Martin Luther’s Outrageous Views Regarding Women

(2-22-10) *** The following are all Luther’s words. The excerpts from Table-Talk (“TR” or Tischreden in German) were taken down by others; thus they are in a bit of a different category from his other writings, but nevertheless, Luther scholars regard what is found in Table-Talk as his words. Some might be jokes; who knows? […]

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Luther on the Deaths of Zwingli, St. Thomas More, & St. John Fisher

(11-30-07; expanded on 10-31-17) *** The heroic, inspiring stories of St. Thomas More (1478-1535) and St. John Fisher (1469-1535; the only bishop in England who resisted Henry VIII’s tyranny and butcheries) are well known, so I won’t recount them here. Huldreich Zwingli (1484-1531) was Luther’s fellow Protestant “reformer”, who differed from him especially on the […]

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Simple Tips for Living a More Joyful Life

We tend to think that joy is a product of stepping away from life and finding little ways to take a break or enjoy ourselves. While that can be important, just doing this only leads to fleeting moments of happiness. But how do we find real joy in our daily life without having to take […]

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Remembering Richard Wilbur (1921-2017), Part 1

It was back in the summer of 1995 during Image’s Glen Workshop that I had the opportunity to interview Dick Wilbur for Image. Wilbur was someone whose poetry—I am especially thinking here of poems like “Love Calls Us to the Things of This World”—I’d read in my late teens and been drawn to, especially because […]

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Martin Luther and Lutherans on Mortal & Venial Sins

Martin Luther . . . open, mortal sins, such as adultery, homicide, fornication, theft, robbery, usury, slander, etc. The purpose to avoid these sins belongs properly to sacramental Confession, and to confession before God it belongs at any moment after the sins have been committed; according to the word of Ecclesiasticus, “My son, hast thou […]

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Does God Ever Judge People by Sending Disease?

Yes He does: God sent the plague of boils to the Egyptians: Exodus 9:8-11 (RSV) And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of ashes from the kiln, and let Moses throw them toward heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. [9] And it shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, […]

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Parenting in the Age of Weinstein

Almost every day, new allegations of sexual harassment are in the headlines. The #metoo campaign has exposed the abusive behavior of power-brokers in Hollywood and DC helped victims, who have been silenced for too long, find their voices again. One parent, despairing at the onslaught of depressing headlines and salacious stories recently asked me, “What […]

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These Bones

My son Sam, like many six-year-olds, is a devout observer of Halloween. He loves the candy, of course, but he also thrills to the other accoutrements of the holiday: the decorations, the parties, the music (his favorite song is Edvard Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King”). Sam is also an unusually dogmatic trick-or-treater, […]

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Regensburg (1541) & Poissy (1561): Protestant “Ecumenism”?

(4-27-04) *** Catholic historian Warren Carroll writes: Reform-minded Cardinal Contarini attended the Diet of Regensburg and its religious discussions, and managed to obtain agreement on both sides on a statement on justification, but only by using a new concept of “duplicate justice,” which recognized that God gave justifying grace to men in baptism, but also […]

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Humanae Vitae (1968): Infallible Teaching Against Contraception

(12-31-07) *** The teaching against contraception as a grave sin was already firmly entrenched in Catholic tradition, having been strongly asserted again in 1930 by Pope Pius XI in response to the Anglicans [Casti Connubii]. Such declarations often come in response to heresy. No one (not even any Protestant body) had officially disagreed with the […]

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Why Did God Kill Onan? (The Bible on Contraception)

(2-9-04) *** Genesis 38:9-10: “But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so when he went in to his brother’s wife he spilled the semen on the ground, lest he should give offspring to his brother. 10 And what he did was displeasing in the sight of the Lord, and he slew him […]

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Contraception: Early Church Teaching (William Klimon)

