The sub-title of Peter Kreeft's "Catholic Christianity" really does say it all: this is a thuroughly worthwhile catechism of Catholic beliefs based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Second Edition, as all good adult compendiums & catechetical resources on Catholic teaching should be. The book is very accessible, with a very user friendly format that is fully referenced to the Catechism. The writing is clear and concise, allowing readers to easily comprehend what Holy Mother Church actually teaches. Prof. Kreeft's book received an Imprimatur from William Cardinal Leveda, the current Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith ( Pope Benedict XVI's old post under JP II,) while His Eminence was still the Archbishop of San Francisco. So many books purporting to be true distillations of the Faith do not have this designation, which grants a book a bishop's permission to be published. Further, "Catholic Christianity" has a Nihil Obstat, granted by the Rev. Milton T. Walsh, STD. This declaration is given by a competent authority who has examined the work in question, and has determined that the book is free from doctrinal or moral error ( Richard P. McBrien's "Catholicism," for example, has neither designation.)
Aside from the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Second Edition, there is no finer teaching tool for explaining the beliefs of the Catholic faith than Peter Kreeft's "Catholic Christanity," from perhaps the finest Catholic publisher in America today, Ignatius Press. This is the one to choose, my friends. Buy with confidence! Highly recommended!!

This book is excellent for helping a person to understand the Catholic faith as explained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I ordered 16 copies to give to catechists who teach the Catholic faith.

Top notch reading.

I am working on a longer review for one section of this book (ch. 6-10), but one thing I would like to say as a whole is that I feel Peter Kreeft's book in no way represents the broader Catholic understanding of the Catechism. His is a conservative, even at times erroneous, or at least highly subjective, "catechism of the Catechism", which is nice for those of us who want the catechism in simpler language, but for those who want a much deeper understand, I would recommend going beyond this book (after having read it for themselves). It is only one man's understanding of the Catechism, and he's coming from an ultra-conservative background, so it is not the only way to read the Catechism. In my longer review, there will be more examples, but for now I'll point out one: on page 101, Kreeft states that "Vatican I defined what Catholics had always believed". This is not true; the majority of Catholic scholars believe doctrine developed over time, such as the infallibility of the Pope. They are no less true because they developed, but there are few things "Catholics have always believed".

I really enjoy Peter Kreeft's books, so this one was not a surprise to me. I like this book more as a reference guide to questions that I may have. It is truly awesome. I would have given it 5 stars except when I received the book I was dissapointed that it was a used book, when I paid for a new book. It was stained in the inside. Unfortunate... but I got over it pretty quick.

and then you will want to hang onto it as a reference book for your own personal library. Dr. Kreeft is a professor of Philosophy at Boston College and has authored many, many good Catholic books. Additionally, he is a outspoken defender of the Catholic Faith.

Catholic Christianity is a common sense, plain English, easy to read commentary on the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It makes a great companion to the Catechism offering easy to read explanations for most of the content of the Catechism. It would also make a good introduction to the Catechism. If you have been a bit intimidated by the size and language of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, this would be a good way to get started. It will give you a good overview that you can then follow up with the actual text of the Catechism. But this book, as good as it is, can in no way replace the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Dr Kreeft himself writes in the Preface, "Let no one read this book instead of that one."

This book will not act as an impediment to ecumenism, nor is it in any way anti-Protestant. Instead it can exert a strong unifying effect, presenting the Catholic faith as it does in plain English without the use of technical theological jargon.

All of us need to understand that the Catechism of the Catholic Church is a tremendous gift to all who would understand the Catholic Church, its teaching and its practices. There is no excuse for anyone not knowing their faith in all its beautiful fulness. Every Catholic, everyone who loves a Catholic, and anyone interested in understanding the faith of the Roman Church can benefit from the Catechism and from Catholic Christianity.

"Catholic Christianity" provides an excellent overview of what the Catholic Church teaches and why, in easy-to-understand language. Each chapter is broken up into numerous, short subsections, enabling the reader to digest this challenging material in small bites.

Professor Kreeft does not shy away from the Church's "hard" teachings, and at times his treatment of the material is truly inspiring. In case anyone is wondering, this book received the Church's "nihil obstat" and "imprimatur," meaning that it has been reviewed and officially found to be "free of doctrinal or moral error." You can therefore be confident that this book is consistent with the Church's actual, stated positions on the topics covered.

I have just two minor criticisms:

1. As others have pointed out, the book lacks an index. It really ought to have one.

2. Because of space limitations, Prof. Kreeft has had to sketch out the reasoning behind many teachings in such an abbreviated form that it can seem almost simple-minded. Of course, the bases of the Church's teachings are anything but simple-minded -- one has only to read some of Pope Benedict XVI's writings to see that. I just wish that this book had been able to convey more of the perspicacity of Catholic apologetics, so that non-Catholics reading this book would be less likely to come away the all-too-common idea that Catholics are a bunch of superstitious peasants.

This is nonetheless an excellent resource and a great way to ease into the published Catechism of the Catholic Church.

"Catholic Christianity" provides an excellent overview of what the Catholic Church teaches and why, in easy-to-understand language. Each chapter is broken up into numerous, short subsections, enabling the reader to digest this challenging material in small bites.

