“I would not have believed the gospel, unless the authority of the Church had induced me.” (St. Augustine, Contra Ep. Fund., V, 6.)
I. THE CANON QUESTION.
As Christians, how is it that we know we are saved by the death and resurrection of the incarnate Son of God? For those raised as Christians, the Sunday School sing-song answer “for the Bible tells me so” may come to mind, and this fairly well summarizes the Protestant teaching on the communication of saving truth. The Belgic Confession, an historical expression of the Reformed faith used widely in Dutch denominations, asserts that we know God by the beauty of Continue Reading…
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Two weeks ago, Lawrence Feingold of the Institute for Pastoral Studies at Ave Maria University, presented a teaching on the Catholic doctrine of the Sacrament of Holy Orders and the ministerial priesthood, at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis. The audio of this teaching is available below, in two parts, each about 34 minutes long.
In early January we announced an essay contest for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. (Continue Reading…)
I was reading Saint Augustine’s De doctrina Christiana today and bumped into a zinger that caused even my own Catholic soul to squirm. In book one, we come to this chapter: Chapter 39.— He Who is Mature in Faith, Hope and Love, Needs Scripture No Longer. (Continue Reading…)
Reformed theologians use the term “perspicuity” to refer to a quality they believe Scripture to possess. By this they mean that Scripture’s meanings are plain and evident for even the ordinary reader, and that the Church is not a necessary interpretive intermediary. If Scripture were not perspicuous, then either the Church would be a necessary interpreter, or the simple minded would be excluded from the Bible’s truths. With this doctrinal belief in mind, I was struck while recently reading from the Book of Nehemiah. (Continue Reading…)
Today, on this eighth and last day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, we will look at what St. Thomas Aquinas says about the unity of the Church. Here I’ll offer some very brief remarks on what St. Thomas teaches concerning the unity of the Church. I’ll draw from Aquinas’ commentary on the Apostles’ Creed in his catechism, his Summa Contra Gentiles and his Summa Theologica. (Continue Reading…)
Is the Bible a source of unity between Catholics and Reformed Christians? As I shall explain, the answer is ‘yes and no.’
The Bible is a source of unity, albeit an imperfect source of unity, if by ‘unity’ we mean ‘of one mind.’ To those of us who have spent time staring across the divide between the Reformed faith and Catholicism, it can seem that the magnitude of the differences in our beliefs cannot be overstated. Catholics have statues in their homes and kiss crosses. They pray to Saints, believing that the Saints can intercede on their behalf. They even pick favorite saints and venerate dead body parts. They have celibate Deacons, Priests, Bishops, Monseigneurs, Cardinals, Popes, Nuns, and Monks. They have 73 books in their Bible, and seven sacraments. Reformed Christians have the Heidelberg Catechism, the Westminster and Belgic Confessions, and the Canons of Dort. They believe in double predestination. They have very different kinds of Deacons, and have Ruling Elders, and married Teaching Elders or Pastors. They have Presbyteries or Classes, and General Assemblies or Synods. They have 66 books in their Bible, and two sacraments.
However, if we could step back a little from our internecine disagreements, we could see the unity of belief that does exist between us as Catholics and Reformed Christians. Unlike the Atheist, we believe in God. Unlike the Agnostic, we believe we know God. Unlike the Muslim or the Jew, we believe that Christ is the Son of God, having come to redeem mankind. Unlike the Mormon, we believe that Christ is one person of the Trinity, of the same essence as God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. We believe that God made all that is, that the Holy Spirit is working in the present age, and that the dead will rise again for a final judgment. We believe that the Bible is Divinely inspired, and free from error in all its parts.
I believe that we Christians have unity of mind on all of these points primarily because of the Bible. True, we often apply different hermeneutical methodologies to the Bible, and we also bring very differently shaded glasses. But these influences and even biases do not deprive the Bible completely of its objective instructive value, and certainly cannot refute the work of the Holy Spirit where He wills to work through our reading of Sacred Scripture. The more we draw to the Bible, the more we will remain steadfast in the great truths that Christians have been able to continue to share in spite of the divide of the Protestant Reformation.
