This article originally appears in the book NEW NARRATIVES FOR OLD The Historical Method of reading early Christian theology essays in honor of MICHEL RENÉ BARNES ———————- The soteriology of Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria from 328 until his death in 373, has been the focus of much scholarly attention. His doctrine of salvation defies easy […]
I am interviewing ChatGPT about a variety of things as though it was a real person. Thus, the way I input my questions is conversational, dialogical, and interactive just as I would attempt to do if I were talking to another person in a conversation. Here is the first conversation we just had regarding the […]
In my own journey into the Catholic Church, I identified around 14 theological barriers to embracing Catholicism. Near the top of my list of “deal breakers” was the notion of infallibility. As I have shared many times with many people on my journey, I had to let the Catholic Church use her own words with […]
I recently sat down with two Catholic brothers (Gary Michuta – Hands on Apologetics, and Keith Little — The Cordial Catholic) on their podcasts to talk about how I, as a former Protestant, came to embrace the Catholic theology and practice of “praying to the Saints.” It’s one of those often-mentioned “roadblocks” that non-Catholics point […]
This morning I recounted to my wife an occasion about twelve years ago when I was preaching from Luke 8:19-21 where the text says, “Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd.” After reading this text to the congregation, I looked up with a […]
If the past three years of my life have been anything, they have been an almost daily exercise of frequently using the phrases “but the Catholic Church doesn’t teach that,” and “I wouldn’t have become Catholic if that is what the Catholic Church taught!” That’s because I have found that one has to constantly confront […]
It’s almost Father’s Day here in the U.S., so I want to use the occasion to remind everyone that God is not like a Father. Stick with me. Read on. Be encouraged. This holiday, along with Mother’s day, is both a wonderful and a difficult time for parents and children alike. It is especially hard for those […]
People love formulas. Religious people really love them! We love creeds, propositions, systems, and theological conclusions that help us to make sense of the bible, the world, God, life, good, evil, right and wrong. And don’t get me wrong. Sometimes, those things will keep us out of big trouble. When we make conclusions based on […]
The Epistle of the St. Paul to the Romans narrated by Kenny Burchard – New American Bible (Revised Edition). Read along here.
One of the most often-used and erroneous mischaracterizations of the teaching of the Catholic Church is that the Church teaches “salvation by works,” whereas Protestantism “correctly” teaches salvation by grace through faith alone – or, “justification by faith alone.” In order to correct both errors (the error that the Catholic Church teaches salvation by works, […]