The last few years have seen a shelf load of worthy books de-bunking what is called the New Atheism. I’m sure it is a mighty good thing to explain and expound the five proofs of God’s existence, but it seems to miss the point. I’d rather present the reality of God’s work in the world and [...]
Saved from Sacrifice: A Theology of the Cross by S. Mark Heim is a fascinating exposition of the thought of Rene Girard to the theology of the atonement or "what really happened when Jesus died on the cross. I'm reading it as part of my research for a book I am working on called The Sacred Sacrifice which will [...]
During the twenty years it took me to convert from a Bob Jones University student to a Catholic I considered many of the Marian dogmas to be pious opinions. It was okay for Catholics to believe them, but why did they have to go and make them dogmas and therefore make it more difficult for me [...]
Confused? Don't be The sudden death of Tony Palmer--the friend of Pope Francis--has raised the question whether he could be saved even though he never converted to the Catholic faith. Some Catholics would shake their head sadly and quote the famous phrase, Extra Ecclesiam nulls salus- Outside the Church, No Salvation. Does this mean that everyone [...]
I get an increasing number of requests to assist Protestants who are interested in the Catholic Church. One came in today in which a Presbyterian has come to believe in the Apostolic Succession but wonders if that necessarily means he must become Catholic. In the creed we profess the four marks of the Church: that she [...]
Some time ago I read a blog post identifying the degradation of American Christianity into what was termed Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. It's given me much pause for thought and the analysis seems to me to be spot on. Today's post is a further speculation on this analysis with a long contribution from a regular reader to [...]
The Cowper Madonna by Raphael "To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant" wrote Bl. John Henry Newman. As part of my research for a book on married priests I am reading Christian Cochini's tome Apostolic Origins of Priestly Celibacy. It's a masterful piece of scholarship which examines the early church's views [...]
When I resigned from my position as an Anglican priest one of the ladies in the parish was very upset. She couldn't figure out the point of my decision. "Surely!" she cried, "All that really matters is how much we love Jesus?" This is the response from many non-Catholics when faced with the doctrinal claims of [...]
St James Here is my latest article for Catholic Exchange. It's unlocks an interesting detail about St James and the dating of the New Testament. Bible scholars piece together details of evidence to build up a full picture of the New Testament authorship and dates. Their work is like that of a detective—picking up a [...]
After meeting with a group of Pentecostal Evangelicals Pope Francis reportedly wants to preach in a Protestant church in Rome. This article reports on the meeting held in Rome with Pope Francis and TV Evangelist Kenneth Copeland and other Evangelical leaders including theologian Brian Stiller and Anglican bishop Tony Palmer. The Pope wants to go to [...]