When I first started reading Christian books in earnest in 2010, apologetics was focused on answering the objections of skeptics including the "four horsemen" of the New Atheism. Can we trust the Bible? Can we believe in the Virgin birth? In more recent years there has been an increase in intra-Christian apologetics, especially among those who are "very online." Christians don't argue over whether we can trust the Bible but rather whether we can rely on Scripture without tradition. Christians don't doubt the Virgin birth but rather whether Mary was a perpetual virgin. Rejecting the polemical approaches of some zealous Catholics (and there are parallel examples of these among Protestants and Orthodox), the prolific theologian Matthew Levering shares the compelling reasons why he was drawn to Roman Catholicism.

To list all of Levering's reasons would be to give away his personal story and besides that, a testimony is not a genre of writing that can really be critiqued. In His amazing grace God calls us to Himself through an array of means and paths. One of Levering's early motivations for seeking God was "fear of death" (p. 21) which I resonated with, as well as how much reading played a role in his conversion - "Take up and read!" (p. 25, 40). I found Levering's "methodology" of presenting his arguments to be very, well, Catholic as page after page he offers up moving insights not only from "the usual suspects" like St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and St. Teresa of Avila but also less-heralded figures such as Ephrem the Syrian, Gertrude the Great of Helfta, and Alfred Delp. He also shares about his experiences and friendships with non-Catholic Christians including Stanley Hauerwas, Hans Boersma, and John Behr.

Given that this book is barely past 150 pages, naturally it isn't an extensive defence of Roman Catholic distinctives, though topics like the papacy and Mary are certainly addressed. Readers wanting more substantial arguments for Roman Catholic distinctives would do well to read Levering's other titles such as Mary’s Bodily Assumption and Christ and the Catholic Priesthood: Ecclesial Hierarchy and the Pattern of the Trinity.

In Why I Am Roman Catholic, Levering models principled irenicism that I hope the other authors in this series emulate - and that all Christians should strive for! Personally, while the cursory cases for Catholic doctrines did little to stir up doubts about my Protestant convictions, Levering's mining of rich reflections from the Catholic tradition drew me into greater awe and admiration for Our Lord.