Ten Commandments: Changed by Catholics to Uphold Idolatry?

Moses and Aaron with the Ten Commandments: Creechurch Lane Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue, London (1674), painted by Aron de Chaves [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] ***** (9-4-04) *** This is a critique of an anti-Catholic article, entitled, “Catholic Religion Purposely takes out one of God’s Ten Commandments.” It listed alternate numbering of the Ten Commandments as follows: First Commandment [Read More...]

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Dialogue: Why Was Luther Excommunicated?

+ Luther’s Expressed Obedience to the Pope’s Decision Regarding His Orthodoxy Martin Luther and the Emperor at the Diet of Worms, 1521 (1887-1891), by Ernst Wilhelm Hildebrand (1833-1924) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] *** (6-18-08) *** This exchange was brought on by my paper, The “Catholic-Sounding” Luther: 25 Examples. Discussion immediately followed in the combox. [Read More...]

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Poetry Friday: “New Year, Good Work”

A delightful scene is set in this poem. At the start of the new year, the speaker and some friends are doing volunteer woodwork to repair their church’s altar. As the speaker details the steps of their careful work, we’re carried along by the poem’s base rhythm of iambic pentameter. Soon religious language enters the [Read More...]

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Luther’s Inflammatory Rhetoric & the Peasants’ Revolt (1524-1525)

Title page of the Memmingen Articles of War drawn up in March 1525, during the German Peasants War. It shows armed peasants with an assortment of weaponry. [public domain / Wikimedia Commons]***(10-31-03) ***[see Part II] ***  I. Introduction and Statement of Purpose Historians on both sides are in agreement that Luther never supported the Peasants’ [Read More...]

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Luther’s Inflammatory Rhetoric & the Peasants’ Revolt (1524-1525), Part II

Martin Luther (1526), by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons]***(10-31-03) ***** [see Part I] ***** In what follows (all quotations henceforth, excepting introductory remarks here and there), I shall use the following highlighting and identifying codes:Red = “inflammatory, violent” statements of Luther (not intended on my part to imply in any [Read More...]

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Quaecumque Vera: 16 Songs for 2016

By Joel Heng Hartse You do not have to feel guilty about loving music. Please keep this in mind. Alan Jacobs, in his The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction, writes, “read what gives you delight…and do so without shame.” Amen, I say, and don’t be afraid to apply this to the music [Read More...]

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Thirty Minutes Without My Phone

The fact that a half-hour meal alone in an IHOP occasions its own blog post shows just how far I’ve devolved in my practice of solitude. I’ve gotten pretty good at putting my phone away when going out for meals with friends and family. But when I’m alone in a waiting room, in line at [Read More...]

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ImageUpdate’s Top Ten of 2016

Every week, the Image staff curates a digital dispatch of compelling new books, music, artwork, and more, with personal recommendations, links from around the web, and a community message board with calls for art and job postings (not to mention exclusive access to Image discounts and VIP workshop registration!). We deliver these dispatches from the [Read More...]

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A Love Supreme: The Surprising Art of Sedrick Huckaby

This essay is a web exclusive accompanying Image journal’s current issue, #90.  By Bruce Herman Homely, decorative, domestic—that’s how most of us think of quilting: something a sweet grandmother does while humming an old tune and waiting for a pie to cool on the rack. It’s a comfy-seeming practice we associate with homemaking and mothering—vocations [Read More...]

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“Xmas” & the Christian “Fish”: Etymology & History

[public domain / Wikimedia Commons] *** (12-22-98) ***** The following was a response to an anti-Catholic named Matthew Bell, on an anti-Catholic-dominated discussion list (called “Apologetics,” I believe). Matthew Bell wrote: Twice you have used the designation Xmas in the title of your posts rather than Christmas. Such is erroneous, Christ is not an X, [Read More...]

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Orthodox Catholic Christology: A Theological Primer

Jesus: detail of the Ghent Altarpiece (1432), by Jan van Eyck (c. 1390-1441) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] ***** (11-13-07) ***** The “short version” of orthodox Christology is to remember the following formulas (the fine points and details are best left to theologians, as long as they are undeniably orthodox and are teaching opinions in [Read More...]

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Poetry Friday: “Carol of the Infuriated Hour”

Christmas carols: we love their joyous celebration of the birth of Christ. In “Carol of the Infuriated Hour,” David Brendan Hopes takes the carol form—its rhythm and rhyme scheme—to present a more complex view of the Christmas event. The poem’s speaker has “warred” with God, but  he decides to cease his struggle “for the sake [Read More...]

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Gird Yourselves, Yet Be Shattered

Of Lanecia A. Rouse Tinsley’s small encaustic Advent paintings, my favorite is Meditation on the Incarnation. If food can have mouthfeel, then art has gutfeel. Meditation on the Incarnation drops and spreads into the gut holy and creepy like tequila, like subzero air that both hardens and hurts the belly. Three blue, elongated forms more [Read More...]

