9 Books I Read While Discerning Catholicism: #6 The Lamb's Supper by Scott Hahn
Today I decided to respond to the Conservative Dad’s Calendar controversy. Check out the article What Is a Dad? I had a lot of fun writing that one, and it took more time than I had planned. So, this one will be a bit shorter today.
Recurring Theme
Revelation is a book that is largely a mystery to us. I’m not an expert on it, but anyone who grew up during the time of Left Behind, Kirk Cameron, and, yes, Nicholas rockem’-sockem’ Cage, knows that the End Times provokes a lot of interest. When you approach Revelation with a modernist perspective, the whole book just seems very weird. In the same way the Jewish people were awaiting the Messiah, so we are awaiting his second coming. Factions have formed over precisely what this coming will look like, when it will happen, and how we will know.
So, when I saw that Scott Hahn had written a book on Revelation, I was curious. This book makes the case that Revelation is an apocalyptic book, but that it was also used as a rubric for the Mass.
“. . . I, [Scott Hahn], propose that the key to understanding the Mass is the biblical Book of Revelation—and, further, that the Mass is the only way a Christian can truly make sense of the Book of Revelation.”
— Scott Hahn, The Lamb’s Supper, “Introduction”.
But so much of my understanding of Revelation was around the apocalypse, not the liturgical elements. This is not surprising since most protestant liturgies today are not “high church” liturgies. But at this point I was visiting a Catholic Mass regularly, and its arguments were compelling. Furthermore, this book was echoing things that I had heard in the Anglican church, “If you were to go to Mass everyday, you would cover the whole of scripture in 3 years.” He was also echoing similar arguments that I had given against what we called in seminary “Bible Idolatry” or “Bibliolatry”:
Catholics who attend Mass daily hear almost the entire Bible read to them in the course of three years. . . In fact, the Bible’s ‘natural habitat’ is in the liturgy. ‘Faith comes by hearing ,’ St. Paul said (Rom. 10:17). Notice that he did not say, ‘Faith comes by reading.’ In the early centuries of the Church, there were no printing presses. Most people could not afford to have the Gospels copied out by hand, and many people couldn’t read anyway. So where did Christians receive the Gospel? In the Mass—and then, as now, they got the full Gospel.
— Hahn, The Lamb’s Supper., Ch. 4.
Part 2: [Not a Hollywood Movie Plot]
The actual title of Part Two is “The Revelation of Heaven”. In this section, I found another thing that made Catholicism more attractive. Scott Hahn directs the reader away from many of the ways of interpreting Revelation and opens the reader up to an understanding about Revelation.
This was refreshing, and it’s something the mainline denominations like Reformed, Baptists, and Southern Baptists in the U.S. cannot experience. Since their liturgies lack any ancient elements other than the public reading of scripture, they cannot read Revelation and feel their churches are connected to the historical church. But Anglicans, Lutherans, Eastern and Catholic churches open this book up to the believer.
This is why it’s been a surprise to have some of the evangelical brothers and sisters of the faith respond so viscerally when someone is joining the Catholic Church. Many of the beliefs between the Anglican and Catholic churches are very similar. Yet, becoming Anglican did not spark nearly the same reaction as becoming Catholic does.
My kids are calling me to watch a movie, so to wrap this up. Here are the main points:
The book affirmed once again that most of my criticisms of modern protestant Christianity were not novel criticisms, they were criticisms that Catholics had been making for a while.
It showed me that Revelation was not just a book about the end of time, but a book about the present as well. One can attend a Catholic Mass while they study Revelation and they will walk away, whether Protestant or Catholic, with an enhanced understanding of the final book of the Bible.
Finally, it dealt with touchy issues around with the Eucharist and the Intercession of Saints. Since every Mass has an prayer to the Blessed Mother and a remembrance of early Christian martyrs, reading this helped me understand elements of the Catholic mass that were not in the Anglican church.
I didn’t take it all at face value though. Even my notes said that Dr. Hahn sounded like Ken Ham in some of his arguments. But, nevertheless, God still used this book to draw me into the Catholic faith.
Thank you again for reading. God bless.
Coming up next…
For those that just want the list, here it is. I attempted to put them in the order I purchased and read them, not necessarily by order of significance. If you decide to purchase them, please use my affiliate links here below 👇 . That way I get a kick back 😇.
Rome Sweet Home by Scott Hahn
40 Reasons Why I’m Catholic by Peter Kreeft
The Obscurity of Scripture: Disputing Sola Scriptura and the Protestant Notion of Biblical Perspicuity by Casey Chalk
Jesus and The Jewish Roots of Mary by Brant Pitre
The Lamb’s Supper by Scott Hahn
This is My Body by Bishop Barron
Persecuted from Within by Joshua Charles and Alec Torres
Saint Maximilian Kolbe: A Hero of The Holocaust by Fiorella De Maria
Honorable Mention:
The Case for Catholicism by Trent Horn
Faith and Reason: Philosophers Explain Their Turn to Catholicism by Brian Besong and Jonathan Fiqua
Daniel, I’m trying to make sure you know people are reading your articles 😁. I liked the hearing verses reading comment. It makes me think of the Western tickle my ears practice or sponge me. Some Protestants, dare I say more than there ought to be, just sit and soak it in, leave and life goes on. I know it’s the same across the board. I think there is a difference between the hearing of today as opposed to the hearing of the past. Those who listened, studied, and applied grew. Those that just sat there were like a clanging gong. My pastor used the example of seeing verses beholding. You can see a car. But to behold a car is to be able to describe it in detail.