Preface

This adaptation of Father Brunsmann’s Lehrbuch der Apologetik is intended to supply the apologetical treatises now commonly comprised under the title of Fundamental Theology, which the late Monsignor Pohle purposely omitted from his Lehrbuch der Dogmatik and which are quite persistently demanded by many of those who use our English version of that theological classic. Having seen these treatises (on Natural Religion, Revealed Religion, and the Church of Christ) provided in a modern and up-to-date form by Father John Brunsmann, S.V.D., professor of Fundamental Theology in the Seminary of St. Gabriel, near Vienna, we obtained permission to adapt his Lehrbuch to the needs of those who have been clamoring for these treatises, as a sort of complement to “Pohle-Preuss.” We hope the present work will be as favorably received as were the twelve volumes of our adaptation of the latter series, most of which have already reached a fifth edition.

I am indebted to the Rev. Joseph Molitor, D.D., to the Rev. Henry J. Heck, to the Rev. J. B. Tennelly, S.S., S.T.D., to the Rev. Leo F. Miller, D.D., and to the Rev. Albert Muntsch, S.J., for valuable assistance in the revision of the proof-sheets of this volume.

Arthur Preuss