October 15, 1996 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - In 1962, Presbyterian minister Loraine Boettner (1901-1990) authored the book Roman Catholicism (Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing Company), which has been used widely among Bible-believing Christians. As of 1980, the book had gone through 19 printings. It gives a defense of Biblical truth as opposed to Roman Catholic dogma, and the chapter titles include the Priesthood, Tradition, Peter, the Papacy, Mary, the Mass, the Confessional, Purgatory, the Infallibility of the Pope, Penance, Indulgences, Ritualism, and Celibacy.

It is not surprising that this book is under fierce attack at this present hour. In 1988 Catholic apologist Karl Keating, director of Catholic Answers, published a book entitled Catholicism and Fundamentalism (Ignatius Press, San Francisco). (He misrepresents both!) Chapter two of this deceptive book, titled "The Anti-Catholic's Sourcebook," deals with Boettner's work.

An excellent reply to Keating's attempt to discredit Boettner has been published by Robert M. Zins. It is titled Formidable Truth (White Horse Publications, P.O. Box 2398, Huntsville, AL 35804). Zins' review of Keating's attack upon Boettner is also included as an appendix to his book Romanism: The Relentless Roman Catholic Assault on the Gospel of Jesus Christ (1994, White Horse Publications).

The following is an excerpt from Zins' work --

"Though Dr. Boettner has gone home to be with the Lord, his book entitled Roman Catholicism still speaks clearly to the issues of disctinction between the Romanist religion and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Dr. Boettner understood the issues and was not afraid to speak up. We join in the debate since it is a timeless struggle between light and darkness. We highly recommend the work of Boettner. Though somewhat dated, it is still accurate in its assessment of the never changing doctrines of the Romish religion. The following pages will unfold Catholic apologetics interacting with Boettner, followed by our commentary. We have spent much time in this appendix carefully checking Dr. Boettner and the Catholic allegations in order to give the reader a good look at how a modern Romanist writer defends his religion against Boettner. In so doing, we feel we have brought out into the open the real animosity between the religion of Rome and the doctrines of Christianity. ... Many are wondering whether Boettner's work can be trusted. It can. Others are somewhat overwhelmed by the blasting diatribe against Boettner by Catholicism.

"Boettner denied the efficacy of infant baptism. He denied the Mass as a real partaking of the body of the Lord. He was adamantly opposed to the Romish teaching on the authority of the pope, penance, purgatory, justification, confirmation, confession to priests, veneration of Mary, assumption of Mary, the sacramental system and the efficacy of the Mass. He did not believe that any of these beliefs or practices had anything whatsoever to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ. He openly challenged Rome and proclaimed to the world that Rome carries the disease of heresy within her very heart.

"One cannot read Boettner and confuse his efforts with trying to promote an ecumenical alliance with Rome. ...

"To begin with, Keating builds a straw man in his opening salvo against Christianity by asking the reder to 'understand' that the credibility of the anti-Catholic movement depends largely on the credibility of Boettner's book. We find this statement to be false. The credibility of the movement which denies Roman Catholicism the legitimacy of the Christian label does not rest upon the work of one man let alone his book! The source of credibility is the Bible, from which Dr. Boettner would be the first to attribute the conclusions of his work. We wish to clarify that Dr. Boettner was not infallible. His writings are credible when they represent the truths found readily in the Bible. Part of Roman Catholicism's problem is its natural tendency to attribute authority to a mere man.

"The Romanist system is accustomed to looking to man for authority rather than the Scriptures. Keating wrongly concludes that people who expose the error of Romanism 'plagiarize' Boettner. It is a matter of fact that without Boettner men have been exposing the Romanist religion for over 1600 years!" (Robert M. Zins, Formidable Truth, White Horse Publications, P.O. Box 2398, Huntsville, AL 35804).