Category Archives: Church Fathers

Apparitions, Church Fathers, Epistemology, Infallibility, Papal Infallibility, Sola Ecclesia, Tradition

One Billion Denominations

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“Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?” — Job 38:2

A typical accusation made of Protestants by Roman Catholics is that they are so divided. There are ostensibly at least 35,000 Protestant denominations, but only One Holy Roman Catholic Apostolic Church. Such a stark comparison is often sufficient for a wavering Protestant to capitulate in despair. Since his conversion to Roman Catholicism, the subject of our previous series, Mr. Joshua T. Charles, has shouted from the rooftops that the unified Roman religion with its Tradition and teaching Magisterium has finally set him free from the divisions and errors of Protestantism. Protestants constantly disagreed about everything, and at some point, he just could not stand it any more. Here is a small sampling of his Twitter criticism just from last month:

“I was protestant until I was 31. As such, the furthest I could get was different interpretations of the Bible. No one could say ‘thus saith the Lord’ as to which one was right. Good, educated people differed on every issue under the sun.” (June 4, 2023)

“I’m very, very, very glad I am no longer a protestant. Among all the interpretations, where is the true one? On so many issues that have been long settled in the Catholic Church, protestants continue to divide & fall into more errors, with no one capable of resolving the debate.” (June 10, 2023)

“[That’s] Why I am Catholic today. Interminable, unresolvable debates where the best any of us had was our best guess was unacceptable. I wanted to follow Jesus.” (June 13, 2023)

From this small sampling, which is indeed representative of Mr. Charles’ chronic indignation, we might suppose that the solution he had stumbled upon in Rome was a single authoritative source of clear teachings that removed all doubt, dispute and debate in the interpretation of the Bible, Tradition, the Magisterium. At last, no more error, guesswork, difference and revision, no more heresy, schism, contradiction and division! Nothing but smooth sailing! Continue reading One Billion Denominations →

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Church Fathers, Church History, Epistemology, Sola Ecclesia, Tradition

“Tens of Thousands of Pages,” Part 7

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“…of making many books there is no end…” — Ecclesiastes 12:12

We conclude this week with our response to Mr. Joshua T. Charles’ claim that he had found “profoundly [Roman] Catholic doctrine” in Ignatius of Antioch’s seven letters from 107 AD. Joshua claimed to have found “point by point” the tenets of Roman Catholicism in Ignatius’ letters to the churches at Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Rome, Philadelphia, Smyrna, and to bishop Polycarp. We have now covered all ten — the sacrifice of the Eucharist and the Real Presence of Christ in Part 2, the New Testament priesthood, Episcopal Succession and Episcopal Authority in Part 3, Roman Primacy in Part 4, Baptismal Regeneration and Losing Salvation in Part 5 and Heresy, Schism and “Big ‘C’ Catholicism” in Part 6. Mr. Charles never ceases to comment on the divisions and denominations that occur under the umbrella of Protestantism. He claims that he finally found stable relief for his tossed and wearied soul when he discovered the pacific seas and verdant pastures of an undivided Roman religion — free of all the contradictory interpretations, confusion, disagreements and lack of apostolic roots.

In our series thus far we have responded to the “ten points” of Roman Catholicism that he thought he had found in Ignatius, and today we shall briefly summarize our responses to them. But as we move forward, we shall also consider Mr. Charles’ utter lack of self-awareness in his triumphalistic analysis of a peaceful, undivided, unified Roman epistemology vis-a-vis the divisive, schismatic and hopelessly indefinite Protestant epistemology he abandoned. What he has done is abandon the Rock upon which Christ built His church, in order to embrace an epistemology of sand. In his perusal of “tens of thousands of pages” of the Early Church Fathers, he has not found ancient Roman Catholicism in their writings. Rather he has merely engaged in Roman Catholicism’s longstanding practice of shadow puppetry, casting medieval shadows upon an ancient patristic backdrop, obscuring rather than illuminating their original works. In truth, neither the early church, nor modern Rome, is any more free of divisions than what is observed within the “Protestant” tent. The difference is not between unity and division, but rather what the respective parties are divided about. Continue reading “Tens of Thousands of Pages,” Part 7 →

