“Dismantle the Papacy”? “Pope Francis” may be an ally in this effort.

I would see this as a positive, though incomplete, “development”. But they could not “dismantle” enough for my liking. And there is no papal repentance in this model. “The leaders of the “school of Bologna” have a very ambitious new project in the works: a history of the movement for Christian unity aimed at a …

Putting Peter Lombard Into Perspective

Moreso than Anselm, Peter Lombard (c. 1100-1160) was influential in defining the shape of subsequent discussions of the Doctrine of God: B. The High Scholastic Doctrine of God: Theologians of the Thirteenth Century Once scholastic theology has been arranged in a definitive form, such as Peter Lombard’s Sentences became for the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth …

The entire church is polluted by the papacy

Over the last several days, I’ve become enmeshed in several discussions, following my decision to re-post something that Stephen Wolfe first commented upon. The three blog posts that have spun off from this are, in chronological order: Historical Roman Catholicism is the cradle, enabler, and teacher of radical Islam today Roman crusading “fossilized Islam into …

The hermeneutic of the WCF vs the hermeneutic of Newman

Here is my look at a comment that is instructive because it seeks to show how “Roman Catholics and Protestants do the same thing”, but where really, they are doing something completely different. In seeking to compare the Roman Catholic doctrine of “the Church” with Reformed doctrines, Erick said: Just as the expansive explanation for …

The Historical Evils of Roman Catholicism

These things verify what Jesus said: “a tree is known by its fruit (Matthew 12:33)”. This is the fruit of Roman Catholicism in its full, rotten, smelly aroma of death.

The Papacy: Neither Biblical Nor Historical

This month and next, we’ll all be treated in the media to the spectacle of another conclave to select another pope. The media will fail to understand the genuine historical roots of the papacy lie neither in the Bible, nor in the history of the earliest church, but rather were an exercise if self-admiration of …

Sects and ‘the City’

James Swan writes, “Consider what Luther pointed out many years ago of the Roman church of his day”: There is no other place in the world where there are so many sects, schisms, and errors as in the papal church. For the papacy, because it builds the church upon a city and person, has become …

Not Called to Communion: Preliminary Thoughts

A writer who identifies himself as Protestant, who has come under the influence of those folks at the Called to Communion website said this to me: Why should I listen to you? [Whatever you say on a given theological subject], that is your opinion. If you say I should listen to scripture, that is saying “listen …

Looking at Ratzinger’s “Called to Communion”

I’ve accused Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) of being dishonest in his use of language and sources, and this is another example. I plan to do a more complete examination of Ratzinger’s defense of the papacy in his 1996 work “Called to Communion,” but I wanted to point out a particularly egregious example of …