A close reading of Scripture quickly reveals the use of various literary devices such as allegories and parables. For Catholics reading the New Testament, it can sometimes be tempting to echo the apostles in Matthew 13:10, “Why do you speak in parables?” After all, what purpose do these rather strange stories serve? Despite their unusual nature, literary devices have a long history in religious pedagogy, as evidenced by their use in the Bible. In this essay, I will discuss the... Read more
It is no exaggeration to claim that human beings are religious animals. Any exhaustive study of human cultures and societies must consider the various religious practices human beings have created and engaged in. Indeed, it is nearly impossible to divorce anthropology and religion. A consequence of human religiosity is the practice of rituals. The term ritual can denote a vast number of matters, from weddings to funerals, and are ubiquitous in every culture in human history. Ritual, of course, has... Read more
Perhaps after the question of the existence of God, no more significant issue faces Catholicism than whether Jesus of Nazareth was Himself God. While the Bible provides the foundation for what Catholics believe about Christ, one of the more intriguing arguments for Jesus’ Divinity was put forth by C.S. Lewis. In his book, Mere Christianity, Lewis develops a kind of hypothetical argument that has become known as the trilemma. In this essay, I will examine the trilemma formulated in Mere... Read more
If it is true that theology is the study of the nature of God, that study must also include the nature of the relationship between God and human beings. Open Theism is a school of thought within Christian theology that seeks to explain the effect that human free will has on our interactions with God. In this essay, I will examine Open Theism and review the history of this unique theological perspective. Finally, I will explore whether Open Theism is... Read more
Perhaps the most famous work of the English artist John Martin is Satan Expelled from Heaven. As the title of the work suggests, Martin depicts Satan and his followers being evicted from Heaven as punishment for their rebellion against God. While the reality of angels and demons is widely accepted in Christianity, I would like to examine Satan within the context of free will. I will begin by exploring what Catholicism claims about angels, whether these creatures possess free will,... Read more
Did God abandon Jesus on the Cross? For those who profess that Jesus is God, one of the most challenging events in the Bible to understand is the cry of dereliction. In this essay, I will examine Christ’s words and suggest that the most commonly used translation may not be the most helpful in understanding the cry of dereliction. I will then endeavor to explain Christ’s words by placing the cry of dereliction in the light of the hypostatic union.... Read more
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
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