Book Review: The One-Minute Apologist

I recently had the opportunity to delve into Dave Armstrong's The One-Minute Apologist.  The book is a collection of over sixty Catholic replies to common Protestant claims.  Many of the Protestant claims/arguments against Catholicism are ones which I have been faced with in the past when talking to Protestant friends or relatives, or have had questions about prior to my conversion to Catholicism.  The book is separated into nine categories: scripture, the Church, the papacy, the priesthood, the sacraments, salvation, theology of God, Mary and the Saints, and other topics.  Each category has several common Protestant claims (or misconceptions, if you will) and the Catholic response to those claims.

I liked the over all tone and flow of this book.  There were some areas where I felt the writing was a bit dry, but the majority of the book was very readable.  I liked the way the book was set up with the Protestant claim followed up with the Catholic rebuttal complete with references from either the Bible or the Catechism of the Catholic Church to back up the Catholic answer.  The vast majority of the apologetic answers are backed up with multiple scripture references and that's exactly what you want/need when you are trying to defend Catholicism to a sola scriptura Protestant.

I think this book has two valuable uses.  For one, it can give a Catholic who often finds him/herself needing to respond to Protestant claims against Catholicism the answers they need to explain what it is that we, as Catholics, believe.  This book could also be a great jumping off point for a Protestant who is interested in knowing more about the Catholic Church.

I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book by Sophia Institute Press in exchange for my honest review.