Catholic Answers apologist Tim Staples addresses concerns about reading books by figures like Machiavelli, previously banned by the Church. While those bans are no longer binding, Tim emphasizes the importance of understanding the Church’s reasons and assessing your own spiritual maturity. He encourages informed reading for those strong in faith but advises caution for those susceptible to the presented ideas.
Transcript:
Edward, thank you for the call. Go ahead with your question for Tim. Hi Tim. Yes, hello. Okay, so there was a recent book that I had been turned off of because I discovered that it included some work by Machiavelli and I understand that Machiavelli’s works were all banned by the church for quite a long time, even though it’s my understanding that that’s been discontinued. So I wanted to ask, would it be sinful to read literature by people like Machiavelli? No, it would not be sinful. But I appreciate your question, Edward, because I do think that we need to take seriously those, you know, documents from the church. The church is our mother. She loves us. And there’s a reason why the church banned those. And remember, we’re talking about a time when there was a lot of illiteracy. There was a lot of naivete, like we don’t have it today, right, Cyco? I think it’s with all the images, you know, from video and all that. I think we’re becoming less literate, not more literate. Yeah, it is true. And so we have to take those things seriously. But of course, from a canonical perspective, no, they do not have any binding force any longer. But yeah, I want to know what books were banned and what were not, but then I will read them.
And it’s okay to read them, understanding why did Holy Mother Church say no, because hey, there’s stuff in here that’s dangerous. But remember, even those, you know, lists of banned books, it didn’t mean that theologians and philosophers could not read them. That was a list, generally speaking, for the faithful. Hey, these things are bad. They can lead you astray. Don’t read them. But of course, the church had theologians and scholars and seminary professors and stuff that read them even back then in order to refute them, right? And so yeah, there’s nothing wrong with it, but we still have to take seriously. And I would add this, Cy, Kelly. Yes, Tim Staples. That if you’re weak in your faith, you shouldn’t. Now, I can’t tell you that, you know, this is a near occasion of sin for you and you can’t do it, but you need to be honest with yourself. I mean, it’s like porn. We all know, right?
You don’t look at porn because it can lead you and will lead you into sin. Well, in the area of the faith, if you read stuff that’s shaky, I know my son Luke, who’s listening probably right now, Luke loves to grab some of–he reads everything. My son reads every book in the house. My goodness, this kid is, he’s just a voracious reader, but he’ll pick up McCarthy’s book, you know, or some book like that. And I have to warn him, hey, you know, that’s not–that’s actually a guy teaching false teachings and whatnot. And so I warn him and then he can warn it. He can read it properly. And if he has questions, he can ask me. So that’s what we have to do is if we’re reading these things, we’re reading them in order to understand the world better so we can evangelize better.
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