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Church Fathers, Church History, Papal Primacy, Roman Primacy

“Tens of Thousands of Pages,” Part 4

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“…of making many books there is no end…” — Ecclesiastes 12:12

As we continue in our analysis of the genuine works of Ignatius of Antioch (d. 107 AD), we focus this week on the Roman Catholic claim that Roman Primacy can be found in his letters. In this series we have been assessing the claims of Mr. Joshua T. Charles, a former Protestant who converted to Roman Catholicism because Ignatius of Antioch “red pilled” him into the truth. Mr. Charles, repeatedly claims to have read “tens of thousands of pages” of the Early Church Fathers, finding Roman Catholicism “absolutely everywhere.” He was particularly surprised to find “profoundly [Roman] Catholic doctrine” in Ignatius’ letters, “point by point,” which “was apparent in just seven short letters.”

Of the 10 points he listed, we have covered five so far — the sacrifice of the Eucharist, the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist in Part 2, and the New Testament priesthood, Episcopal Succession and Episcopal Authority in Part 3. As we demonstrated last week, because of Mr. Charles’ approach he finds more in Ignatius than Ignatius actually wrote, and indeed much more than even Mr. Charles bargained for. He claimed that Ignatius described a New Testament priesthood composed “primarily” of bishops based on Luke 10:16 — “He who hears you, hears me” — but we found that Mr. Charles had relied on the longer Greek recension of Ignatius’ letters, a recension the Catholic Encyclopedia denies to be authentic. Only the shorter recension is considered genuine, and those genuine letters do not apply Luke 10:16 to the Apostles. In fact, Luke 10:16 was spoken not to the Twelve but to the Seventy. Thus, anyone who claims to have found a succession of apostolic priests based on Luke 10:16 has completely misunderstood the verse, and anyone who claims to have found that construct in Ignatius is reading something he did not write. In fact, if we were to take Mr. Charles’ approach seriously, we would have found in the longer recension not only an unending line of priests that succeeded from the Seventy, but also an unending line of priests that succeeded from the Seven (Acts 6:1–8), since Ignatius is quite clear that he believed the Deacons had been “entrusted with the ministry of Jesus Christ” (to the Magnesians 6) and “the mysteries of Jesus Christ” (to the Trallians 2). And Jesus’ ministry is both priestly and prophetic.

This week we continue with the eighth point Mr. Charles found in Ignatius:

8. The Church of Rome has greater authority than other churches;

Continue reading “Tens of Thousands of Pages,” Part 4 →

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Church Fathers, Church History, Idolatry, Roman Primacy

“Tens of Thousands of Pages,” Part 3

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“…of making many books there is no end…” — Ecclesiastes 12:12

We continue this week with our analysis of the works of Ignatius of Antioch (d. 107 AD). We have been assessing the claims of a former Protestant who converted to Roman Catholicism because of the letters of Ignatius of Antioch. Ignatius, he claims, “red pilled” him into the Roman Catholic Church. Mr. Joshua T. Charles, former White House speech writer, former Protestant and now apologist, has read “tens of thousands of pages” of the Early Church Fathers and claims to have found Roman Catholicism “absolutely everywhere.” He was particularly surprised to find “profoundly [Roman] Catholic doctrine” in Ignatius’ letters, “point by point,” which “was apparent in just seven short letters.” As we showed last week, however, in his claims regarding the Sacrifice of the Eucharist and the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, Mr. Charles is reading those “thousands of pages” through a myopic medieval lens, leading to an interpretation that the native context does not bear out. To Ignatius, “the Eucharist” was the tithe offering for the widow, the orphan and the stranger (Smyrnæans, 6), and the ancient church indeed sacrificed the Eucharist as part of its weekly worship. But to them, the Eucharist was the offertory, a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving (Philippians 4:18; Hebrews 13:15-16), a sacrifice Protestants still offer today. Additionally, we showed that in Ignatius’ letter to the Smyrnæans, which Mr. Charles provided as evidence, all three uses of “Eucharist” were in reference to unconsecrated bread, and therefore cannot be references to the “real presence” of Christ. In sum, it is true that the ancient Church included an offertory in their weekly gatherings, but it is also true they did not believe Jesus was “really present” in the Eucharist and they did not believe they were sacrificing Him in the Lord’s Supper. What we continue to find as we evaluate Mr. Charles’ claims is that he tends to reject that which contradicts his preconceptions, and is naïvely receptive of data known to be spurious, redacted and fraudulent. Because of this, his reading of Ignatius is foreign to, and ignorant of, the native context of his letters.

