Tim Enloe, a Reformed Protestant writer who was very active in contra-Catholic apologetics in the early 2000s, but no longer is, wrote about Swan\u2019s piece on Eric Svendsen\u2019s anti-Catholic forum:<\/p>\n
For those who encounter RC apologists making exaggerated claims about Luther\u2019s Marian beliefs, I have just put up an outstanding paper by James Swan, a Westminster Seminary student whom I met on CARM [a Protestant discussion board] a few months ago when he was demonstrating Dave Armstrong\u2019s extremely poor research methods and outlandish claims about Luther. Given the large number of RC apologists who rely heavily on Armstrong\u2019s site for information about the Reformation and the Reformers, this is an exciting and thoroughly researched \u201cset the record straight\u201d paper.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I have removed from my blog tons of material from Tim, at his request. I don\u2019t know if he would still hold to this opinion of me or not. If so, he has never told\u00a0me<\/em>\u00a0that he renounces this jaded view of my research. He later clashed theologically and personally with even fellow Reformed Protestants like Bishop \u201cDr.\u201d [???] James White. I simply note that his views have no doubt evolved and matured, these past 18 years.<\/p>\nThis material was originally posted on\u00a026 April 2003. James Swan\u2019s words will be in\u00a0blue<\/span>.<\/p>\n*****<\/p>\n
Mr. Swan continues in his paper with an absurd anti-medievalist (and ultimately anti-Catholic) picture of the Christianity and piety of the Middle Ages:<\/p>\n
Young Luther was enveloped in a religious climate consisting of a host of saints and superstitions. All worked together in a grand scheme of relief from the ravages of medieval life, as well as appeasing the always-watching wrathful God. Perhaps a few thought they were fortunate enough to one day attain ultimate salvation. Most expected the dismal grind of medieval life to continue beyond into the bowels of Purgatory, or worse. It was a religious \u201csurvival of the fittest,\u201d with saints beseeched for aid in enduring the grueling journey.<\/span><\/p>\nNear the end of the paper he returns to this lamentable tactic, creating even more garden-variety, warmed-over Charles Hodge, wrongheaded stereotypes of Catholic Mariology (the following are all self-contained excerpts):<\/p>\n
Here was the centrality of the issue for Luther. Mary had taken the role of intercessor, co-redeemer, and had been elevated to the status of a \u201cgoddess\u201d who would defeat Satan. She had become an idol. In the worship of idols, there is no salvation.<\/span><\/p>\nThe Devil will even let us hold to an especially orthodox biblical understanding of the person of Christ, but without truly trusting in Jesus. The modern Roman Catholic who venerates Mary finds himself in the same situation as his medieval ancestor: Mary takes on the attributes of Christ and thus becomes an idol, even while one may be holding to a particularly orthodox view of Christ.<\/span><\/p>\nWhile Luther could call Mary the \u201cMother of God,\u201d he was far more concerned to say something about the work of God in Christ than about her, thus, he un-deified her by definition. His usage was not intended to be a quasi-divine statement of veneration similar to medieval or current Roman Catholic trends. When Luther abandoned aspects of Mariology like the Immaculate Conception, it served to further un-deify the goddess. Christ was the only one conceived sinless ruling the throne of the heart, the only Savior in whom one could place their complete trust. While retaining such beliefs like perpetual virginity, Luther did so in undogmatic terms, making sure that Mary was not to be deified for such an attribute.<\/span><\/p>\nThe colors of the Roman Catholic picture of Luther\u2019s devotion to Mary become blurry and unfocused when examined in the light of his writings and theology. Once the intercessory role of Mary was abandoned, Luther saw the idol medieval theology had created. The medieval veneration had its sole purpose of appealing to her for daily and ultimate help. Her attributes were worshipped in order to gain her favor.<\/span><\/p>\nI need not concern myself with this merely polemical sort of comment. I\u2019m infinitely more interested in rational and factual argument. Mr. Swan continues:<\/p>\n
Contemporary Protestants distance themselves from the title, \u201cMother of God,\u201d and perhaps for good reason. The term has evolved in its usage. What was once a rich theological term expressing a doctrinal truth about Christ developed quickly into a venerating praise to Mary.<\/span><\/p>\nNo documentation is given (in contrast to the profuse documentation of this paper of mine, and others of similar nature). Mr. Swan follows the widespread Protestant contra-Catholic polemical tendency of stating the correct, orthodox definition of a doctrine but then refusing to note and document how the official Catholic doctrines completely concur. Rather, excesses in popular Catholic or \u201cfolk\u201d piety are decried as if they represented Catholicism as a whole \u2014 on the dogmatic level.<\/p>\n
