Non-Empirical “Basic” Warrant for Theism & Christianity

Last updated on: May 17, 2017 at 2:13 pm By Dave Armstrong

Alvin Plantinga (b. 1932): widely regarded as the greatest living Christian philosopher, in 2009. [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license] * * * * * If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a thousand times from atheists and agnostics: “how can I believe in a ‘god’ without direct empirical evidence? Unless ‘he’ appears to me personally or rearranges — before my eyes — the Statue of Liberty into a giant sentence that reads ‘God exists’ then I have no... Read more

My Odyssey from Evangelical Protestantism to Catholicism

Last updated on: April 16, 2018 at 2:59 pm By Dave Armstrong

Yours truly at age 29 in October 1987, three years before I was persuaded of Catholicism. At this time I was an evangelical Protestant campus evangelist / apologist at the University of Michigan and Wayne State University in Detroit. I would have thought that the chance of my becoming a Catholic would have been about as likely as growing wings and flying to Mars (without oxygen). But God had other plans for me! We often don’t know what lies ahead in... Read more

My Radio & Webcast Interviews (Free Audio Files)

Last updated on: March 21, 2025 at 11:26 am By Dave Armstrong

See also: My Videos Page (Catholic Bible Highlights) I’ve been on the radio or on webcasts / podcasts 28 times since my first full interview, concerning Jehovah’s Witnesses, when I was still a Protestant, back in 1989, on the largest Protestant station in metro Detroit: WMUZ. A complete listing of all my interviews can be found in one section of my Literary Resume. Some of them are no longer available and likely never will be. But now 18 of them are... Read more

Rationales for My Self-Coined Term, “Radical Catholic Reactionaries”

Last updated on: April 16, 2020 at 10:32 am By Dave Armstrong

[Pixabay / public domain] (8-6-13) [as of 3 August 2013, I started using the self-coined term, radical Catholic reactionary instead of radtrad. I stopped using it because it was causing confusion of category and offending mainstream “traditionalists.”] * * * * * I know a little about use of terms for movements, having majored in sociology. The “radical Catholic reactionaries” are those who want to go too far: they want to “reform” the Church so much that it does become radical almost precisely... Read more

Am I a Catholic Traditionalist? (Well, YOU Decide!)

Last updated on: May 17, 2017 at 3:17 pm By Dave Armstrong

(8-7-13) [Kevin M. Tierney, often a critic of mine, who calls himself one, had written: “Dave Armstrong a Traditionalist? In what alternative universe? This isn’t a difference between ‘rad-trad’ and ‘sane traditionalist’, Dave isn’t a traditionalist period.”] * * * * * I’ve said all these things 4,387,190 times, but here goes again: 1. I am an orthodox Catholic, who accepts (and defends) all the infallible teachings, doctrines, and dogmas of the Church, and Sacred Tradition. 2. I’ve attended Latin Mass... Read more

My Apologetics Books (#2): “The Catholic Verses” (2004)

Last updated on: May 17, 2017 at 3:47 pm By Dave Armstrong

[see the information page for this book, for full details and all purchase options] (published by Sophia Institute Press in August 2004; 235 pages) * * * * * This was my third “official” publication in as many years, back in 2004, and the first of several, working with editor Todd Aglialoro: whose initial idea it was. The purpose and structure of this book (one of the most unique of all my books) was not simply a presentation of Catholic prooftexts (my... Read more

Dialogue on the Rich Young Ruler and Good Works

Last updated on: May 17, 2017 at 3:50 pm By Dave Armstrong

Christ and the Rich Young Ruler (1889), by Heinrich Hofmann (1824-1911) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] John and Cindy Taylor are members of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. They are friends “in real life” and have been to our house several times. I also attended their wedding. This was an exchange about my post, Jesus vs. “Faith Alone” (Rich Young Ruler), on my Facebook page. John’s words will be in green; Cindy’s in blue. * * * * * The article mischaracterizes me. I’m not... Read more

50 New Testament Proofs for Peter’s Primacy & the Papacy

Last updated on: October 13, 2020 at 6:41 pm By Dave Armstrong

[written in 1994 and published on pp. 233-238 of my book, A Biblical Defense of Catholicism] [see also translations of this paper into French and Portugese] *** See the following papers for a fuller explanation of exactly what I think these biblical evidences prove, and how I view them in terms of logical force (i.e., what I would claim for them), especially when considered individually: “Reply to Critique of “50 NT Proofs for the Papacy,” (vs. Jason Engwer) [3-14-02] Refutation of a Satirical... Read more

Final Judgment & WORKS (Not Faith Alone): 50 Passages

Last updated on: May 17, 2017 at 3:59 pm By Dave Armstrong

Original title: Final Judgment in Scripture is ALWAYS Associated with Works and NEVER with Faith Alone (50 Passages) The Last Judgment (1561) by Dirck Barendsz (1534-1592) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] (2-10-08) I first thought of this line of thought as fitting for a paper, in debate with anti-Catholic Matt Slick (who oversees the CARM discussion board), in my first “debate” with him. I later made a capsule version of the argument on pp. 87-93 of my book, The Catholic Verses (2004). Matt’s words... Read more

Who Killed Antoine Lavoisier: the “Father of Chemistry”?

Last updated on: November 22, 2021 at 4:27 pm By Dave Armstrong

Portrait of Monsieur de Lavoisier and his Wife, chemist Marie-Anne Pierrette Paulze (1788) by Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] (8-13-10) This constitutes Chapter Fourteen (slightly modified) from my book, Science and Christianity: Close Partners or Mortal Enemies? (2010, 301 pages). * * * * * Why is it that we always hear, ad nauseum, about Galileo and how he was persecuted by the Catholic Church for saying that the earth went around the sun? Well, there are two reasons: it makes for great copy,... Read more