Reddit mentions of Handbook of Catholic Apologetics: Reasoned Answers to Questions of Faith

Hmmm...so many recommendations. First, you need to have a basic grasp of philosophy (particularly Aristotelian philosophy, which leads to Thomistic thought).

• Aristotle for Everybody is very handy for getting a very basic grasp of philosophy as it pertains to the four causes and natural law.
  
  
• Handbook of Catholic Apologetics: Reasoned Answers to Questions of Faith uses a lot of natural philosophy and Thomistic thought to give "reasoned answers to questions of Faith."
  
  
• Transformation in Christ: On the Christian Attitude is a very dense, philosophical tome on Catholic philosophical thought. Very insightful and...really a work of art.
  
  
• Encyclical Letter Fides et Ratio is a beautiful work from John Paul II explaining how the Church uses faith and reason together to defend Her claims.
  
  There are...so many more recommendations I could give, but working your way through these will take some time.
  
  >My dislike more from the fact that Catholics seem to think that these views should be encoded in society's laws rather than that they hold them.
  
  All of civil law ought to find its root cause in natural moral law. The Church uses not simply faith alone to defend Her claims, but also natural law. As such, there are certain Truths present (and observable) in natural law that should be reflected in our everyday behavior and legislated by the civil authority.
  
  We believe in an objective right and an objective wrong: a defined good and a defined evil. The difficulty, I think, is getting people to see the same thing!

If you're interested in Catholic apologetics, try the Handbook of Catholic Apologetics by Peter Kreeft.

I highly recommend Peter Kreeft's Handbook of Catholic Apologetics for doubts about God's existence and such (or even the truth of Christianity). Another great book to meet atheist arguments is in William Lane Craig's book, Reasonable Faith. Craig isn't Catholic, but he does a great job tackling complex arguments. (Also, he does say some nonsense against the doctrine of Divine Simplicity and there may be other problems, but having read the work its largely free from errors of the faith.)

For tackling Protestant questions, I highly recommend Catholic Answers', The Essential Catholic Survival Guide, which defends major doctrines and provides Scripture and Tradition all over its pages. I also recommend my website for these sorts of questions as well. Cough cough.

Kreeft's Handbook of Catholic Apologetics

Add these to your reading list:

• Anything by John Warwick Montgomery
  
• JP Moreland, Scaling the Secular City: A Defense of Christianity (Baker, 1987)
  
• Norman Geisler, Christian Apologetics (Baker, 1988)
  
• Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict Volume 1 (Here's Life, 1992) Volume 2 (Thomas Nelson, 1992); these have apparently been revised and expanded into a single volume (Thomas Nelson, 1999).
  
• Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ (Zondervan, 1998)
  
• Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles (self-published, 1264); note this is in four volumes
  
• Kreeft & Tacelli, Handbook of Catholic Apologetics (Ignatius, 1994)
  
  Specifically on morality:
  
  
• Peter Kreeft, A Refutation of Moral Relativism (Ignatius, 1999)
  
• Anything by Jay Budziszewski or Janet Smith
  
  There also exist multimedia available online related to the above that you can hunt down for yourself.
  
  (As a Catholic naturally I disagree with whatever goes against Catholic teaching in the above works; nevertheless there is much that is good in all of these. Furthermore even though some items are specifically Catholic, much in them would be useful to you.)

I just bought "Handbook of Catholic Apologetics : Reasoned Answers to Questions of Faith" by Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli, and I've found it incredibly useful. It's more a reference book, a comprehensive collection of all the major arguments in favor of Christianity, with a section at the end detailing how Catholicism fulfills Christianity. I've found it indispensable in understanding certain Catholic perspectives, or engaging with my Protestant friends. I found it at my local library, but as soon as I started using it I bought one myself!

> just like there was no zombie apocalypse as written in Matthew 27:51-53. Maybe there was, but I'm surprised there is no corroborating evidence.

That's the wrong interpretation of that verse. I don't know what the right one is, but I know that's the wrong one.

> - we don't even have a clue who wrote any of it

There's a book I read, Handbook of Catholic Apologetics, that refuted that objection to my satisfaction, asserting that we do know who wrote it.

> - I can't see any way to tell the gospels from true story or outright fiction, there simply isn't evidence either way
> - Why could it not have been a clever subterfuge?
> - I just think it's more likely that the resurrection event didn't actually happen

See the different theories about the Resurrection on this page. There are even more detailed answers in the aforementioned book, too.

An updated version of Kreeft and Tacelli's book (and extra couple chapters for Catholics): Handbook of Catholic Apologetics

Edit: I also wish to plug my own favorite, Aquinas' own shorter, yet unfinished, version of the Summa Theologica.

I too have been asking these questions. You will find most if not all of them answered at Catholic Answers. For example, here is one of the answers regarding infant baptism. There is also an article regarding infant baptism in the early church.

Here is an article on why Catholics ask for intercession from the Saints.

They also have a great You Tube channel that will answer just about any question you have.

You may be interested in the Ignatius Study Bible New Testament. It contains an Index of Doctrines in the appendix. For any given doctrine, they provide Biblical references and commentary regarding that doctrine. That alone should make this a must read for Protestants. It uses the Revised Standard Version.

There are many great resources that can answer your questions. I started with a video series called What Catholics Really Believe. There's an unrelated book by the same name as well.

Any book by Scott Hahn may be of interest. He was an ordained Presbyterian minister before he became Catholic.

Send me a message if you want any more info.

Another good book is Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic. It explains Catholic theology from the perspective of a fundamentalist Protestant convert.

Any book by Peter Kreeft would be good, but you may especially like his Handbook of Catholic Apologetics since it specifically answers the questions you are asking. Kreeft is a Catholic convert from Calvinism.

Bp. Barron provides a load of resources on his site Word on Fire. He has a You Tube channel as well.

There are many, many more resources, but this should get you started. I have been a Protestant all my life, but I've been studying Catholicism heavily for a few years. So far, all of my questions have been answered from resources available online.