Dialogues with Karl Keating Regarding Pope Francis

Should Pope Francis be censured and corrected for teaching heresy or heterodox practices? And should it be public? This is a direct continuation of the exchanges in my previous post, Dialogues with Karl Keating & Phil Lawler on Pope Francis. These all occurred on Karl’s public Facebook page. His words will be in blue. ***** My […]

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Dialogues w K. Keating & P. Lawler on Pope Francis

Has Pope Francis strayed from Catholic tradition? Currently, a big debate is taking place among Catholics about that. It has even infected the  ranks of apologists (my field), with prominent figure Karl Keating now being openly critical of Pope Francis, in a way that I think far exceeds the proper bounds of propriety and established fact. We’re […]

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Listening to My Life: 17 Listens for 2017

First, a note: I think this might be the last time I do this. If you’ve followed my writing about music for the last twenty years (in which case you are my mother, so thanks) you’ve heard me say things like this off and on for at least the last ten, so I don’t mean […]

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“The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail” Against the Church

Matthew 16:18 (RSV): “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.” (KJV):  “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall […]

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Quasi-Defectibility and Phil Lawler vs. Pope Francis

Neither the Church nor the pope can fall away from the faith. It’s never yet happened in 2000 years, and will not. This is the doctrine of indefectibility. Catholics believe in the indefectibility of the Church, which includes the pope, on a biblical basis, as well as a traditional one. St. Robert Bellarmine (in teaching that was […]

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The Jealous Prayer

In the first days of my MFA program, one of the mentors—a fiction writer I hadn’t studied with yet—said she’d taken to sending letters to other writers when she found herself feeling jealous of their success. This struck me as worthwhile, both in terms of maintaining literary friendships and, you know, being a decent human […]

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Did St. Paul Seek St. Peter’s Approval for His Ministry?

+ Does The Word Order in Galatians 2:9 Suggest a Lowering of Peter’s Primacy? The answer is yes: Galatians 1:15-24 (RSV) But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace, [16] was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him […]

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On Rebuking Popes & Catholic Obedience to Popes

Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman’s approach to this topic was vastly different from many (and the most fashionable, chic opinions) today: I have said that, like St. Peter, he is the Vicar of his Lord. He can judge, and he can acquit; he can pardon, and he can condemn; he can command and he can […]

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Martha Stewart: Entertaining for Millions

Quick: before 2017 ends, I want to mark an anniversary that has somehow been missed in the surfeit of commemorations that have rained like confetti all year long on the Internet. We’ve had the twentieth anniversary of Radiohead’s OK Computer, the thirtieth anniversary of the Iran-Contra hearings, and the fortieth anniversary of the July 1977 […]

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Invocation & Intercession of Saints & Angels: Bible Proof

Contrary to many non-Catholic claims, biblical evidence for these practices is abundant. *** 1) We ask others on earth to pray for us. 2) Angels (many passages) and dead saints (Rev 6:9-10) care very much for us. 3) Angels are aware of earthly events (Lk 15:10, 1 Cor 4:9, and many other passages); so are […]

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Statues in Relation to Bowing, Prayer, & Worship in Scripture

Some Protestants tell us that all such images are “graven images” and “idolatry”. John Calvin thought even statues of Christ were idols. But is it true that they are never connected to prayer, bowing (using them as aids to devotion), or worship in the Bible? No . . . ***** The ark of the covenant […]

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Jews Without Jerusalem

Unimaginable. That’s precisely why I will imagine it. Shake them, shake the books, shake the siddur, prayerbook, shake the Tanakh, the Bible, shake them vigorously until the word is shaken loose, Yerushalayim, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Yerushalayim. Titgadal v’titkadash b’toch Yerushalyim irkha: May You be exalted and sanctified in Jerusalem. Having arrived at the heart of our […]

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The Christmas I Sat Next to a Sex Offender

Last year my husband and I celebrated our first Christmas with our infant daughter. She couldn’t understand the holiday, of course, but that didn’t stop us from discussing Advent calendars, wreaths, and Jesse Trees in depth, continuing a friendly argument about Santa Claus that has been going on since our engagement. Citing our childhood experiences […]

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Were the “Judaizers” Jewish Christians (“Messianic Jews”)?