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5 Tips For Avoiding Family Holiday Drama

Ah, Christmas. A solemn, joyful time of year for Christians, where silent and holy nights are de rigueur and Norman Rockwell springs eternal in the collective unconscious of the American mind.  And then it happens…. You try–contrary to what conventional wisdom says about the subject–to go home again. Now, let me state right up front that this article [Read More...]

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On the Front Lines

By Paul Anderson Seven months ago, I was teaching writing to high school seniors at a Christian school on the southwest side of Chicago, thirty minutes from my suburban hometown but essentially in another universe. I was three months away from finishing my MFA through Seattle Pacific University, and I wasn’t sure that I was [Read More...]

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Mary Mediatrix & the Bible (vs. Dr. Robert Bowman)

The Coronation of the Virgin, by Jean Fouquet (1420-1480) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] *** (8-1-03) ***** Dr. Robert M. Bowman, Jr. is  an eminent Protestant evangelical theologian and apologist. His words will be in blue. *** Biblical Evidence: Mary, Paul, and “Spirits” as Distributors of Grace Mary as Mediatrix, or Co-Redemptrix (rightly understood) is no [Read More...]

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Mary Mediatrix vs. Jesus Christ the Sole Mediator?

Coronation of the Virgin (1324), by Paolo Veneziano [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license] *** (1-30-03) *** In disputes over words, definitions, and proper uses of words, it is always good to consult the dictionary. A simple use of the words mediate, mediatrix, or mediation does not necessarily imply some sort of [Read More...]

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Kathleen Wakefield’s Invisible Stenographer

You’ve got to meet this character. She’s a stenographer by trade: From the outset she was the obsessive type, maker of lists: dates, births and deaths, diagnoses, times of arrival and departure, the amassing of coins, weapons and works of art, portions of letters, speeches and grocery lists, though soon it was statements of motivation, [Read More...]

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I Miss Gwen Ifill

For Kate Keplinger It is the blight man was born for It is Margaret that you mourn for… –“Spring and Fall,” George Herbert “I’m sorry for your loss,” my friend Dionne posted in response to a note I posted on Facebook. I’d just come back on the redeye from the West Coast that morning, and [Read More...]

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Why Transubstantiation Isn’t Idolatry At All

Real idolatry: The Adoration of the Golden Calf (1633), by Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] ***** (11-22-96) *** An anti-Catholic Protestant evangelical stated in a list I was on: Transubstantiation is a form of idolatry. The Catholic belief in transubstantiation is why when the host is elevated, Catholics bow and pay homage. [Read More...]

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Poetry Friday: “A Christmas Story”

In “A Christmas Story,” Robert Cording evokes Aleksander Wat (1900-1967), a Polish poet that converted from Judaism to Christianity while imprisoned in the Soviet Union. During a brief moment out of prison walls, the poem explains that Wat was awestruck by a simple street scene: a beautiful women in a green dress, the “bell of [Read More...]

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A Conversation with Scott Derrickson, Part 2

Continued from yesterday. Scott Derrickson is a director whose films include The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Sinister, and Deliver Us From Evil. His most recent film, Marvel’s Doctor Strange, is in theaters now. I had the chance to chat with Scott for Christianity Today in the summer of 2014, when news had just broke that he was [Read More...]

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A Conversation with Scott Derrickson, Part 1

Scott Derrickson is the director of several films, including The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Sinister, and Deliver Us From Evil. His most recent film, Doctor Strange, is in theaters now. I had the chance to chat with Scott for Christianity Today in the summer of 2014, when news had just broke that he was Marvel’s [Read More...]

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Is Pope Francis a Heretic?

Options and Respectful Speculations on the Synod on the Family, Amoris Laetitia and Practical Applications  Pope Francis at Varginha in southwest Minas Gerais state, Brazil during World Youth Day (7-27-13). Photograph from Agência Brasil, a public Brazilian news agency. [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Brazil license] ***** As most of you who have followed my writings [Read More...]

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Keeping Vigil

By Suzanne M. Wolfe These are dark times. Here in the northern hemisphere the sun is at its lowest point in the sky; the winter solstice is still weeks away. I’m sitting outside on my elderly mother’s kitchen step. I’ve come to England three times this year to take care of her. I came before [Read More...]

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Total Depravity & the Evil of the Non-Elect (vs. John Calvin)

Noah’s Ark Cycle: 3. The Flood (1588), by Kaspar Memberger the Elder (c. 1555-1618) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] ***** (10-12-12) *** [my Bible citations: RSV] ****   Of how little value it is in the sight of God, in regard to all the parts of life, Paul shows, when he says, that we are not [Read More...]

