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Review by Dr Pravin Thevathasan
Hard Sayings A Catholic Approach to Answering Biblical Difficulties by Trent Horn Catholic Answers Press Trent Horn is a brilliant Catholic apologist. This is yet another helpful work of his. It is arranged in three parts. The first deals with external difficulties: what if the Bible says one thing and history and archaeology says another? Actually a great deal of external evidence confirms Bible history. However, as the author notes, we need to examine the genre of the work. The Bible is not intended as a scientific treatise. It is history, but it is sacred history. Precisely what happened in the Garden of Eden will remain a mystery for us, not because it is untrue but because it is beyond our puny imagination. The second part examines internal difficulties. What if one part of the Bible says one thing and another part something to the contrary? Where is the consistency? How can we trust the Bible when contradictions exist within its pages? I will not detail the author's responses to the many complex questions. Suffice it to say they are superb. The third part looks at moral difficulties. Some people are trying to get the Bible banned on the basis that it is full of violence. I am reasonably certain they would not feel the same way about movies! Again, we need to examine what the Bible is trying to teach us. Radical feminists hate the Bible and they cite works from Genesis to the writings of St Paul. Is not Eve merely described as Adam's "helper"? The word in Here actually means "strength." Eve is Adam's helper. So too is God! But did not Eve tempt Adam? Is she not the main cause of the Fall? Again, the truth is more subtle. In fact, in his Letter to the Romans, St Paul puts the blame on Adam. The author presents us with a set of rules to follow when reading the Bible. Using them helps us deal with alleged external difficulties, internal difficulties and moral difficulties. The author has provided us with the tools to read the Bible in the way it is meant to be read.
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