(1998) *** St. John Chrysostom St. John Chrysostom condemned contraceptors as “stand[ing]” with heretics (On Galatians 5, PG 61:668-669) and as doing the work of “murderers” (Homily 62 on Matthew 19, PG 58:599). St. John is referring to castration. Castration is, of course, an extreme form of contraception–but it is nonetheless a form of contraception, […]

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Poetry Friday: “Notre Dame”

I love it when poems speak to each other and expand on a shared theme. The epigraph here references the well-known poem “Church Going” by Phillip Larkin. Both poems describe churches, their architecture and unique interiors. However, they also explore more universal questions about the role and relevance of organized religion. Brown doesn’t mince words. […]

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Luther Believed in Soul Sleep; Thus He Rejected Purgatory

(2-9-08) *** Just when I think that I’ve discovered pretty much all of Martin Luther’s many false beliefs, and that there couldn’t possibly be any more, lo and behold, here comes another one out of nowhere. Today I came across someone mentioning English Protestant William Tyndale’s acceptance of “conditional immortality” (a sort of synonym for, or notion associated […]

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Armstrong vs. Collins & Walls #13: “Reformed” Censorship & Intolerance

This is one of my many critiques of the book entitled, Roman but Not Catholic: What Remains at Stake 500 Years after the Reformation, by evangelical Protestant theologian Kenneth J. Collins and Anglican philosopher Jerry L. Walls (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2017). ***** Jerry Walls wrote on his Facebook page on 10-24-17: “apologetics gets its […]

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Luther: Execute Adulterers, Witches, Frigid Wives, & Prostitutes

(12-20-07 and 2-22-10) *** Just when you think you’ve discovered all the weirdest things about Luther that could possibly be found, ol’ Martin springs another goofy, wacko idea on ya!: . . . God commanded in the law [Deut. 22:22-24] that adulterers be stoned . . . The temporal sword and government should therefore still […]

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The Erasmus Option, Part 2

For Erasmus, Thomas More, and the other humanists of that era, literature and figurative language were the key to preventing people from falling into abstraction, moralism, and incessant warfare. Pagan literature, the humanists held, could be read with profit by Christians because it is possible to absorb and be enriched by the artistry without embracing […]

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John Calvin: Authoritative Council Needed to Unite Protestants

(1-18-08) *** John Calvin figured out that only a council would unite Protestants doctrinally at war with each other. And he was only talking about agreement on the Eucharist. It never happened. But it’s fascinating that Calvin thought this council (I assume he would regard it as sub-infallible, in accordance with sola Scriptura; which wouldn’t work, […]

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Martin Luther’s Remarkably “Pro-Tradition” Strain of Thought

(1-18-08) *** It’s inaccurate to contend that Luther despises councils altogether. Rather, he denies their infallibility and makes them formally subordinate to Scripture, which alone is infallible. This perhaps explains (at least in part) how Luther can rail against councils in one breath and espouse a quasi-Catholic principle of authority and tradition in the next. He has […]

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Condemnation of the Anti-Protestant Spirit (A Sad Dialogue)

This took place on my Facebook page, with a Catholic woman, under a post called, “My Respect for Lutherans.” Her words will be in blue. *** Mark Wilson: Now people may lump you together with the Pope who said something nice about John Wesley. Yeah, they might. Some people never learn that truth is truth, wherever […]

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The Erasmus Option, Part 1

Picture The Old Humanist standing at his desk. The year is 1533. Desiderius Erasmus is living in Freiburg, as he says to a friend, “like a snail in its shell.” It’s another temporary stop on his long, peripatetic march through northern Europe, as he seeks to avoid persecution at the hands of Reformers and Catholics […]

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312 Catholic Martyrs & Confessors Under “Good Queen Bess”

Queen Elizabeth (r. 1558-1603) (2-8-08) *** [biographical information was obtained in most cases from Wikipedia or the Catholic Encyclopedia. The martyrs are listed chronologically by date of execution. All are English except where noted] *** [See the Wikipedia article for a gruesome description of the English punishment of being hanged, drawn, and quartered] *** Queen Elizabeth is often regarded as a […]

