Posts Tagged ‘ Ecclesiology ’

Sola Scriptura vs. the Magisterium: What did Jesus Teach?

Mar 9th, 2011 | By | Category: Blog Posts

Did Jesus provide for the continuing transmission of the Christian faith? What a simple and foundational question! And yet, oddly, it is one that Protestant apologists rarely ask. In the history of Protestant apologetics, great emphasis is placed on how we recognize the inspiration of Scripture (Church authority vs. internal witness of the Spirit), the […]



The Chair of St. Peter

Feb 22nd, 2011 | By | Category: Blog Posts

Today in the liturgical calendar we celebrate the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle. According to an ancient tradition, February 22 was the day Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter, and gave to him the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. (Matt. 16:19) The Catholic Encyclopedia article on the chair of St. […]



Where is the Catholic Church?

Jan 17th, 2011 | By | Category: Blog Posts

Where is the Catholic Church? If you are curious then I might first suggest that you try this exercise: If you live in a small town, go to the corner store on the main street and ask the first people you meet, ‘Where is the Catholic Church?’ If you live in a big city, go […]



Joyeux Noël

Dec 23rd, 2010 | By | Category: Blog Posts

Advent is not only about the coming of Christ into the world, it is also about the coming of His Kingdom, the Church that He establishes. This is why the first reading on the first Sunday of Advent is about the Church, from the prophet Isaiah:



The Catholic Perspective on Paul – a New Book

Nov 24th, 2010 | By | Category: Blog Posts

We ain’t gonna lie. Many of us on Called to Communion were drawn to the Catholic Church after we had reassessed the “salvation issue” through the lens of the “New Perspective on Paul.” Three years ago, a few friends of mine (including Sean Patrick of Called to Communion) were lamenting that there wasn’t a book […]



St. Clement of Rome: Soteriology and Ecclesiology

Nov 23rd, 2010 | By | Category: Blog Posts

Today, November 23, is the memorial of St. Clement I, pope and martyr. St. Clement was the third bishop of Rome, after St. Peter. He is known to us mostly through his famous letter to the Church at Corinth. Here I present a brief summary of what we know from later Fathers about St. Clement, […]



Sola Scriptura: A Dialogue between Michael Horton and Bryan Cross

Nov 15th, 2010 | By | Category: Featured Articles

In February of this year Ryan Glomsrud, the Executive Editor of Modern Reformation, invited me to participate in a roundtable discussion on the subject of sola scriptura, with Michael Horton, editor-in-chief of Modern Reformation, a co-host of the White Horse Inn, and the J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary […]



St. Ignatius of Antioch on the Church

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

Today is the memorial of St. Ignatius, the bishop of Antioch who was martyred in Rome around AD 107. What does St. Ignatius reveal to us about the Church? According to the early fourth century Church historian Eusebius, St. Ignatius was the second bishop of Antioch (from approximately AD 70 to 107) after Evodius, about […]



The Keys of the Kingdom and the Visible Catholic Church

Sep 27th, 2010 | By | Category: Blog Posts

The idea that the Church is a spiritual communion, identified and unified by sharing the same faith and sacraments, while excellent as an affirmation, is inadequate as a definition of the Church that Christ founded, since this idea fails to account for the governmental and hierarchical principle of the Church, as symbolized by the keys […]



St. Cyprian on the Unity of the Catholic Church

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

Today is the memorial of St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage in North Africa, from about AD 249 until his martrydom on September 14, 258 under the Emperor Valerian.