In November of 2009, Neal Judisch and I posted an article titled “Solo Scriptura, Sola Scriptura, and the Question of Interpretive Authority.” The article provoked a good deal of discussion, the comments now number over 1,200. Our article was a reply to Keith Mathison’s book The Shape of Sola Scripura, and focused on the distinction […]
Okay, the penny finally dropped. I kept coming across the observation that the Catholic Church has not an infallible list of infallible doctrines. [1] At first, this observation concerning the lack of an infallibly taught, exhaustive list of infallibles (which list is just one among the infinite number of non-existent infallible things) seemed to me to […]
God the Son, taking our lowly form and walking among us, left us many imperatives which require faith first, but also hope. Believe in Me, He said, but also hope. Faith causes hope and hope, like faith, is a theological virtue. To follow through with an imperative requires faith in the imperator which precedes the […]
If you are a Reformed Christian and considering the Catholic Church then you have probably already immersed yourself in some of the classic theological works so dearly loved by Catholic Christians. It might be time to take a break. Reading too much dense theology can have some serious side effects (including conversion to the Catholic Church). Why […]
The great Anglican liturgical historian, Gregory Dix, published this fantastic study of the history of the Christian liturgy (though he humbly refers to it as an introduction) in January 1945 while World War 2 was still raging. At over 750 pages in small print it’s not one of those books you finish over the weekend […]
What is the basis for the “treasury of merit” and indulgences? These can be explained in the following ten steps.
Today, January 28th, is the feast day of one of the Church’s greatest theologians, Thomas Aquinas (c.1224-1274). For his penetrating syntheses of faith and reason, nature and grace, and speculative, practical and spiritual theology, he is known as the doctor communis, the Common Doctor among the bright and God-consumed minds of the Catholic tradition.
From the letter Cum, sicut ex to Sigurd, Archbishop of Nidaros (a city in Norway), July 8, 1241: Since as we have learned from your report, it sometimes happens because of the scarcity of water, that infants of your lands are baptized in beer, we reply to you in the tenor of those present that, since […]
I heard a story in seminary of a pastor who made late night visits to a local diner when he couldn’t sleep. Prostitutes frequently visited the diner and the pastor couldn’t help overhearing some of their conversations as he sat reading. He was grieved as he gathered bits and pieces of these women’s tragic lives. […]
According to St. Thomas, integrity (or perfection) is one of the three marks of beauty. The other two are harmony (or proportion) and radiance (or brightness). 1 The term ‘integrity’ is closely related to and directly implies unity; for without unity, integrity is impossible. We derive the word ‘integrate’ from the word integrity, and integration […]
