Rating: 
Summary: Excellent apologetic by a thoughtful writer
Review: Mark Shea's apologetic is a sort of stealth evangelism directed at evangelicals who have unwarranted prejudices against Catholicism. The author takes the reader on a journey through his own intellectual evolution from a staunch evangelical to an equally staunch Catholic. Shea's journey begins by him attepting to debunk the claims of the Jesus seminar which claims that "orthodoxy" is not the true Christianity seen in the NT, but rather later corrupting traditions added by power hungry clergy. While trying to prove the seminar wrong, Shea realizes his own unthought out reliance on tradition and how Evangelical assumptions are essentailly the same as the Seminar - though perhaps less radical. The question that really gave the author a rough time was the question of the canon. This question enabled the author to see how the seminar people were simply carrying Protestant "sola scriptura" logic to its natural conclusion. The author also realized during his search that many doctrines he took for granted really were not spelled out explicitly in scripture and that he had been relying on tradition. The book is very well written and easy to follow. Shea's style has been compared - rightly I believe, to C.S. Lewis. I witnessed someone close to myself completely change his attitude against Catholicism after reading this book. There is much food for thought here for both Protestants and Catholics.
Rating:
Summary: Highly readable, always enjoyable
Review: Mark Shea's clever and at times witty examination of the authority of Catholic tradition is a book I turn to again and again in my conversations with others and in my writing.A former Evangelical, Shea sets out to disprove reliance on Catholic Sacred Tradition for authority. He is unable to. His research and well-reasoned arguments make a solid case against the Evangelical argument of Scripture alone, and a solid case for Sacred Tradition as expressed by the Catholic Church. This book is short and easy to read. It is meant for the lay person, not the theologian.
Rating:
Summary: Unputdownable
Review: Of course this isn't an exhaustive review of the Authority issue (there are dozens of excellent books on this subject) but rather an account of the author's odyssey from 'sola scriptura' to full communion with the universal church, and the outlines of his struggle to find deeper truth. A thoroughly enjoyable read, and recommended. I've already ordered Shea's next book here on Amazon.
Rating:
Summary: Best of the Bunch
Review: There are many, many new books on Catholic apologetics written by former ("I'd rather die than become a Catholic!") Protestants. This is one of the best! His style is interesting. It could be described as 'point/counter-point' or 'playing the devil's advocate' regarding any new insight. Mr.Shea's logic is impeccable and his reasoning deductible. He arrives at conclusions that one might never gain yet, when presented, make total sense.
It's style should not offend any but the most strident anti-Catholic. Even to this mindset, his attitude is open and welcoming. His conclusions are hard to refute because, in coming to these logical ends, he anticipates objections, defines them, attempts to defend the objection, and finally states his conclusion only to begin the following chapter with, "Yes, but!!" Highly recommended to Protestants who are secure enough in their theology to look openly and Catholics who want to understand their faith more deeply.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent read, thought provoking
Review: This book is an excellent read. It played a large part in my conversion (reversion ?!) back to the Catholic Church. It details the questions and discovery of Mark Shea. While not extremely exegetical, it does provide a good starting point for understanding the Catholic Church's position on authority, both scriptural and magesterial.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent read, thought provoking
Review: This book is an excellent read. It played a large part in my conversion (reversion ?!) back to the Catholic Church. It details the questions and discovery of Mark Shea. While not extremely exegetical, it does provide a good starting point for understanding the Catholic Church's position on authority, both scriptural and magesterial.
Rating:
Summary: A breeze to read and top notch content
Review: This book is deceptively easy to read, the style is so engagingly casual. However, the book is full of insights and leaves the reader with a heightened sense of the profoundness of Christianity. It also sheds light on many aspects about Christianity that people take for granted but are actually not found in the Bible - for instance, why the "Sabbath" now falls on Sunday (whereas, properly speaking, would have been Saturday as it still is in Judaism), how the concept of the Trinity emerged, why so many Christian denominations agree that abortion is wrong, and how we even got the Bible, to name but a few. Many think being a Christian is just a matter of "the Bible and me". It pays to have an open mind: find out why there's more to it than that.
