{"id":36678,"date":"2019-08-09T11:23:30","date_gmt":"2019-08-09T15:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?p=36678"},"modified":"2019-08-09T11:55:27","modified_gmt":"2019-08-09T15:55:27","slug":"mary-mother-of-god-dialogue-w-evangelical-protestant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/08\/mary-mother-of-god-dialogue-w-evangelical-protestant.html","title":{"rendered":"Mary Mother of God: Dialogue w Evangelical Protestant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/p>\n

This dialogue came about as a result of Jack DisPennett<\/strong>\u2018s critique of my paper,\u00a0The Blessed Virgin Mary:\u00a0Biblical & Catholic Overview<\/a>. His words will be in\u00a0blue<\/span>.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

I would agree for the most part. Even in the Bible Elizabeth calls Mary, \u201cThe mother of my Lord.\u201d However, I think that the phrase \u201cMother of God\u201d is apt to be misleading and should thus be qualified. For example, \u201cMother of God the Word\u201d or \u201cMother of God the Son.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I used to make precisely the same argument as a Protestant. I have no problem with this (I\u2019ve used these phrases as a Catholic apologist, myself, on more than one occasion), but at the same time, the Protestant can and ought to do a little bit of work to understand what the Catholic\u00a0means<\/i>\u00a0by the phrase, which was used by Luther and Zwingli (and the Fathers\u00a0en masse<\/i>), with the exact same understanding. It is a word of high importance and significance in Church history, known by all who study that field:\u00a0Theotokos<\/i>, or\u00a0God-bearer<\/i>. It was crucial in the condemnation of Nestorianism as a heresy, at the Council of Ephesus in 431.<\/p>\n

I agree that the Protestant must take pains to understand Catholic terminology; however, this\u00a0does not absolve Catholics from the responsibility of developing a precise, unambiguous, Biblical\u00a0vocabulary. I am quite aware of the Catholic understanding of the term \u201cMother of God;\u201d I am only saying that Catholics should better phrase the terminology so as not to be a stumbling block to outsiders who might not be so well informed.<\/span><\/p>\n

We use the term because it has been passed down to us, firmly entrenched in apostolic Christian Tradition. I could make the same argument about\u00a0Trinity<\/i>: a word not found in the Bible, based on deduction (though very good, solid deduction), and much-misunderstood by \u201coutsiders.\u201d Should, therefore, all Christians cease using the word because so few understand it? It would seem that you must answer \u201cyes,\u201d from your reasoning above.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, I thought I\u2019d add that I\u2019d rather think of myself as Protestant (I prefer \u201cevangelical,\u201d) in doctrine, rather than in lineage. I have never read Calvin or Luther, neither do I admire either one of them very much, based on what I do know about them. I would like to think that I came to believe what I believe by a fair and balanced interpretation of the Bible, not because \u201cPastor so-and-so\u201d said it was true.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many Protestants think in this way, but upon closer examination, traditions and denominational influences are apparent in\u00a0every<\/i>\u00a0Christian\u2019s thought, of whatever stripe, whether or not they are aware of it. The very disdain of Luther and Calvin and the eschewing of a Protestant heritage and institutionalism in general is\u00a0itself\u00a0<\/i>yet another form of Protestantism, deriving from the Anabaptists in the 16th century.<\/p>\n

So it really comes down to\u00a0your<\/i>\u00a0interpretation of the Bible vs. the historic interpretation of the Church (and in this particular case, classic Protestantism agrees with Catholicism and Orthodoxy). Why should anyone accept your view over against the overwhelming consensus of Church history? This is a problem throughout your analysis: the radical nature of an extreme\u00a0Bible-only; as-interpreted-by-the-individual-only\u00a0<\/i>position. This is not at all how Jesus, the Apostles, and the Church Fathers viewed the matter, and Catholics believe we are merely following their lead.<\/p>\n

Saying \u201cMother of God\u201d without any qualifiers is apt to lead to the absurd conclusion that she is the mother of the Father and the Holy Spirit as well as the Son, which is ridiculous.<\/span><\/p>\n

