. . . (with a handy summary of Tridentine soteriology) Council of Trent (1588) , by Pasquali Cati (1550-1620) [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license] (1997; summary added: 29 December 2003) * * * * * CANON I. If any one saith, that man may be justified before God by his own works, whether done through the teaching of human nature, or that of the law, without the grace of God through Jesus Christ; let him be anathema. CANON II. If... Read more
. . . And of Course, “Jittery John” Again Explodes . . . [Flickr / CC BY 2.0 license] (11-30-06) “Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me.” Job 38:3 (RSV) “Pour forth the overflowings of your anger, and look on every one that is proud, and abase him . . . bring him low; and tread down the wicked where they stand.” Job 40:11-12 This amazing display of condescension... Read more
[public domain / Pixabay] (10 October 2003) TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Sola Scriptura is Not Taught in the Bible 2. “Word of God” 3. Tradition is Not a Dirty Word 4. Jesus and Paul Accepted Non-Biblical Oral and Written Traditions 5. Jerusalem Council 6. Pharisees, Sadducees, and Oral, Extrabiblical Tradition 7. OT Jews Did Not Believe in Sola Scriptura / Necessity of Interpretation 8. 2 Timothy 3:16-17: The Protestant “Proof Text” 9. Paul Casually Assumes that His Passed-Down Tradition is Infallible and Binding 10. Sola Scriptura is a... Read more
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[CC0 public domain / Pixabay] *** (5-28-08) *** Catholics (like many Protestants) believe in baptismal regeneration, and we also believe that the Eucharist has a direct relation to salvation in some respect, based on passages such as the following: Acts 2:38 And Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; 1 Peter 3:18-21 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that... Read more
. . . of Jesus in the Eucharist as a Parallel to Doubting Disciples The Last Supper (1625-1626), by Valentin de Boulogne (1591-1632) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] * * * * * (2-14-11) [Chapter Four of my book, Biblical Catholic Eucharistic Theology] St. Peter (before his transformation after Pentecost) lacked faith in Jesus’ power over the natural world (Luke 8:24-25) and so he couldn’t walk on the water like Jesus did (Matt 14:24-33). Many Protestants likewise stumble over the miracle of the... Read more
Wotan chases after Brünnhilde. Illustration to Richard Wagner’s opera, Das Rheingold (1910), by Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] * * * I wrote the following remarks on an enormously popular atheist thread: Jesus never existed. Words of atheist TheMarsCydonia will be in blue. * * * * * This [denial of Jesus’ historical existence] is a ridiculous position; intellectual suicide; held by virtually no scholars who would be in a position to know. I never bother arguing it with... Read more
The Heart of Mary, by Leopold Kupelwieser (1796-1862). Photograph by Diana Ringo at Peterskirche, Vienna, Austria (9-22-13) [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license] * * * This is a chapter from my book, Biblical Catholic Apologetics (2013) * * * * * My friend, Mary Kochan, editor of the Catholic Lane website, wrote an article in July 2011, entitled, “Catholics, Please Say Something About Jesus!” Even before I read it, my “sociological” curiosity was greatly piqued by her statement introducing the article to me,... Read more
Did Jesus Condemn All Formal and/or Repetitious Prayers (Like the Rosary and the Mass)? [public domain / Pixabay] * * * This is a chapter from my book, Biblical Catholic Apologetics (2013) (7-22-10) [all verses RSV] * * * * * Matthew 6:7 And in praying do not heap up empty phrases [KJV: “vain repetitions”] as the Gentiles [KJV: “heathen”] do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Sirach 7:14 Do not prattle in the assembly of the elders, nor repeat yourself in your prayer. But Jesus... Read more
Original Title: “Challenged by Lutherans Regarding Three Luther Quotes on Mary: Read the Facts and Decide for Yourself” The Annunciation (1914), by John William Waterhouse (1849-1917) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] (10-6-11) This exchange occurred at Cranach: The Blog of Veith: a Lutheran site, in the combox for the post “Mariology.” I was initially responding to the question of how “Catholic” Luther’s Mariology was, later in his life. I said it was relatively more so; others thought the opposite. I gave three quotes... Read more
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