But the Bible is not a source of ‘unity,’ if by unity we mean ‘of one essence.’ First, as my recent article, The Canon Question, discusses, we do not even have the same Bible. The Catholic Bible has seven extra books, as well as additions to other books. Many printings of Protestant Bibles, through the use of segregating lines and critical footnotes, call into serious question several pericopae within accepted New Testament books. Because of the Protestant belief that the Bible is our sole infallible teaching authority, Reformed Christians see the Catholic use of additional texts as an inclusion of fallible texts within what is supposedly infallible. Thus, the Bible is a cause of division between us right from the point of attempting to define the Bible’s scope.
Second, the Bible is not a source of essential unity between us because, as the Reformed faith rests on the doctrine of sola scriptura, the Bible remains on the fulcrum of the Protestant-Catholic division. The brokenness between Catholics and Reformed Christians is most visible in our not being in communion with each other. This act represents a deeper break of unity, our brokenness over the meaning and reality of the communion sacrifice, as well as our brokenness over the sacramental realities, and over the meaning of the ordained offices that confect them. Private interpretation of the Bible resulting from the doctrine of sola scriptura led to these and our other many points of fracture. For this reason, I believe that the Bible is not a source of essential Christian unity.
I believe there is a way ahead for us–a way by which we can all see Sacred Scripture as the source of unity that it should be. Reformed Christians need to reflect upon the criterion they accept and allow to define their Biblical canon for them, and upon whom is the proper interpreter of Scripture. Catholics, on the other hand, need to improve their overall Biblical fluency, and their understanding of its authority relationship with the Church. Conversations between Catholics and Reformed Christians where all parties are well versed in Scripture can yield great fruit in both mutual understanding and Biblical understanding.
On this Seventh Day of the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity, let us reflect on God’s promise to perfect his Bride the Church. May we be vessels of this process, and harbingers of Christian peace. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
The second winning essay in our essay contest is titled, “The Catholic-Protestant Divide: A Path to Unity,” written by Dave Wade. Dave is a lifelong Catholic, a catechist on the RCIA-ACI team and musician at St. Cecelia Catholic Church in Clearwater, Florida. He is also the Catholic Mentor/Moderator @ theCircle.org. Dave is planning to enter the Masters Degree program at the Institute for Pastoral Theology at Ave Maria University. (Continue Reading…)
Towards the end of Leo Tolstoy’s literary masterpiece, Anna Karenina, we find Konstantin Levin, the book’s male protagonist, grasping his way towards an explicit faith in God. Along the way, Levin considers the faith of the Church, but finds himself unable to fully accept her testimony to divine truth.
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According to Keith Mathison, over the last one hundred and fifty years Evangelicalism has replaced sola scriptura, according to which Scripture is the only infallible ecclesial authority, with solo scriptura, the notion that Scripture is the only ecclesial authority. The direct implication of solo scriptura is that each person is his own ultimate interpretive authority.
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It is my pleasure to be able to write on a subject where we as Catholics share so much common ground with our Reformed brothers, and even with most Evangelicals. In fact, it is no small thing that we agree upon foundational truths contra mundum in a time when even many Christians deny them.
This article intends to show that, though Protestants agree with the Catholic Church on the basic truths about Scripture and its authority, the Reformed view of Scripture (Continue Reading…)
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When I was a child the gospel seemed to be something that merely floated on top of my human existence. I did not perceive it as going to the very heart of my existence. I knew that I was mortal, and from the Bible I understood that when I died I would go either to heaven or hell. Of course I did not want to go to hell; I preferred to go to heaven and be with God. Hence it was obvious to me then that I should “ask Jesus into my heart,” which I did as a small child. (Continue Reading…)
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St. Irenaeus and St. Clement of Alexandria, who both lived during the second century, tell us that after the Apostle John returned from exile on Patmos, he remained at Ephesus “till Trajan’s time.” Trajan became emperor in AD 98. According to the tradition, St. John was the last of the twelve Apostles to die. When the angels carried his soul into Heaven, was the Church then left to fall into heresy and apostasy? (Continue Reading…)
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“Justification is the article upon which the Church stands or falls.” Luther didn’t actually write this anywhere so far as I know, but he did express the sentiment. He said, for example, that without the doctrine of justification “the Church of God is not able to exist for one hour.” And that amounts to much the same thing.
