Within the Reformed blogosphere there has lately been put forth some pretty bold claims regarding the structure of the church in the first century, particularly the structure of the Roman Church. Basically the argument is that in the first century the church did not have a monarchical bishop and was instead ruled by a group […]
Dr. Kenneth Howell earned an M.Div. from Westminster Theological Seminary, an M.A. in Linguistics and Philosophy from the University of South Florida, a Ph.D. from Indiana University in Linguistics and the Philosophy of Science, and a second Ph.D. from Lancaster University (U.K.) in the History of Christianity and Science. He was a Presbyterian minister for […]
Neal and I offered a brief reply to the tu quoque objection in our article titled “Solo Scriptura, Sola Scriptura, and the Question of Interpretive Authority.” Here I provide a more thorough reply to the tu quoque objection, and open a forum for discussion of the authority argument and the tu quoque objection.
At the heart of the separation of Catholics and Protestants lies a disagreement about the ecclesial hierarchy. Who are the rightful shepherds of Christ’s flock? This article will examine the Catholic Church’s doctrine of the sacrificial priesthood, and in doing so, will lay the foundation for our subsequent discussion on the critical issue of apostolic […]
Recently I was asked for my evaluation of Doug Wilson’s article titled “Authority and Apostolic Succession.” For the sake of any others who may be interested in a Catholic evaluation of Doug’s article, I am posting my evaluation here.
Are Catholics, who insist on an apostolic hierarchical continuum, guilty of the continuum fallacy? For those unfamiliar with the term, allow me to illustrate. The continuum fallacy exists when a person denies one of two concepts existing at polar ends of a spectrum because, on account of the continuity or successive stages between them, there […]
The question of Apostolic authorization of Protestant ministers has been raised in an ongoing discussion beginning (more or less) here. The “authorization” question typically involves the issue of valid ministerial ordination whereby to perpetuate the apostolic mission of the Church founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ. Some passages of Scripture came to mind as I […]
Does the Holy Spirit work through a line of men who underwent sacramental ordination, through a collection of divinely inspired texts assembled by men, or in some other way? This seems to be the issue underlying a thoughtful and straightforward “Question and Answer” posting on the Orthodox Presbyterian Church’s website. 1 The inquirer had put the […]