The Judaizers were Christians who took a different approach to law and grace than the Church at length decided to take. *** The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church (edited by J. D. Douglas, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zodervan, 1978, “Judaizers”, p. 554), states about the Judaizers: A party of Christians in the early church […]

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Documentary Theory (Pentateuch): Critical Articles

“In the last two decades of Pentateuchal scholarship, the source-critical method has come under unprecedented attack; in many quarters it has been rejected entirely. . . . [various factors] have led scholarship to the brink of abandoning the four sources, J, E, P and D. ” — The Tam Institute for Jewish Studies at Emory […]

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Poetry Friday: “Hope”

I love the broad strokes and sweeping vision of this poem at the same time as I appreciate its specificity, its impressive attention to detail. The forces of good and evil that make up the archetypal beams of this poem create a kind of structural backdrop against which the poem whirs and sparks— from the […]

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Are Sinful Church Leaders a Disproof of Catholicism?

Biblical examples clearly indicate the general principle that offices are not annihilated by sinful occupants. *** A Protestant (words in blue below) asked me: In your section on ‘Rome’ you note that it suffered, ‘periodic moral decadence, a few weak or immoral popes..’ Yet you are not bothered that the holder of an ‘infallible’ office […]

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Do Catholic Sexual Scandals Disprove Catholic Truth Claims?

King David was quite a sinner himself, yet God made an eternal covenant with him, knowing he would commit adultery and murder. *** [Reformed Protestant Anti-Catholic polemicist John Bugay’s words will be in blue] *** Why did I know this would happen? I was watching coverage of the Joe Paterno / Penn State tragedy last […]

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My Last Resort

I’m at the beach with my husband, wining and dining on the company dime for a business meeting he has to attend, which can feel like icing on a cardboard cake for all the travel he has to do without me. I don’t vacation well. I’ve never enjoyed packing, sleeping in beds not my own, […]

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Luther: Confirmation is a Sacramental, Not a Sacrament

Luther accepted confirmation as a sacramental rite like, e.g., holy water, but not as a Scripture-attested sacrament. [Luther’s words will be in blue] *** Lutherans have differed on the question through the centuries, with some observing it and others not doing so (and with different understandings of it). We again find Luther, characteristically, refusing to disallow it, and […]

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Luther’s “Agony” Over Sectarianism (vs. a Lutheran)

A Lutheran apologist says Luther wasn’t “agonized” over rampant sectarianism; I document that he was. This whole “tempest in a teapot / mountain out of a molehill” pseudo-controversy came about as a result of Lutheran blogger Edward Reiss going on and on about one appendix of one obscure book of mine. In my 2007 volume, Protestantism: Critical Reflections […]

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The Play’s the Thing

In a recent interview about some stories I’ve written, the interviewer asked several questions regarding film. One in particular was thought-provoking: whether the medium of the motion picture provides more fictive metaphors, more imaginative opportunities for use in stories and novels than other artistic means. That is, does the motion picture qua motion picture, with […]

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Luther on Early Lutheran Degeneracy & Bad Witness

Documentation of Luther’s opinion of the early Lutherans, during the first period of Protestantism. I think causes of historical events are always extraordinarily complex, just as causes of human behavior in general are. That has always been my position, as long as I can remember. I despise simplistic attempts of positing single causes for things […]

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Dialogue on Prayer to the Saints and Hades / Sheol

Why do Catholics “pray to saints”? Is this “worship”? Does it imply that departed saints have “godlike” powers? These are some of the questions dealt with in a friendly dialogue with two Protestant friends, on my Facebook page. Bethany Kerr’s words will be in blue; Mike Grubb’s in green. *** It doesn’t bother me to […]

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A Theologian Reads Karl Ove Knausgaard

My reading habits, I confess, aren’t literary. I probably lack the training and the gifts necessary to make them so. Instead, they’re theological. I read like a porn addict scours the Internet. Only my pornography is God-talk and my Internet some piece of literature or another. Thus I’m sent into near ecstasy when Stavrogin and […]

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Did Luther Regret Anything About His “Reformation”?

