salvation: What Every Catholic Should Know by Michael Barber
• Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist by Brant Pitre
• The Biblical Basis for the Mass by Tom Nash
Life Issues
• Persuasive Pro-life: How to Talk About Our Culture’s Toughest Issue by Trent Horn
• Start with What: 10 Principles for Thinking about Assisted Suicide by Stephanie Gray Connors
• Conceived by Science: Thinking Carefully and Compassionately about Infertility and IVF by Stephanie Gray Connors
• The Ethics of Abortion: Women’s Rights, Human Life, and the Question of Justice by Christopher Kaczor (A)
• Catholic Bioethics and the Gift of Human Life by William E. May (A)
Marriage/Sexual Ethics
• Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom by Ryan Anderson
• Living the Truth in Love: Pastoral Approaches to Same-Sex Attraction, eds. Janet Smith and Fr. Paul Check
• Catholic Sexual Ethics: A Summary, Explanation, & Defense by William E. May
• The Porn Myth: Exposing the Reality Behind the Fantasy of Pornography by Matt Fradd
• When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment by Ryan Anderson
• Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters by Abigail Shrier
• One Body: An Essay in Christian Sexual Ethics by Alexander Pruss (A)
• The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics by Robert Gagnon (A) 
Развлечения
Just a reminder, this list does not include classic works like the Summa, the Bible, or magisterial texts. It's more focused on recent apologetic works and just because someone isn't included doesn't mean I dislike their work. Finally, I will do a separate episode on books critiquing specific non-Catholic religions, churches, and ecclesial communities, however in prepping this list I will say we need more works addressing those specific areas (e.g. Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Mormonism, etc.).
Hey, Trent! Can you please make a video refuting Sedevacantism. A concerning number of Catholics are turning to it and other heretical things in order to feel better about the state of the Church. Even some of my friends.
me, a thomist: but but muh summa
Any books to recommend on the Trinity and the Real Presence in the Eucharist
Would you consider responding to Dimond's rebuttal to your rebuttal to the points made in the sedevacantism debate? ruclips.net/video/PS7qgmx8k0M/видео.html
@@rooforlife Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist by Dr Brant Pitre!
As a person from the "Loves buying books for the shelf, but rarely reads them" community! This video is the best ever!!
Jokes aside, I'm aiming to read more this year so please pray for me.
As someone who left that community I recommend starting to get very short books and increasing the page count after you get more comfortable reading.
Same, I made a dent in my reading list last year, but I still have 100+ books I want to read. Some I bought more than 3 years ago. I tried for a book a week last year, but this year I trying for a book every two weeks.
@@DudeNamedDuncanWe plan to read them, but then we don’t have time or find a new book that steals out attention
I'm a mix of that community and the "walking through libraries/bookstores and browsing books but never actually reading/buying them" club
I know this one didn't make it but I absolutely love Brant Pitre's, "Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary: Unveiling the Mother of the Messiah." It was the first apologetic book I ever read and that book and attending Mass with my grandmother was what convinced me to become Catholic, three years ago at 14 years old. Still have it and going to be baptized and Confirmed this Easter as a Catholic. Thanks Trent for all the work you do! Major part of my conversion.
Yeah. All due respect to Tim Staples but I found this book way more profound and convincing personally.
I’ve been meaning to check that one out. I have a friend who recommended that too
I almost read that one, but I ended up ordering Scott Hahn’s Hail, Holy Queen instead. After having finished it, I still was left with some unanswered questions. Anyone have any thoughts? Maybe I should order Pitre’s book, too.
Hail Holy Queen is fine but more of a quick sketch. Pitre's book is better.
@@melissat9120 Definitely go with Pitre's book. Much better and more in-depth.
Thanks, Trent, for the mention of "One Less God Than You" -- It's an honor to be on the list.
Hey John! I just heard about you yesterday when searching for a catholic review of WLC's book on the historical Adam! I'm so grateful I found that article! Then I went and subscribed to your podcast and I'm loving it!
