Schreck distills difficult theology into sweet brew

Catholic & Christian by Alan Schreck 
(20th Anniversary Edition)
Servant Books., 2004

An Explanation of Commonly Misunderstood Catholic Beliefs is the subtitle of Alan Schreck's enlightening 1984 book Catholic & Christian. "Misunderstood by who?" one might ask. The answer of course is by many, both non-Catholic and Catholic alike. Theology discussions involving church doctrine and dogma often leave those without a Ph.D. tangled in knots. However, with Schreck that's not an issue. In fact, it's just the opposite - Schreck successfully takes difficult theological topics and distills them down to a level easily accessible for most everyone. That doesn't mean the theology is watered down. As the word distill denotes, it's purified.

Many of the usual suspects are here. Those beliefs that are commonly misunderstood have not changed much over the centuries. Salvation, the Bible, the Church (its four marks), authority in the Church, the Sacraments, and Mary to name a few. This isn't a simple apologetics work, though, where the objection is stated and Schreck provides the comeback complete with a few notable verses of scripture to back it up. The arrangement of the material here allows for a much deeper treatment - Schreck takes more of a big picture approach. He takes great pains to explain church beliefs in their full context. Despite this in-depth treatment, though, Schreck consistently remains remarkably adept at keeping the material understandable.

The 20th Anniversary Edition came out in 2004 and features a new Preface, but that's it. Catholic beliefs have not changed in the past 20 years, or 30 years, or... well, you get the idea. Speaking of front pages, resist the temptation to skip the Introduction and Prologue - they provide valuable information about the intent of the book and the perspective by which one should approach it. Schreck also used this space to explain his motivation, which is not to one-up any other denomination or justify any holier-than-thou attitude Catholics might want to flaunt. Quite the contrary; Schreck sincerely strives for ecumenism, a greater understanding that Catholicism is definitely Christian, and a willingness of all Christians to focus on their many shared beliefs and work together at a time when secular forces are more and more frequently working to marginalize Christian influence in society. As such, the current state of affairs in this country may make this book even more timely than it was 30 years ago.