{"product_id":"2940170749072","title":"Why Priests?: A Failed Tradition","description":"Bestselling author of \u003ci\u003ePapal Sin\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eWhy I Am a Catholic\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003cbr\u003eGarry Wills spent five years as a young man at a Jesuit seminary and \u003cbr\u003enearly became a priest himself. But after a lifetime of study and \u003cbr\u003ereflection, he now poses some challenging questions: Why do we need \u003cbr\u003epriests at all? Why did the priesthood arise in a religion that began \u003cbr\u003ewithout it and opposed it? Would Christianity be stronger without the \u003cbr\u003epriesthood, as it was at its outset?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Meticulously researched, persuasively argued, and certain to spark debate, \u003ci\u003eWhy Priests?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e asserts that the anonymous Letter to Hebrews, a late addition to the \u003cbr\u003eNew Testament canon, helped inject the priesthood into a Christianity \u003cbr\u003ewhere it did not exist, along with such concomitants as belief in an \u003cbr\u003eapostolic succession, the real presence in the Eucharist, the \u003cbr\u003esacrificial interpretation of the Mass, and the ransom theory of \u003cbr\u003eredemption. But Wills does not expect the priesthood to fade entirely \u003cbr\u003eaway. He just reminds us that Christianity did without it in the time of\u003cbr\u003e Peter and Paul with notable success.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Wills concludes with a \u003cbr\u003epowerful statement of his own beliefs in a book that will appeal to \u003cbr\u003ebelievers and nonbelievers alike and stand for years to come as a \u003cbr\u003etowering achievement.","brand":"Tantor Audio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47179347493104,"sku":"2940170749072","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940170749072_p0.jpg?v=1763716188","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940170749072","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}