Watchfulness The Great Duty Of The One Catholic Church At The Present Crisis With An Elucidation Of The Prophetic Scriptures

This is the 1929 English translation of the original German text first published in 1924 and authored by one of the world’s most distinguished Christian philosophers, Dr. Karl Adam. This book is a brilliant and evocative study of the fundamental concepts of the Catholic Faith, from its tenets, its historical development and the role of the Church in world society. For many on the outside, Catholicism, according to Dr. Adam, represents a daunting and somewhat foreign confused mass of conflicting forces that has somehow survived the tests of time. Catholicism is simultaneously new yet quite old; holy yet corrupt; hierarchical yet personal; dogmatic yet utilitarian, and so on. How can someone outside the Church get a good grasp on the essence of Catholicism when it is so vast and seemingly complex? Those attempting to grasp the very heart and spirit of Catholicism should read Karl Adam’s book, which is a most elegant and concise exploration of the faith and an attempt to address these ambiguities. What are the fundamental attributes of the Catholic Church? What is the source from which it has drawn vigor and life through its two thousand years of life on earth? What are the secret sources of its incredible vitality in the world today? The author answers these and many other questions about the nature and structure of the Church. He examines the essential nature of the Catholic Church from the basic premise that it was expressly founded by Christ, traces its historical development and analyzes its actual functioning through the ages.

"And people go round saying, 'At least Catholics know what they believe, '" sarcastically remarks Charles Ryder of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited. With The Belief of Catholics, Ronald Knox offers a stirring credo which puts the sarcasm of his friend and biographer Waugh's protagonist in its proper place. Building up the vast, intricate structure of Catholic doctrine from its foundation to its summit, Knox begins with a scrutiny of modernity's ill-founded aversion to religion and then proceeds, in measured, memorable style, to address those "essential and unavoidable" questions to which religion must provide the answers. Does God exist? Does he reveal himself to humanity? Is a loving relationship between God and human beings a myth or a reality? Is the Catholic Church what it claims to be: the means and end of salvation as promised by Jesus Christ? Celebrated since its first appearance in 1927 as a classic in Catholic apologetics, The Belief of Catholics offers a clear, stimulating, and persuasive presentation of orthodoxy. As a challenge to skeptics and a restorative for believers, Knox's work is the genuine article: the expression of the faith, freely received as it was freely given, ringing with the courage of one man's unflagging conviction.