{"id":74549,"date":"2023-06-30T19:29:18","date_gmt":"2023-06-30T23:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?p=74549"},"modified":"2023-06-30T19:29:18","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T23:29:18","slug":"on-the-controversy-over-our-father-posture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2023\/06\/on-the-controversy-over-our-father-posture.html","title":{"rendered":"On the “Controversy” Over “Our Father” Posture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I always get a huge response when I write about this topic. I\u2019m writing about it again, not for that reason, but because it came up on my Facebook page after I posted a meme<\/a> concerning it, and I had some things to say that I thought were worthy of a blog article. Here are my past offerings on the subject:<\/p>\n

Posture During the \u201cOur Father\u201d Over Against the Rubrics<\/a> [7-7-08]<\/p>\n

\n
Holding Hands at Mass During the \u201cOur Father\u201d<\/a> [2-19-14]<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
\n
Dialogues on Church Rubrics (Laws) & Hand-Holding at Mass<\/a>\u00a0[11-15-17]<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
\n
Debate: Teach & Enforce Liturgical Rubrics Or No?<\/a>\u00a0[7-15-19]<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
Dialogue with\u00a0 Two Canonists on Our Father<\/em>\u00a0Posture<\/a>\u00a0[7-16-19]
\n*<\/div>\n
My position, and I believe that of the Church (concerning the Latin, western rite) regarding hand-holding or raising hands during the Our Father<\/em>, is that the congregation should not<\/em><\/strong> do either. Even deacons are supposed to abide by that as well. Most do, but not all.
\n*
\nThe usual response of Catholic critics of this view (and believe me, I have heard this many times) is that it\u2019s 1) legalistic, 2) condescending towards other parishioners who are worshiping God as they see fit, and 3) majoring on the minors, or a trifle. I respond as follows:<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
Liturgical rubrics exist for a reason. No one is saying it\u2019s the #1 priority of everything in the world, but it is<\/strong><\/em> a set of rules, and Catholics ought to respect what the Church has decreed.<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
\n
\n
What critics in this regard often imply is that because there are lots of problems in the world (Dave: always have<\/em> been!), therefore, no one ought to ever highlight what the Church requires in terms of liturgical rubrics. To do so is unnecessary and unimportant, and hypocritical, of the sort that Jesus condemned.<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
That sounds like antinomianism (an extreme \u201canti-law\u201d attitude) to me, if there is so little concern for Church decrees and regulations.
\n*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u00a0We worship a certain way because that has been the liturgical tradition that the Church has sanctioned. It\u2019s important, along with doctrine and (above all) love.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
\n
\n
It\u2019s untrue that in order to care about souls and the world\u2019s problems, I (or anyone else of like mind) must refrain from ever pointing out that many folks don\u2019t properly follow the liturgical rubrics of the Catholic Church. The two have nothing to do with each other. In fact, I would say it is charitable<\/em> \u2014 not uncharitable! \u2014 to educate Catholics about what the Church has taught concerning gestures at Mass. The rules are good<\/em> for us; that\u2019s why they\u2019re there<\/em>. And if<\/em> they are good, then it\u2019s good for me as an apologist to educate Catholics about<\/em> them (since many many priests obviously aren\u2019t doing so). I blame priests and deacons for not making these things known: not the folks in the pews.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
\n
\n
I think defense of anything that the Church has determined at a high level, with widespread application, is a fight worth having. The mystery to me about the critics\u2019 position is why they seem to be so utterly unconcerned about liturgical regulation, as if it were literally of no importance at all. That leaves me scratching my head and shrugging my shoulders. I could see a low church Protestant thinking like this (just as I myself<\/em> used to for many years, so I am familiar with the perspective), but a Catholic<\/em>? No, I don\u2019t get that at all.
\n*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
As an apologist, it\u2019s my duty to defend not only the Bible and tradition, but Holy Mother Church and her decisions as well: including liturgical ones. I\u2019m no kind of \u201cexpert\u201d in liturgy, though I have written about it, such as explaining the propriety and utility of formal worship and repetition, etc. Consequently, I pretty much entirely relied on others in my own articles on the present topic: mostly Jimmy Akin, Karl Keating, Fr. Colin Donovan, and canon lawyer Edward Peters. I was basically just passing along their conclusions, as folks that I generally trust to be reliable and helpful.<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
I can assure all that I don\u2019t stay awake at night worrying about this stuff. Nor am I looking down my nose at parishioners who violate the rubrics (most in my parish don\u2019t, anyway, and it\u2019s charismatic). My focus is on Jesus at the Mass, and no one and nothing else. It\u2019s about 500th on my priority list. I repeat \u2014 since this is very important to understand about my position \u2014 : \u201cI blame priests and deacons for not making these things known: not the folks in the pews.\u201d
\n*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
But unless one takes a position that priests ought to have not the least concern about teaching their congregants about proper liturgical and worship behavior at Mass (which would be a weird and odd view, in my opinion), I don\u2019t see how my position could be criticized. It seems utterly self-evident to me. \u201cThe Church decreed x<\/em> regarding liturgy, so the obedient Catholic \u2014 as we all<\/em> should be, by definition \u2014 follows x<\/em>.\u201d
\n*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Now, if they don\u2019t know<\/em> about it (as I believe is the case for the vast majority), then that\u2019s one thing. They\u2019re not culpable, and whoever taught them about behavior at Mass is<\/em>. Once they learn these things, they are responsible, and if they blow them off, then I think it\u2019s clear that that isn\u2019t a Catholic attitude. It\u2019s placing private judgment and preference above the Church, which is a quite Protestant, \u201cpick and choose\u201d outlook, and needs to be pointed out and corrected, with all due gentleness and understanding. And to do so is certainly a loving action, even if some may be offended and get their feelings hurt.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
*
\n***<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