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If the Bible alone is our authority, shouldn’t we be able to prove this from the Bible? If we can’t, and if we accept it nevertheless, doesn’t that mean that we’re de facto accepting an authority over and above the Bible? And don’t we have to do this just to delineate which books are Scriptural? And doesn’t all this business involve us in some sort of self-referential incoherence?
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One of the most fundamental differences between the Protestant and Catholic ecclesial paradigms concerns the nature of the Church that Christ founded. According to the predominant Protestant paradigm, the Church itself is a spiritual, invisible entity, though some of its members, namely, all those believers still living in this present life, are visible, because they are embodied. (Continue Reading…)
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I just finished teaching Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics this semester. This is the tenth year I have taught it, and every time I teach it, I more deeply appreciate its truth and importance. One reason for its importance can be found in the Wilson-Hitchens video that I discuss below. (Continue Reading…)
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All mankind is of one author and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated. . . . As therefore the bell that rings a sermon calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come, so this bell calls us all; (Continue Reading…)
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What did Christ do for us through His Passion, according to Aquinas? Was it necessary that He suffer? How do we receive the salvific benefits of Christ’s Passion? Was His Passion sufficient? Does God hate sinners? (Continue Reading…)
Subscribe to the podcastTim Troutman interviews Taylor Marshall, former Episcopal priest, and Andrew Preslar, formerly studying for Anglican orders, on the subject of the new Anglican Ordinariates and what that means for Christianity and ecumenism.
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Tom Riello and Tim Troutman, former PCA members, talk about their respective conversions in this episode. This is simply a recording of an unscripted conversation with no set topic except, generally speaking, their conversion experiences. The topics discussed include the canon, Church authority, and the papacy.
To download the mp3, right-click here.
Tom Riello interviews Bryan Cross on the topic of his recent article on Ecclesial Deism. Also in this episode, Bryan briefly discusses the visiblility of the Church and the necessity of the Petrine ministry.
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Tom Riello interviews CTC’s newest member, John Kincaid, on his conversion to the Catholic Church. John Kincaid is a doctoral candidate at Ave Maria University. This is more than a typical conversion story and a bit longer than our previous podcasts but well worth the listen. John shares some insightful theology and gives us a glimpse into why this former Calvinist decided to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church.
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In this episode, Bryan Cross & Tim Troutman discuss the relationship between faith and reason and how to strike a balance between fideism and rationalism.
In this episode, Tom Riello interviews Sean Patrick and Tim Troutman on the topics of their recent articles on Called to Communion: Soli Deo Gloria and Sola Gratia.
In our second episode, Tim Troutman, Tom Brown, Tom Riello, and Bryan Cross discuss the important subject of Christian unity.
Tim Troutman interviews Dr. Jonathan Deane on his conversion to the Catholic Church in this first episode of Called to Communion’s podcast.
Lawrence Feingold Two weeks ago, Lawrence Feingold of the Institute for Pastoral Studies at Ave Maria University, presented a teaching on the Catholic doctrine of the Sacrament of Holy Orders and the ministerial priesthood, at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis. The audio of this teaching is available below, in two ...
In early January we announced an essay contest for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
I was reading Saint Augustine's De doctrina Christiana today and bumped into a zinger that caused even my own Catholic soul to squirm. In book one, we come to this chapter: Chapter 39.— He Who is Mature in Faith, Hope and Love, Needs Scripture No Longer.
Reformed theologians use the term “perspicuity” to refer to a quality they believe Scripture to possess. By this they mean that Scripture’s meanings are plain and evident for even the ordinary reader, and that the Church is not a necessary interpretive intermediary. If Scripture were not perspicuous, then ...
According to Keith Mathison, over the last one hundred and fifty years Evangelicalism has replaced sola scriptura, according to which Scripture is the only infallible ecclesial authority, with solo scriptura, the notion that Scripture is the only ecclesial authority. The direct implication of solo scriptura is that each person is his own ultimate interpretive authority.
Tim Troutman interviews Taylor Marshall, former Episcopal priest, and Andrew Preslar, formerly studying for Anglican orders, on the subject of ...
Serbian Patriarch Urges Christian Dialogue
BELGRADE, Serbia -- The new head of the Serbian Orthodox Church on Thursday urged dialogue to overcome long-standing divisions with Roman Catholics. Patriarch Irinej said that a 2013 anniversary important to Christians would be a "good opportunity ... to meet and talk."...
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