Apology for the Catholic Religion

Introduction Chapter 1: PARTIAL JUSTIFICATION OF THE CATHOLIC RELIGION 1. Transcendental properties of being 2. The existence and the essence of God 2.1. Aquinas s First Way 2.2. Metaphysical argument for God s existence 2.3. Metaphysical determination of God s nature 2.4. Metaphysical determination of the world-God relation 2.4.1. Ontic transcendence of God over the world 2.4.2. Ontic immanence of God in the world 3. The nature of man 3.1. Spiritual and corporal structure of human person 3.2. The contingency of human person 3.3. The potentiality of human person 4. Natural justifi cation of the Catholic Church s moral teaching Chapter 2: RATIONALITY OF FAITH IN THE DIVINE REVELATION 1. The essence of Christian Revelation 2. The essence of faith in Revelation 3. The existence of God and the authenticity of the Divine Revelation 4. Miracle as a sign of truthfulness of the Catholic doctrine 5. The credibility of the Magisterium of the Church 6. The credibility of Christian-Catholics 7. The sign character of the Church Chapter 3: HISTORICAL AUTHENTICITY OF REVELATORY EVENTS IN THE LIGHT OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 1. Historical authenticity of the Old Testament revelatory events 2. Historicity of Jesus Christ in the light of historical record 3. Historicity of Jesus Christ in the light of archaeological data Chapter 4: EXPLANATORY POWER OF THE CATHOLIC DOCTRINE Chapter 5: PRAGMATIC REASONS 1. The role of the Catholic religion in the personal life of man 2. Culture-forming role of the Catholic religion 2.1. Affi rmation of the intellect and academic life 2.2. Affi rmation of love 2.3. Affi rmation of art and technology Chapter 6: ENCOURAGEMENT TO FAITH Bibliography Bibliographic note Index of Names