Teaching with Authority

The Catholic Church claims to possess the fullness of Christian truth, but getting to the truth on some matters of doctrine or morals can be a challenge—with different popes, documents, and theologians treating them with different levels of authority and shades of meaning. This can lead not only to personal confusion but—increasingly in our day—conflict and disagreement among Catholics. Teaching with Authority is a unique, valuable, and long-overdue resource for all Catholics as well as those inquiring about the Faith. It will help deepen your understanding of what the Church teaches by showing you (maybe for the first time) how and why and where it does. Not another catechism or “Catholicism for beginners” book, Teaching with Authority isn’t about understanding specific teachings of the Faith (even the complicated and misunderstood ones) but rather about understanding Catholic teaching itself. Where does the Church’s teaching authority come from? How do we weigh dogmas versus practices, doctrines versus disciplines, conciliar declarations versus papal interviews? How do we sort through the many kinds of ecclesial documents and determine their relative authority and relevance? And, in an age when accusations of “heresy!” fly regularly across social media, with competing sides eager to paint the other as unfaithful to Catholic tradition or to the current pope, Jimmy also tackles the issues of incredulity, apostasy, and schism—showing you how to recognize different forms of dissent and respond to them fittingly.

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