 Of the ten “points” Mr. Charles identified from Ignatius, we covered two last week — the Sacrifice of the Eucharist and the Real Presence — and will address three more in this entry:

2. The New Testament ministerial priesthood;

6. Authority in the Church is exercised by bishops who are successors of the Apostles (apostolic succession);

7. Lay Christians must be under a successor of the Apostle’s authority, and cannot start their own independent congregations;

Continue reading “Tens of Thousands of Pages,” Part 3 →

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Church Fathers, Church History, Eucharistic Sacrifice

“Tens of Thousands of Pages,” Part 2

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“…of making many books there is no end…” — Ecclesiastes 12:12

We continue this week with our analysis of the works of Ignatius of Antioch (d. 107 AD). Last week, we assessed the methodology of a typical Roman Catholic apologist who claims to have been “red pilled” into the truth by his writings. Mr. Joshua T. Charles, former White House speech writer, former Protestant and now apologist, reminds his Twitter followers repeatedly that he has read “tens of thousands of pages” of the Early Church Fathers and was surprised to find Roman Catholicism “absolutely everywhere.” As we showed last week, however, Mr. Charles is either highly selective in his reading or highly selective in his use of data—either rejecting that which contradicts his preconceptions, or reinterpreting contrary data as if it supported his position, and in many cases naïvely receptive of data known to be spurious, redacted and fraudulent.

As we noted last week, Mr. Charles claimed that he was surprised to find “profoundly [Roman] Catholic doctrine” in Ignatius’ letters, “point by point.” Of the ten “points” he identified, we will address two today:

1. The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist;

3. Christian worship = the sacrifice of the Eucharist;

Continue reading “Tens of Thousands of Pages,” Part 2 →

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Church Fathers, Church History, Papal Primacy, Roman Primacy

“Tens of Thousands of Pages,” Part 1

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“…of making many books there is no end…” — Ecclesiastes 12:12

John Henry Newman, erstwhile Anglican, then Roman Catholic Apologist, Cardinal and finally “Saint,” famously claimed in 1845 that “To be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant.” Ever since, that empty rallying cry has served as a substitute for actual scholarship, as ignorant Roman Catholics, clergy and lay, claim without justification to be “deep in history.” And yet a simple examination of the evidence reveals just how shallow in history the Roman Catholic actually is.

Joshua T. Charles, former White House speech writer and self-described historian, believes that he, too, is now deep in history, and has converted to Roman Catholicism. In his words — and there are plenty of them — he has read “tens of thousands of pages” of the Early Church Fathers, and was surprised to discover Roman Catholicism “absolutely everywhere.”

Yet, upon inspection it is clear that while he may have looked at tens of thousands of pages, he did not read them all, and those he did read, he interpreted though a medieval Roman Catholic lens instead of in their native historical context. And still others, heavily redacted by the scholars, are made to appear Roman Catholic while obscuring their very “Protestant” underpinnings. This fact the scholars freely and often admit, though Mr. Charles appears to be ignorant of it. And thus, skimming the Early Church Fathers, interpreting them through a carefully crafted medieval lens, swallowing whole the grotesque redactions and intentional mistranslations, Mr. Charles thinks to have arrived at the Church Jesus Christ founded. Instead he has arrived at a tasteless and extravagant imitation of it. And that, says Mr. Charles, is the church to which we should all convert.