Practical Matters<\/em><\/strong>: Perhaps some of my 4,300+ free online articles (the most comprehensive \u201cone-stop\u201d Catholic apologetics site) or\u00a0fifty-three books<\/a>\u00a0have helped you (by God\u2019s grace) to decide to\u00a0become Catholic<\/a>\u00a0or to\u00a0return to the Church<\/a>,\u00a0or better understand some doctrines and\u00a0why<\/em>\u00a0we believe them<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Or you may believe my work is worthy to support for the purpose of apologetics and evangelism in general.\u00a0If so, please seriously consider a much-needed financial contribution. I\u2019m always in need of more funds: especially\u00a0monthly<\/em>\u00a0support. \u201cThe laborer is worthy of his wages\u201d (1 Tim 5:18, NKJV). 1 December 2021 was my 20th anniversary as a\u00a0full-time Catholic apologist<\/a>,\u00a0and February 2022 marked the 25th anniversary of my blog.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

PayPal donations<\/a>\u00a0are the easiest: just send to my email address: apologistdave@gmail.com. You\u2019ll see the term \u201cCatholic Used Book Service\u201d, which is my old side-business. To learn about the different methods of contributing, including 100% tax deduction, etc., see my page:\u00a0About Catholic Apologist Dave Armstrong \/ Donation Information<\/a>.\u00a0Thanks a million<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0from the bottom of my heart!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