It could. People think a lot of things about many words. I consider it\u00a0more\u00a0<\/i>ridiculous, however, that non-Catholic Christians (i.e., those who know their own faith traditions pretty well) would\u00a0think\u00a0<\/i>that Catholics\u00a0believe<\/i>\u00a0such an absurd thing in the first place. This illustrates how little they understand Catholicism, which, in my opinion, is a far greater problem than the misunderstandings which might occur among those who don\u2019t trouble themselves to any great degree to study comparative theology generally, or Catholic theology in particular.<\/p>\n

I have taken pains not to mischaracterize Catholic theology thusly, so I agree that many\u00a0Protestants should be more careful in their study of Catholicism.<\/span><\/p>\n

Great.<\/p>\n

Such qualifiers to distinguish between the Persons of the Trinity are Biblical, I believe: remember, in John 1:1, John wrote, \u201cand the Word was God,\u201d not \u201cand God was the Word,\u201d because the latter would tend to hint at a teaching not unlike the Modalist heresy, namely, by\u00a0<\/span>seeming to say that the Son was \u201call of\u201d God, that is, that the the Word Himself formed the totality of the Godhead.<\/span><\/p>\n

Very interesting analogy. I think it ultimately fails, though. See my next reply.<\/p>\n

I would also like to wholeheartedly agree that \u201cMother of God\u201d should primarily be a Christological title: However, by addressing this title to Mary in prayer to her, Catholics may sometimes tend to use this title to give honor to Mary rather than to Christ. This is a potential\u00a0<\/span>stumbling block which needs to be looked out for.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Church has written about Marian abuses in her ranks, particularly in the documents of Vatican II, and Mary\u2019s intrinsic inferiority to God as a mere creature is well-attested in our ranks. But your analogy to John 1 doesn\u2019t apply because the two situations are different. In my book,\u00a0A Biblical Defense of Catholicism<\/i>, I went into this at greater length. I cited James Cardinal Gibbons on this matter:<\/p>\n

We affirm that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Word of God, who in His divine nature is from all eternity begotten of the Father, consubstantial with Him, was in the fullness of time again begotten, by being born of the Virgin, thus taking to Himself, from her maternal womb, a human nature of the same substance with hers.But it may be said the Blessed Virgin is not the Mother of the Divinity. She had not, and she could not have, any part in the generation of the Word of God, for that generation is eternal; her maternity is temporal. He is her Creator; she is His creature. Style her, if you will, the Mother of the man Jesus or even of the human nature of the Son of God, but not the Mother of God.<\/p>\n

I shall answer this objection by putting a question. Did the mother who bore us have any part in the production of our\u00a0soul<\/i>? Was not this nobler part of our being the work of God alone? And yet who would for a moment dream of saying \u201cthe mother of my body,\u201d and not \u201cmy\u00a0<\/i>mother?\u201d . . . . . In like manner, . . . the Blessed Virgin, under the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost, by communicating to the Second Person of the Adorable Trinity, as mothers do, a true human nature of the same substance with her own, is thereby really and truly His Mother.<\/p>\n