This is terribly fallacious \u201creasoning.\u201d One must always compare the doctrinal teachings of one Christian communion with another, not give the best theological and creedal views of one and rhetorically \u201coppose\u201d them with the worst excesses of the man on the street of the other. The unfairness and sheer silliness of that is obvious, but unfortunately, it happens all the time (on both sides), and Mr. Swan is no exception, with statements like these:<\/p>\n
Thus, young Luther partook in Mariolatry, but the mature Luther looking back saw only the excesses of medieval devotion and teaching on Mary. He saw that she had been adorned with attributes that only belonged to Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n. . . Luther shifts the emphasis away from Mary and back to God. He explains that Mary thought herself \u201cblessed\u201d because God \u201cregarded\u201d her; that is, God turned His face toward her and gave grace and salvation, . . . Luther sees this \u201cregarding\u201d as God\u2019s bestowal of grace in choosing His children unto salvation and sanctification<\/span><\/p>\nOf course. Someone ought to direct Mr. Swan to an orthodox Catholic catechism. This is such an elementary thing; does he think that the average theologically educated Catholic does not know this? Granted, there are many ignorant Catholics. But these sorts of considerations are absurdly presented as if they have the \u201cImprimatur\u201d and full acceptance of the highest levels of the Catholic hierarchy. I can assure Mr. Swan that Catholics who know\u00a0anything<\/em>\u00a0are quite aware that:<\/p>\n1. Mary is not God (as there is one God: monotheism).<\/p>\n
2. Mary does not save herself (contra Pelagianism).<\/p>\n
3. Mary is nothing that God did not grant to her, in grace (Catholics believe in\u00a0sola gratia<\/em>\u00a0every bit as much as Protestants do, even \u2014 especially \u2014 where Mary is concerned).<\/p>\n4. Mary does not compete with God, but declares His glory, as the \u201cmasterpiece\u201d of His creation, just as praise of a masterpiece of art is praise of the painter or sculptor or composer (Catholics don\u2019t view veneration of saints and worship of God as identical, and don\u2019t espouse an \u201ceither\/or\u201d or zero sum game notion: viz., that veneration of saints somehow detracts from or contradicts the worship of God, and His unique glory and majesty).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
***<\/p>\n
Photo credit:<\/strong> James Swan, Reformed Protestant, anti-Catholic polemicist.<\/span><\/p>\n***<\/p>\n
Summary<\/em>: I engaged in a lengthy dispute over Luther\u2019s Mariology & Catholic Mariology in 2003 with James Swan, anti-Catholic polemicist. I am re-posting several old excerpts from Internet Archive.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is section VI of a lengthy paper (posted on Internet Archive in its entirety):\u00a0Counter-Reply: Martin Luther\u2019s Mariology (Particularly the Immaculate Conception), Part II (Has Present-Day Protestantism Maintained the \u201cReformational\u201d Heritage of Classical Protestant Mariology?) (vs. James Swan). It is a response to Swan\u2019s piece,\u00a0Martin Luther\u2019s Theology of Mary. Tim Enloe, a Reformed Protestant writer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":56866,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[231,45,23],"tags":[11252,2357,508,832,682,2356,2348],"class_list":["post-56881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anti-catholicism","category-blessed-virgin-mary","category-martin-luther","tag-anti-catholic-mariology","tag-blessed-virgin-mary","tag-catholic-mariology","tag-james-swan","tag-luthers-mariology","tag-mariology","tag-martin-luther"],"yoast_head":"\n
Anti-Catholic Caricatures of Catholic Mariology (vs. James Swan) Anti-Catholic Caricatures of Catholic Mariology (vs. James Swan)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is section VI of a lengthy paper (posted on Internet Archive in its entirety):\u00a0Counter-Reply: Martin Luther\u2019s Mariology (Particularly the Immaculate I engaged in a lengthy dispute over Luther's Mariology & Catholic Mariology in 2003 with James Swan, anti-Catholic polemicist. I am re-posting several old excerpts from Internet Archive.\" \/>\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\/2021\/05\/anti-catholic-caricatures-of-catholic-mariology-vs-james-swan.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Anti-Catholic Caricatures of Catholic Mariology (vs. James Swan) Anti-Catholic Caricatures of Catholic Mariology (vs. James Swan)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is section VI of a lengthy paper (posted on Internet Archive in its entirety):\u00a0Counter-Reply: Martin Luther\u2019s Mariology (Particularly the Immaculate I engaged in a lengthy dispute over Luther's Mariology & Catholic Mariology in 2003 with James Swan, anti-Catholic polemicist. I am re-posting several old excerpts from Internet Archive.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2021\/05\/anti-catholic-caricatures-of-catholic-mariology-vs-james-swan.