@@joziti , thanks Jose for subscribing. I hope the podcast/articles serve you in your apologetics and evangelism.
Haha. That one bugs me because I want to say, “It’s fewer.” 😂
Let's go, perfect way to start the morning
Also first
While out of scope for this list, Fulton Sheen’s “The Mystical Body of Christ” is another great treatment of the Communion of Saints, if you’re looking for more on that topic. Thanks for the Madrid recommendation!
Thank you so much for the mention!!
Let me add the greatest book on Mary I have ever read: "Behold Your Mother: Jesus and The Jewish Roots of the Virgin Mary" by Dr. Brant Pitre. That book changed my life.
Thanks for putting this list out!
Another great video. Always appreciate book recommendations
Great list Trent!
I read a few books I got from off of your 2016 list, so I’m excited for this video!
THANK YOU for this video.
And thank you to all those in the comments who recommended other titles. I have my reading for the next several years lined up for me!
Let’s go!!! Thanks Trent! 😄
Thanks for doing this! I am constantly searching for these types of books!
Great. Thank you Sir Trent.
Thanks for the book recommendations, Trent!
I think when it comes to classics like Denzinger, even in the English Translation (synopsis) such as The Church Teaches, one has to learn to think with, "the mind of the Church." An example of this would be the Council of Trent's Decision on Baptism and it's necessity. Many Protestants and Fundamentalist Catholics will go straight to the decree, and quote it the same way that Protestants use "Proof Texts." in the Case of the book, The Church Teaches, one has to read the pages leading up to the Decrees, and see that the Council Fathers were not ignoring or denying the Baptism of Blood or Desire, but rather they were addressing the heretical teaching that Baptism is never necessary for our salvation, but merely an affirmation of our salvation because we are a believer as Baptists, and at the time Anabaptists of the day were asserting. So while it is a good source of Catholic Dogma, one must understand the context in which such decrees were formulated what they were limited to, and what errors they were addressing. I've not read Jimmy Aiken's book teaching with Authority, but it does sound like he deals with this issue.
Good morning, Trent!
Great list!
Thanks Trent!
Awesome! My pile of purchased but not read books will grow from about 25 to 35.
Just got Behold Your Mother for my own research into Catholicism so I’m glad to see it on this list
I love to have all your books I am from the Philippines and learning myself how to defend my catholic faith here in the Philippines🇵🇭sir
Wow. This is just the list I was waiting for. Ever consider adding influencer purchase links to your description lists to add another way to support the channel?
I have been gathering many books for my upcoming retirement, including many you recommend. I have a few of yours in my collection. I hope to live a long enough life to read them all. For out of print books a place to look is the internet archive, I have found many books that are made expensive by their rarity there. I found tradition and traditions there
Love this! I've been wanting to grow deeper and faith and have become interested in apologist ^_^❤
My book list just grew big time!
If a book is out of print and there is a PDF version online, then you should access it, 100% agree. But you can always leave a financial donation to the author for what you think the book is worth if you are able.
Dr Robert Haddad Defending the Faith is indispensable. An absolute must have. I wish it was bigger and covered more subjects.
I wish @trenthorn would make a book just like Haddads book but that covers everything the way Kreeft attempted to do in his handbook. But if Trent does it it will be Catholic from front to back.
Someone suggested Library '58 with books printed before 1958. Thank you for sharing your list.
I really love Defending the faith by Robert Haddad. Great Australian apologist.
One correction, it's "You're tearing me apart *LISA*". not Linda.
Thanks for the correction!
This is of the utmost importance
On the reliability of the NT - I would add two. "Jesus and the Eyewitnesses" by the great Protestant scholar Richard Bauckham. This book is very persuasive over and against the assessments of say, Bart Ehrman. I would also add "Rethinking the Dates of the New Testament- The Evidence for Early Composition" by Jonathan Bernier. I had previously read a couple French scholars in this area but their English translations are now out of print and very expensive. But Bernier pulls together many of the same arguments and evidence (as well others) and does it in a clear systemic fashion. The case is better than you might think it is. I was convinced many years ago and was glad to see this book appear - especially since it was so well done.
