/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.9640357]

Which essential works of Catholicism should I read?

[Anonymous No.9640367]

Bible:
http://www.usccb.org/bible/books-of-the-bible/index.cfm

Catechism:
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM

For some reason "Catholics" on /lit/ never tell you to read it even though it is the foundation of Catholic teaching at all levels.

[Anonymous No.9640398]

>>9640367

>For some reason "Catholics" on /lit/ never tell you to read it even though it is the foundation of Catholic teaching at all levels.

Maybe it's because those books are so obvious that it's not useful to recommend them. In order to recommend the bible and the catechism here you would have to make the assumption that the person asking for Catholic books is so stupid that they couldn't figure it out that they're worth reading on there own. It's insulting, really. You should assume that people asking for Christian books are looking for supplementary works that will help them understand the bible and the catechism better.

[Anonymous No.9640411]

>>9640357
It's not the religion for you faggot.

[Anonymous No.9640434]

>>9640398
I would not think foreigners who just happened to step inside a church for the first time yesterday to be stupid in any particular way.

Works for "further reading" are in the notes of both Catholic editions of the Bible and the CCC.

[Anonymous No.9640440]

Here's a couple of my favorites. They're all fairly "entry level" in the sense that they're readable regardless of how much you know about philosophy/theology or scripture.

Practical Theology
You can Understand the Bible
A Summa of the Summa
Hard Sayings
The Fullness of Turth
Aquinas: A Beginner's Guide

[Anonymous No.9640462]

>>9640434
>>9640429

I'm curious then, do you think that any other book about Christianity or scripture is superfluous?

[Anonymous No.9640480]

>>9640462
OP asked for the essential and the Catholic.

Mt 7:7-11.

[Anonymous No.9640488]

>>9640480

What? That's not what I asked. Nevermind I can't talk to you.

[Anonymous No.9641624]

Get into St Augustine pham

[Anonymous No.9643237]

>>9640367
catholic fag here. I read parts of the catechism for confirmation and while parts are interesting there is also a ton of boring formal stuff that the average layperson will never deal with

[Anonymous No.9643249]

[Anonymous No.9643252]

>>9643249

[Anonymous No.9643313]

>>9641624
this desu

[Anonymous No.9643343]

>>9640367
The Catechism isn't a foundation of Catholic teachings at all, it's a summarization of them. They never originate in the Catechism itself, but in Scripture and Tradition.

[Anonymous No.9643375]

>>9640357
You'll have to be more specific. Catholic faith has such a massive deposit of writing you could spend your life reading only sections of it. Fiction, theology, philosophy, mysticism, there's a lot of each in it. I've personally mostly been interested in philosophy so here's a guide to it, starting with contemporary sources to introduce you before jumping into primary ones:
Orthodoxy by Chesterton
God, Philosophy, Universities by Alsadair MacIntyre
Volumes 1 and 2 of History of Philosophy by Frederick Copleston
Aquinas by Edward Feser
Complete Plato and Aristotle for their massive influence and general philosophical literacy
Confessions and City of God by st. Augustine
Summa Contra Gentiles by Thomas Aquinas
There's then a lot of scholastic and neo-scholastic stuff that continues to live today, despite the attempt to make it irrelevant by some Church structures by Gilson, Maritain, Amscombe, Geach, Garrigou Larange, Suarez, MacIntyre, Oderberg, Schall etc.

[Anonymous No.9644244]

The Consolation of Philosophy

[Anonymous No.9644320]

>>9643375

Edward Feser's Scholastic Metaphysics looks like a good overview of scholastic thought for Aquinas, Suarez and Scotus.

[Anonymous No.9644331]

>>9644244
it's merely christian, not to speak about catholicism.

[Anonymous No.9644335]

>>9644331
Consolations of Philosophy is Catholic.

[Anonymous No.9644337]

>>9644335
it's almost pagan

[Anonymous No.9644390]

>>9644335
the problem with advertising boethius as a catholic writer is that he draws upon plato and neoplatonics a lot, rather than basing his thought on the scripture. he surely influenced early christian and scholastic philosophers, but as a translator and someone connecting two traditions, rather than original thinker. so he is not essential catholic writer, and that's what op's asking for. It's like answering thread's question with plato. and the consolatio itself contains very little actual christian doctrine. it's not even trying to connect neoplatonism with christianity, like origenes or augistine, besides trying to cope with the dillema of free will existing being given god's preknowledge of men's actions.

[Anonymous No.9644406]

>>9643252
Careful with eckhart. I learned good things from him but the is outright heretical at times

[Anonymous No.9644448]

>>9644406
23 sections of his writings were condemned as heretical, but mostly because he didn't phrase his words properly and could be read in a heretical way, much like [spoilers] amoris latitia[/spoilers].

[Anonymous No.9644468]

>>9640367
>For some reason "Catholics" on /lit/ never tell you to read it even though it is the foundation of Catholic teaching at all levels.
Probably because it isn't. It is a summary of basic theology and uses specialized language, so it isn't for beginners.
>>9640357
1) A Catholic bible
2) Catholic Theology: An Introduction
3) Waking Up Catholic: A Guide for Converts, Reverts, and Anyone Becoming Catholic
4) Rome Sweet Home
5) Reasons to Believe: How to Understand, Explain, and Defend the Catholic Faith