Tag: Church

The All-American Church of Me

A couple disturbing revelations I’ve run into of late, suggesting a grave misunderstanding of what “Church” is: Many of America’s Protestant megachurches don’t have Christmas services.  This means that, when Christmas falls on a Sunday (like it will next year), this second-holiest of Sundays of the year is one these churches don’t celebrate.  In place… Continue reading The All-American Church of Me

The American and Catholic Understanding of the Episcopacy

First of all, happy St. Nicholas’ Day.  Totally forgot to mention that this morning. Second, John Allen wrote a worthwhile article on the legal troubles which faced Cardinal Michele Giordano.  He uses this example to illustrate the difference between the American and Catholic understanding of what it is to be a Church leader: The typical American… Continue reading The American and Catholic Understanding of the Episcopacy

The Old and New Testament Priesthood

I’m convinced that most Protestants haven’t thought through the question of the New Testament priesthood very much.  For example, John MacArthur, a popular Evangelical Calvinist, in one of his many sermons against the Catholic Church argued: “We don’t need any priests. Revelation 1: You are a kingdom of priests. We only need one high priest, and… Continue reading The Old and New Testament Priesthood

An Early Church Father Worth Knowing: Optatus of Milevis

I. Who Optatus of Milevis Was Prior to last week, I’d never heard of St. Optatus, the bishop of Milevis in the middle-300s.  I’m not alone: the  preface to the 1917 translation of Against the Donatists, the only work of his we still have, calls him “perhaps the least known of all the Fathers of the Church.”  As… Continue reading An Early Church Father Worth Knowing: Optatus of Milevis

How Should We Solve Disputes on Theology?

What should happen when two Christians, or more typically, two groups of Christians, both earnestly seek to follow Christ faithfully, but are at serious loggerheads about what the faith is?  The 27th Comrade, in his comments on these three posts, raises a number of points against what he thinks is the Catholic stance on issues like… Continue reading How Should We Solve Disputes on Theology?

The Historical Claim for Catholicism

Hilaire Belloc’s historical case for Catholicism is a simple enough two-part argument: (1) the early third century Church [the point in Church history where we start to get a substantial body of Patristic evidence] was clearly Catholic; and (2) the views of the Church in the third century are the views of the Church of… Continue reading The Historical Claim for Catholicism

Ignatius of Antioch on the Structure of the Early Church

Called to Communion has a great post up exploring what St. Ignatius of Antioch said about the structure of the Church in his seven letters.  Ignatius was the second bishop of Antioch from about 70 A.D. to 107 A.D., when he was martyred for refusing to worship the emperor.  And his letters are chock full of… Continue reading Ignatius of Antioch on the Structure of the Early Church

Protestantism’s Catch-22: Schism or Heresy?

The Protestant Problem A Presbyterian and a Calvinist Baptist, after months of carefully studying Scripture, and maybe even extra-Scriptural sources, become convinced that the other person’s church is correct on the question of infant baptism. That is, the Presbyterian concludes that the Baptist view is right, and vice versa. What should they do? Split from… Continue reading Protestantism’s Catch-22: Schism or Heresy?

A Fascinating Proposal for Catholic-Orthodox Reunion

The North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation is a group made up of representatives from both the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church who have explored the question of under what conditions full union between what John Paul II referred to as the two “lungs” of the Body of Christ might be possible.  On October 2,… Continue reading A Fascinating Proposal for Catholic-Orthodox Reunion