Category · 39 posts
Theology
- Catholic ConfirmationFebruary 13, 2026
For the following explanation of Catholic Confirmation, we can give thanks to Magisterium.com, ChatGPT, the Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and our priest who recently led a Man’s Prayer Group discussion of the subject. This is a summary statement from Magisterium.com: “Confirmation is an indispensable sacrament of initiation, bishop-administered, Apostolically transmitted (by the…
- Truth and LoveOctober 31, 2025
It is unfortunate that the 21st Century meanings of truth and love do not do justice to the important ancient Greek and Hebrew words translated as truth and love in most English Bibles. Now we tend to talk easily of scientific truth, religious truth, and personal truth, giving the most weight to scientific truth but…
- 7 - More on Sola ScripturaAugust 15, 2025
The Protestant Reformation was a rebellion against some positions and practices of the 1500-year-old Christian Church which had been described as catholic or universal since the second century. The use of Roman Catholic Church as the official name became common after the Reformation. The Roman Catholic Church today, with about 1.4 billion members, still considers…
- 6 - Angels in the 21st Century?July 29, 2025
Angels have a prominent role in the bible with 130 mentions in the Old Testament and 178 in the New Testament. In the New Testament, they are most prominent in Matthew, Luke, Acts, Hebrews, and Revelation, 85% of the NT instances being in those five books. Only three angels are named in the Bible. Michael…
- 5 - Mary, Mother of GodJuly 27, 2025
The Catholic teachings of Mary’s Immaculate Conception, Perpetual Virginity, and Assumption into Heaven are certainly among the most mysterious to Protestant believers in Jesus. Granted these are not specifically stated in the Bible but even among the Reformers agreeing on Sola Scriptura, there were two positions. Some argued that unless something is specifically stated in…
- 4 - God?July 25, 2025
It is a common temptation to see God as a sort of superhuman, created in our image but perfected, no character flaws, no sin, and the ability to do perfectly all the things we fail to do or do imperfectly. He is sometimes seen as the kindly “Man Upstairs,” waiting to hear from us and…
- 3.5 - My Theological JourneyJuly 23, 2025
I grew up in the shadow of the East Tennessee Smoky Mountains. All my exposure to church was Southern Baptist. I remember my dad’s skepticism about local Episcopal and Presbyterian churches. They did not forbid alcohol consumption! Except for some delinquency during my college years, I have always been a church attender actively involved in…
- 3. Scripture, Tradition, and the MagisteriumJuly 23, 2025
The Catholic Church emphasizes Bible readings in its worship, hearing readings from the Old and New Testaments at Mass and usually hearing a homily about one of those readings. However, tradition and Church authority are also important. The pertinent words from the Nicene Creed are these: I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic…
- 2. Creation of the UniverseJuly 22, 2025
Today’s question to Magisterium AI: What does the Catholic Church teach about creation of the universe? Updated 2/25/2026. Magisterium response below in parentheses: The Catholic Church teaches that the one Triune God is the origin and sustainer of the universe, creating it freely out of nothing (ex nihilo) through His eternal Word (the Son) and…
- 1. Magisterium AIJuly 21, 2025
Artificial Intelligence is the hot news item this year. It is at least a super-fast search engine able to summarize and analyze data. It is projected to save time and money and eliminate millions of jobs. The radical view is that it will eventually eliminate the need for humanity! An issue is that there are…
- BabelFebruary 25, 2025
The first eleven chapters of Genesis consist of important pre-historic oral traditions included in the Torah because of divine inspiration. They express the efforts of early humans to understand why things were the way they were, how they came to be, how they were to live. In the Bible, recorded human history begins in Genesis…
- Twelve Theological TruthsFebruary 6, 2025
There is one and only one God. (A radical idea at the time considering the multitude of gods typically worshipped in Biblical times. Exodus 20:1-8)…
- Bible Punch LinesOctober 11, 2024
Bible verses read without pertinent context may be misleading. Sometimes, important verses are at the end of a passage and might be surprising, like a punch to the nose, not making us laugh like a punch line to a joke, but hitting us with simple statements of theological truth! Consider these two verses:…