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Odd Trio: Jerry Walls, Ken Collins, & Anti-Catholic John Bugay

Walls and Collins Hurt Their Pro-Protestant Cause and Ecumenical Effort by Enlisting John Bugay as a Comrade-in-Arms I have written twelve critiques of the book entitled, Roman but Not Catholic: What Remains at Stake 500 Years after the Reformation, by evangelical Protestant (Wesleyan) theologian and historian Kenneth J. Collins and Anglican philosopher Jerry L. Walls […]

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Fit for Transformation

When my sister first told me about Orangetheory Fitness, I was intrigued. “You’d probably dig it,” she said. “It’s like personal training, but in a group.” Admittedly, it did sound like something I would like. But I was the heaviest I’d ever been and had spent the last three years committing myself to a level […]

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“Roman But Not Catholic”: Defense of My Amazon Review

I wrote twelve critiques of the book entitled, Roman but Not Catholic: What Remains at Stake 500 Years after the Reformation, by evangelical Protestant (Wesleyan) theologian and historian Kenneth J. Collins and Anglican philosopher Jerry L. Walls (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2017). The complete list can be found on my Calvinism and General Protestantism web page (scroll […]

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Causes of the Protestant “Reformation” (vs. a Lutheran Pastor)

(11-20-07; abridged somewhat on 10-23-17) *** Pastor Larry A. Nichols is the author of several books, including Dictionary of Cults, Sects, Religions, and the Occult (Zondervan Publishing House, 1993, with George A. Mather & Alvin J. Schmidt), Masonic Lodge (Zondervan, 1995; with George A. Mather & Alan W. Gomes), Discovering the Plain Truth: How the Worldwide Church of God Encountered the Gospel […]

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The Best in Bedtime Reading

A therapist I once went to for help with insomnia advised me: “Stop reading a novel at bedtime; it stimulates the mind.” When I recounted this to my wise sister who knows me well, she protested: “No! A novel takes you out of yourself; that’s just what you want before trying to go to sleep.” […]

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Armstrong vs. Collins & Walls #12: Salvation (Soteriology)

This is one of my many critiques of the book entitled, Roman but Not Catholic: What Remains at Stake 500 Years after the Reformation, by evangelical Protestant theologian Kenneth J. Collins and Anglican philosopher Jerry L. Walls (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2017). ***** Kenneth Collins, in his chapter 17: “Justification Roman Style” writes: What’s so remarkable […]

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Armstrong vs. Collins & Walls #11: Good & Bad Monothelite Heretics

This is one of my many critiques of the book entitled, Roman but Not Catholic: What Remains at Stake 500 Years after the Reformation, by evangelical Protestant theologian Kenneth J. Collins and Anglican philosopher Jerry L. Walls (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2017). ***** Kenneth Collins, in chapter 12 (“Machiavellian Machinations and More: The Later History of […]

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Armstrong vs. Collins & Walls #10: St. Peter & the Papacy

This is one of my many critiques of the book entitled, Roman but Not Catholic: What Remains at Stake 500 Years after the Reformation, by evangelical Protestant theologian Kenneth J. Collins and Anglican philosopher Jerry L. Walls (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2017). ***** Kenneth Collins, in his chapter 11: “The Papacy”, states: Indeed, the notion […]

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Armstrong vs. Collins & Walls #9: “Apocrypha” (Jerome, Athanasius, Etc.)

