Surprised by Truth [Paperback]

Well, thanks to this book, if some co-ed accuses me of leaving Jesus nailed to the cross, I can now answer them at their own high level, and I guess that there is something earthly appealing about that. Honestly, though, I learned a lot about the Catholic faith from books like this-things that I probably should have known. But, in the larger picture, I think that I was way ahead in my faith journey back when I was a silly kid in youth group, then at any period during my time spent studying apologetics.

This is the first in the series and caused a sensation (for a Roman Catholic book) when published. The fact that so many moving to Rome cite Surprised by Truth provides some evidence of Patrick Madrid's astuteness in selecting testimonials - a point further confirmed by reading it. The essays blend together remarkably well and Madrid adroitly avoids the danger of stifling uniformity by drawing upon those who approached Rome from across the ecclesial spectrum. Another plus in this regard is an intermingling of those who were initially drawn by different concerns so the approach is not completely one-dimensional.

Protestants often criticize the essays as insufficient to prove the Roman case and highly emotional in character. Both these claims are quite true but this is not the detriment the critics make it to be. One could hardly expect a new convert to prove within twenty pages what the greatest theologians have employed years and many volumes to attempt. As for the emotional content, conversions always have an emotional aspect to them and a presentation that attempts to ignore this is built upon dishonesty. The essays contained here are more or less emotional depending upon the makeup of the individual, the amount of "surprise" experienced, and the sense of betrayal felt by discovering what you had been told what was of the Apostles is actually of recent origin. A positive sign by these converts is despite the emotional upheaval, they display no evidence of lasting anger at their former ecclesial homes.

The one flaw in this book is shared by the genre - shallowness. New converts are not always the best ones to express the riches of the faith. Even if they have done much prior study, reading about the grace of God and receiving the grace of God are not equivalent experiences. While the "let's have the new guy go up and give his testimony" approach may suffice in the superficial environs of modern Evangelicalism, those more mature in their faith are probably better witnesses in richer traditions.

Any expectations of an exhaustive defense for Roman Catholic beliefs in a book like this are remarkably wrongheaded. Madrid planned neither a work of systematic theology nor a catechism. Collections like this are usually read by those already on their way but unsure if things are quite what they seem. The message given is not "this is all you need to see we are right" but "come on in - the water's fine". Given that limitation, Surprised by Truth can only be viewed as a rousing success.