Finally, although not strictly apologetic and also "advanced", the following two works can really provide a strong foundation in two key areas. They are both by Dr. Lawrence Feingold. One is "Touched by Christ- The Sacramental Economy". "The other is The Eucharist: Mystery of Presence, Sacrifice, and Communion." These are used in the seminary he teaches in. So they can be used as reference books but they are also quite readable. Dr. Feingold has the invaluable teaching gift of bringing clarity to complex subjects. He is a great combination of being a learned Thomist and someone with devotional warmth and zeal.. It really comes through. He has lectures based on both books that can be found online. Touched by Christ was aired largely during 2020(18 lectures). The Eucharist is being covered now.
and for what its worth, I also agree with those who loved Pitre's "Jesus and The Jewish Roots of Mary"
Introductory Books About The Symbiotic History Between Christianity And Science:
1. Galileo Goes To Jail And Other Myths About Science And Religion (Ronald L Numbers)
2. The New Atheism, Myth, And History (Nathan Johnstone)
3. God's Philosophers (James Hannam)
4. The Light Ages: The Surprising Story of Medieval Science (Seb Falk)
5. Dominion (Tom Holland)
I started a list of Catholic recommended reading a few years back and add new titles as I hear about them. I'm excited to go through both this and your 2016 lists to see which titles are already on my list and which titles I want to add. I appreciate that you identify the more introductory texts from the advanced. Also - thanks for the heads up on Jimmy Akin's - The Daily Defense. I was excited to find that the companion podcast started January 1, so I started listening today.
24:26 I gotta mention this too: Jimmy Akin's Daily Defense Podcast!! Another commenter mentioned it on here, but it's like a companion to the book but in podcast format. Especially if you enjoy Bible/Catechism in a Year, you're probably gonna love this too. I haven't even listened to it yet but I'm just so excited to have discovered it completely by accident while browsing through the Catholic Answers Shop website. Completely free too!!
Somewhere, these books were recommended: The Poem of the Man-God by Maria Valtorta, and the Mystical City of God by Maria de Agreda ... they are on my to read list. Today just saw that our church is purging many books and I'm hoping to find these amongst them.
I love The Mystical City of God. It is 4 volumes and I’m reading it for the 2nd time. I’m about halfway through volume 3. It is excellent.
For an insanely deep dive into the papacy in the Bible and Early Church Fathers, I cannot recommend Steve Ray's "Upon This Rock" enough. It is absolutely insane how detailed the footnotes are!
Erick Ybarra's book that Trent mentioned is way deeper than that.
Plantinga's Justified Chistian Belief is another powerful addition.
Some of us have been having this conversation for so long that we could recite every argument and refutation by rote, but Plantinga comes at the debate from a novel and more fundamental angle.
I might add two Steve Ray books (Crossing The Tiber -and- Upon This Rock), these are more of a conversion story but steeped in great apologetics and excellent for starting out.
Book recommendations begin at 3:53
Thank you
22:04 As far as I know the book "Not By Scripture Alone" is not out of print, but can be ordered via Robert Sungenis' website in hardback, paperback as well as a PDF.
I bought my copy on Amazon for $19.00
God bless you
Trent horn is awesome!
In response to Dr. John Bergsma's brick of a book, I want to recommend his other books with stick figures-- the small one "Yes There Is A God" especially for the trip from Atheism to Catholicism in a way you could read off the pages to say to others in conversation. One future list suggestion is best books for kids (there's even fabric baby books these days)
Great List! But I missed books on Mariology
It made me smile how he added books from protestant writer too. Maybe we are not united by tradition or mass but we are united in Christ. Different approaches (Protestants or Catholic) same destination (Christ).
Thanks for the video Trent. What book would you recommend for someone who is trying to decipher whether Oriental Orthodoxy or Catholicism is the true faith and also one on the Filoque?
