It's not hard to figure out, all one needs is the number of copies sold. But that is hardly the point. Lies and bigotry SELLS.
Roman Catholicism, by Loraine Boettner (Philadelphia: Presbyterian & Reformed, 1962, 466 pages), is an obscurantist diatribe, the current “Bible” of anti-Catholicism. It describes within its pages a religion bearing little resemblance to the one which is known by its title. Catholic apologist Karl Keating, whose book Catholicism and Fundamentalism (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1988) is an excellent expose of the overwhelming misinformation of anti-Catholicism, as well as a fine apologetic for Catholicism, gives an idea of the scholarly “weight” of this regrettable “tome”:
The main problem . . . is that it suffers from a real lack of intellectual rigor. For example . . . there is no indication that he has made use of any hardheaded apologetic works by Catholics . . . His major sources are people who do not just disagree with Catholicism but who openly oppose it . . . Boettner accepts at face value any claim made by an enemy of the Church . . . In the whole book there are only two dozen footnotes . . . references to Catholic works are usually so vague as to discourage checking . . . The Catholic position . . . has been entirely misstated . . . he must give a parody of the Catholic view, and then he refutes that . . . There are literally hundreds of errors of fact in this book . . . (pp. 29-31, 33)
A few examples of the folly ever-present in this work:
The feeling of fear and dread of the priest, so characteristic . . . is comparable only to the fear and dread that pagan people have for the witch doctor. (p. 53)
The Catholic doctrine of the Eucharist is the same as “cannibalism” (p. 176). Mary is “a kind of fourth person of the Blessed Trinity” (p. 151). He states that “It is generally accepted that Romanists, having been to Mass . . . can do about as they please the remainder of the day” (p. 184).
Boettner concurs with another writer that “the intellectual and moral level of priests is not nearly as high as, for instance, that of teachers and doctors, and . . . only a minority share any exceptional ability or deep religious feeling” (p. 59).
Boettner cites a book to the effect that young women who enter the convent are taught to hate their parents (p. 323). If anyone is persuaded by this manner of “reasoning” and the “conclusions” resulting therefrom, it is probably futile to pursue any rebuttal.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davear...tholic-polemicists-chick-boettner-hislop.html
Anti-Catholics swallow down whole this crap, firmly believe it, then they post it into discussion boards thinking they have something over Catholics.The Catholic doctrine of the Eucharist is the same as “cannibalism” (p. 176). Mary is “a kind of fourth person of the Blessed Trinity” (p. 151). He states that “It is generally accepted that Romanists, having been to Mass . . . can do about as they please the remainder of the day” (p. 184).
Boettner concurs with another writer that “the intellectual and moral level of priests is not nearly as high as, for instance, that of teachers and doctors, and . . . only a minority share any exceptional ability or deep religious feeling” (p. 59).
Boettner cites a book to the effect that young women who enter the convent are taught to hate their parents (p. 323). If anyone is persuaded by this manner of “reasoning” and the “conclusions” resulting therefrom, it is probably futile to pursue any rebuttal.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davear...tholic-polemicists-chick-boettner-hislop.html
