A study of four outstanding books of Christian apologetics

A study of four outstanding books of Christian apologetics

Author: Semper, I. J. (Isidore Joseph), 1883-

Year: 1928

INTRODUCTION The four books which are studied in this pamphlet, while widely differing in aim and subject-matter, have a common apologetic basis. Each book is a defence of some phase of Catholicism. Cardinal Newman traces the great anti-Catholic tradition back to its sources, and subjects it to the scrutiny of his keen logic and his good-natured sarcasm. G. K. Chesterton gives reasons for his faith in the Apostles's Creed, a creed which he accepts on the authority of the Catholic Church. Hilaire Belloc defends the historic Church of the ages with the weapons of a historian, and his book is the best presentation of the philosophy of history from the Catholic viewpoint. Robert Louis Stevenson, a non-Catholic, in his defence of the saintly Father Damien, unwittingly pays a beautiful tribute to that fair garden whose seed is the blood of the martyrs. This little study is issued in the hope that it may lead to a widespread reading knowledge of four masterpieces of Christian apologetics, which have every right to be styled good books for the times. CONTENTS 1. "Present Position of Catholics in England" by Cardinal Newman 5 2. "Orthodoxy" by Gilbert K. Chesterton . . .11 3. "Europe and th