This is one of my many critiques of the book entitled, Roman but Not Catholic: What Remains at Stake 500 Years after the Reformation, by evangelical Protestant theologian Kenneth J. Collins and Anglican philosopher Jerry L. Walls (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2017). ***** Kenneth Collins, in his chapter 3: “Scripture: No Greater Authority?” states: […]

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Armstrong vs. Collins & Walls #8: Heretical Tobit? (Alms & Salvation)

This is one of my many critiques of the book entitled, Roman but Not Catholic: What Remains at Stake 500 Years after the Reformation, by evangelical Protestant theologian Kenneth J. Collins and Anglican philosopher Jerry L. Walls (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2017). ***** Kenneth Collins, in his chapter 3: “Scripture: No Greater Authority?” states: Take the […]

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On the Use of the Titles “Catholic” & “Roman Catholic”

This was from public exchanges on the Facebook page of Anglican philosopher and author Jerry Walls. *** Dave Armstrong Nor do I call myself “Roman Catholic.” Eastern Catholics are just as much Catholics as “Roman” ones, and they would never call themselves “Roman Catholic” (I co-wrote a book with one). That’s one reason why I don’t; […]

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Poetry Friday: “The Name of God”

In Scripture, “the name of God” equals “the power of God.” Think of Jesus saying, in John’s Gospel, “I will do whatever you ask in my name” (14: 13-14). What Anya Silver does in this poem is invent a litany of extraordinary images for her personal relation to the name of God. She longs to […]

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Armstrong vs. Collins & Walls #6: Assumption, Queen Redux

This is one of my many critiques of the book entitled, Roman but Not Catholic: What Remains at Stake 500 Years after the Reformation, by evangelical Protestant theologian Kenneth J. Collins and Anglican philosopher Jerry L. Walls (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2017). ***** Kenneth Collins, in his chapter 16: “Mary Again: From Dogmatic definition to Co-Redeemer?,” makes the […]

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Armstrong vs. Collins & Walls #4: Mary “Not a Genuine Human Being”?

This is one of my many critiques of the book entitled, Roman but Not Catholic: What Remains at Stake 500 Years after the Reformation, by evangelical Protestant theologian Kenneth J. Collins and Anglican philosopher Jerry L. Walls (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2017). ***** Kenneth Collins, in his chapter 16: “Mary Again: From Dogmatic definition to Co-Redeemer?,” […]

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Armstrong vs. Collins & Walls #5: The Church “Gave” the Bible?

This is one of my many critiques of the book entitled, Roman but Not Catholic: What Remains at Stake 500 Years after the Reformation, by evangelical Protestant theologian Kenneth J. Collins and Anglican philosopher Jerry L. Walls (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2017). ***** Kenneth Collins, in his chapter 2: “Tradition and the Traditions” states: J. I […]

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How To Negate Hate

Recently I gave a talk to the freshman at a local college on the theme of negating hate. Their common reading this year was All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque’s novel set in World War I. The protagonist is a young soldier named Paul Baumer. A German. Our enemy in that war. […]

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Armstrong vs. Collins & Walls #3: Necessity of Immaculate Mary?

This is one of my many critiques of the book entitled, Roman but Not Catholic: What Remains at Stake 500 Years after the Reformation, by evangelical Protestant theologian Kenneth J. Collins and Anglican philosopher Jerry L. Walls (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2017). ***** Collins and Walls, in their chapter 15: “Mary: Why She Matters,” noted that St. […]

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Armstrong vs. Collins & Walls #2: Queen of Heaven

This is one of my many critiques of the book entitled, Roman but Not Catholic: What Remains at Stake 500 Years after the Reformation, by evangelical Protestant theologian Kenneth J. Collins and Anglican philosopher Jerry L. Walls (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2017). ***** Collins and Walls, in their chapter 15: “Mary: Why She Matters,” note that […]

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Looking for Release

This post originally appeared at Good Letters on May 9, 2012. Dayne, my mother’s ex-boyfriend, spent his childhood in Tennessee, where he got his southern drawl and where his father, who drank, would stomp through the house and sweep his long arm across the crowded kitchen counter smashing greasy dishes onto the linoleum. It was […]

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Silence Mysteries

Lately, it seems, everyone is talking about silence—how they have less of it, how they wish they had more of it, how our Twittering lives have eaten away at some fundamental interior space that we didn’t even know was fragile to begin with. And the conversation about silence inspires its own cottage industry. You can […]

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The Arm, the Girl, and the Guard

