Surprised by Truth
by Patrick Madrid
Eleven people. Eleven roads. One destination. Patrick Madrid gathered these conversion stories in the 1990s from people who came to the Catholic Church from evangelical, fundamentalist and other Protestant backgrounds. Each tells it in their own voice.
What ties the stories together is reasons. The contributors lay out the biblical and historical questions that moved them: authority, Scripture and Tradition, the Eucharist, the early Church, Mary. Several describe studying to prove the Church wrong and finding the argument going the other way. The result is part testimony, part apologetics, and at times moving.
It suits Protestant inquirers who want to see how people with similar backgrounds worked through the same questions, Catholics with Protestant friends or family, and anyone who enjoys a good conversion story. Madrid later edited sequel volumes, so there's more if you want it. The contributors aren't professional theologians showing off. They're ordinary believers who did their homework and followed the evidence where it led them, often at real personal cost.
Key Takeaways
- How eleven converts worked through their questions.
- Arguments on authority, Scripture and the Eucharist.
- Stories of people who set out to disprove the Church.
- Chapters you can read in any order.
It collects converts' own accounts of the biblical and historical reasons they became Catholic.