Luther never said that the “Reformation” as a whole was a failure, or shouldn’t have happened, but he said quite a bit about how the new Protestants were miserably failing in manifesting the  superiority of their system over Catholicism. The following is taken from the book by Henry O’Connor, S. J.: Luther’s Own Statements Concerning His […]

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Difficulties of Authority: Luther, Calvin, & Protestantism

Catholics hold that Scripture is a fairly clear document and able to be understood by the average reader, but also that the Church is needed to provide a doctrinal norm (an overall framework) for determining proper biblical interpretation (specifically, for “vetoing” that interpretation which is erroneous because it leads to doctrinal error). Both Luther and […]

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Mystical Rose Among Thorns

Maria walks amid the thorn Kyrie eleison. Maria walks amid the thorn, Which seven years no leaf has born. Jesus and Maria.  —From the hymn “Maria walks amid the thorn” Sometimes there is a song underneath the deepest silence. In the birthing room, I went to that place where there is such quiet that the […]

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Quiz on Early Protestant / “Reformation” Eucharistic Harmony

Who said this?: 1) It is enough for me that Christ’s blood is present; let it be with the wine as God wills. Before I would drink mere wine with the Enthusiasts, I would rather have pure blood with the Pope. And this?: 2) . . . Zwingli, Karlstadt, Oecolampadius [Protestants] . . . called […]

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Did God Command Jephthah to Burn His Daughter?

This is an exchange from the Coming Home Network forum, with a Catholic who was troubled by difficult Old Testament “genocide” and “commanded killing” passages. His words will be in blue. * * * * * I am a Catholic who is coming back to his faith, that being said I am having some trouble with […]

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Poetry Friday: “Meditation on Soteriology”

Karen An-Hwei Lee lays out her poem “Meditation on Soteriology” so that it looks at first like prose. But you don’t have to read far before you see the wild conjunction of images as poetry. “Paradises of flora and flame,” for instance, takes us aback, since we’d expect to read “flora and fauna.” Similarly with […]

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Dialogue on Development of Doctrine (Esp. the Papacy)

vs. Protestant apologist and anti-Catholic polemicist Jason Engwer The following is a reply to Protestant [anti-Catholic] apologist and polemicist Jason Engwer’s paper, A Response to Roman Catholic Apologist Dave Armstrong Regarding Development of Doctrine. His piece purports to be (I think?) a critique of my paper, “Refutation of William Webster’s Fundamental Misunderstanding of Development of Doctrine.” […]

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“Romanists” Killed 100 Million? David T. King & Other Geniuses

“Many historians on both sides have said Rome killed as many as 35 million, others say 1/10th of a billion.” This pathetic exchange took place in the public chat room of the website (Alpha and Omega Ministries) of the prominent anti-Catholic polemicist James White, on 29 June 2000. I think it splendidly illustrates the sad, deluded, […]

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The Sentences of William H. Gass

Last week, one of my favorite authors, William H. Gass, died at ninety-three. He was an elder statesman of postwar American fiction. His novels include the lauded Omensetter’s Luck, The Tunnel, and Middle C, and he also wrote a number of insightful essays on the craft of writing. His prose is difficult, brooding, and deeply […]

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The Inquisition Killed 4.9 Million? (John Bugay’s Whoppers)

This was drawn from a discussion on the Inquisition (that is, a gross caricature of the real thing) in a combox for the Reformed Protestant Green Baggins website (starting at comment #218). The words of John Bugay: now a regular contributor at the notoriously anti-Catholic and perpetually fact-challenged Boors All blog, will be in blue. *** The same famous Oxford reference […]

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“Working Out” Salvation & Protestant Soteriology (vs. Ken Temple)

Philippians 2:12b-13 (RSV) . . . work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. My original (non-satirical) comment about the passage in the other paper was: “If someone says that God is mentioned in the second part, the Calvinist […]

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Martin Luther’s Belief in the Perpetual Virginity of Mary

+ Reformed Apologist James Swan’s Belittling Contempt of Luther 1) From: That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew [1523] from Luther’s Works [“LW”]: Vol. 45, pp. 199, 205-206; translated by Walther I. Brandt: A new lie about me is being circulated. I am supposed to have preached and written that Mary, the mother of God, was not a […]

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Lucia in the Dark

Every year after the clocks fall back, I read Lia Purpura’s essay “Sugar Eggs: A Reverie” from her collection On Looking. In the essay, Purpura is concerned with the space created when one looks into another world: the panorama built inside a sugar egg, a snow globe, a “horse’s scummy water trough,” cells massing to […]

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Dialogue on Tradition: Good or Bad, How Much?, Etc.

Kim Bishop is a member of the Charismatic Episcopal Church. We have been friends online for many years , and recently engaged in the following (public) dialogue on my Facebook page. I think it brings into focus many basic Catholic-Protestant differences in outlook. Her words will be in blue. *** I have a question for […]

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Christmas Trees: Where & When Did They Originate?