It is in this sense that the title\u00a0Mother of God<\/i>, denied by Nestorius, was vindicated to her by the General Council of Ephesus, in 431; in this sense, and in no other, has the Church called her by that title. Hence, by immediate and necessary consequence, follow her surpassing dignity and excellence. (The Faith of Our Fathers<\/i>, New York: P.J. Kenedy & Sons, revised edition, 1917, 137-138)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think that you have misunderstood my point. I agree that Mary is really and fully the mother of God the Son. I was merely pointing out that calling Mary \u201cThe Mother of God\u201d without specifying her as the mother of Christ is apt to confuse outsiders. If we specify her as the mother of Christ, the second Person of the Trinity, then her role is made more clear in the phraseology; she is merely the vessel that God used to bring about the Incarnation of His Son. My point is that Mary\u2019s role as\u00a0Theotokos<\/i>\u00a0should be further specified in the phraseology to: \u201cmother of God the Son,\u201d because we wouldn\u2019t want anyone to think that she was the mother of the Holy Trinity, or the mother of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is the only qualm I have about that title; the uninformed are apt to misunderstand it.<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Related Reading:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Mary \u201cMother of God\u201d: Greater than God the Father?<\/a>\u00a0[8-31-06]<\/span><\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
Mary Mother of God: Protestant Founders Agree (Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Bullinger, and Lutheranism)<\/a>\u00a0[10-10-08]<\/span><\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
\u201cMother of God\u201d: Quick, Effective Biblical Proof<\/a>\u00a0[12-11-08]<\/span><\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
John Calvin\u2019s Objection to the Term, \u201cMother of God\u201d<\/a>\u00a0[5-9-13]<\/span><\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
Mary, \u201cSpouse of the Holy Spirit\u201d: Blasphemy?<\/a>\u00a0[9-10-15]<\/span><\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
Mary Mother of God: Idolatry or Biblical?<\/a>\u00a0[10-8-15]<\/span><\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
\n
Martin Luther vs. Nestorius Regarding \u201cMother of God\u201d<\/a>\u00a0[3-28-18]<\/span><\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
How to Correct Some Misunderstandings About Mary<\/a>\u00a0(\u201cMother of God\u201d)\u00a0[National Catholic Register<\/em>, 2-20-19]<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
***<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

