John C. Wright, Co-Founder of the Wright/Shea Mutual Admiration Society…

Last updated on: December 30, 2014 at 7:01 pm by Mark Shea

John C. Wright, Co-Founder of the Wright/Shea Mutual Admiration Society… 2014-12-30T19:01:42-07:00 Mark Shea

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…sends me an Emergency Request on behalf of a reader. I give it and my reply here:

Subject: Emergency Question! What books to give to a would be convert

Mark, I just got the following comment on my blog, and I do not have any list of books to give him:

Wow, I might need to convert!

Though now that my comment is somewhat near the top, I do have a question for John. (And anyone else whod care to interject.

For someone such as I who was raised in fundamentalist anti-Catholicism, rejected it as the crass bigotry it is, and now finds himself as a Christian without a denomination; what would be your recommended reading for someone seeking a logical and historical basis to accept Catholicism as the one true church.

If it helps, as it is now Im coming from a prima scriptura perspective and I cant seem to rectify having a sole human authority who is deemed as infallible (with little to no scriptural basis for such authority). Im also having an issue seeing the Catholic church as an unbroken institution reaching back to Peter taking into account the instances when it was hijacked by corrupt humans (the Borgia popes for example) or in instances when the Holy Spirit could not be said by any sane Christian to have a hand in its actions. (The Inquisition, etc.)

Yes, I am honestly asking to be converted. I realize thats an odd occurrence.

Here’s a bit:

My By What Authority: An Evangelical Discovers Catholic Tradition, Making Senses Out of Scripture: Reading the Bible as the First Christians Did, This
is my Body: An Evangelical Discovers the Real Presence and Mary, Mother of the Son. All but the last are available here: www.mark-shea.com/books.html A 3
CD set based on By What Authority, This is my Body and Mary, Mother of the Son
(called “An Evangelical Discovers the Catholic Faith”) is available at that
link as well. In addition, I have a piece in infallibility here: http://www.mark-shea.com/infallibility.html (In brief, the corruption of certain Popes is evidence for, not against, infallibility. Because infallibility is not the guarantee of episcopal sinlessness, but rather the guarantee that no matter how sinful and stupid an apostle or his successor may be, God the Holy Spirit will make sure that the Church never defines an error as a dogma.)
As to the Papacy, the best resources I know are Stephen K. Ray’s Upon this Rock (http://www.amazon.com/Upon-This-Rock-Scripture-Apologetics/dp/0898707234/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333066589&sr=8-1),and
Jesus, Peter & the Keys: A Scriptural Handbook on the Papacy by Scott**
**Butler, Dalgren and Hess.

William Jurgens’ Faith of the Early Fathers (Volumes One, Two, and Three

G.K. Chesterton:

Orthodoxy

The Everlasting Man

St. Thomas Aquinas: The Dumb Ox

St. Francis of Assisi

Thomas Howard

Evangelical is Not Enough
On Being Catholic

Peter Kreeft

Fundamentals of the Faith

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Heaven but
Never Dreamed of Asking

Three Philosophies of Life

A Summa of the Summa
Josef Pieper

Four Cardinal Virtues
Faith Hope Love

Scott Hahn

The Lamb’s Supper

Reasons to Believe: How to Understand, Explain, and
Defend the Catholic Faith

Hope that helps!

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