Professor Kreeft does not shy away from the Church's "hard" teachings, and at times his treatment of the material is truly inspiring. In case anyone is wondering, this book received the Church's "nihil obstat" and "imprimatur," meaning that it has been reviewed and officially found to be "free of doctrinal or moral error." You can therefore be confident that this book is consistent with the Church's actual, stated positions on the topics covered.

I have just two minor criticisms:

1. As others have pointed out, the book lacks an index. It really ought to have one.

2. Because of space limitations, Prof. Kreeft has had to sketch out the reasoning behind many teachings in such an abbreviated form that it can seem almost simple-minded. Of course, the bases of the Church's teachings are anything but simple-minded -- one has only to read some of Pope Benedict XVI's writings to see that. I just wish that this book had been able to convey more of the perspicacity of Catholic apologetics, so that non-Catholics reading this book would be less likely to come away the all-too-common idea that Catholics are a bunch of superstitious peasants.

This is nonetheless an excellent resource and a great way to ease into the published Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Dr. Peter Kreeft presents a sea of information into extremely well written parts. Using an effective question and answer format, Dr.Kreeft presents answers that are rich with Bible and CCC excerpts, wisdom from the Saints, logical thinking, and common sense. Dr.Kreeft manages to fit massive amounts of information into small bites with clarity, he and even tackles common arguments within his responses giving great insight.

Great for Catholics wanting to freshen up or non-catholics that want to understand Catholicism. Great for reading and for use as a reference.

I am a huge Peter Kreeft fan. I consider him to be a great champion of orthodoxy and Scriptural truth. However, I am a Protestant, and wanted to better understand what the differences between Catholic and Protestant are. Through this book, I have come to a better understanding of the difference and great similarities between the two.

Without Catholicism, Protestantism would not have come to be. A lot of Protestants misunderstand the Catholic tradition, reducing it to "Mary worship" and "needing a priest to pray." This book is helpful in addressing misunderstandings and forming a complete picture of Catholicism.

I had learned a lot from school about Catholicism, but still needed a comprehensive guide to the theology, history, and spirituality of Catholicism. This is that comprehensive guide.

The book is neatly divided unto important theological categories, like ecclesiology: the theology that forms church discipline and administration, soteriology: the theology of salvation, anthropology: man's place in God's world, and other important topics.

I think this book is chock full of useful information, and makes that information accessible by effectively categorizing it.

I give this book 4.5 stars. I deducted 1/2 a star, not because of any disagreement in theology I might have with the Catholic faith, but because of a few things the book lacks.

I have been in many churches that preach the worst about Catholic Christianity from the pulpit. My late father was a non-practicing Catholic and I learned a little from his testimony about his experiences. Needless to say, I grew up with a skewed view of Catholicism. In working with several devout, intelligent and scholarly Catholics in my ministry, I have found that my initial views were wrong. While I do disagree with several Catholic theologies, I have grown to respect Catholicism and disregard that skewed reasoning with which I was initiated. This book does a superb job of doing this. Few Protestants are going to read through the Catholic Church Catechisms. But, this book does a pretty good job of explaining the general beliefs of the Catholic Church while referencing the CCC and Scripture.

Peter Kreeft begins with 10 chapters (154 pages) of what Catholics believe. He then devotes 10 chapters (126 pages) to how Catholics live and 10 chapters on the Sacraments and prayer (143 pages). The "Contents" page does a good job of pointing one in the general direction regarding the topic, and then at the beginning of each chapter, he gives a detailed and numbered topic list for the chapter. For instance, Chapter 5 is titled "Jesus Christ" in the Contents and the beginning of the chapter lists 27 topics including: 1: The Centrality of Christ through 27: Christ the conqueror of the world. This layout is unique and helps point the reader in the general direction.

Kreeft does a superb job of explaining in plain English why Catholicism believes its theology and even goes as far to explain very objectively why Protestants object to some Catholic beliefs, such as Marian theology. He does not go into the extreme Protestant positions (such as the ones I was indoctrinated with), but instead gives the even-handed Protestant objections and why they exist.

My critiques (why I deducted 1/2 star):
- The book lacks an index. This makes finding content in the book much more difficult. The Contents and Chapter details help, but not as much as an index could have.
- While this is not a book on Catholic- Protestant relations, Kreeft does delve into some Protestant objections. And since he touches on the topic, it would be helpful for Kreeft to use his superb gift of correct wording to explain why Protestants have some of the more extreme views. It would help Catholics understand this and help Protestants see the err in their ways.

The book is supremely well written and covers most topics that would help a non-Catholic understand Catholicism. I bought this book based on the Catholic Christians' reviews below, and was not disappointed in the least. I thank God that it was written since Christianity is not supposed to be divided, and the way to heal the wounds is not through extremism, but devotion and understanding to help reach other through respect and understanding. I recommend this book to all Christians and to non-Christians who find an interest in the study of religion.

The faith is at once infinitely beautiful in its depth and perfectly simple in its reason. This book displays the glorious reason of the faith in its simplicity and directiveness. It follows the pattern of the CCC, breaking up the book into what catholics believe, how catholics live, and how catholics worship. (Words, works, and worship.) It is fantastic for referencing particular topics, and easy to use in that sense. It is easier to read, especially for limited attention spans like my own, but still contains beaucoups of references directly to the official Catechism. This book is wonderful for catholics hungry to feed on the reason of their faith, and for anybody who is curious to know what the Church really teaches. All the sections are organized so logically- from the great 3 sections down to paragraph-sized bits which answer specific questions. Parfait!