In a long room with three doorways in Tokyo’s National Museum of Modern Art, somewhere in the humming midgut of the building, hangs an oil painting of a man’s arm holding a hammer above a length of chain. In front of the painting about three paces away is a twenty-two-year-old girl (her wording) who’s spent […]

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Pope St. John XXIII & Pope Benedict XVI on “Prophets of Doom”

Pope Benedict XVI: Statement to the Seminarians of Rome: 8 February 2013: The second term: inheritance. It is a very important word in the Old Testament, where Abraham is told that his seed will inherit the earth, and this was always the promise for his descendants. You will have the earth, you will be heirs […]

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Dialogues on the Sexual Revolution & Weinstein’s Victims

These occurred on my Facebook page with  Catholic Deacon Steven D. Greydanus (words in green), and atheist Jon (words in blue). *** My thinking about this issue is built upon two planks:  1. The sexual revolution has had incalculably disastrous effects.  2. Simply “going back” is neither possible nor desirable. There is a reason the […]

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Straight Talk on Weinstein & Blessings of the Sexual Revolution

Casting couch sexual coercion is some big shock and surprise? Duh! The perfectly obvious is now becoming perfectly obvious. I guess that’s progress. At least society isn’t pretending anymore that rich middle-aged Hollywood mogul [usually white] men abusing, exploiting, groping, and even raping women doesn’t routinely happen: and in supposedly “progressive” / “enlightened” and “feminist” […]

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Discussion on Sola Scriptura and the Rule of Faith

This occurred in the combox underneath my post, “1 Timothy 3:15: Sola Scriptura or Visible Church Authority?” Ulf Turkewitsch is an anti-Catholic Protestant. His words will be in blue: *** I agree that Jesus’ statement about the Holy Spirit leading us into all truth means much more than the gospel. I think that the truths we can […]

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On [Not?] Calling People “Fools”: Biblical Reflections

I wrote the following in a Facebook dialogue with a friend. I won’t cite his words, but readers will get the gist of what he was arguing, from my response. He started by citing this passage in the Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 5:22 (RSV) But I say to you that every one who is […]

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Poetry Friday: “The Anxiety Offices”

Are any of us sleeping much lately? With such grief in the world right now, I suspect anxiety keeps a lot of us awake nights. What a rosary of sound and image Lisa Russ Spaar gives us to work through with this poem, beginning in the early evening of a sleepless night and ending with […]

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Luther on Early Lutherans: “Ingrates” Who Deserve God’s “Wrath”

(2-28-10) *** [The blue highlighting is my own] *** So what is my own “take” on all this business of Luther’s teachings and current events in Germany and among the early Lutherans, during the earliest period of Protestantism? I think causes of historical events are always extraordinarily complex, just as causes of human behavior in general are. […]

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Was Luther in His Old Age in Agony & Bitter About Lutheranism?

(3-3-10) *** In my 2003 book, Protestantism: Critical Reflections of an Ecumenical Catholic, I described a set of quotations from Luther as evidences of Luther’s “Agony Over the State of Early Protestantism.” Fellow “reformers” Philip Melanchthon’s and Martin Bucer’s statements (in some ways even more explicit and specific) were also included in this appendix. Some anti-Catholic […]

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Dr. Fastiggi’s “Exchange” with Correctio Signatory Chris Ferrara

Anyone who boldly ventures out to attempt serious rational discussion with the inimitable Christopher Ferrara, inevitably ends up like this. (I’ve had some firsthand experience, myself). Thanks for the laughs, Chris! If he only knew that the pie was really on his face . . .  *** Chris Ferrara did his usual mocking hit piece of the […]

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Dr. Fastiggi Replies to Dr. Brugger Re: Amoris Laetitia

Dr. Christian Brugger is Senior Fellow of Ethics at the Culture of Life Foundation in Washington D.C. He replied to an article by Dr. Robert Fastiggi and Dr. Dawn Eden Goldstein, as noted in a LifeSiteNews article. Dr. Fastiggi then replied further in the combox and interacted with a “David” there. David’s words will be […]

