Archive for March 2009

Comments for Sola Gratia

Mar 31st, 2009 | By | Category: Blog Posts

Please comment on Sean Patrick’s “Sola Gratia” article here.



Sola Gratia

Mar 31st, 2009 | By | Category: Featured Articles

Growing up in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), I was taught that the five solas were the central doctrines separating the Reformers from the Catholic Church, and that the convictions revealed in the five solas provided the impetus that triggered the Protestant Reformation. In this paper, I consider one such ‘sola’ — namely, sola […]



The Doctrinal Seed of Scripture

Mar 28th, 2009 | By | Category: Blog Posts

Many Protestants object to the Church’s teaching on a variety of matters, not least of which is her teaching on the Blessed Virgin Mary, by saying, “Where do you find that in the Bible?” As has been noted by many others, Protestants included, doctrine and practice are not usually defined on the basis of a […]



Aquinas and Trent: Part 3

Mar 24th, 2009 | By | Category: Blog Posts, Featured Articles

In this third post in this series, I examine what St. Thomas Aquinas says about the effects of sin, and in particular his discussion of the corruption of human nature by sin. Is human nature entirely corrupted by sin? If not, how can human nature be partly corrupted and partly uncorrupted by sin? What are […]



Real Presence – Does it Mean Cannibalism?

Mar 23rd, 2009 | By | Category: Blog Posts

I’m prone to distrust doctrinal claims that would leave the majority of Christians throughout history as heretics. A strict Memorialism, the view that the Body & Blood are spoken of the Eucharistic species in a purely figurative way, does just that; for it makes Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Lutherans, Anglicans and Calvinists supremely wrong about the […]



No Argument of the Emptiness: Edwards and Irenaeus on the End of the World

Mar 19th, 2009 | By | Category: Blog Posts, Featured Articles

The Divine goodness is the end of all corporeal things because the entire universe, with all its parts, is ordained towards God as its end, inasmuch as it imitates, as it were, and shows forth the Divine goodness, to the glory of God. Reasonable creatures, however, have in some special and higher manner God as […]



A Salient Moment – Reflection on Soli Deo Gloria

Mar 18th, 2009 | By | Category: Blog Posts

Catholicism seemed like the last religion on the earth that I would ever embrace. In embracing the Gospel as understood by most Protestants, I affirmed that the Gospel was all about giving God glory, and to Him alone. If I were to sit down and choose a faith that looked Christian but missed this central […]



Aquinas and Trent: Part 2

Mar 14th, 2009 | By | Category: Blog Posts, Featured Articles

Before I talk about the fifth session of the Council of Trent, I will do two things. First, I will offer a brief summary of Aquinas’ teaching in his Summa Theologiae regarding the essence of original sin. Following that, I will give a short overview of what Aquinas says about the effects of sin. So […]



Calvinian Thomism: Providence, Conservation and Concurrence in the Thought of John Calvin

Mar 13th, 2009 | By | Category: Blog Posts, Featured Articles

It is quite difficult to distinguish God’s actions from those of his creatures. Some think that God does everything; others imagine that he only conserves the force he has given to created things. How far can we say either of these opinions is right? – Leibniz, Discourse on Metaphysics VIII



Does Calvin teach that the Church ceased to exist on account of the Eucharist?

Mar 10th, 2009 | By | Category: Blog Posts

Calvin’s high view of the church doesn’t allow him to make the claim that the true Church of Christ ceased to exist between the time of the Apostles and the 16th century. However, I recently came across something in the Institutes that throws a wrench into Calvin’s consistency.