One need not spend much time in discourse with atheists before one encounters the claim that belief in God is a wish-fulfilling fantasy. The premise underpinning the claim is relatively simple. Faith is a psychological response by those who cannot deal with the harsh realities of life. The roots of this claim can, for the most part, be traced to two men, Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud. In this paper, I will summarize the positions of these two men, and... Read more
Tis the season when atheists and secularists of every stripe break out the not-so-time-honored claim that Christmas is nothing more than a retelling of various pagan mythologies. This essay aims to show that not only does Christmas not have pagan origins but that many of the pagan festivals were placed on the calendar after the advent of Christmas. In order to accomplish this goal, I will briefly explain paganism and review some of the arguments that support the pagan-Christmas connection.... Read more
The Church Fathers recognized a unique connection among prayer, faith, and how one lived. One of the Church Fathers, Saint Prosper of Aquitaine, framed it this way, “Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi, Lex Vivendi.” (As we pray, so we believe, so we live). In this essay, I will examine the nature of this relationship by exploring how prayer influences what we believe and how these two aspects of religious life affect the manner in which we live. While its definition can... Read more
For most people, the idea of being judged, whether by our boss, strangers, or even God, can be disconcerting. For Catholics, the belief that we will be judged not once but twice by God can be particularly anxiety-inducing. In this paper, I will examine a subset of Catholic theology called eschatology. Generally translated from Greek as a discourse on last things, eschatology is concerned with death, judgment, heaven, and hell. Specifically, I will focus on what the Bible teaches about... Read more
From its earliest formulations, Catholic theology has attributed the traits of immutability and impassibility to God’s nature. These traits, which build on ancient Greek philosophy, form much of what can be said about the nature of God. In this essay, I will explore what immutability and impassibility mean and why these traits have been attributed to God. Finally, I will address some of the problems that immutability and impassibility present regarding Catholic Christology and soteriology. Because the distance between the... Read more
The words of the Greek philosopher Protagoras can sum up the biblical and Catholic perspectives of human beings. “Man is the measure of all things.” (Although Catholicism would add the word created so that the statement would read that “Man is the measure of all created things [excepting angels]”). A biblical extension of this sentiment is found in Genesis. “God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis... Read more
I do not think it an understatement to argue that temptation is a necessary (though not sufficient) condition for sin. If that is true, then one faces a dilemma. If God works all things for the good (Romans 8:28), and temptation is an efficient cause of sin, why does God allow us to be tempted? In this paper, I will explore the concept of temptation within the biblical framework and seek to explain the dilemma of temptation. As anyone familiar... Read more
Among the world’s religions, Catholicism is unique for its profession in that God became a human being, died by crucifixion, and was resurrected. The reasons for these events are irrevocably connected to the salvation of the human race. God became man in the person of Jesus so as to reconcile God and man, to join what had been sundered by original sin. Jesus’s death was payment owed to God for the debt incurred by original sin. But what about the Resurrection?... Read more
Among the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church, the Eucharist stands as “The fount and apex of the whole Christian life” (Lumen Gentium, no. 11), for in this sacrament is the very body and blood of God incarnate. There are several ways in which this most unique and remarkable sacrament can be understood. These generally fall within the categories of thanksgiving (the English translation comes from the Greek word “eucharisteo,” which means to give thanks) or sacrifice. In this paper,... Read more
The Immaculate Conception is one of the most controversial doctrines of the Church. Rejected by the various Protestant denominations, the teaching of the Immaculate Conception has been known to confuse even Catholics. While the objections and confusion range from the biblical basis of the Immaculate Conception to what exactly it refers to (it has nothing to do with the birth of Christ), the question I shall address in this paper is one regarding Mary and free will. I will begin... Read more
Select your answer to see how you score.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In