I wish we had more such books in our small country in Europe, because ordering from Amazon is quite expensive if you live here 😅
Kindle
update I just found what looks like to be a decent alternative: book depository
I recommend the book by David Conway "Rediscovery Of Wisdom" which is one of the best books on the topic of proofs of the existence of God (cosmological and teleological). Conway in his book provided answers to the objections of Hume and Kant.
Be sure to read it.
It would be worth supplementing this list with books on some specific historical issues often raised as an argument against the Church such as the Inquisition or the Crusades.
Introductory Books About The Symbiotic History Between Christianity And Science:
1. Galileo Goes To Jail And Other Myths About Science And Religion (Ronald L Numbers)
2. The New Atheism, Myth, And History (Nathan Johnstone)
3. God's Philosophers (James Hannam)
4. The Light Ages: The Surprising Story of Medieval Science (Seb Falk)
5. Dominion (Tom Holland)
Any suggestions what are the best books to learn the history of the Church? like an overview from the early Church to modern times, or at least until the reformation etc.?
Could you do a list of general catholic books, and include categories as prayer/spirtuality?
Aye Parthenos by Fr. Lawrence Cleanwork. Have I spelt any of that right? Can't find him, only cleaning products come up lol
Here is the book: www.amazon.com/Aiparthenos-Ever-Virgin-Understanding-Orthodox-Catholic/dp/1507798377
I want to reccomend "Keys Over the Christian World" by Scott Butler and John Collorafi
Subtitled "Evidence for Papal Authority [33 A.D.- 800 A.D.] from Ancient Latin, Greek, Chaldean, Syriac, Armenian, Coptic and Ethiopian documents"
Hi Trent you should take a look at Rabbi Tovia Singers videos on Isaiah 53 Id be interested to see your take on it!
Rabbi singer is an incredible character. Has shook me a few times.
Robert Spitzer is a good one too
Was not expecting a quote from The Room. Hahahahaha
7:20 "God to Lead Can Reason How"
I've tried to find the second edition of Persuasive Prolife but to no success. Does anybody know if it actually made it and if so where to buy it?
Thank you. I read several apologetic books many years ago and I'm not up on the current ones. By the way, you can't reason with a sedevacantist!
Only commenting this for the algo but we can't see the stacks of books on your desk at the start. We can only see the stacks of books... no table in sight. God bless ♥
Kenneth Kitchen was the teacher of one David Falk.
Need books defending new testament writers
Are you familiar with William Lane Craig’s children’s book series on the attributes of God? It seems like a good resource, but l’m not sure if I should trust it as a catholic mom.
Well, William Lane Craig is a neoclassical theist. That means his beliefs about God's attributes differ from Catholic doctrine. Divine simplicity and the doctrine of analogy make understanding the attributes of God very difficult.
is there any recent book on iconodulia?
Good List, and if you are adding books by Protestant and even Atheist why not "the work of Human Hands" by Father Cedeka. You might not agree with his Sede conclusions but he lays out a convincing case for the V2 changes in the Mass.
How about finding the book that explains a methodology of determining which revelations come from God and which revelations come from the "lying sprirt" recruited by Yahweh in 1 Kings 22? I would love to read that one!
Someone should write a book entitled something like "The Veracity and Limits of the New Testament," which both defends the reliability of the New Testament against atheists and the like that argue against the existence and resurrection of Christ and the like, while also pointing out how it does not teach and actually goes against Sola Scriptura and what Protestants claim about it.
I'd write it myself, but I'm already taking forever with working on the two books I'm currently writing.
Goody gumdrops! 📚
Can anybody recommend a good book or set of books on the history of the Protestant reformation?
I enjoy doing a lot of apologetics and want to learn more about the Protestant reformers, about their backgrounds, the movements, the immediate outcomes
There's a peculiar book by Brad S. Gregory. The Unitented Reformation. It's about the unintended consequences of the reformation movement. If you want a snippet, just do a search on youtube when he gave talk on the subject.
How about books on the relationship/history of science and religion?