Catholic Encyclopedia (“Christmas”, 1908, C. C. Martindale): [T]he tradition that trees and flowers blossomed on this night is first quoted from an Arab geographer of the tenth century, and extended to England. In a thirteenth-century French epic, candles are seen on the flowering tree. . . . the Christmas tree [was] first definitely mentioned in 1605 at Strasburg, and introduced into France and England in 1840 only, by Princess Helena of Mecklenburg and the Prince Consort respectively. “History of […]

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Arts & Faith Top 25 Films on Waking Up, Part 2

There are, arguably, many ways in which we need to wake up, hence the need for the variety of stories in this list. Some of these films (Something, Anything; Marty; Punch-Drunk Love) involve meek people waking up from lives dominated by peer pressure and social expectations from their friends or family. Other selections on the […]

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Reply to Pastor Steve Schlissel’s Reflections on “Romanism”

This is my response to Steve Schlissel‘s article: “What Thinkest Thou?” (no longer online).  I initially replied: Pastor Schlissel might do even better in his ecumenical maturation process if he would drop the antiquated and baggage-laden terms “Romanism” and “Romanists” (much beloved of anti-Catholics; all we need is “Romish” too) Even James White can agree to that […]

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December 25th Birth of Jesus?: Interesting Considerations

Fr. William Saunders, in one of his consistently excellent articles for The Arlington Catholic Herald (12-19-13), wrote: St. Luke related the announcement of the birth of St. John the Baptist to his elderly parents, St. Zechariah and St. Elizabeth. St. Zechariah was a priest of the class of Abijah (Lk 1:5), the eighth class of […]

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Arts & Faith Top 25 Films on Waking Up, Part 1

“My father says almost the whole world’s asleep. Everybody you know, everybody you see, everybody you talk to. He says only a few people are awake. And they live in a state of constant total amazement.” —Patricia, from Joe Versus the Volcano It seems that we now live in an increasingly polarized, disenchanted, fragmented, and […]

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Is Facebook Beyond All Hope As Regards Dialogue?

(6-2-14) ***   I totally agree that there are very serious problems in the blogosphere, and particularly, these days, on Facebook, which is just about as bad now as the old Internet discussion boards, that I left for good in October 2003 (and explained why at the time). In 2003, Internet discussion boards were all […]

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G. K. Chesterton and Charles Dickens on Christmas

(12-14-06) *** G. K. Chesterton    On Christmas and its Modern Detractors * If ever a faith is firmly grounded again, it will be at least interesting to notice those few things that have bridged the gulf, that stood firm when faith was lost, and were still standing when it was found again. Of these really […]

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Sinless Mary: Dialogue w Old Testament Professor

(12-8-14) *** Jonathan Huddleston (see Facebook / resume) is an ordained Church of Christ minister, and has been assistant professor of Old Testament at Abilene Christian University. He obtained his doctorate in Hebrew Bible / Old Testament from Duke University and he speaks biblical Hebrew, koine Greek, Ugaritic, Aramaic, German, French, and Swahili. That’s extremely impressive. […]

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Immaculate Conception of Mary and Protestantism

(12-7-06; final two paragraphs added on 12-8-17) *** Many of our esteemed Protestant brethren have a big problem with Catholic beliefs concerning the Blessed Virgin Mary. Catholic convert Kimberly Hahn once gave a great talk (one of my own favorites) about her own past struggles, entitled, “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary.” Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception is one […]

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Poetry Friday: “Self Portrait as a Lighthouse”

Thomas Merton wrote, “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” I feel like this sentiment is especially potent when the literary and visual arts intermingle. Elizabeth Spires employs aspects of ekphrastic poetry as well as persona poetry in order to both lose and find herself in this imaginative poem. Inspired, […]

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Treatise on Transubstantiation in Reply to Protestants

(2-4-05; abridged and very slightly edited / added to otherwise, on 12-7-17) *** This is drawn from what was originally a very extensive dialogue with a friendly and learned Reformed Protestant, Alastair Roberts. At first, he himself asked me to respond to a series that he wrote on the topic. I was happy to oblige. […]

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What Child Is This?

