Waterboarding: Calm Catholic Analyses (Resources)

Last updated on: May 24, 2017 at 8:21 pm By Dave Armstrong

The Water Torture.— Facsimile of a Woodcut in J. Damhoudère’s Praxis Rerum Criminalium: in 4to, Antwerp, 1556. [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] (5-1-14) I agree with what my friend Christopher Blosser had to say in his article in First Things: I have little respect for those who cavalierly lobby in defense of waterboarding — or, for that matter, those who who bring a cudgel to the discussion — tar-and-feathering as the “Rubber Hose Right” (to borrow one well-known term) anyone who... Read more

Books by Dave Armstrong: “The ‘Catholic’ Luther: An Ecumenical Collection of His ‘Traditional’ Utterances”

Last updated on: September 25, 2020 at 7:42 pm By Dave Armstrong

[completed on 28 December 2014 and published at Lulu (PDF) on the same day. 166 pages] [cover design by Dave Armstrong] — For purchase information, scroll to the bottom — LULU / E-BOOKSITE BLURB My goal in the present volume is to give “balance” and greater overall accuracy to the Catholic treatment of Luther. He obviously wrote a lot of things that Catholics vigorously disagree with. I have dealt at length with those, elsewhere. But if we are to... Read more

John Calvin: Sermon 22 on Matthew 1:22-25

Last updated on: February 7, 2025 at 5:43 pm By Dave Armstrong

(Mary’s Perpetual Virginity) Anonymous 16th century portrait of Calvin. [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] (10-14-14) (+ partial translation from French by Gregory Fast) [From the French in Corpus Reformatorum, Vol. 74: John Calvin: All the Works That Remain [Opera Quae Supersunt Omnia], Vol. 46, pp. 259-272] MATTH. Ch. I. 22. Or tout ceci a este faict afin que fust accompli ce que le Seigneur avoit dit par le Prophète, disant, 23. Voyci, une Vierge sera enceinte, et enfantera un fils: et appelleront... Read more

Introduction to Dave Armstrong’s Book, “The ‘Catholic’ Luther”

Last updated on: May 24, 2017 at 8:32 pm By Dave Armstrong

. . . An Ecumenical Collection of His ‘Traditional’ Utterances” [see information for this book and its purchase]*** (10-10-14) *** I’ve studied Martin Luther (1483-1546), the founder of Protestantism and specifically Lutheranism, a great deal from the time of my conversion to Catholicism (1990) and even before (I remember reading Roland Bainton’s famous biography, Here I Stand, around the time I got married in 1984). I’ve devoted a book to him, and a large website with scores and scores of... Read more

Swishy Bishops, Liberal Dissidents, & “PR” Regarding Pope Francis

Last updated on: May 24, 2017 at 8:35 pm By Dave Armstrong

Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square. November 27, 2013 (by Gabriel Sozi) [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license] *** (3-6-14) *** [compiled from remarks of mine in a recent thread on my Facebook page. Thomas Hunt’s words will be in blue]*** It doesn’t matter what Pope Francis does. If he doesn’t care at all or about “PR”, or if he (on the other hand) becomes a master of all the “proper” techniques and media-savvy, it won’t matter a hill... Read more

Israel as God’s Chosen Agent of Wrath and Judgment

Last updated on: May 24, 2017 at 8:38 pm By Dave Armstrong

Possible depiction of Jehu King of Israel giving tribute to King Shalmaneser III of Assyria, on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III from Nimrud (c. 827 B. C.) [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license] *** One of the most poorly understood aspects of the Old Testament (hence brought up a lot to us apologists) are the wars where God tells the Israelites to slay every man, woman, and child. This is seen as the equivalent of the evil massacres such as... Read more

The Papacy and the Aid of Conciliarity (or, Collegiality)

Last updated on: April 16, 2018 at 2:25 pm By Dave Armstrong

. . . How Popes Routinely Consult Bishops, Priests, and Laity Prior to Momentous Decrees [Lulu cover design by Fr. Deacon Daniel Dozier] [my counter-reply to Fr. Deacon Daniel Dozier from Chapter Six of the heavily revised Third (2015) Edition of Orthodoxy and Catholicism: A Comparison] * * * * * I fully, wholeheartedly agree with my friend, Fr. Deacon Daniel’s words in his superb reply. Perhaps that may surprise some. It shouldn’t (for anyone familiar with my past... Read more

The Great Spanking Debate Revisited

Last updated on: May 25, 2017 at 11:59 am By Dave Armstrong

Street Scene, by Giorgio Conrad (1827-1889) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] (2-6-14)These are my off-the-cuff comments on a Facebook thread of a friend. It was a private thread, so I can’t cite others. I summarize a few of their comments, so my answer is better understood in context. It started out with an approving link of an article (CNN op-ed) entitled, “Spanking isn’t parenting; it’s child abuse.” I chimed in a little after the discussion had begin. * * *... Read more

“Orthodoxy & Catholicism: A Comparison”: Reply to Introduction

Last updated on: May 25, 2017 at 12:15 pm By Dave Armstrong

by Fr. Deacon Daniel Dozier [Lulu cover design by Fr. Deacon Daniel Dozier] * * * * * Fr. Deacon Daniel A good friend of mine once remarked that being an Eastern Catholic is at times very much like the experience of a child of a great divorce. One stands, as it were, between two great sources of ecclesial parentage (Catholicism and Orthodoxy) whose estrangement developed over the course of centuries, and the wound of which is still deeply felt... Read more

Martin Luther and Anabaptist Executions in the 1530s

Last updated on: May 25, 2017 at 12:19 pm By Dave Armstrong

Original title: Reply to Reformed Luther Apologist James Swan’s Request for Documentation of Executions of Anabaptists Sanctioned by Luther, in the 1530s [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license] (8-17-14) * * * * * James Swan (“TertiumQuid”), webmaster (Boors All + Facebook page), anti-Catholic Reformed Protestant polemicist and longtime defender of Martin Luther (sometimes rightly) against what he sees as a torrent of Catholic misinformation and bigotry, wrote on the Catholic Answers Internet forum on 17 August 2014 (comment... Read more