What Did Jesus Do?: The Biblical Roots of the Catholic Church

'Who CARES what Jesus did?' This may well be the response of many to the title of this book. Some may shrug it off because of a general disbelief in God, or a refusal to believe that Jesus could actually be the Incarnate Word, i.e., the eternal Son of God who became man. Others may acknowledge that Jesus is an inspiring moral teacher, and yet find some of his hard sayings (Jn. 6:60) too onerous to live and/or far-fetched to accept. Still others may be turned off by a history of bad experiences with professed Christians, and so see Jesus as a polarizing figure. Further, there are Christians who believe in Jesus as their Savior, but who disagree that he founded the Catholic Church. And there can be overlap among these different reasons.

In What Did Jesus Do? Tom Nash seeks to present anew the real Jesus, the Word [who] became flesh (Jn. 1:14) to save all of humanity and to employ his Mystical Bride, the Catholic Church, as his instrument of salvation and life-transforming love (Mt. 16:18-19; Jn. 10:10). Nash makes various biblical and other historical arguments for the perennial relevance of Jesus and his Church, including that anti-Catholicism makes for the strangest of bedfellows, with many unexpectedly finding the devil and his devotees lining up with them against the Church.

As Nash summarizes well, if the Catholic Church were merely a human institution, she would've entered the dustbin of history centuries ago, both because of internal scandals and external persecutions. Instead, 2,000 years after the Resurrection, the Church continues to advance her God-given Great Commission (Mt. 28:18-20).

Thomas J. Nash is a Research Associate at Ave Maria Radio, a Contributing Apologist for Catholic Answers and a Contributing Blogger at National Catholic Register. Tom formerly served as a Theology Advisor at EWTN. Tom is the author of What Did Jesus Do?: The Biblical Roots of the Catholic Church (Incarnate Word Media) and The Biblical Roots of the Mass (Sophia Institute Press). He is also a contributing author of Catholic for a Reason III: Scripture and the Mystery of the Mass (Emmaus Road Publishing). He is also a Regular Member of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars