This Is the Faith: A Complete Explanation of the Catholic Faith

by Francis J. Ripley

Book Overview

Originally published in 1951 (with minor updates in 2002), the book covers the nature of God, the nature of man, the meaning of life, the nature of religion, the sources of Faith, the necessity of prayer, the duty of belief, the consequences of sin, the Commandments of God, the Holy Trinity, belief in Christ, the Redemption, the supremacy of the Pope, the Mystical Body of Christ, the Sacraments, the Mass, the priesthood, devotion to Mary and the Saints,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0895556421
• ISBN13: 9780895556424
• Release Date: December 1999
• Publisher: Tan Books
• Length: 513 Pages
• Weight: 1.83 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

An Excellent and Thorough Explanation of Catholic Beliefs!

This is a most excellent and thorough explanation of Catholic beliefs! When I wanted to convert to the Catholic Church early last year, my priest gave me a copy of this book and told me to read it. I read the book in a couple of weeks. The book was very easy to understand and each chapter is divided into subsections which discuss each subtopic within the chapter. It does an excellent and thorough job and explaining the Catholic Church and her beliefs in a thoroughly orthodox and easy to understand way! I highly recommend this book both to cradle Catholics, new Catholics, and potential converts to Catholicism! This book has both an Imprimatur and a Nihil Obstat which ensures that the book does not contain any doctrinal error or bad teaching.

Magnificent!

This excellent book represents itself as "a complete explanation of the Catholic Faith". Certainly, this is an audacious claim. However, the book delivers. I strongly recommend it to anyone seriously interested in learning about the Catholic Faith.

belongs on your bookshelf

This is the finest overview of the Catholic faith I've come across. This is a big book but it's not overwhelming and it is ideal for people going through RCIA (particularly if your RCIA director is not up to the job) and it's great for people who already are Catholic but were never really taught the catechism or for people who need a refresher course. It's clearly written, decisive and is easy to understand. If I had to hand one single book to a person who was asking about the Church this would be the one.

An easy-to-read mini-catechism

One who wants to learn about the Catholic faith would do very well to read this classic book. The chapters start out in the question-and-answer format that those who are familiar with the Baltimore Catechism will recognize, and continues with easy-to-read text on the subject of that chapter. At 40 chapters, one short chapter per day, this book could make an excellent six-week course on the Catholic Faith.In reading through the pages of this book, all I found was orthodox magisterial Catholic teaching, and none of the modernism that infests our Church today. It is written in very readable language, and would make a great first book to read on the faith. Commandments, Sacraments, Disciplines, everything is presented here.Well worth the price. Five stars.

The best explanation of the Catholic Faith

I have to agree with the other reviewer! This book is truly a gem! Not only is it thorough in its presentation, but it is easy to understand and it's interesting. This book makes an excellent apologetics text as well with topics on the supremacy of the Pope and an in depth discussion on the sacraments, complete with all relevant scriptural references. There are also some special chapters on the devotional life of a Catholic, the reformation, and Catholic social principles. The appendix includes a run-down of the Church through the ages, and the principle heresies. Every person inquiring about the Catholic faith should own this book! 5 stars!