Category: Uncategorized

A Post-Election Quiz

One of my professors sent this Post-Election Quiz around today. I’m not sure who wrote it, but it’s timely for Christians who are struggling with the results of last night’s election. After the Election: Perspective Check Jesus Christ, Icon, Eastern Orthodox Altar,Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who… Continue reading A Post-Election Quiz

Fasting for the Election

With the election coming up tomorrow, one of my friends (and a fellow Kenrick seminary), Davide Bianchini, had a great suggestion: we should fast for the day.  Here’s what he wrote: Peter Paul Ruben, The Prophet Elijah Receiving Bread and Water from an Angel (1628) Someone encouraged me to do this, and I thought I’d… Continue reading Fasting for the Election

Pitting Jesus Against His Bride (Pt. II)

Yesterday, I began my response to David Mathis’ critique of the Catholic Church (which he writes as if he’s Jesus).  In that post, I answered his criticisms of Mary and the Saints, the Eucharist, and the papacy.  Today, I will address the remaining three topics: sola Scriptura, priestly celibacy, and justification. Sola Scriptura Jan Braet von… Continue reading Pitting Jesus Against His Bride (Pt. II)

Pitting Jesus Against His Bride (Pt. I)

David Mathis, a Baptist elder from South Carolina, has written a post pretending to be Jesus, and rebuking the Catholic Church. One of the problems with the approach of pretending to be Jesus is that Mathis doesn’t actually spell out his arguments, making it harder to show where his reasoning goes wrong. This is compounded… Continue reading Pitting Jesus Against His Bride (Pt. I)

Su Doku and the Development of Doctrine

Lorenzo Veneziano, Apostle Peter Preaching (1370) The Catholic Church teaches that the Apostolic faith, including “everything which contributes toward the holiness of life,” was “handed on once and for all” to the Apostles (Dei Verbum 8; see Jude 1:3). Jesus entrusted to the Apostles, through the power of the Holy Spirit, a Deposit of Faith,… Continue reading Su Doku and the Development of Doctrine

Why Not 66: Answering Brian Edwards’ Arguments for the Protestant Canon (Pt. II)

This is the second part of my response to Evangelical theologian Brian Edwards’ case for the 66-Book Protestant canon, “Why 66?”  Yesterday, I answered three of Edwards’ major claims: that the Deuterocanon was rejected by the early Jews, by Jesus and the Apostles, and that the Septuagint at the time of Christ probably “did not include” the… Continue reading Why Not 66: Answering Brian Edwards’ Arguments for the Protestant Canon (Pt. II)

Why Not 66: Answering Brian Edwards’ Arguments for the Protestant Canon (Pt. I)

Brian Edwards In continuing my search for a principled basis for the Protestant canon of Scripture, I found what looked to be the perfect fit. It’s a talk called “Why 66?,” an hour long presentation by the Evangelical theologian Brian Edwards, which sought to answer, for a Protestant audience: (I, 6:37). “So what is the… Continue reading Why Not 66: Answering Brian Edwards’ Arguments for the Protestant Canon (Pt. I)

If We Can’t Call Priests “Father,” It Doesn’t Leave Much

Padre Pio de Pietrelcina Some time ago, I wrote a post on why we Catholics call our priests “Father.”  In a nutshell, this is a recognition of the priest’s spiritual fatherhood. St. Paul sets the pattern for this in 1 Cor. 4:15, when he tells Timothy, “I became your father through the Gospel.”  The typical objection to… Continue reading If We Can’t Call Priests “Father,” It Doesn’t Leave Much

Christopher Hitchens, R.I.P.

The prominent atheist Christopher Hitchens has died, at age 62, from pneumonia, a complication from the cancer he’d been fighting for some time.  May God have mercy on his soul.