1. Galileo Goes To Jail And Other Myths About Science And Religion (Ronald L Numbers)
2. The New Atheism, Myth, And History (Nathan Johnstone)
3. God's Philosophers (James Hannam)
4. The Light Ages: The Surprising Story of Medieval Science (Seb Falk)
5. Dominion (Tom Holland)
Any apologetics books for debating with Muslims or Mormons or Jehovah witnesses?
Did the bible make the list of books? Paul is off the hook!
Not a book, but have you read the writings of Dr Tomas Bogardus? He has several philosophy papers published on gender and transgenderism
Can I just buy your books and since you use all those books? HAHA Thanks for all you do.
❤
*runners up, Trent. Not runner ups
I put together a Habermas minimal facts arguement for the Pentateuch's veracity.
Oh no... I made a promise to my wife I would stop buying books for a whole year. I have so many!
I don't trust myself to listen to this list haha. Too tempting...
50 Books and only 3 of them are Trent's. I know he has more books than that.
I’ve got at least one from each category! One I would add is “Jesus, Interpreted: Benedict XVI, Bart Ehrman, and the Historical Truth of the Gospels” by Matthew Ramage. It gives Ehrman a fair read and takes him seriously, and then shows how Benedict XVI approaches certain problems. As a bonus, it shows how Benedict XVI more or less grappled with certain Magisterial decisions and demonstrates how to do that well. It’s challenging in the sense you might feel unsettled at certain points yet it is an ultimately freeing read as you learn how to retain the Patristic faith while embracing the positive elements of historical criticism. It’s a sequel to Dark Passages of the Bible by the same author.
I'd be interested in the best atheist books you've read too. Know your enemy?
Yves Congar, like many of the other nouvelle théologie theologians, is extremely suspect. It's better to just read Newman on tradition
Ah yes, another video for me to enable my book buying problem. I’ll take a side of fries with that please
Humanae Vitae
The entire world has just been given access to Trent Horn's full apologetics gun rack......look out, skeptics ;)
22:00 Even though I agree you can download a PDF of an out-of-print book, I'm not sure it's legal tho...
In many cases the copyright of out of print books have expired, so it is legal.
Pls rebutt the wmscog or the truthunedited channel
It was actually Lisa… not Linda
Ok i just gave this video its 999th thumbs up. Will somebody hit the button to get to a 1000?
If God exists (assuming belief in the existence of God), the best way to communicate with humanity would be through incarnation.
. If God created the world, and did not communicate with it, that would be immoral, because for every lost son who wants to know the father who begot him, it would be immoral for God to do so.
Well, a personal moral God must communicate with humanity, but how? If he communicates by sending revelations to people, there are many problems here. First, why these people in particular? Secondly, if you do not believe in the infallibility of the recipient of divine messages, then there will be a problem: how does God entrust the task of knowing Him to a human being who makes mistakes and perhaps sabotages the entire message? Is God unwise? But if you believe in the infallibility of the recipient of divine messages, here too there will be a problem, which is the fallacy of fatalism and taking away a person’s free will for the sake of a message. You will tell me that he accepted it, but this is not a point of truth. Being infallible for something he did not know is immoral and irrational.
There remains only one option, incarnation, for God to come in a human body on Earth. Here, the two problems of taking away free will and protecting his message will be solved, as God is free from error and does not make mistakes. It will certainly be a more responsible matter to deliver his message.
Not everyone who watches wants to be an apologist....
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” 1 Peter 3:15
The waffle house has found its new host
You are tearing me apart Lisa! NOT You are tearing me apart Linda! You are a noob Trent!
Have you actually read true or false pope? It is not a serious work, its full of misquotes, bad citations, and doesn't even address the core sedevacantist issue.
bros even copying Ortlund now but had to make his list bigger 💀
This is an update of a list I originally compiled in 2016. www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/the-ultimate-apologists-reading-list
This is fanatism toward Ortlund , No one you need to become someone.
@@alexs.5107 rather sensitive bunch, just a good-spirited jest! they both released book/list videos recently. trents has wayyy more. theyre about to have a discussion in a month or two, just a joking competitive remark, lighten up guys!