***<\/p>\n

Photo credit:<\/strong> Photo by B Hartford J Strong (11-30-08)\u00a0<\/span>[Flickr<\/a>\u00a0\/\u00a0CC BY 2.0<\/a>\u00a0license]<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Summary<\/em>: There is a controversy about the \u201cOur Father\u201d posture at Catholic Masses. Are we supposed to hold hands or raise our hands? The Church rubrics say no. So do I.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I always get a huge response when I write about this topic. I\u2019m writing about it again, not for that reason, but because it came up on my Facebook page after I posted a meme concerning it, and I had some things to say that I thought were worthy of a blog article. Here are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":74552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[17840,3264,17843,17849,4639,17846],"class_list":["post-74549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ecumenism-christian-unity","tag-our-father-posture","tag-catholic-liturgy","tag-holding-hands-during-the-our-father","tag-liturgical-rubrics","tag-posture-at-mass","tag-raising-hands-during-the-our-father"],"yoast_head":"\nOn the "Controversy" Over "Our Father" Posture On the "Controversy" Over "Our Father" Posture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I always get a huge response when I write about this topic. I'm writing about it again, not for that reason, but because it came up on my Facebook page There is a controversy about the "Our Father" posture at Catholic Masses. Are we supposed to hold hands or raise our hands? The Church rubrics say no. So do I.\" \/>\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\/2023\/06\/on-the-controversy-over-our-father-posture.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On the "Controversy" Over "Our Father" Posture On the "Controversy" Over "Our Father" Posture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I always get a huge response when I write about this topic. I'm writing about it again, not for that reason, but because it came up on my Facebook page There is a controversy about the "Our Father" posture at Catholic Masses. Are we supposed to hold hands or raise our hands? The Church rubrics say no. So do I.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2023\/06\/on-the-controversy-over-our-father-posture.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=\"2023-06-30T23:29:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2023\/06\/Hand-Holding.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"428\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\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\/2023\/06\/on-the-controversy-over-our-father-posture.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2023\/06\/on-the-controversy-over-our-father-posture.html\",\"name\":\"On the \\\"Controversy\\\" Over \\\"Our Father\\\" Posture On the \\\"Controversy\\\" Over \\\"Our Father\\\" Posture\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-30T23:29:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-30T23:29:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e\"},\"description\":\"I always get a huge response when I write about this topic. I'm writing about it again, not for that reason, but because it came up on my Facebook page There is a controversy about the \\\"Our Father\\\" posture at Catholic Masses. Are we supposed to hold hands or raise our hands? The Church rubrics say no. So do I.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2023\/06\/on-the-controversy-over-our-father-posture.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2023\/06\/on-the-controversy-over-our-father-posture.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2023\/06\/on-the-controversy-over-our-father-posture.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"On the “Controversy” Over “Our Father” Posture\"}]},{\"@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":"On the \"Controversy\" Over \"Our Father\" Posture On the \"Controversy\" Over \"Our Father\" Posture","description":"I always get a huge response when I write about this topic. I'm writing about it again, not for that reason, but because it came up on my Facebook page There is a controversy about the \"Our Father\" posture at Catholic Masses. Are we supposed to hold hands or raise our hands? The Church rubrics say no. So do I.","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\/2023\/06\/on-the-controversy-over-our-father-posture.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"On the \"Controversy\" Over \"Our Father\" Posture On the \"Controversy\" Over \"Our Father\" Posture","og_description":"I always get a huge response when I write about this topic. I'm writing about it again, not for that reason, but because it came up on my Facebook page There is a controversy about the \"Our Father\" posture at Catholic Masses. Are we supposed to hold hands or raise our hands? The Church rubrics say no. So do I.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2023\/06\/on-the-controversy-over-our-father-posture.html","og_site_name":"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","article_published_time":"2023-06-30T23:29:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":428,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2023\/06\/Hand-Holding.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\/2023\/06\/on-the-controversy-over-our-father-posture.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2023\/06\/on-the-controversy-over-our-father-posture.html","name":"On the \"Controversy\" Over \"Our Father\" Posture On the \"Controversy\" Over \"Our Father\" Posture","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-06-30T23:29:18+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-30T23:29:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e"},"description":"I always get a huge response when I write about this topic. I'm writing about it again, not for that reason, but because it came up on my Facebook page There is a controversy about the \"Our Father\" posture at Catholic Masses. Are we supposed to hold hands or raise our hands? The Church rubrics say no. So do I.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2023\/06\/on-the-controversy-over-our-father-posture.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2023\/06\/on-the-controversy-over-our-father-posture.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2023\/06\/on-the-controversy-over-our-father-posture.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"On the “Controversy” Over “Our Father” Posture"}]},{"@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\/74549","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=74549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}