My wife is holding my hand to her stomach, gently gliding my fingers just beneath her ribcage where two small feet have been kicking against skin. She is thirty-two weeks pregnant with our third child, due in early December, an Advent baby. Sitting on our bed, she guides my hand as if across a globe, […]

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Romans 13:4 & Capital Punishment (Contra Ed Feser)

See the previous related papers: Capital Punishment: I’ve Changed My Mind Genesis 9:6 & Capital Punishment (Contra Ed Feser) *** [Dr. Edward Feser’s words will be in blue] *** Romans 13:1-4 (RSV) Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted […]

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Genesis 9:6 & Capital Punishment (Contra Ed Feser)

Preliminaries and Whether Genesis 9:6 is Proverbial Literature My post, “Capital Punishment: I’ve Changed My Mind” (12-5-17) has generated vigorous discussion on Facebook and in its own combox. Dr. Feser showed up in the latter, last night. We had a very minor dispute about how many (and which) links of his I provided in my […]

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Lady Bird Ascending: Part 2

Lady Bird finds its rhythm by the quick wit of its characters’ banter and succeeds especially because of its excellent performances. Director Greta Gerwig adds to characterization as she frames and arranges their relationships. Lady Bird and her mother have a memorable argument at the thrift store, and it’s as if they are nearly submerged […]

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Lady Bird Ascending: Part 1

I graduated from Bellefonte Area High School in 2004. During my senior year, I indulged my role as a star basketball player, taking in all of the attention that came with it. I was careful, though, to reject the label of jock because I didn’t want to be perceived that way. I noticed the eyes […]

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Indiscriminate Nuclear Destruction: Condemned by the Magisterium

(1-23-06) ***** Every act of war directed to the indiscriminate destruction of whole cities or vast areas with their inhabitants is a crime against God and man. This citation appears in the CCC #2314, which in turn is citing Vatican II, Gaudium et spes: 80:3. The remark in that document was preceded by the following statement: . . […]

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Capital Punishment: I’ve Changed My Mind

My position for as long as I can remember has been against the death penalty, except in the case of mass murderers and terrorists. I was more generally in favor of it in the past (not sure how long ago that was). Thus, in more recent years I have been basically opposed to it, with […]

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Advent Lights

The highways that snake down and around rural Iowa are dark. Enough that, if you are driving at the right time of night, and there isn’t a lot of traffic, you can catch moments of brilliance in the sky. Stars forever. An impossibly deep night. The opportunity to take a breath. My wife and kids […]

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Catholic “Three-Legged Stool”: Scripture, Tradition, & Church

Dialogue with an Anglican on the Catholic Rule of Faith (vs. Jon Jacobson) (10-31-02) [Jon’s words will be in blue] *** I do think Scripture is largely clear PROVIDED people are willing to follow it wherever it leads. Sounds like you have evolved from a believer in the perspicuity of Scripture to a believer in the […]

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The Freedom of the Catholic Biblical Exegete / Interpreter

+ Bible Passages that the Church has Definitively Interpreted [I wrote 44 apologetics inserts one-page articles for this: my best-selling book. They are available separately on my e-booksite, for $2.99] *** (9-14-03) *** Contrary to the bogus claims of some anti-Catholic Protestant polemicists I have run across, Catholics are not at all obliged to read the […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2017/12/freedom-catholic-biblical-exegete.html

1 Corinthians 4:6: Is it a Prooftext for Sola Scriptura?

[Book and purchase information] *** (5-7-13; expanded on 12-1-17) *** [This analysis was part of my discontinued book, 501 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura and didn’t make it into the revised, much more compact 100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura (Catholic Answers, 2012). I had also dealt with it in A Biblical Defense of Catholicism (Sophia Institute Press, 2003), […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2017/12/1-corinthians-46-prooftext-sola-scriptura.html

Bibles & Catholics, Sunday School?, Memorization, Etc.

[Book and purchase information] (9-25-08) *** These thoughts of mine come from a (requested) critique I did today of a zealous friend’s proposals for Catholic Bible Study and “Sunday School” sorts of methods, that he would like to present to bishops for consideration. I disagreed in some emphases and presuppositions, though I agreed overall, in […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2017/12/bibles-catholics-sunday-school-memorization-etc.html

Poetry Friday: “Scale”

As I read and re-read this poem, I enjoy noticing exactly when I’ve realize that it’s about the speaker’s pregnancy. If I know that “linea nigra” in the second verse is the dark line that appears on a pregnant belly from belly button downwards, then I’ve already caught on. If I don’t know this, I […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2017/12/poetry-friday-scale/