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25 Biblical Passages Against Limited Atonement

Christ on the Cross (1627), by Francisco de Zurbarán (1598-1664) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] *** (4-29-10) ***** Luke 19:10 (RSV) For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost. (cf. “sinners”: Matt 9:13; Mk 2:17; Lk 5:32; 1 Tim 1:15) John 1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, [Read More...]

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Stopping the Press

By Mary Kenagy Mitchell This is the time of year when we work on Image’s annual budget. Here in the excruciatingly lean nonprofit sector, there’s a sort of elegant efficiency to having very little to spend—but it also means that when we need to make cuts, we cut close to the bone. I’m a practical [Read More...]

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Defense of “Our Lady of Perpetual Help” vs. Calvinists

Our Mother of Perpetual Help, a 15th Century Marian Byzantine Icon [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] *** (7-16-07) ***** The following exchange about the Our Lady of Perpetual Help devotion occurred on the Parchment and Pen blog. C. Michael Patton and others have been very gracious and polite in allowing me to give my dissenting viewpoint. [Read More...]

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Poetry Friday: “Advent” by Bruce Bond

I’ve heard many people say we’ve never needed poetry more than we do now, but “Advent,” by Bruce Bond, reminds me that poetry has always been vital. The poem begins with a bombing in the Yellow Sea and smoke so thick “you cannot  see your hands,” which sets the reader up for a domino effect of [Read More...]

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New Study Finds Parental Conflict/Lack of Affection Impairs Brain Development in Teens

Once again, research shows that parenting styles directly impact brain development and predict the likelihood of emotional problems in adolescence and adulthood. New research finds that those who experience relatively common family problems early in childhood have an increased risk of mental health issues later on.The study is one of the first to look at [Read More...]

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Joy!: A Christmas Poem for My Wife Judy

Christmas 1991 (already married for seven years), with our first son Paul (then 8 months old). ***** Many times I’ve reflected, gazing at a sparkling Scotch pine tree or by a cozy fire, How blessed I’ve been with you by my side, during Advent and Christmastime. Each year it’s so lovely to ponder baby Jesus or listen to carols sung [Read More...]

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Immaculate Conception & Assumption: Why Defined So Late?

Assumption of Mary (c. 1650), by Juan Martin Cabezalero (1633-1673) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] *** (2-1-09) ***** [The dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary was proclaimed ex cathedra (highest level of dogmatic authority) in 1854, and likewise, the dogma concerning the Glorious Bodily Assumption of Mary in 1950] ***** From a Protestant questioner on [Read More...]

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This is Your Brain on Religion. Any Questions?

New research support the notion that religious faith is a neurological imperative of being human. a new study shows through functional MRI scans that such religious and spiritual experiences can be rewarding to your brain. They activate the same reward systems between your ears as do feelings of love, being moved by music and even [Read More...]

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Why Annie Dillard Supports Image

Dear readers, When Image was founded in 1989, we turned to a few literary exemplars for endorsements. After all, we had no reputation, money, or power, so we needed to find advocates whose words carried authority. One of the first we turned to was Pulitzer Prize-winner Annie Dillard, whose incandescent prose dealt with some of [Read More...]

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James the Lord’s “Brother” (i.e., Cousin)

+ Who Wrote the Book of James? Icon: Saint James the Just [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] *** (11-6-08) ***** According to The New Bible Dictionary (Protestant), the most plausible (though not certain) theory is that the author was James, the “brother” (i.e., cousin, from biblical and historical evidences) of Jesus, and that the data [Read More...]

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The Patron Saint of Losers, Part 2

This post, which appears as the Editorial Statement in Image issue 90, is continued from yesterday. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, a contemporary of Shakespeare, knew his share of failure. As a young man he went off to serve in the military—whether to escape arrest for wounding a man in a duel or for some other [Read More...]

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Does God Forbid ALL Contact with the Dead?

Saint Benedict in Glory (1748), by Johann Jakob Zeiller (1708-1783) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] ***** (6-23-07) ***** The following illustrates the logical structure of biblical arguments in favor of contact with the dead under special and specific circumstances and indirectly for the invocation of the saints in heaven (at least how I myself make [Read More...]

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Catholics: “SO Dogmatic About the Perpetual Virginity of Mary!”

+ Lutheran Confessional Agreement The Annunciation (1850), by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] *** (11-1-08) *** From discussion on the Coming Home Network forum. The woman whose words are in blue is married to a Lutheran, who has a hard time accepting many Catholic beliefs. * * * * * Dave [Read More...]