- Three Christian EvangelistsSeptember 8, 2024
Fulton John Sheen (1895-1979) was a renowned theologian and Catholic Bishop who became famous through radio and television exposure from 1930 to 1968. Life is Worth Living was on television in the 1950’s, and The Fulton Sheen Program in the 1960’s. Bishop Sheen taught theology, emphasizing the common ground all Christian faiths share. His programs…
- For or Against, Us or JesusSeptember 1, 2024
The accusation, “You are either with us or against us!” has been used for centuries to divide and conquer, to build commitment, to arouse emotion, to win elections, etc. Republican President George W. Bush and Democrat Senator of New York Hilary Clinton both used it in September 2001 to encourage the support of other nations…
- From Chaos to the ChurchJune 18, 2023
In January of this year an email from The Great Courses offering big discounts caught my eye. One course offered for only $25, Foundations of Western Civilization, inspired me. History of Western Civilization had been my toughest course as a Vanderbilt freshmen in the fall of 1960, and, while the title was…
- Miracles?May 16, 2023
That quote is eight lines out of a 55 line paragraph in Chesterton’s book. Apparently Mr. Chesterton was never at a loss for words. Well, what’s my point? For about three months, I have been choosing a few lines meaningful to me from Chesterton’s book and copying them into…
- The Same as if it WereDecember 22, 2016
It was the fall of 1990, and I was in a new member class led by Pastor Saresky at Faith Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod) in Penfield, NY. He was discussing Communion, The Lord’s Supper, Eucharist, the celebration of that Last Supper Jesus celebrated in the Upper Room with his closest followers and commanded that they…
- "Believing," "Believing That," and "Believing In"September 25, 2015
Matthew 24:23 – Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look! Here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There he is!’– do not believe it.
- Jesus and the First Person SingularDecember 16, 2014
In a Sunday morning class, we were watching a Fr. Robert Barron video in which he talked about the modern tendency to trivialize Jesus as a very smart and very nice guy with a good philosophy of life and lots of interesting stories. The fact is, he said, that Jesus was an unusual and disturbing…
- Jesus...in ContextApril 3, 2014
In the last few weeks I have read “Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters,” by theologian and scholar N. T. Wright, “Killing Jesus” by Commentator Bill O’Reilly and historian Martin Dugard, and a short reflection on the tenth day of Lent, “Why Was the Cross…
- Catechism of the Catholic ChurchSeptember 16, 2013
I first read this 688 page document, paying particular attention to the scripture references, while I was a student at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary eight or ten years ago. It is great educational and devotional reading for any Christian, Catholic or not, if taken in fifteen or twenty page bite size pieces at a time.
- In One Thing OnlyJuly 8, 2013
Listening to yesterday’s Gospel reading from Luke 10 about Jesus sending the Seventy out and instructing them to “rejoice in one thing only,” I was reminded that it was the text for the one and only prepared sermon I ever delivered. Near the end of my three years of Lutheran seminary, I took Professor Tom…
- Christian Existence: Human Reality and Divine MysteryJanuary 26, 2013
Below is a short paper I wrote in May, 2002, to fulfill a requirement for a Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary course, Introduction to Theology. The professor was Dr. David Yeago, prominent Lutheran theologian, who was always challenging us to do a better job of “unpacking” the texts we were studying or quoting and who must…
- The (Holy) Bible and (Christian) TheologyOctober 14, 2012
Listening to the Gospel reading this morning from Mark 10 about the young man who went away sad after Jesus told him to sell everything he had and give to the poor inspired some reflection on the difficulties we have understanding scripture and formulating a cohesive theology from it. A couple of things I learned…
- Church Labels and Modifiers: Liberal, Conservative, Etc.July 16, 2012
A Ross Douthat column in the July 14, 2012, NYT is titled, “Can Liberal Christianity Be Saved?” It includes interesting data on trends in membership of the Episcopal Church and how those trends may be related to shifting positions on theological and social issues. The bottom line is that, while there is no proof of…
- Love Means Having To Say I Am SorryMay 16, 2012