In this series we will explore just one claim from his manifold twitter files: that on “point after point” Ignatius of Antioch (107 AD) taught “profoundly [Roman] Catholic doctrine.” The claim is false, and Mr. Charles is not nearly so very “deep in history” as he imagines. But he is not alone. Cardinal Newman wasn’t very deep in history either.

Continue reading “Tens of Thousands of Pages,” Part 1 →

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Apparitions, Church Fathers, Idolatry, Mariolatry, Mary

The Mother of My Lord

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“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign…” — Isaiah 7:14

It has become fashionable of late to convert to Roman Catholicism, a phenomenon with which we interact occasionally in our podcast, The Diving Board. It is there that we examine, and then refute, the reasons the typical Protestant gives when deciding to convert. The problem of Mary is often the last stumbling block to fall, but when it does, the floodgates of hyperlatria open wide, and an embarrassing superfluity of worship is heaped upon her. After all, the Roman Catholic priest can “command God … and make Him come down to the altar” to be offered in the Sacrifice of the Mass, but has “no commands to give His holy Mother, who does as She pleases.” So taught the Apparition of Mary at La Laus, France in 1664. And on that basis, the apparitions were determined to be authentic. Not because “Mary” appeared as a humble handmaiden but because she had appeared as Virgin Most Powerful and Queen of the Universe, utterly free of any constraint to her will. Unlike her hapless “Son” who gets bossed around daily like a chump, nobody tells Mary what to do. That is why the Apparition of Mary at La Laus was considered authentic, and the curse of hyperlatria is the wretched misfortune that awaits the Protestant who stumbles into devotion to her.

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Church Fathers, Eucharistic adoration

The Great Write-in Write-out Campaign

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There is nothing in history that a little creative Roman editing can't fix.
There is nothing in the historical record that a little creative Roman editing can’t fix.

We concluded our last series on The Sacrifice Challenge with a few citations from Cyril of Jerusalem, so we thought it opportune to use him to demonstrate one of the ways Rome “finds” her doctrines in the Early Church. As we noted last week, Cyril’s Catechetical Lectures were part of a late-fourth century trend during which Rome’s novel Mass Sacrifice was invented. Catholic Answers used a few select quotes to prove Cyril’s belief in transubstantiation, but as we demonstrated, those quotes were truncated in order to isolate them from their context, and Cyril—even in the midst of his other errors—nevertheless maintained his conviction that the elements of the Lord’s Supper were only figuratively Christ’s body and blood, and remained so even after the consecration.
Continue reading The Great Write-in Write-out Campaign →

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Church Fathers, Church History, Marian Dogmas, Papal Infallibility, The Immaculate Conception

“A significant turning point…”

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The conception of Mary occurred 400 years before Rome even dreamed of its immaculacy.
Mary’s conception was understood by the Early Church to be no different than ours, until “a significant turning point” occurred toward the end of the 4th century.

Readers who have been following this blog are familiar with our position that Roman Catholicism as a religion originated in the latter part of the 4th century A.D. The religion of Rome is not of apostolic origin. As we explained in The Rise of Roman Catholicism, distinctively Roman Catholic dogma can be traced to the late 300s A.D., no earlier. In that article, we touched briefly on the late development of the immaculacy of Mary in the imagination of Rome. This week, we explore the magnitude of Rome’s historical revisionism in its attempt to prove the apostolicity of the dogma of her “Immaculate Conception.” Continue reading “A significant turning point…” →

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Baptismal Regeneration, Church Fathers

That He Might Purify the Water, part 6

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The Early Church did not teach Baptismal Regeneration.
The Early Church did not teach Baptismal Regeneration.

