The New Catholic Answer Bible

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Dave Armstrong

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ABOUT THIS BOOK

Certain anti-Catholic Protestant apologists have lately been waxing ridiculously about how this volume is sending a mixed message to its poor, pathetic readers. I made a passing remark about the “notoriously liberal” (1970) footnotes for the New American Bible (the translation used) which has been seized upon for the purpose of a wholesale attack on the supposed massive uncertainty in Catholic dogmatic theology, as if no one can figure out what the Church teaches regarding any given doctrine (and as if footnotes of but one translation carry any sort of magisterial authority).

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It’s utterly obvious, exactly what the attraction of this Bible is: why it is selling well, and consistently in the Top Fifty in its category; often in the Top Ten (as I write today it is #18,780 sales rank on Amazon [currently #65,209 after 16 years, and 88% 5-star ratings out of 511 total], which is very good; placing it at #28 in the Top 100 in the “Catholic” category).

The attraction is the collection of 88 “apologetic inserts,” written by myself and Dr. Paul Thigpen (half of them each; the original Catholic Answer Bible, which were my notes alone). There are a million different Bibles on the market. For one like this to sell so well, clearly the inserts are causing people to purchase. No one buys a Bible for its footnotes, unless it is a “study Bible” with very extensive ones. I’ve certainly never done that myself, and I own some 30 or more different Bibles. Yet these critics insist that Catholics who purchase the Bible are thoroughly confused by the “mixed messages” being sent.

It’s all a bunch of hot air. So there are some theologically liberal errors to be found in some of the notes; big wow. That’s not why readers have (and buy) the Bible in the first place. Most probably don’t even read the footnotes. They want the apologetic notes. That’s how the Bible is promoted on the back cover and on its book description and purchase pages on the web, which never mention the brief footnotes that are included, as with almost any Bible. Barnes and Noble, for example, states:

The NEW Catholic Answer Bible is available in two editions – Large Print and Librosario®. Both editions feature 88 of the most common questions Catholics are asked about their faith.

Likewise, all of the 25 customer reviews on amazon (23 = 5 stars, 2 = 4 stars) without exception discuss the inserts:

1) “The authors examine many difficult or controversial teachings and for each one, give a clear explanation for why we believe what we believe. This in and of itself is extremely useful.” [10-12-08]

2) “this answer Bible offers brief sections every few pages that explains certain Catholic beliefs with Biblical references.” [10-3-08]

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