As a recent Catholic convert, I’ve been thinking a lot about confession lately. It has been almost a year since being confirmed at St. Peter’s in Columbia, SC, and Catholic faithful “go to confession” at least once per year. I did it just prior to the confirmation, dumping on the priest a bunch of shameful…
- A Holy Week MeditationApril 1, 2012
134 All sacred Scripture is but one book, and this one book is Christ, “because all divine Scripture speaks of Christ, and all divine Scripture is fulfilled in Christ” – The Catholic Catechism The diagram below started with one I published earlier, Chaos to Church. I had some feedback and suggestions on that one, and…
- Chaos to ChurchMarch 12, 2012
Below is an early version of a diagram which I developed a few years back after first hearing the term “henotheism” in a theology course at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary and after some discussion of ecclesiology at that same institution. Who else but me is going to try to express in a simple diagram on…
- Luther, Good Works, and Favorite Bible VersesFebruary 21, 2012
In discussions among Christians it is common to be asked to share one’s favorite Bible verse. I don’t have a favorite movie, song, vacation spot, color, city, grandchild, or Bible verse. Except in the case of my one and only and therefore favorite wife, I just don’t think in terms of favorites but rather in…
- Heresy!July 3, 2011
An interesting way to view the history of The Church is through consideration of the struggle that has gone on through the centuries to understand and explain the unexplainable. From a Catholic viewpoint, possible explanations that were rejected by the church carry the label, “heresy,” meaning that while we have no full and complete and…
- Confirmed!June 12, 2011
April 15, 1951, I was baptized into the Christian faith at First Baptist Church, Maryville, TN. Today, Pentecost, June 12, 2011, I received the Sacrament of Confirmation at St. Peter’s Catholic Church, Columbia, SC. Thank you, Jesus, for this special manifestation of the gift of The Holy Spirit. CHAPTER ONE THE SACRAMENTS OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION…
- Theology of Salvation - Not an Easy SubjectJanuary 22, 2011
I have been reading, for the second time, The Catechism of the Catholic Church and am now in Part Three – Life in Christ. The reading reminded me of one of the most challenging courses I took during three years at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Theology of Salvation, taught by Professor David Yeago. That was…
- Virtues and VicesOctober 29, 2010
A few times I have used the Boy Scout Law, (“A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.”) as a good list of desirable traits for one to develop. Somewhere this week I saw something about a list of virtues, Googled that, and found that The Catholic…
- Scripture Alone?October 24, 2010
A pillar of Protestant theology is Sola Scriptura which means that “Scripture alone is authoritative for the faith and practice of the Christian.” That quote comes from this web site which seems to present a balanced view of the subject and some of the controversy surrounding it. With a unifying common principle such as Sola…
- Not To WorryDecember 24, 2009
In the volunteer work I do with Home Works of America, we involve teens and adults in the repair of homes for low-income elderly homeowners. We close our repair sessions in prayer with the home owner and the volunteers together. We call it a House Blessing, and part of it is the reading of the…
- Big MethodistsDecember 2, 2009
I like big Methodist churches. Little Methodist churches can still be a bit provincial and family or founder or “big giver” dominated or bound up in local traditions, but the big ones seem to be the humblest, most service oriented, most welcoming, and least argumentative of the better known Protestant groups still on record as…
- Discussion and Assessment of New Testament Theology by G. B. CairdNovember 21, 2009
This paper was written May, 2004, and was the last one I turned in before graduation from Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary. Part of a course on New Testament Theology, the paper is a “discussion and assessment” of a book with the same title by New Testament scholar G. B. Caird ($85!!!) and his student, L.
- Double Predestination - Doctrine of No ConsequenceNovember 12, 2009
Note: This is a paper I wrote April, 2002, for a course in Lutheran Confessions. It was a fun paper to write and not too heavy on footnotes, etc. Professor Mary Havens liked my use of alliteration. Double Predestination: Doctrine of No Consequence Introduction All Christians believe that it is God who has provided our…