Rev. Anthony Alexander - College Apologetics (with Supplemental Reading: A Brief Life of Christ) [Illustrated]

Nihil Obstat:	Very Rev. Edward L. Hughes, O.P. Censor Librorum
Imprimatur:		Samuel Cardinal Stritch, D.D. Archbishop of Chicago October 13, 1953
Imprimatur:	Rev. Ralph Wiatrowski, J.C.D. Vicar General Cleveland, Ohio April 15, 1994

Copyright 1954 by Henry Regnery Company, Chicago, Illinois. Copy right under International Copyright Union.

College Apologetics was first published in 1954 by Henry Regnery Company of Chicago, Illinois.

Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 91-65347

ISBN: 978-0-89555-445-1

Cover design by Milo Persic.

Printed and bound in the United States of America.

TAN Books
An Imprint of Saint Benedict Press, LLC
Charlotte, North Carolina

As I have already observed, the Church having received this preaching and this faith, although scattered throughout the world, yet as if occupying one house, carefully preserves it... For the churches which have been planted in Germany do not believe or hand down anything different, nor do those in Spain, nor do those in Gaul, nor do those in the East, nor do those in Egypt, nor do those in Libya, nor do those which have been established in the central regions of the world.

St. Irenaeus (130-202)
Bishop of Lyons, France
Quoted on

Publishers Preface

W HEN OUR LORD commanded the Apostles to go forth and teach all nations, He commissioned them with the following words: All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Going therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world. ( Matt . 28:18-20). St. Mark records the following, more powerful words of Our Lords commission: Go ye into the whole world, and preach the Gospel [the good news] to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be condemned. And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents; and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover... But they going forth preached every where: the Lord working withal, and confirming the word with signs that followed. ( Mark 16:15-18, 20).

In obedience to this command, the Apostles went into the entire known civilized world, preaching first to the Jews who were dispersed throughout the world and who were awaiting the Redeemer, and then to the Gentiles. This message was presented to the people in an oral form of what we now have recorded in writing as the Gospels. The Gospels represent four written versions of the oral catechism used by the Apostles to evangelize. Therein is contained the story of Jesus Christ, plus His teachings, as presented in His exact words. These words of His have a power, a force and a cogency, even to us today, for never did man speak like this man. ( John 7:46). They possess their own interior evidence of their truthfulness, for they strike within each of us a resonant chord of truth, never deviating from the mark, always hitting the point perfectly. Coupled with the miracles of the Apostlesmiracles of healing, casting out devils and raising the deadthe imperative to believe on the part of those who heard the Apostles was extremely powerful.

That was long ago. Many people received the Faith preached by the Apostles; they were converted and changed their lives. In the process of conversion, all of society was transformed into something far better than it had ever been, and civilization was given a new life, a new direction, and history was unalterably changed by the Church which Christ founded and the Apostles spread. Never in the history of the world has there been such a transforming force as Christianity in the personal lives of people and the society they form. Yet that was long ago, starting almost 2,000 years before our time.

But during the passage of time, the identity of the Church which Christ founded has become obscured for many people, His message confused for many in the world. People today often do not know where to turn to find the truth about God and religion. As a result, they often despair of finding religious truth at all; they get lost in the welter of religious error being spread abroad and often accept the current Liberal fallacy, It does not matter what you believe, as long as you lead a good life.

To him who knows history, the identity of the Church which Jesus Christ founded is eminently clear; it is the Roman Catholic Church founded by Christ upon Simon Peter as upon a rock (cf. Matt . 16:17-19), to which all might refer in order to be sure they have the right Church. St. Peter first established his bishopric at the ancient Syrian capital of Antioch. But he later (c. 42-43 A.D.) transferred it to Rome, and there he remained until he was martyred in 67 A.D., and there all his successors have remained until this very day, each one in turn governing not only the diocese of Rome but the Catholic Church spread throughout the world. It was so in his time and in the time of St. Linus, his successor to the papacy (67-79 A.D.), and it has been so with each succeeding Pope, even to our own timefor some 266 Popes in succession, as of this present writing.

The moral imperative upon people to believe the teaching of Jesus Christ is overwhelming because He said, He that believeth and is baptized [i.e., accepts My faith], shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned. ( Mark 16:16). Also, He said to the Apostles, He that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me; and he that despiseth me, despiseth him who sent me [i.e., the Heavenly Father]. ( Luke 10:16). The Apostles were given special gifts to make themselves understood in the languages of those who heard them and to work miracles as a testimony to the truth of what they said. And thus the Church of Jesus Christ was founded in all parts of the civilized world within the lifetime of the Apostles. After that, the Catholic Church became her own best evidence of the truth of her claim to be the revealed religion of Godbeing universally spread throughout the world, everywhere holding one and the same teaching, all believers being united under one head, being the self-same Church historically as that established by the Apostles , and producing holiness in its faithful adherents.

Today the moral imperative to believe in the teachings of Jesus Christ is just as powerful and immediate upon us as it was upon those who heard the Apostles preach. For upon our acceptance of this teachingaccording to the words of Jesus Christdepends our eternal salvation. Whereas we today do not have the miracles of the Apostles to testify to the truth of His doctrine, we do have other evidence just as compellingperhaps even more so. We have the evidence of history and the moral miracle of the Church herself. But it takes a little mental effort and a bit of research on our part to come to see the proof of the truth of the Roman Catholic Church as the one, true Church of God and the divinely authorized Dispenser of the revelation made by Jesus Christ, the God-Man.

Apologetics is the study whereby we arrive at this fact. It is not a study of the doctrines themselves of the Faith of Christ ( Gal . 2:16), but of where that Faith resides and is taught . And that fact is the rationale for the present book written by Fr. Anthony Alexander. He tells us in his opening chapter: Apologetics is the study in which we prove by reason that the Church is the agency set up by God to carry on His work of teaching the doctrines of supernatural religion. This branch of learning is defined as: .