The Protestant’s Dilemma: An Interview with Devin Rose (Video)

The Protestants Dilemma

When I was a college-aged Protestant exploring Catholicism back in 2008, I stumbled across an interesting blog written by a Catholic convert named Devin Rose. I could relate to many of his posts. He asked the same questions I was asking and he faced similar difficulties with Protestantism. I started commenting on his blog and we struck up a friendship, one that proved invaluable during and after my own conversion.

Protestants DilemmaThree years later, Devin self-published a book titled If Protestantism is True: The Reformation Meets Rome. It featured a unique format. Instead of attacking Protestant doctrines head-on, Devin first assumed they were true before examining their implications. He then showed how because the implications were untenable, the doctrines themselves must be rejected—a philosophical technique known as reductio ad absurdum.

The book did extremely well, selling thousands of copies within the first few months. That piqued the interest of Catholic Answers and led them to publish a new, updated version of the book titled The Protestant’s Dilemma: How the Reformation’s Shocking Consequences Point to the Truth of Catholicism. Here’s the official book description:

“What if Protestantism were true? What if the Reformers really were heroes, the Bible the sole rule of faith, and Christ’s Church was just an invisible collection of loosely united believers? As an Evangelical, Devin Rose used to believe all of it. Then one day the nagging questions began. He noticed things about Protestant belief and practice that didn’t add up. He began following the logic of Protestant claims to places he never expected it to go—leading to conclusions no Christians would ever admit to holding.
 
In The Protestant’s Dilemma, Rose examines over thirty of those conclusions, showing with solid evidence, compelling reason, and gentle humor how the major tenets of Protestantism—if honestly pursued to their furthest extent—wind up in dead ends. The only escape? Catholic truth.
 
Rose patiently unpacks each instance, and shows how Catholicism solves the Protestant’s dilemma through the witness of Scripture, Christian history, and the authority with which Christ himself undeniably vested his Church. The Protestant’s Dilemma is the perfect book for non-Catholics trying to work through their own nagging doubts, or for Catholics looking for a fresh way to deepen their understanding of the Catholic Church.”

Today I’m honored to sit down with Devin, six years after he helped guide me into the Church, to discuss his new book and some of the big questions that separate Protestants and Catholics.

 

Video


Watch the video here (11 minutes)

Audio

[audio:http://brandonvogt.com/wp-content/uploads/Devin-Rose-interview.mp3]
Download the interview here (11 minutes)

Topics Discussed:

1:51 – What are the strengths and benefits of Protestantism?
3:47 – Why did you use the philosophical technique known as reductio ad absurdum in your book?
5:45 – Why is the canon of Scripture central to the Catholic-Protestant divide?
7:45 – How is the lack of centralized authority the “Achilles’ heel” of Protestantism?
 

Follow Devin’s writing at St. Joseph’s Vanguard and be sure to pick up his great new book, The Protestant’s Dilemma: How the Reformation’s Shocking Consequences Point to the Truth of Catholicism.

The Protestant's Dilemma

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