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Cinematic Longings for Sophia in mother! and Blade Runner 2049

Two of our most compelling film directors working in the Hollywood studio system—Darren Aronofsky and Denis Villeneuve—recently released startling movies, and the movies have obvious differences. Aronofsky’s mother! is an original psychological horror film allegorizing in unorthodox ways the Biblical mythology. Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 is a science fiction sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 classic, […]

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Melanchthon in 1530 Longed for Return of Catholic Bishops

(11-30-07) *** [my blue highlighting throughout] *** Martin Luther’s successor Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560) was (contrary to widespread Protestant antipathy to hierarchical Church government) willing to revive the jurisdiction of Catholic bishops in negotiations at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530. This is documented by many historians. For example, note his letter to Cardinal Campeggio, of 4 August, 1530: […]

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Dr. Joseph Shaw Apes “Reformers” (“Ambiguous” Catholic Documents)

The Good Ol’ “Ambiguity” Card Utilized with Regard to Both Vatican II and Amoris laetitia [my own blue highlighting throughout] *** I’ve contended for over 20 years that radical Catholic reactionaries (see my carefully delineated definition and rationale for coining the term) think a lot like Protestants and like Catholic “progressive” dissidents / modernists: both of […]

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Melanchthon’s Agonized Tears Over Early Protestant Divisions

(6-15-11; additions on 10-11-17) *** [my highlighting in blue] *** Today divisions and endless theological quarrels and divisions (institutionally or in spirit) are winked at and rationalized with drivel such as “primary vs. secondary doctrines” or supposed “agreement on essentials.” The first Protestants understood that schism and division was a huge scandal and cause for […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2017/10/melanchthons-agonized-tears-early-protestant-divisions.html

The Road to Dogmascus

I’ve clearly missed some important cultural boat, for people love so many things that I just simply don’t get. Beer, Star Wars, zombies, body piercings. While my friends devote themselves to these phenomena with cultish fervor, I look on with confusion, if not a little disgust. But the item that used to top my list? (Allow […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2017/10/the-road-to-dogmascus-2/

Medieval Catholic Corruption: Main Cause of Protestant Revolt?

(6-2-03; revised slightly: 1-20-04 and 10-10-17) *** What does medieval corruption have to do with the abolition of five of seven sacraments, the move to sola Scriptura as the rule of faith over against an authoritative Church and councils and apostolic succession and episcopacy (and including a papacy as well), or the ending of the sacrifice of the mass, […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2017/10/medieval-catholic-corruption-main-cause-protestant-revolt.html

William of Ockham, Nominalism, Luther, & Early Protestant Thought

(10-3-02; abridged on 10-10-17) *** [ (P) = Protestant / (C) = Catholic / (O) = Orthodox / (U) = unknown religious persuasion / secular ] This paper consists entirely of citations. *** I. Introduction to Medieval Philosophical Nominalism and William of Ockham From: Frederick Copleston, S. J. (C), A History of Philosophy: Vol. 3: Late Mediaeval and Renaissance […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2017/10/william-ockham-nominalism-luther-early-protestant-thought.html

Famous Last Words

Towards the end of his life, Winston Churchill famously quipped: “I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.” As is always the case with humor, a world of seriousness is implied. For one thing, the statement rests upon an understanding of […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2017/10/famous-last-words/

Dr. Fastiggi & Dr. Goldstein Debate Dr. Shaw Regarding Pope Francis

Previously, I have posted “Dr. Robert Fastiggi Defends Amoris Laetitia Against Critics” (10-3-17). Full disclosure: Dr. Fastiggi (a professor of systematic theology) is a good friend, and asked me to post material of his that was (initially) mistakenly believed to have been deliberately deleted. I happen to agree with his take on these issues, as well. He […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2017/10/dr-fastiggi-debates-dr-shaw-regarding-pope-francis.html

Think Contraception Prevents Abortion? New Study Says, “You’re Wrong.”