(originally 1-21-02)<\/p>\n

Photo credit:<\/strong> The Virgin of the Angels<\/em> (1881), by\u00a0William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905)<\/span> [public domain \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a>]<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This dialogue came about as a result of Jack DisPennett\u2018s critique of my paper,\u00a0The Blessed Virgin Mary:\u00a0Biblical & Catholic Overview. His words will be in\u00a0blue. ***** I would agree for the most part. Even in the Bible Elizabeth calls Mary, \u201cThe mother of my Lord.\u201d However, I think that the phrase \u201cMother of God\u201d is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":36681,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[467,1058,1057,469,507,681,944],"class_list":["post-36678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blessed-virgin-mary","tag-deity-of-christ","tag-divinity-of-christ","tag-god-bearer","tag-incarnation","tag-mother-of-god","tag-theotokos","tag-virgin-birth"],"yoast_head":"\nMary Mother of God: Dialogue w Evangelical Protestant<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nice little dialogue with an educated evangelical Protestant about the term "Mother of God" in Catholic (and classic Protestant) theology & how it has been so misunderstood.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/08\/mary-mother-of-god-dialogue-w-evangelical-protestant.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mary Mother of God: Dialogue w Evangelical Protestant\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nice little dialogue with an educated evangelical Protestant about the term "Mother of God" in Catholic (and classic Protestant) theology & how it has been so misunderstood.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/08\/mary-mother-of-god-dialogue-w-evangelical-protestant.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-08-09T15:23:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-08-09T15:55:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2019\/08\/Mary48.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"525\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"767\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dave Armstrong\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dave Armstrong\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/08\/mary-mother-of-god-dialogue-w-evangelical-protestant.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/08\/mary-mother-of-god-dialogue-w-evangelical-protestant.html\",\"name\":\"Mary Mother of God: Dialogue w Evangelical Protestant\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-09T15:23:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-08-09T15:55:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e\"},\"description\":\"Nice little dialogue with an educated evangelical Protestant about the term \\\"Mother of God\\\" in Catholic (and classic Protestant) theology & how it has been so misunderstood.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/08\/mary-mother-of-god-dialogue-w-evangelical-protestant.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/08\/mary-mother-of-god-dialogue-w-evangelical-protestant.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/08\/mary-mother-of-god-dialogue-w-evangelical-protestant.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mary Mother of God: Dialogue w Evangelical Protestant\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/\",\"name\":\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism\",\"description\":\"Catholic biblical apologetics\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e\",\"name\":\"Dave Armstrong\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dave Armstrong\"},\"description\":\"Dave Armstrong is a Catholic author and apologist, who has been actively proclaiming and defending Christianity since 1981, and Catholicism in particular since 1991 (full-time since December 2001). Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \\\"This Rock\\\" (now called \\\"Catholic Answers Magazine\\\"), \\\"Envoy Magazine\\\" (Patrick Madrid), \\\"The Catholic Answer,\\\" \\\"The Coming Home Journal,\\\" \\\"Gilbert Magazine\\\" (American Chesterton Society), and \\\"The Latin Mass.\\\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \\\"The Michigan Catholic\\\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \\\"Catholic Answers Live\\\" (twice), \\\"Faith and Family Live\\\" (Steve Wood), \\\"Kresta in the Afternoon,\\\" \\\"Son Rise Morning Show,\\\" \\\"Catholic Connection\\\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \\\"The Catholics Next Door.\\\" His large and popular website, \\\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\\\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \\\"index\\\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \\\"Surprised by Truth\\\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \\\"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\\\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \\\"The Catholic Verses\\\" (2004), \\\"The One-Minute Apologist\\\" (2007), \\\"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\\\" (2009), \\\"The Quotable Newman\\\" (editor: 2012), and \\\"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\\\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \\\"The New Catholic Answer Bible\\\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \\\"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\\\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \\\"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\\\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \\\"Quotable Wesley\\\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mary Mother of God: Dialogue w Evangelical Protestant","description":"Nice little dialogue with an educated evangelical Protestant about the term \"Mother of God\" in Catholic (and classic Protestant) theology & how it has been so misunderstood.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/08\/mary-mother-of-god-dialogue-w-evangelical-protestant.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mary Mother of God: Dialogue w Evangelical Protestant","og_description":"Nice little dialogue with an educated evangelical Protestant about the term \"Mother of God\" in Catholic (and classic Protestant) theology & how it has been so misunderstood.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/08\/mary-mother-of-god-dialogue-w-evangelical-protestant.html","og_site_name":"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","article_published_time":"2019-08-09T15:23:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-08-09T15:55:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":525,"height":767,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2019\/08\/Mary48.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dave Armstrong","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dave Armstrong","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/08\/mary-mother-of-god-dialogue-w-evangelical-protestant.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/08\/mary-mother-of-god-dialogue-w-evangelical-protestant.html","name":"Mary Mother of God: Dialogue w Evangelical Protestant","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-08-09T15:23:30+00:00","dateModified":"2019-08-09T15:55:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e"},"description":"Nice little dialogue with an educated evangelical Protestant about the term \"Mother of God\" in Catholic (and classic Protestant) theology & how it has been so misunderstood.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/08\/mary-mother-of-god-dialogue-w-evangelical-protestant.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/08\/mary-mother-of-god-dialogue-w-evangelical-protestant.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/08\/mary-mother-of-god-dialogue-w-evangelical-protestant.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mary Mother of God: Dialogue w Evangelical Protestant"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/","name":"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism","description":"Catholic biblical apologetics","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e","name":"Dave Armstrong","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dave Armstrong"},"description":"Dave Armstrong is a Catholic author and apologist, who has been actively proclaiming and defending Christianity since 1981, and Catholicism in particular since 1991 (full-time since December 2001). Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \"This Rock\" (now called \"Catholic Answers Magazine\"), \"Envoy Magazine\" (Patrick Madrid), \"The Catholic Answer,\" \"The Coming Home Journal,\" \"Gilbert Magazine\" (American Chesterton Society), and \"The Latin Mass.\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \"The Michigan Catholic\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \"Envoy Magazine.\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \"Catholic Answers Live\" (twice), \"Faith and Family Live\" (Steve Wood), \"Kresta in the Afternoon,\" \"Son Rise Morning Show,\" \"Catholic Connection\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \"The Catholics Next Door.\" His large and popular website, \"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \"Envoy Magazine.\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \"index\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \"Surprised by Truth\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \"The Catholic Verses\" (2004), \"The One-Minute Apologist\" (2007), \"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\" (2009), \"The Quotable Newman\" (editor: 2012), and \"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \"The New Catholic Answer Bible\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \"Quotable Wesley\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).","sameAs":["https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}