Blog Posts

The Two “Rocks” of Matthew 16:18 in the Syriac Peshitta

Aug 4th, 2010 | By | Category: Blog Posts

In the thread entitled “How John Calvin Made me a Catholic,” Jason asserted that the “Greek grammar” of Matthew 16:18 does not allow for the interpretation that Peter is the rock upon which the Church was built. I challenged Jason to make his case from the Greek text, but he has yet to respond. Some […]



CTC has two new Contributors

Aug 4th, 2010 | By | Category: Blog Posts

We’re excited to announce that we’ve just brought on two new contributors to the Called to Communion team. The first is David Pell, a regular in the combox here. Here is David’s bio: David converted to Christianity in the summer of 2003 and began to attend non-denominational charismatic congregations. During his second semester at college […]



Faith and Reason in the Context of Conversion

Jul 26th, 2010 | By | Category: Blog Posts

The following is a guest post written by Devin Rose.  Devin is a 32-year-old software engineer and lay apologist who blogs at St. Joseph’s Vanguard. He and his wife, Katie, live in Austin with their four children. After years as a devout atheist, I converted to Evangelical Protestantism in February of 2000 and was baptized […]



Christ Alone is the Head of the Church

Jul 22nd, 2010 | By | Category: Blog Posts

In the third part of the Summa Theologica, St. Thomas Aquinas asks the question whether it is proper to Christ to be the Head of the Church and answers in the affirmative. Protestants often claim that the Catholic Church has set the pope as the head of the Church instead of Christ. But St. Thomas […]



Ligon Duncan’s “Did the Fathers Know the Gospel?”

Jul 17th, 2010 | By | Category: Blog Posts

Dr. Ligon Duncan is an adjunct professor of theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi, and also the senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson. At this year’s “Together for the Gospel” conference, held April 10-12 in Louisville, Kentucky, he gave a talk titled “Did the Fathers Know the Gospel?” Here I examine […]



St. Augustine on Law and Grace

Jul 16th, 2010 | By | Category: Blog Posts

One way to help reconcile Protestants and Catholics to full communion is to consider together the writings of the early Church Fathers, because in the Fathers Protestants and Catholics share a common history and a common patrimony. One of the most fundamental points of disagreement between Protestants and the Catholic Church concerns the relationship between […]



The Minor Seminary

Jul 12th, 2010 | By | Category: Blog Posts

As a Reformed Christian, my lips pursed at the very idea of 7th graders beginning “seminary.” Only the Catholics could come up with such a bizarre scheme, I thought. It made as much sense to me as gifted monks spending all of their earthly days milling about in silence. I didn’t get it. But two […]



Contraception and the Reformed Faith

Jul 7th, 2010 | By | Category: Blog Posts

The Catholic Church has stood, since its inception, firmly against the use of any artificial methods of contraception. In fact, it is the only Christian institution that, as a whole, has held this teaching consistently for all of Christian history.



St Augustine on Non-Catholic Christians as “Brothers”

Jul 6th, 2010 | By | Category: Blog Posts

The Second Vatican Council taught that non-Catholic Christians were to be recognized as “brothers” in light of their valid baptisms “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Some traditionalist Catholics look askance at this teaching, but it is worth noting that Saint Augustine also recognized that non-Catholic […]



Ecclesial Consumerism

Jul 5th, 2010 | By | Category: Blog Posts

In our contemporary culture, church-shopping has become entirely normal and even expected. Not only when moving to a new location, but if persons have some falling out with a pastor or other individual or family in their church, or even if their church-experience starts seeming dull or dry, they visit and try out other churches, […]