Reddit mentions of Theology for Beginners

I'd just like to say, like others here, there's no problem at all with your questions and trying to find out! I think it's commendable.

Others have given a lot of detail and answers. I wanted to give you a little bit of a help on one part of this.

Ultimately, you're struggling to understand the concept of there being one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Just know on the outset that this is a mystery, and is beyond our full comprehension. We'll never fully understand it, so it's ok to have "trouble" with it. We accept it because it was revealed to us by God. That being said, we can actually perceive further truths and can come to a certain understanding of the nature of God. Someone else referred you to Frank J Sheed's Theology for Beginners. I will second that, it's a really fantastic look at how we can understand the Trinity and some of the implications of that.

CS Lewis also had something very helpful to say on the Trinity. God is one essence and three persons. We're already used to there being different essence/persons combinations. For example, a rock is one essence, and no persons. A tree is one essence and no persons. A human being is one essence and one person. God is one essence and three persons. It's as boggling to us as two-dimensional drawings on a piece of paper pondering three-dimensional reality.

I haven't read it (yet), but I know a lot of people recommend Theology for Beginners by F. J. Sheed:

http://www.amazon.com/Theology-Beginners-Frank-Sheed/dp/1887593926

> The soul, as far as I know, is the component that survives death

Correct.

> (until the End of Times, if my memory serves)

Correct again. In the end, there will be a new heaven and a new earth and souls will be reunited with glorified versions of their bodies.

> Can the soul be identified with the mind

Sort of. The soul is the animating principle. It's what makes a living thing alive. Everything living has a soul. What separates a human soul from an animal's soul or a plant's soul is that our soul is also a spirit. It is that spiritual dimension which gives us capabilities such as reason and love. Unlike plants and animals, our souls allow us to transcend what the matter our bodies are made of give us. That spiritual dimension is also what allows us to live forever by entering into communion with God.

If you are looking for a good book on this stuff, I recommend Theology for Beginners by Frank Sheed. Don't let the "for beginners" in the title fool you. He spends the entire first chapter just explaining what a spirit is. There's a cheap kindle edition.

A good book to start with is Theology for Beginners by Frank Sheed, which was published in 1957. It explains in a very clear, direct way the doctrines of the faith that are really important.

At a deeper level, a good book is Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma by Ludwig Ott. It was more common before Vatican II for theologians to make fine distinctions about what exactly constituted Catholic doctrine using a system of "theological notes." For example, something that is an article of faith and must be believed is called de fide. Something that is not in itself revealed, but connected to revelation by logical necessity is called a sententia certa. A proposition on which theologians are generally agreed, but which in itself is a matter of free opinion, is called a sententia communis. Ott goes over basically the same scope of material as Sheed in a series of theses like "the degree of justifying grace is not identical in all the just," each of which is assigned a theological note and then explained with an overview of the most pertinent evidence from Scripture, the Fathers, and the magisterium.

As far as practice goes, try using the links in the sidebar to find a local parish where the traditional Latin Mass is celebrated (but I suggest you avoid the SSPX) and attend every week. If there happens to be no traditionalist parish nearby, the Mass is still the Mass and you should still attend every week. It is also a good idea to get a rosary and pray it every day, or at least at some regular interval. The Secret of the Rosary is a good little book on how to get the most out of this prayer. It is also good to take up fasting, starting with abstinence from meat on every Friday of the year. For more general advice on the spiritual life, Introduction to the Devout Life by St Francis de Sales is a good book.