Rent Antichrist (De Controversiis)

Synopsis

In the 16th century, the chief doctrine of the Protestant reformers was that the Pope was the Antichrist. Thus St. Robert Bellarmine, the greatest controversial author of the Reformation period, turned his pen to answering the challenge which resulted in a complete demolition of their position. Bellarmine's argumentation begins first with Scripture, then with the Fathers of the Church, then with appeals to reason and the later Theologians. He first shows that the Protestant explication does not match up to the texts of Scripture that treat on the Antichrist, then he shows that the Pope cannot be Antichrist since Antichrist has not yet come, giving proofs from the Old and New Testaments and then the Fathers, along with the contradictions of the Protestants themselves. He continues with a discussion of 666, the mark of Antichrist and many other things that not only defend the Church, but also show the positive teaching of the Church Fathers and the Tradition in regard to Antichrist.

"I am delighted that the eschatological mission of the Holy Fathers Enoch and Elias, so well testified to in Sacred Tradition, but virtually forgotten in our day and age, will become more widely known. "We owe a real debt of gratitude to Ryan Grant for bringing this work to a wider audience. I pray that it receives a very wide reading." -Fr. Philip Wolfe, FSSP

"In the history of the writings about the Antichrist, other than the Fathers, the text of St. Robert Bellarmine is of prime importance." -Fr. Chad Ripperger, PhD

"Mr. Grant has once again done the Catholic world a great favor by making available yet another mini-treatise of the great Counter-Reformation Doctor, St. Robert Bellarmine, rightly feared by all the Protestant controversialists as one who shreds every anti-Catholic argument with cogent reasoning and an encyclopedic knowledge of Scripture and Tradition. This translation of the saint's probing commentary on the identity and work of Antichrist is more pertinent than ever, not only because the Protestant arguments he is dealing with have never entirely disappeared, but also because we are living in an age of exponentially intensifying evil that might well make many Catholics wonder if we are living in the end times. Since Antichrist is the very herald of the end times, it behooves us to study carefully his features and characteristics, as drawn for us by St. Paul and other inspired authors." -Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, Wyoming Catholic College

Here is a timely book for an age when many are looking around for the Antichrist, often seeing foreshadowings of him here and there. Is he alive? Is he walking the earth? In seeking to answer these questions, many in the past (i.e., various Protestants leaders and writers) have actually aided his coming by becoming Antichrist themselves. To avoid this pitfall, read this excellent book penned by a holy doctor of the Church. —Fr. Sean Kopczynski, MSJB

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