Rating:
Summary: Intelligent and entertaining story of discovery!
Review: This book is written in a format which is both informative and entertaining. After spending nearly three chapters building a defense against the modernism of the Jesus Seminar, the author, at the end of chapter three, realizes that his fundamentalism is really a form of modernism. The following chapters show the author's reasoning dismantling the doctrines of fundamentalism, and show where the real truth was all the time - in Catholicism. The book is similar to other Protestant-turned-Catholic stories, but I still unhesitatingly give it five stars because of the way the author tells the story: he leads himself into the trap of modernism, finds the truth, and that truth leads him out of the trap. The truth will, indeed, set you free!
Rating: 
Summary: Good Foundation For Understanding the Catholic Faith
Review: This was one of the first books I read in my journey that eventually led me to realize the Catholic Church was for me. As a Protestant all my life I needed a reasoned approach to the question of biblical authority and tradition. In the first few chapters I wasn't sure where the author was going and you might not either. But stick with it, underline, take notes. Don't rush through it and you will get a good overview of the topic. I would consider this invaluable for any person needing this information.
Rating: 
Summary: FAILS TO CONVINCE OF AN AUTHORITY APART FROM SCRIPTURE
Review: To Mark Shea's credit, By What Authority is a well written book that would encourage any Catholic, however, I don't think that the arguments put forth in his book are enough to convince most Protestants who have looked into these issues. Mark Shea makes some errors in promoting the idea that an extra-biblical tradition exists apart from Scripture. First, he shows us that the Old Testament contains certain traditions that were not written down right away, but are appealed to sometime later in Israel's history. For example, he tells us that some traditions in the Old Testament were not written down until the New Testament period, such as Jude's reference to Moses' body, as well as the reference in 2 Tim. 3:8-9. But what is wrong with this argument? The argument fails because all of these traditions he appeals to are recorded in Scripture (they are not extra-biblical). It also seems that he doesn't recognize that the doctrine of sola scriptura only applies to the period after revelation. He then goes on to use Lk 1:3-4, as if it supports the Catholic position, but in reality, it supports the doctrine of sola scriptura. The verse reads, "It seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught." This verse tells us that we can know with certainty because this oral tradition is inscriptured; it in no way suggests an infallible tradition apart from Scripture. He also suggests that the Protestant doctrine of the authority of Scripture is based upon circular reasoning, while the Catholic doctrine of an infallible Church is linear. The Protestant argument rests on Scriptures intrinsic value as God's Word. Protestants appeal to the testimony of the church, theological correctness, the revelatory nature of the miraculous, historical accuracy, among other things, to support their position. Unfortunately, Mark Shea fails to present a strong Protestant defense. He then tells us that the argument for the infallibility of the Roman Catholic Church is a linear argument rather than a circular argument, by quoting the Church Fathers (he presumes that they believed in an infallible Church). He tries to verify Church authority with Church authority. How is this not circular? And if Scripture relies on Church authority, then he can't use Scripture to bolster his claims either. After this, he tells us that without the Catholic Church, we have no canon of Scripture. He points out that "a lot" of of Old Testament books are not quoted in the NewTestament, suggesting that without the Catholic Church, we have no reason to include them in our canon. First, I would hardly call 3 books "a lot." All other 36 books are quoted in the New Testament (when we consider that some books were combined in the Hebrew canon). Secondly, the Jews, of course, did not depend on a Roman Catholic Church Council to tell them what was God's Word. The reasons for a books canonicity precede the decision of a church council, therefore, these reasons are sufficient cause for a books canonicity (this is true of our New Testament canon as well). In Roman Catholicism, the first infallible council to define the canon did not come until the Council of Trent in the 16th century. Unfortunately, Mark Shea doesn't consider this, and presumes the canonicity of the Apocrypha, even though the Church did not give it full canonical status before that time (a truth that even the New Catholic Encyclopedia asserts). If the purpose of this review was to rate Mark Shea's writing ability, wit, and intelligence, I would give him five stars. However, in light of some of the misrepresentations of Protestant theology that are made in his book, I cannot.
|