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=\"2021-05-15T17:52:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2021\/05\/SwanStretched.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"416\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\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=\"6 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\/2021\/05\/anti-catholic-caricatures-of-catholic-mariology-vs-james-swan.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2021\/05\/anti-catholic-caricatures-of-catholic-mariology-vs-james-swan.html\",\"name\":\"Anti-Catholic Caricatures of Catholic Mariology (vs. James Swan) Anti-Catholic Caricatures of Catholic Mariology (vs. James Swan)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-15T17:52:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-15T17:52:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e\"},\"description\":\"This is section VI of a lengthy paper (posted on Internet Archive in its entirety):\u00a0Counter-Reply: Martin Luther\u2019s Mariology (Particularly the Immaculate I engaged in a lengthy dispute over Luther's Mariology & Catholic Mariology in 2003 with James Swan, anti-Catholic polemicist. I am re-posting several old excerpts from Internet Archive.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2021\/05\/anti-catholic-caricatures-of-catholic-mariology-vs-james-swan.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2021\/05\/anti-catholic-caricatures-of-catholic-mariology-vs-james-swan.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2021\/05\/anti-catholic-caricatures-of-catholic-mariology-vs-james-swan.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Anti-Catholic Caricatures of Catholic Mariology (vs. James Swan)\"}]},{\"@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":"Anti-Catholic Caricatures of Catholic Mariology (vs. James Swan) Anti-Catholic Caricatures of Catholic Mariology (vs. James Swan)","description":"This is section VI of a lengthy paper (posted on Internet Archive in its entirety):\u00a0Counter-Reply: Martin Luther\u2019s Mariology (Particularly the Immaculate I engaged in a lengthy dispute over Luther's Mariology & Catholic Mariology in 2003 with James Swan, anti-Catholic polemicist. I am re-posting several old excerpts from Internet Archive.","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\/2021\/05\/anti-catholic-caricatures-of-catholic-mariology-vs-james-swan.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Anti-Catholic Caricatures of Catholic Mariology (vs. James Swan) Anti-Catholic Caricatures of Catholic Mariology (vs. James Swan)","og_description":"This is section VI of a lengthy paper (posted on Internet Archive in its entirety):\u00a0Counter-Reply: Martin Luther\u2019s Mariology (Particularly the Immaculate I engaged in a lengthy dispute over Luther's Mariology & Catholic Mariology in 2003 with James Swan, anti-Catholic polemicist. I am re-posting several old excerpts from Internet Archive.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2021\/05\/anti-catholic-caricatures-of-catholic-mariology-vs-james-swan.html","og_site_name":"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","article_published_time":"2021-05-15T17:52:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":416,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2021\/05\/SwanStretched.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dave Armstrong","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dave Armstrong","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2021\/05\/anti-catholic-caricatures-of-catholic-mariology-vs-james-swan.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2021\/05\/anti-catholic-caricatures-of-catholic-mariology-vs-james-swan.html","name":"Anti-Catholic Caricatures of Catholic Mariology (vs. James Swan) Anti-Catholic Caricatures of Catholic Mariology (vs. James Swan)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-05-15T17:52:50+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-15T17:52:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e"},"description":"This is section VI of a lengthy paper (posted on Internet Archive in its entirety):\u00a0Counter-Reply: Martin Luther\u2019s Mariology (Particularly the Immaculate I engaged in a lengthy dispute over Luther's Mariology & Catholic Mariology in 2003 with James Swan, anti-Catholic polemicist. I am re-posting several old excerpts from Internet Archive.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2021\/05\/anti-catholic-caricatures-of-catholic-mariology-vs-james-swan.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2021\/05\/anti-catholic-caricatures-of-catholic-mariology-vs-james-swan.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2021\/05\/anti-catholic-caricatures-of-catholic-mariology-vs-james-swan.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Anti-Catholic Caricatures of Catholic Mariology (vs. James Swan)"}]},{"@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\/56881","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=56881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2021\/05\/SwanStretched.jpg\")
<\/p>\n