You’ve probably heard the slogan, “You can’t be opposed to both abortion and contraception.”  Or, alternatively, the accusation,  “If you opposed abortion, why don’t you support greater access to contraception?”  The idea, of course, being that if everyone was on the Pill, we wouldn’t have abortions anymore.  Well, a new study by Britain’s most prominent […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/faithonthecouch/2017/10/think-contraception-prevents-abortion-new-study-says-youre-wrong/

To Be Born Again

The day after Yom Kippur 5778   When I finish being born for the fourth time, I will live in a house by the sea. The windows facing the ocean will hold the ocean, as much as glass can hold. The phone will vibrate with messages of peace. There will still be a trashcan: everything […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2017/10/to-be-born-again/

My Conversion: Apathy, Occult, Evangelicalism, & Catholicism (Pt. 8)

Part Eight: Bombshell and Paradigm Shift: Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman’s Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine (1990)   This is the ten-part story of my complete religious history, from nominal Methodism (1958-1967), to the occult and practical atheism (1968-1976), through evangelical Protestantism, counter-cult, pro-life, evangelistic, and apologetics work (1977-1990), and finally on to the fullness […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2017/10/conversion-apathy-occult-evangelicalism-catholicism-pt-8.html

Poetry Friday: “A True Story”

In the aftermath of three large hurricanes (Harvey, Irma, and Maria) the news has been filled with stories of communities recovering, trying to survive after the devastating impact of these incredible storms. Despite a lot of discouraging news, I have been moved by the reports of neighbors helping neighbors, strangers fishing each other out of […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2017/10/poetry-friday-true-story/

My Conversion: Apathy, Occult, Evangelicalism, & Catholicism (Pt. 7)

Part Seven: Ecclesiology (the Church), the “Protestant Myth” of Church History, and My Vehement Opposition to Catholic Infallibility (1990) This is the ten-part story of my complete religious history, from nominal Methodism (1958-1967), to the occult and practical atheism (1968-1976), through evangelical Protestantism, counter-cult, pro-life, evangelistic, and apologetics work (1977-1990), and finally on to the fullness of […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2017/10/conversion-apathy-occult-evangelicalism-catholicism-pt-7.html

Gun Control & Deep-Rooted Societal Causes of Massacres

If guns are the primary cause of these massacres (which appears to be how many people think, since every time one happens, we hear renewed calls for banning firearms), why is it that such massacres are exponentially increasing  in our time, even though availability of guns has been roughly the same, compared to 50 years […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2017/10/simplistic-gun-control-logic-vs-serious-thinking-about-massacres.html

The Vocation Trap

My wife is finishing up the first of a multi-year graduate program in nursing. When she graduates, it will be with a doctor of nurse practice. (This will also, coincidentally, mark my retirement. Or so I keep telling her. She has yet to comment.) Anyway, her pursuing this degree has been a conversation we’ve had […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2017/10/the-vocation-trap/

My Conversion: Apathy, Occult, Evangelicalism, & Catholicism (Pt. 6)

Part Six: Pro-Life Rescue Movement, Letter to Karl Keating, My Ecumenical Gatherings, & the First “Domino”: Contraception (1988-1990) This is the ten-part story of my complete religious history, from nominal Methodism (1958-1967), to the occult and practical atheism (1968-1976), through evangelical Protestantism, counter-cult, pro-life, evangelistic, and apologetics work (1977-1990), and finally on to the fullness of […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2017/10/my-conversion-apathy-occult-evangelicalism-catholicism-pt-6.html

Eucharistic Sacrifice: The Witness of the Church Fathers

(9-12-05) *** A Lutheran historian whom I debated, submitted the odd scenario of having to believe that no Church father before St. Cyprian really taught what he did (not even in kernel form) regarding the Eucharist, and then somehow the Cyprianic view (for some strange reason that we are not told) overwhelmed all others and became the status quo […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2017/10/eucharistic-sacrifice-witness-church-fathers.html

