Today, we arrive at the last of St. Edmund Campion’s Ten Reasons to reject the Reformation, and it’s a doozy. It turns out, he spent many of the prior nine reasons crescendoing towards this last one, and the result is epic: a sort of cosmic vision of the Catholic Church and the Reformation, with (in… Continue reading Reason #10 to Reject the Reformation: The Grand Finale
Tag: ECFs
Pope Victor and the Second-Century Papacy
Pope St. Victor I In October, I wrote about a fascinating conflict in the first-century church of Corinth. When a dispute broke out within their church, they wrote to Rome. Pope Clement wrote back, issued some orders, and resolved the dispute. Under any circumstances, this would be interesting, because it shows the way that papal… Continue reading Pope Victor and the Second-Century Papacy
Reason #6 to Reject the Reformation: Patristic Scriptural Exegesis
Caspar Schwenckfeld Catholic beliefs are often rejected by “Bible-only” Protestants on the grounds that they are “extra-Scriptural Traditions.” This accusation typically misses the mark: on teachings like the priesthood, or the Eucharist, or regenerative baptism, it’s not that the Church is deriving these views from a source other than Scripture. It’s that she sees support… Continue reading Reason #6 to Reject the Reformation: Patristic Scriptural Exegesis
Reason #5 to Reject the Reformation: The Church Fathers
Church Fathers, a miniature from Svyatoslav’s Miscellany (1076) The relationship between Protestantism and the Church Fathers is complicated, and necessarily so. On the one hand, the Early Church Fathers are an invaluable source for any Christian, whether they know it or not. They’re the ones who passed on the faith, even at the cost of… Continue reading Reason #5 to Reject the Reformation: The Church Fathers
Reason #4 to Reject the Reformation: Ecumenical Councils
Councils are part of the history of the Church from the very beginning, as the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 shows. And they’re a source of potential unity between Catholics and Protestants, because so long as both sides recognize the authority of the early Ecumenical Councils, we have some common ground upon which to… Continue reading Reason #4 to Reject the Reformation: Ecumenical Councils
Does Tertullian Reject Infant Baptism?
Antonio del Castillo y Saavedra, Baptism of St. Francis of Assisi (1665) I’ve said before that the Church Fathers are unanimous in their belief in regenerative baptism: that is, they believe that Baptism actually saves us (as 1 Peter 3:21 explicitly says), by causing us to be born again by water and the Spirit (John… Continue reading Does Tertullian Reject Infant Baptism?
Did the Papacy Exist While John Was Alive?
For my money, one of the strongest arguments against the papacy (or at least one of the most interesting) is that the Catholic view requires us to hold that the first few popes after Peter had authority over St. John the Evangelist, even though these popes weren’t Apostles, and John was. So how do we answer… Continue reading Did the Papacy Exist While John Was Alive?
The Early Church and the Virgin Mary: St. Gregory the Wonder-Worker
St. Gregory the Wonder-Worker (14th c. icon) In honor of the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, I thought I would share with you a glimpse into how the early Church viewed Mary. In particular, I want to share excerpts from a homily delivered by one of the great Saints of the early Church, St.… Continue reading The Early Church and the Virgin Mary: St. Gregory the Wonder-Worker
The Case for Infant Baptism
Baptists and various other Evangelical groups believe that baptizing infants is contrary to the Bible. Catholics, in contrast, see it as not only Biblical, but salvific. The stakes are huge on this one, because it might be the difference between a person dying baptized or unbaptized. So let’s consider the case against infant baptism (and why… Continue reading The Case for Infant Baptism
Is Easter Pagan?
Every year around Easter time, there’s a spate of articles and Facebook posts that seek to disprove Christianity. This year, there were two: that Jesus had a wife, and that Easter is really just worship of the pagan deities Ishtar and Eostre. Fr. Stephen Grunow, CEO of Word on Fire, had the definitive response to… Continue reading Is Easter Pagan?