Good Reading List To Learn Traditional Theology

[Parresia]

Theology for Beginners

Theology and Sanity

Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma

How Christ Said the First Mass

A Tour Of The Summa

[jim111]

Here is a casual class you can take run by trad sisters.

http://catholicism.org/sai-free-class.html

[Beatrice]

Thanks very much for this list, it's very helpful!

[misericonfit]

The recent thread about Moral Theology made me wonder what a good reading list would be for learning theology and such.
I guess I could start the list with Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma in addition to the above.
wHat are some other recommendations?

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These are all old, but very good:

1. Fr. Arthur Devine (1849-1919), C.SS.R:

A Manual of Ascetical Theology: Or, The Supernatural Life of the Soul on Earth and in Heaven

The Commandments Explained According To The Teaching And Doctrine Of The Catholic Church

The Creed explained; Or, an exposition of Catholic doctrine according to the creeds of faith and the constitutions and definitions of the Church

More here: https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Devine%2C+Arthur%2C+1849-1919%22

"The Creed Explained" is very thorough, which is why it is almost 500 pages long.

No matter what the topic, he has a gift for writing very clearly about matters than can be very abstruse. He makes things a lot easier for the reader by subdividing his chapters, so that one never gets lost. His books are not short, but that is because they are thorough.

2. A book I have found very helpful in working out what out make of the reports of apparitions and similar favours one hears so much of these days, is "The Graces of Interior Prayer" by Pere Auguste Poulain, S.J. The edition I have has a letter of approbation by St Pius X.  I think that speaks for itself.

3. In case no-one has suggested it, Dom Chautard's "The Soul of the Apostolate" has been very highly praised (I've not read it).

This is probably saying the obvious, but for learning how to think about particular topics in a thoroughly Catholic way, ISTM the Encyclicals of the Popes are a must.

[Gerard]

One of the best books I found especially early on was simply a good Catholic Dictionary.  Fr. Hardon's Pocket Dictionary is great for quick reading, just snooping around and seeing what you can learn.  You might look up one word and then be curious about another one on the same page or so.  There are a couple of quibble's I have with Fr. Hardon nowadays but all in all it's a good book to use. 

[Bernadette]

A Tour Of The Summa

Is this like A Summa of the Summa? Which one's easier for a beginner? Which one's like the "middle ground" between beginner and full-on Summa?  I'm at once fascinated by, and intimidated by the full-on Summa, so I've never been confident enough to read it (or, really, convinced that I have any particular pressing need to read it, so I guess I'm okay.  )

[Kaesekopf]

Farrells companion to the summa is supposed to be good for laity.  It's on opcentrals site

http://opcentral.org/a-companion-to-the-summa/

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[Bernadette]

Farrells companion to the summa is supposed to be good for laity.  It's on opcentrals site

http://opcentral.org/a-companion-to-the-summa/

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Is there a way to download this that I'm missing?  I really hope so.

[Kaesekopf]

Farrells companion to the summa is supposed to be good for laity.  It's on opcentrals site

http://opcentral.org/a-companion-to-the-summa/

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Is there a way to download this that I'm missing?  I really hope so.

Uh.   Doubt it. 

Probably on archive.org though. 

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[Prayerful]

One of the best books I found especially early on was simply a good Catholic Dictionary.  Fr. Hardon's Pocket Dictionary is great for quick reading, just snooping around and seeing what you can learn.  You might look up one word and then be curious about another one on the same page or so.  There are a couple of quibble's I have with Fr. Hardon nowadays but all in all it's a good book to use.

I have one with a very fragile spine and some pages loose. Apart from essentially treating the NOM as the settled form of Mass (a mistake but understandable in the early eighties), there are so many neat and correct little definitions of terms a Catholic comes across. The SJ might make a person worry, but Fr Hardon SJ was of that extinct species of orthodox Catholic Jesuits.

Interesting resources in this thread. Thanks all.

[martin88nyc]

I have Hardon's catechism and it is in line with Vatican II.

[Gerard]

I have Hardon's catechism and it is in line with Vatican II.

I have that catechism and my eyes glazed over rather quickly. I've never been able to get into it.  That's why I suggested the dictionary for a beginner.  A lot of the suggestions are pretty heavy for people that have at most, the basic post-Vatican II instruction.  I think the most important things to learn first is the commonly used vocabulary and the concepts behind them. 

Many people recite prayers they've learned by heart but they actually don't know what half of the words mean.  They have a vague concept of the meaning based on hearing them in context but not a solid understanding and sometimes they simply have a wrong understanding because they've heard it in context used incorrectly. 

Examples:  What does "Amen" mean as opposed to "Alleluia"?  What is "Glory"?  etc.  You get the idea.  Better to really know a smaller amount of prayers full meanings than prattle on with heavier prayers when you don't know what you are even saying. If you don't know what "Glory" is, why would a person be jumping ahead to "consubstantial" or other more complicated and less frequent terms? 

Bishop Sheen's audio catechism is another great resource.  Simple clear explanations with very understandable analogies and examples.  His small books like "The Seven Cardinal Sins" and the "The Prodigal World" are also good collections of sermons and lectures from the early days of his ministry. 

[AnneTce]

Here is a casual class you can take run by trad sisters.

http://catholicism.org/sai-free-class.html

Is there an Updated link for this ?

[Alnitak]

Here are links to all 12 volumes of the Pohle-Preuss manuals of dogmatic theology. They were standard reading material in American seminaries pre-V2.