Vincent of Lérins on Development of Doctrine

So I decided to nerd it up over the weekend and read A Commonitory by Vincent of Lérins in full, written circa 434.  In it, I came across a very interesting section on the development of doctrine. Below are a few excerpts from the chapter. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter XXIII – On Development in Religious Knowledge But …

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Pantheism! The horror…….

Recently I was walking with some family members down a river-walk in town.  One of these members is a Protestant/Fundamentalist and someone with whom I cannot talk about anything serious, especially anything that may challenge his preferred worldview.  But he's also the temperament that doesn't stop him from offering his own opinions off-the-cuff. Standing alongside …

“Abuse of Language – Abuse of Power” by Josef Pieper: A Book Review

Recently I read a tiny little book called “Abuse of Language – Abuse of Power” by Josef Pieper. Pieper starts by going all the way back to the ancient Greek philosopher Plato who really didn’t like the sophists; men who were “smooth talkers” and learned the art of winning an argument. The problem with the …

Purgatory: Why some likely find it difficult

This post stems from a comment discussion I had on an American Evangelical blog about Purgatory. Since I thought my response turned out well I decided to edit and expand it for a stand-alone blog post. Enjoy! ----------------------------------------------------- The doctrine of Purgatory is tough for most Protestants[1] to accept. I imagine it is partly due to …

On Shepherds, Lost Sheep, and Fashion Shows

So I’ve had mixed feelings about the Met Gala fashion show themed “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.”  For some Catholics it was a travesty and offensive.  For other Catholics it was seen as an opportunity. My initial inclination was one of contempt, but then I wondered if that was due to hold-over American …

Some thoughts on Blade Runner 2049 (Spoilers!)

Blade Runner 2049 has come and gone and most people are probably not thinking much about it.  After seeing it in theaters back in October I wrote up some thoughts but never got around to posting them, hoping for more developed thoughts that never came.  So here are those thoughts, undeveloped as they may be. …

How do we study the Bible? – Typology

Like most of these posts, this is a topic which I’m not qualified to write about. But like any good random blogger, I’ll write about it anyway and hopefully do it justice. All Christians recognize the Scriptures—the Bible—as sacred and authoritative. And yet there is widespread disagreement about its meaning. Why is this? I believe …

To the Wonder

Waking up this morning, a thought hit me.  What is one of the reasons the new atheists bring against believing in God?  Well, they say that science explains things.  The ancients saw the sun rise and believed “the gods” made it happen because they couldn’t explain it.  With modern science, we now know that the …

“Faith in Luther: Martin Luther and the Origin of Anthropocentric Religion” by Paul Hacker: A Review

  This book[1] is a re-publication of an older work by Paul Hacker originally published in 1970.  Hacker was in a unique position to write about Martin Luther.  A born-and-raised German Lutheran who spent an “intense immersion in and interrogation of Luther’s theology”[2], and coupled with an extensive study of the patristic theologians, Hacker left …

Christian Holidays are Pagan? The Chronological Snobbery of Christian Temporal Provincials

One thing I’ve never had much patience with are Christians who refuse to celebrate Christmas and Easter because these celebrations were simply co-opted pagan festivals.  These are fringe fundamentalists “reclaiming the gospel” by pontificating on how we should not celebrate those holidays.  I actually met one a couple weeks ago, which prompted this writing.  She …