This week we conclude our series on Baptismal Regeneration in the Early Church. The purpose of this series has been to evaluate Called to Communion‘s attempts to find Baptismal Regeneration in the Early Church Fathers, and we have limited our discussion to a critique of their analysis. We encourage our readers to read the full text of Called to Communion‘s arguments at the link above. Each week in this series we have provided hyperlinks to the Church Fathers where we cite them, so that our readers may read them in their context. We have thus far covered Ignatius of Antioch, Barnabas of Alexandria, the Shepherd of Hermas, Justin Martyr, Theophilus of Antioch, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Origen, Cyprian of Carthage, Gregory Thaumaturgus and Pamphilus of Caesarea. Continue reading That He Might Purify the Water, part 6 →

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Baptismal Regeneration, Church Fathers

That He Might Purify the Water, part 5

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The Early Church did not teach Baptismal Regeneration.
The Early Church did not teach Baptismal Regeneration.

We are now in our fifth week of analyzing Called to Communion‘s efforts to find Baptismal Regeneration in the Early Church Fathers. Thus far, we have covered Ignatius of Antioch, Barnabas of Alexandria, the Shepherd of Hermas, Justin Martyr, Theophilus of Antioch, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Hippolytus and Origen. We have found in many cases that the Church Father saw the Word, the Holy Spirit, Christ, His Passion or the preaching ministry of the Church as the “laver” of washing, illumination, regeneration, repentance and knowledge, but Called to Communion simply interpreted “the laver” to be the Roman baptismal font, and  concluded that the Church Father supported Baptismal Regeneration. We have also seen in several cases that a Church Father was writing or speaking metaphorically about baptism, or in some cases he was talking about something entirely different from baptism, and Called to Communion simply separated the father from his context and placed him in the Baptismal Regeneration column. Continue reading That He Might Purify the Water, part 5 →

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Baptismal Regeneration, Church Fathers

That He Might Purify the Water, part 4

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Water
The Early Church did not teach Baptismal Regeneration.

We are now in our 4th week of evaluating Called to Communion‘s analysis of the Church Fathers on Baptismal Regeneration. We originally planned to limit this to a four-week series, but we will continue beyond four weeks due to the volume of material.

Thus far, we have seen Called to Communion read Baptismal Regeneration into Ignatius of Antioch and the Shepherd of Hermas, and we have seen them read regenerate baptism out of Barnabas of Alexandria, Justin Martyr, Theophilus of Antioch, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian.

To this litany of interpretive errors, Called to Communion adds its mishandling of both Hippolytus and Origen. The former refers to Christ’s Passion as “the laver of washing,” and the latter refers to the Holy Spirit as “the laver of regeneration.” True to form, Called to Communion can only see Baptismal Regeneration whenever the laver is mentioned by a Church Father. But context tells a different story. Continue reading That He Might Purify the Water, part 4 →

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Baptismal Regeneration, Church Fathers

That He Might Purify the Water, part 3

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The Early Church did not teach Baptismal Regeneration
The Early Church did not teach Baptismal Regeneration.

In Part 3 of this series, we continue where we left off last week with Called To Communion‘s efforts to find Baptismal Regeneration in the Early Church Fathers. In the first week, we covered Ignatius of Antioch, Barnabas of Alexandria, The Shepherd of Hermas, and Justin Martyr. Last week, we covered Theophilus of Antioch, and Irenaeus.

What we find as we proceed through the Patristic writers is that the Fathers often referred to Christ Himself, His Passion, His Word, His Gospel and the preaching ministry of the Church as the “laver of washing” or the “laver of regeneration.” Because the “laver of washing” under the Old Covenant was a basin of water placed “between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar” (Exodus 30:18), the Church Fathers saw it as a figure or a type of Christ Who would wash the nations by His Passion, His Word, His Gospel, etc…. Roman Catholics, on the other hand, see the Old Covenant basin of water as a figure or type of yet another basin of water—the Roman Baptismal font. Carrying the full weight of that assumption into their reading of the Fathers, Roman apologists then seek to prove that the Fathers taught Baptismal Regeneration. Continue reading That He Might Purify the Water, part 3 →

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Baptismal Regeneration, Church Fathers

That He Might Purify the Water, part 2

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The Early Church did not teach Baptismal Regeneration
The Early Church did not teach Baptismal Regeneration.

