It is tempting to describe this book as a vernacular Denzinger de rebus fidei and the description is to some extent accurate, but there is more to it than just the documents of the Church, and their arrangement by subject makes.it a different type of reference book altogether and one more likely to be of practical use to the
ordinary layman or parish priest. The first eleven chapters deal in turn with: revelation, tradition and Scripture, creation, original sin, the Redeemer, our Lady, the Church, the sacraments, grace, and the last things. The twelfth chapter is a collection of creeds or symbols. Each chapter begins with a short discussion of the doctrine followed by a summary statement of its essentials with references to every relevant paragraph. In addition, notes on each document as it occurs place it in its historical context. Thus, to know what the Church has said about any point of doctrine one has only to look it up in the preamble to the relevant chapter (or in the index).