Recommended Catholic Scholarly Works on Tradition, Soteriology, and the Eucharist

By Dave Armstrong (6-25-08)

Protestant graduate student in theology, B. J. Buracker wrote in my comboxes:

I am a student in Biblical Studies at the University of Edinburgh. I really enjoy reading a lot of popular level apologetics (Shea, Howard, Keating, Kreeft, Dave, etc.), but I am hungry for something a bit more scholarly.

Does anyone - Protestant or Catholic - have any suggestions? I would like to see solid exegetical work, paying attention to context, language, linguistics, and history. The things I am most interested in are: Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, and the Eucharist.

Any help would be appreciated.

I don't know if these books fulfill all that you are looking for, but all the men below are actual scholars (and/or priests), with doctorates:

Eucharist and the Mass

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, God Is Near Us: The Eucharist, the Heart of Life, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2003.

Abbot Vonier, A Key to the Doctrine of the Eucharist, Zaccheus Press, 2003.

James T. O'Connor, The Hidden Manna: A Theology of the Eucharist, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2nd edition, 2005.

Peter M. J. Stravinskas, The Bible and the Mass, Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Pub., 1989.

Scott Hahn, The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth, New York: Doubleday, 1999.

Lutherans and Catholics in Dialogue III: The Eucharist as Sacrifice, 1967.

Lutherans and Catholics in Dialogue IV: Eucharist and Ministry, 1970.

Sola fide

Fernand Prat, The Theology of St. Paul, Westminster, MD: The Newman Bookshop, 1952 (two volumes).

N. T. Wright and James D.G. Dunn [Anglicans] are very helpful, along "catholic" lines, for a study of sola fide, because their conclusions often echo what Catholics have argued for centuries:

N. T. Wright, Paul: In Fresh Perspective, Fortress Press, 2006.

N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: Romans: Chapters 9-16, Westminster John Knox Press, 2004.

N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians, Westminster John Knox Press, 2004.

James D. G. Dunn, The Theology of Paul the Apostle, Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2006.

James D. G. Dunn, The New Perspective on Paul, Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, revised edition, 2007.

Also, from another Protestant scholar:

E. P. Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism: A Comparison of Patterns of Religion, Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 1977.

E. P. Sanders, Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People, Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 1985.

Ecumenical Efforts:

George A. Lindbeck, Walter Cardinal Kasper, Henry Chadwick, Edward Idris Cardinal Cassidy et al, Justification and the Future of the Ecumenical Movement: The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (Unitas Series), Liturgical Press, 2003.

Justification by Faith Lutherans and Catholics in Dialogue VII, 1985.

Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, [Lutheran World Federation and Catholic Church], Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2000.

Louis Bouyer, The Spirit and Forms of Protestantism, Scepter Publications, 2001 [originally from 1958; discusses both sola Scriptura and sola fide a lot, mostly from a comparative historical perspective]

Bible, Church, and Tradition Issues:

Yves Congar, The Meaning of Tradition, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2004.

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, God's Word: Scripture - Tradition - Office, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2008.

Avery Cardinal Dulles, Magisterium: Teacher and Guardian of the Faith, Sapientia Press, 2007.

Hans Urs Von Balthasar, Word and Revelation: Essays in Theology I, Herder & Herder, 1964.

Scott Hahn, Scripture Matters: Essays on Reading the Bible from the Heart of the Church, Emmaus Road, 2003.

J. Francis Stafford, Harold C. Skillrud, and Daniel F. Martensen, Scripture and Tradition: Lutherans and Catholics in Dialogue IX (Lutherans and Catholics in Dialogue), 1995.

Robert A. Sungenis (editor), Not by Scripture Alone: A Catholic Critique of the Protestant Doctrine of Sola Scriptura, Queenship Pub. Co., 1998.

[compilation that has several chapters from scholars: my friends Dr. Philip Blosser and Dr. Robert Fastiggi, Fr. Mitch Pacwa, and Fr. Peter Stravinskas]