Homecomings

Last night I sat on the curb with my three youngest children, while my three eldest walked in the homecoming parade. My paraders each represented a different sport in their team jerseys and class colors. They walked in leagues of friends, shoulder to proud shoulder, sharing the inside jokes of those in the social center, […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2017/10/homecomings/

My Conversion: Apathy, Occult, Evangelicalism, & Catholicism (Pt. 5)

Part Five: Collapse of My Protestant Ministry: Disillusionment and the End of One Chapter of My Life, But with Faith Intact (1985-1989) This is the ten-part story of my complete religious history, from nominal Methodism (1958-1967), to the occult and practical atheism (1968-1976), through evangelical Protestantism, counter-cult, pro-life, evangelistic, and apologetics work (1977-1990), and finally on […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2017/10/conversion-apathy-occult-evangelicalism-catholicism-pt-5.html

Dr. Robert Fastiggi Defends “Amoris Laetitia” Against Critics

Dr. Robert Fastiggi and Dr. Dawn Eden Goldstein wrote an article for La Stampa, entitled “Does Amoris laetitia 303 Really Undermine Catholic Moral Teaching?” (9-26-17). Here I am documenting his replies (in comboxes), to critiques from Dr. Christian Brugger and Dr. Eduardo Echeverria. I figured that time was of the essence, to preserve Dr. Fastiggi’s comments, especially at […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2017/10/dr-robert-fastiggi-defends-amoris-laetitia-critics.html

Richard Osler’s Hyaena Season

We’ve all suffered wounds in some way. If not the physical wounds of war or other violence, then the psychic wounds of broken relationships. We struggle against the evil both within ourselves and outside in the world. Richard Osler’s new poetry collection, Hyaena Season, fearlessly probes all these wounds, all this evil. Let’s take the […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2017/10/richard-oslers-hyaena-season/

Apologists, Like Umpires, Can Never Be TOO Popular!

(3-5-17) ***** I envision in my head how various people and groups will react to some apologetics analysis of mine, all the time. The problem is, I don’t feel that I can adjust my apologetics analyses according to how they will be received. I can do my best in “approach.” I can seek to be […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2017/10/apologists-like-umpires-can-never-be-too-popular.html

Passionate Defense of Religious Truths: The Biblical Data

(6-4-07) *** Dialogue or rational argumentation involving defense of one’s own positions and respectful critique of others’ opinions (and listening to their presentation, too, and changing our opinion when necessary), is not synonymous with hostile quarreling or squabbling. Many people seem oddly unable to comprehend this. Scripture contains many examples of the Apostle Paul (particularly) […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2017/10/passionate-defense-religious-truths-biblical-data.html

Is Technoference Affecting Your Family?

We often hear how children’s overuse of smartphones and other devices is responsible for a host of problems including academic underperformance and social impairment.  But if you’re a parent, did you ever stop to think that your smartphone use might be causing your kids to act out? A new study discovered that 48% of parents […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/faithonthecouch/2017/10/technoference-affecting-family/

Bridal Veils and Blessing

In the back of the closet right, where I’d stowed it years before, I found the wedding veil I’d rescued during the final ransacking of my mother’s house before it was put up for sale. The closet was musty and midsummer-hot, and the cloud of folded tulle spilled off the shelf like a meringue off […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2017/10/bridal-veils-blessing/

Who’s Defending Pope Benedict’s “Summorum Pontificum” Now?

(2-26-14) ***** Summorum Pontificum is the 2007 apostolic letter from Pope Benedict XVI that allowed universal access to the Tridentine Mass and sanctioned the terminology of “ordinary” and “extraordinary” forms of the one Roman Rite A radical Catholic reactionary who goes by “Vincentius” was bashing me and other converts in the usual empty-headed, ridiculous fashion […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2017/10/whos-defending-summorum-pontificum-now.html