This week, we continue where we left off last week with Called To Communion‘s efforts to find Baptismal Regeneration in the Early Church Fathers. Last week, we covered Ignatius of Antioch, Barnabas of Alexandria, The Shepherd of Hermas, and Justin Martyr. In each case Called to Communion either interpolated its own beliefs into the Church Father, took the Church Father grossly out of context, or ignored the Church Father’s own statements which clarified his position. This week we cover Theophilus of Antioch, and Irenaeus, and we find that Called to Communion continues in the same pattern. Continue reading That He Might Purify the Water, part 2 →

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Baptismal Regeneration, Church Fathers

That He Might Purify the Water, Part 1

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Baptismal Regeneration was not taught by the early Church.
The Early Church did not teach Baptismal Regeneration.

Called to Communion is a Roman Catholic organization comprised of former Protestants. The desire of Called to Communion is “to effect reconciliation and reunion between Catholics and Protestants, particularly those of the Reformed tradition.” Of course, there can never be “reunion” unless there had first been a “union,” and Roman Catholicism as it is practiced today was never a part of the Church of Jesus Christ. As we have noted in The Rise of Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholicism was formed out of a great apostasy that took place in the late 4th century and many of its doctrines—its own apologists admit this—cannot be traced any earlier than that.  As we noted in When ‘Mary’ Got Busy, Eucharistic Adoration did not even arrive on the scene until the 11th century. Roman Catholicism simply is not as old as it claims to be, and is certainly not as old as the Church of Jesus Christ.

Continue reading That He Might Purify the Water, Part 1 →

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Church Fathers, Transubstantiation

Eating Ignatius

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Ignatius of Antioch was not a Eucharistic Devotee
Ignatius of Antioch was not the staunch defender of transubstantiation that Roman Catholicism makes him out to be.

One does not have to study the Roman Catholic doctrine of Transubstantiation very long before finding how important Ignatius of Antioch is to its defense. As a martyr of the late first, or early second century, he is alleged to be the first witness in the sub-apostolic era for Transubstantiation and the “real presence” of Christ in the Eucharist. Fr. John Hardon, in his The History of Eucharistic Adoration lists Ignatius first after the apostle Paul in defense of the doctrine: Continue reading Eating Ignatius →

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Apparitions, Ark of the Covenant, Church Fathers, Epistemology, Eschatology, Eucharistic adoration, Eucharistic Miracles, Justification, Justification by faith, Mariolatry, Saints, Tradition, Transubstantiation

One Kingdom Too Late

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Revelation 13
Roman Catholicism was 300 years too late to be “the stone that … became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth” (Daniel 2:35).

[This is the third installment of a three part series.]

When former Protestant, Taylor Marshall, wrote Eternal City, he sought to explain why Christianity is necessarily Roman. “The Church,” he wrote, “receives the Roman empire” from its previous custodians. But in concluding this, Marshall has mistakenly transposed two kingdoms—both of which Daniel addressed, and both of which Daniel set against the background of the rise and fall of four world empires. One kingdom is of earth and the other of heaven, and Marshall has unfortunately confused the two. Continue reading One Kingdom Too Late →

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Church Fathers, Eschatology

What the Fathers Feared Most

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St. Augustine
Augustine was worried that what was about to happen… was about to happen.

There is a tendency in some Christian circles to view all things eschatological through the lens of current events. This was epitomized in the late 1980s and early 1990s by a popular T-shirt that read, “If you want to understand the Book of Revelation, just read the headlines!” Every earthquake, every war, every powerful new politician was understood as evidence that the end times were now upon us. This method of interpretation is nothing new.

In some senses, we can say that Luther used this method to interpret Daniel and Revelation: Continue reading What the Fathers Feared Most →

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