Books about Primacy from Amazon.com

A major critical analysis of the Roman Catholic Church’s exclusive claim of infallibility

In 2007 the president of the Evangelical Theological Society converted to Roman Catholicism. His conversion and subsequent resignation stirred up questions that always swirl around such high-profile conversions: Why do some Protestants become Catholics? Is Roman Catholicism a false church? Which church is the true church?

Norman Geisler and Joshua Betancourt answer these questions in Is Rome the True Church?, a major critical analysis of the Roman church’s claim to being the only true church. Since this claim is the most fundamental of all Catholic dogmas—all other doctrines being based on it—the whole of the Roman system stands or falls here. The authors explain and critique the Roman church’s biblical, historical, theological, and philosophical arguments on behalf of its claim, digging into the best primary and secondary Catholic sources on the subject. This book has answers for students, thoughtful evangelicals, and anyone interested in Roman Catholicism.

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This book consists of Northwestern University Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy..
Price: $15.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Adrian Fortescue, a British apologist for the Catholic faith in the early part of the 20th century, wrote this classic of clear exposition on the faith of the early Church in the papacy based upon the writings of the Church fathers until 451. No ultramontanist, Fortescue can be a keen critic of personal failings of various Popes, but he shows through his brilliant assessment of the writings of the Church fathers that the early Church had a clear understanding of the primacy of Peter and a belief in the divinely given authority of the Pope in matters of faith and morals.

Referring to the famous passage in Matthew 16:18 where Jesus confers his authority upon Peter as the head of the Apostles, and the first Pope, Fortescue says that, while Christians can continue to argue about the exact meaning of that passage from Scripture, and the various standards that are used for judgments about correct Christian teaching and belief, "the only possible real standard is a living authority, an authority alive in the world at this moment, that can answer your difficulties, reject a false theory as it arises and say who is right in disputed interpretations of ancient documents."

Fortescue shows that the papacy actually seems to be one of the clearest and easiest dogmas to prove from the early Church. And it is his hope through this work that it will contribute to a ressourcement with regard to the office of the papacy among those in communion with the Bishop of Rome, and that it will assist those outside this communion to seek it out, confident that it is willed by Christ for all who would be joined to him in this life and in the next..
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Charles Kindleberger's World Economic Primacy: 1500-1990 is a work of rare ambition and scope from one of our most respected economic historians Extending over broad ranges of both history and geography, the work considers what it is that enables countries to achieve, at some period in their history, economic superiority over other countries, and what it is that makes them decline.
Kindleberger begins with the Italian city-states in the fourteenth century, and traces the changing evolution of world economic primacy as it moves to Portugal and Spain, to the Low countries, to Great Britain, and to the United States, addressing the question of alleged U.S. decline. Additional chapters treat France as a perennial challenger, Germany which has twice aggressively sought superiority, and Japan, which may or may not become a candidate for the role of "number one."
Kindleberger suggests that the economic vitality of a given country goes through a trajectory that can usefully (thought not precisely) be compared to a human life cycle. Like human beings, the growth of a state can be cut off by accident or catastrophe short of old age; unlike human beings, however, economies can have a second birth. In World Economic Primacy, Kindleberger takes into account the influence of complex historical, social, and cultural factors that determine economic leadership. A brilliant overview of the position of nations in the world economy, World Economic Primacy conveys profound insights into the causes of the rise and decline of the world's economic powers, past and present..
Price: $54.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The papacy is clearly the greatest difficulty facing ecumenical dialogue today, and particularly the dialogue between Catholicism and Orthodoxy. Yet there is a doorway of hope. In his encyclical, Ut unum sint, John Paul II expressed a desire for common reflection on the exercise of papal primacy. In You Are Peter the great Orthodox theologian Olivier Clement brilliantly responds to this request. He emphasizes the history and experience of the undivided Church, before recalling the contrasting developments of eastern and western Christianity and concluding with the tasks that call us to unity. Professor Clments response to John Paul II is solidly rooted in the Orthodox tradition, and represents the cordial and open mentality characteristic of the theologians of Saint Sergius. I would judge that it is almost exactly the kind of response for which Pope John Paul II was hoping. It is a pleasure to be able to present to Englishspeaking readers this concise, learned, and articulate presentation.... Professor Clments contribution ... is a sign of the progress in ecumenism thus far made and a beacon of hope for the future. From the Foreword by Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J. Laurence J. McGinley Professor Fordham University, New York.
Price: $12.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]