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Mark Shea vs. “Old Pro-Life” Texas Legislators (Medicaid)

23 boys at Crumpsall Workhouse, circa 1895-1897: sent there, no doubt, by wicked conservative pro-lifers [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] ***** Mark Shea wrote, in his article, What Does the New Prolife Movement Look Like in Action? (12-5-16): As it happens, Texas Republicans did me the favor of demonstrating my point by, in their utter passion [Read More...]

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The Patron Saint of Losers, Part 1

This post appears as the Editorial Statement in Image issue 90. One of the stranger conversations I’ve ever had took place during my senior year of college. I was attending a conference, and during one of the coffee breaks I was talking with a scholar who had taken a shine to me. He asked if I [Read More...]

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The Good Samaritan: Not Just a Good Neighbor

A guest post by Pastoral Solutions Clinical Counselor, Dave McClow, M.Div., LMFT, LCSW. Providence is a powerful force—it’s God’s invisible hand guiding our lives.  I experience Providence in different ways.  Most frequently it happens on the phone with my clients when a story or metaphor comes to mind that I don’t normally use, and it [Read More...]

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The Nightingale Floors

In Kyoto, Japan, seventeenth-century Nijo Castle contains an architectural feature meant to protect the ruling shogun. The floors in the inner most chambers are constructed in such a way that the nails rub together when trod upon, creating the acoustical effect of chirping birds. Known as “nightingale floors,” the sound acts an alarm, providing a warning [Read More...]

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Perpetual Virginity of Mary: Binding Catholic Dogma

The Virgin Annunciate, by Carlo Crivelli (c. 1435-c. 1495) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] *** (11-3-08) ***** Dr. Ludwig Ott, in his Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, a standard theological reference source, states (pp. 203-207) that Mary’s virginity, before, during, and after the birth of Jesus (i.e., the perpetual virginity of Mary) is de fide dogma (the [Read More...]

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Was St. Louis de Montfort a Blasphemous Mariolater?

St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] (2009) ***** St. Louis de Montfort’s Mariology is often misinterpreted, just as, unfortunately, many, if not most books about devotion to Mary are misunderstood by non-Catholics, and not a few Catholics as well. Anti-Catholic Protestants (a small, fringe wing of Protestantism) often seize on [Read More...]

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Sacramentalism: James White Proves Augustine & Luther Aren’t Christians

BLU-82 Daisy Cutter Fireball [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] *** Original title: “Man-Centered” Sacramentalism: The Remarkable Incoherence of James White: How Can Martin Luther and St. Augustine Be Christians According to His Definition? *** (11-26-03) ***** Bishop James White (one of the most vociferous critics of Catholicism today) and I engaged in a vigorous postal exchange [Read More...]

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Sunday Mass Obligation: Brief Explanation & Rationale

Main door of the Church of Saint George in Sopot, Poland. [Wikimedia Commons /  Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license] ***** A Lutheran woman who is considering Catholicism brought up a question regarding the Sunday Mass obligation: My therapist and his wife – formerly life-long Evangelicals – became part of the RC church last [Read More...]

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Sacred Heart & Immaculate Heart: Biblical Reflections

The Heart of Mary, by Leopold Kupelwieser (1796-1862) [Wikimedia Commons /  Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license] *** (11-23-10) *** On the Coming Home Network board where I am the head moderator, a person (Catholic convert since 1997) wrote, asking about both the sacred heart of Jesus and immaculate heart of Mary devotions: In [Read More...]

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“New” Pro-Life? Only Spiritual Revival Stops Abortion

Engraving of John Wesley preaching outside a church. Wesley was a key figure in a true spiritual revival that occurred in England in the 18th century, resulting in massive societal change in spirituality and theology, morals, and laws. [Wikimedia Commons /  Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license] ***** The New Pro-Life Movement (NPLM) is not [Read More...]

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Poetry Friday: “Advent”

Of course you’ve heard of “El Niño.” And you know that it refers to the Pacific Ocean’s warming spells, which can cause heavy rains and even cyclones in the tropics. But did you know that El Niño (Spanish for “the boy”) is so named because it occurs around Christmas time? And did you know that [Read More...]

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Pope Francis: Please Answer Cardinal Burke Et Al

Image by PeteLinforth [Pixabay / CC0 public domain] *** Regarding the present controversy between Pope Francis and Cardinal Burke, I think only good can come from answering the questions, or “dubia” raised by Burke and three Cardinals Emeritus. This is a big reason why we have the pope in the Church: to give the “final say” [Read More...]

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Good Letters Is My Devotional

By Cathy Warner I came to Christianity in my mid-twenties and joined a Protestant church whose denominational arm publishes devotional booklets that called to mind the copies of Watchtowers Jehovah’s Witnesses used to foist on me. As a new believer, I was supposed to develop a disciplined spiritual life, the cornerstone being morning devotions: Rise [Read More...]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2016/12/good-letters-is-my-devotional/