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Rating: 
Summary: Excellent overview of the Faith
Review: Kreeft's "Catholic Christianity" is an excellent overview of the Faith, organized to parallel and explain the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Particularly useful are his explanatory analogies and defenses of Church teachings from misinformed and hostile critics. For instance, he uses the analogy of a flower to describe the three theological virtues, likening faith to the root, hope to the stem, and love to the flower or bloom.
His chapters on the Liturgy introduce readers to a solidity and "vertical" dimension missing from the guitar-strumming, irreverent exercises in self-worship that many Catholics experience at Mass.
In a section on the universality of Christ and the salvation of non-Christians, Kreeft correctly identifies the Church's "Christocentric" view: one must have faith in Christ to be saved, but that faith may be implicit or unclear or unaware of itself, as is the case with a good, God-seeking pagan who is unaware of the Gospel. He contrasts that with the conservative "ecclesiocentric" view of some within the Church who claim explicit membership is required for salvation and with the equally-wrong (and liberal) "theocentric" belief that all who seek God in any way are saved.
Similarly, "Catholic Christianity" is a corrective to revisionist presentations of the Gospel. In the section on the meaning of the names "Jesus" and "Christ", Kreeft cites paragraph 549 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: "By freeing some individuals from the earthly evils of hunger, injustice, illness and death, Jesus performed messianic signs. Nevertheless he did not come to abolish all evils here below, but to free men from the greatest slavery, sin." Hence, the primary message of the Gospel is salvation, not the materialism that lurks behind some modernist, unorthodox views of social justice.
This book solidifies Kreeft's reputation as a latter-day G.K. Chesterton.
A suggestion to Ignatius Press: include an index in subsequent editions.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent overview of the Faith
Review: Kreeft's "Catholic Christianity" is an excellent overview of the Faith, organized to parallel and explain the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Particularly useful are his explanatory analogies and defenses of Church teachings from misinformed and hostile critics. This book solidifies Kreeft's reputation as a latter-day G.K. Chesterton.
Rating:
Summary: Kreeft presents the Catechism in an easy to read fashion
Review: Most people will find plowing through the Catechism of the Catholic Church a hardy task. Professor Kreeft comes to the rescue presenting the material faithfully but in his usual light and compact way. A great reference tool!
Rating:
Summary: That other "review" is so misinformed, it's funny
Review: Reading this book was one of my first steps in the direction of the Catholic Church. Growing up, I had always heard vague disapproval of the Catholic Church; lots of unspecific allusions to Mary-worship, "working your way to heaven", etc. Reading this book, however, lifted the veil and revealed the beauty, depth and truth that is the Catholic faith. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is willing to lay aside preconceived biases and begin an open-minded examination of the Catholic faith. I'm confident that in so doing you will be surprised by truth.
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Summary: Fleshes out the Catechism
Review: This book 9is a very valuable and useful guide to what the Catholic Church ACTUALLY teaches, rather than what her more vocal opponents would like us to THINK she teaches. It adds "muscle" to the "skeleton" of the Catechism. I would certainly recommend this book for RCIA classes.
Rating:
Summary: Great Overview
Review: This book does an excellent job of going through the Catholic Faith and describing it. For anyone who is new to the faith, or who would like to gain a deeper understanding of the faith, I would recommend this book. Also, after you read it I would recommend that you read the actual Catechism of the Catholic Church in its entirety. In addition I would like to say that this book does not bash protestants as a previous reviewer stated. It simply makes statements in defense of certain beliefs that are often criticized by some protestant groups.
Rating:
Summary: Great Overview
Review: This book does an excellent job of going through the Catholic Faith and describing it. For anyone who is new to the faith, or who would like to gain a deeper understanding of the faith, I would recommend this book. Also, after you read it I would recommend that you read the actual Catechism of the Catholic Church in its entirety. In addition I would like to say that this book does not bash protestants as a previous reviewer stated. It simply makes statements in defense of certain beliefs that are often criticized by some protestant groups.
Rating: 
Summary: Great synopsis of the Catholic faith
Review: This book is by no means the ultimate guide to Catholicism. Instead, it provides an overview of the beliefs held by the Catholic church as presented in the Catechism of the Church. Anyone new to the faith should pick up one of the many great introduction and apologetic books by authors like Tim Staples, Patrick Madrid, Scott Hahn, and Karl Keating. Their books explain the faith from the perspective of dealing with myths, misunderstanding, and outright lies of the Catholic Faith. I enjoyed reading this book because it makes references to the catechism, which in turns makes references to sacred scripture and the writings of the earliest Christians. Peter Kreeft, though at times a bit dry and verbose, does an outstanding job of putting the pieces together. I highly recommend this book if you are a Catholic who wants to gain a deeper understanding of the faith. To respond to some of the other reviews, it is important to remember that we are all in search of truth. The author's references to Protesantism are made to illuminate the similarities and contrasts of the two modes of Christianity. What is termed "Protestant Bashing" should refer to a situation where someone deliberately says malicious things about a faith. Defending someone's beliefs against those of another belief system is not bashing, but rather argumentative discourse. The book is highly accurate, but if you are looking for responses to any of the typical and commonly-addressed anti-Catholic arguments, look at some of the apologetics books on the authors aforementioned.
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Summary: A Must for every Catholic or eveyone who loves a Catholic!
Review: Whether you are Catholic and wanting to learn more about your faith or a non-Catholic wanting to understand either the Catholic Church or the beliefs of a Catholic friend, this book is for you. This book does so much more than "give the facts" about Catholic beliefs- it gives you the reasons why Catholics believe what they do. Kreeft clearly has the non-Catholic Christian in mind when he writes- providing Biblical and historical reasons for beliefs and practices. Furthermore, his writing style is not only easy to read, but engrossing. His love for God, the Catholic Church and the Bible is infectious. I would especially recommend this book for non-Catholics who are married to or plan to marry a Catholic spouse.
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Summary: "The" guide, bar none!
Review: Whew! The "Catholic Christianity" is the one that explains the doctrine of the Catholic faith in a down-to-earth manner (pun intended). Reading the book awakened my faith into a new level, I realized the Catechism's principal task is to present the Christian faith more accessibly to lay people; to understand the Catholic faith without needing a Philosophy degree. If you have a QUESTION, 9 out of 10, you'll find the ANSWER in this book. After all the Catechism was a product of the ordained Council of Bishops and Saints springkled with common sense, so rest assured that they are all Holy inspired. Think about it...it's a money back guarantee!
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