Catholic Apologetics Guidebook

The Bible and Tradition

Topics on This Page:

The Formation of the New Testament Canon
The Old Testament Canon: The Deuterocanonical Books (a.k.a. "The Apocrypha")
The Historical Accuracy and Reliability of the Bible
Divine Inspiration and Inerrancy of the Bible
The Authorship of the Gospels
Sola Scriptura
How to Read and Interpret the Bible
How Catholics View the Bible
Sacred Tradition
The Early Church Fathers

The Formation of the New Testament Canon

Articles:

• Catholic Encyclopedia: Canon of the New Testament
• CUF Faith Facts: What's in a Name? Protocanon, Deuterocanon and Apocrypha
• How Tradition Gave Us the Bible by Mark Shea
• Where the Bible Came From by Mark Shea

Audio:

• Which Came First, the Church or the Bible? by John Martignoni – Discussion of the Bible and how it was authored by the Church.  (You must enter a name and an e-mail address to download this mp3 audio file, but it is a free download.)

Books:

• Where We Got the Bible: Our Debt to the Catholic Church by Right Rev. Henry G. Graham (also published in Spanish)

Web Sites:

• The Development of the Canon of the New Testament – This simple but very helpful web site summarizes some of the more pertinent information about the formation of the New Testament canon.  The information here is a good supplement to the resources listed above.

The Old Testament Canon: The Deuterocanonical Books (a.k.a. "The Apocrypha")

Articles:

• Catholic Encyclopedia: Canon of the Old Testament
• CUF Faith Facts: The Complete Bible: Why Catholics Have Seven More Books
• Five Myths about Seven Books by Mark Shea
• The Council That Wasn't: The Myth of Jabneh and the Old Testament Canon by Steve Ray
• Catholic Answers: The Old Testament Canon

Audio:

• Catholic Answers Live: The Old Testament Canon with Fr. John Trigilio

Books:

• Why Catholic Bibles Are Bigger: The Untold Story of the Lost Books of the Protestant Bible by Gary Michuta

The Historical Accuracy and Reliability of the Bible

Articles:

• The Accuracy of Scripture by Jimmy Akin
• The Gospels Ain't Fiction by Mark Shea
• Discrepancies in the Gospels by Mark Shea
• CUF Faith Facts: The Historicity of Gospel Accounts of the Nativity

Books:

• The Historical Reliability of the Gospels by Craig Blomberg (non-Catholic author)

Divine Inspiration and Inerrancy of the Bible

Articles:

• The Truth of Scripture by C. Lattey, S.J.
• CUF Faith Facts: Taking God at His Word - A Catholic Understanding of Biblical Inerrancy
• Catholic Answers: Proving Inspiration
• The Bible's Inspiration and Inerrancy – This article consists of several quotes from the early church fathers on the subject of the divine inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture.

The Authorship of the Gospels

Articles:

• The Authors of the Gospels (According to the Clementine Tradition) by Dennis Barton (PDF file)
• The Gospels Are Historical – a brief introduction to "The Authors of the Gospels" (linked above)
• Why, How, and When the Gospels? – a brief summary of "The Authors of the Gospels" (linked above)
• Problems with the Synoptic Problem by Karl Keating – a detailed overview of various hypotheses regarding the authorship, dating, and order of the first three Gospels
• The Evolution of the Gospels by Dom Bernard Orchard, O.S.B.

Sola Scriptura

Articles:

• "What Is Truth?": An Examination of Sola Scriptura by Dwight Longenecker
• The Practical Problems of Sola Scriptura by Jimmy Akin
• The Perspicuity ("Clearness") of Scripture by Dave Armstrong
• CUF Faith Facts: Sola Scriptura? Not According to the Bible

Audio:

• Sola Scriptura - The Bible Alone? by John Martignoni – Does the Bible support "The Bible Alone"?  (You must enter a name and an e-mail address to download this mp3 audio file, but it is a free download.)

How to Read and Interpret the Bible

Articles:

• Do You Read the Bible Literally? by Tim Gray
• CUF Faith Facts: Making Sense Out of Scripture: The Four Best Kept Secrets in Biblical Studies Today
• Hearing Scripture on its Own Terms by Mark Shea
• Three Guidelines for Reading Scripture by Mark Shea
• The Literal Sense of Scripture by Mark Shea
• The Allegorical Sense of Scripture by Mark Shea
• The Moral Sense of Scripture by Mark Shea
• The Anagogical Sense of Scripture by Mark Shea

How Catholics View the Bible

Articles:

• Catholics and the Bible by the Catholic Evidence Guild

Audio:

• Catholics and the Bible by John Martignoni – What the Church teaches regarding Biblical study and interpretation.  (You must enter a name and an e-mail address to download this mp3 audio file, but it is a free download.)

Sacred Tradition

Articles:

• Catholic Answers: Scripture and Tradition
• Catholic Answers: Apostolic Tradition
• What Is Sacred Tradition? by Mark Shea
• The Lens in My Eye by Mark Shea
• Oral Tradition in the New Testament by David Palm

Audio:

• Catholic Answers Live: The Importance of Sacred Tradition with David Twellman

Books:

• By What Authority? An Evangelical Discovers Catholic Tradition by Mark Shea
• The Meaning of Tradition by Yves Congar

The Early Church Fathers

Articles:

• Back to the Beginning: A Brief Introduction to the Ancient Catholic Church by George Sim Johnston
• Early Church Fathers Overview – Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio gives a brief introduction to who the early church fathers were.
• Catholic Answers: Fathers Know Best – Links to articles on various doctrinal topics, with quotes from the early church fathers on each topic
• Why I'm Catholic – This article by Stephen Ray contains several quotes from the early church fathers that played a role in his conversion to the Catholic Church.

Books:

• Four Witnesses: The Early Church in Her Own Words by Rod Bennett
• We Look for a Kingdom: The Everyday Lives of the Early Christians by Carl Sommer
• Faith of the Early Fathers, Volume 1, edited by William Jurgens
• Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers (Penguin Classics)

Video:

• Apostolic Fathers: Handing on the Faith (Footprints of God Series) with Steve Ray

Web Sites:

• Writings of the Early Church Fathers