FL priests charged with embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from collection plate
January 22, 2009
Life: Imagine the Potential
January 21, 2009
(HT: Denny Burk)
‘My Top YouTube Videos of 2008′
January 1, 2009
Protestants should pay attention to Catholic policy on life
December 16, 2008
… says Gene Veith:
“We non-Catholics tend to not care about pronouncements from the Vatican, but this is one we could find useful. Interestingly, Roman Catholic ethics these days is based not on supernatural revelations from the papal authority but on reason and the natural law.”
Weekend Walkabout: December 13, 2008
December 13, 2008
26 posts from the week that escaped mention (almost!):
Alan Hirsch Responds to Kimball’s ‘Missional Misgivings’ - Out of Ur
Book Review: Sacramental Life - Trevin Wax
“Sacramental Life: Spiritual Formation Through the Book of Common Prayer … takes the reader through The Book of Common Prayer as a method of spiritual formation.”
Changing With the Times - Philip Schroeder
“You all probably know the truism: ‘Methodology changes, but the Message remains the same’ …”
Download Nine Advent Worship Goodies - TallSkinnyKiwi
Evangelicals Lose Ecumenical Friend in Catholic Theologian’s Death - Jeremy Weber
Futures for Anglicanism: aka Breaking Up is Hard to Do (But Sometimes Necessary) - Chris Dierkes
Going Old School, sort of - Launching A Radio Show - Doug Pagitt
Happy Birthday to ME! - Carla Rolfe
“If you’re a fellow 24 fan like me (or know of someone who is), this makes a great Christmas gift idea.”
I Need a Blogging Buddy and So Do You - John Saddington
The Jesus Project - Dan Wallace
“Reading between the lines, it seems that this group will offer up an even more radical fare than the Jesus Seminar did.”
Kate Gosselin of ‘Jon & Kate Plus 8′ Shares Her Favorite Christmas Traditions - Dena Ross
Little Drummer Boy - Jake Bouma
Muslim Lawyer: ‘Christmas is the pathway to hell’ - Cranmer
NRB head: Sex abuse scandal? It’s history. Really. - David Gibson
Obama’s Iranian observers - Erin Manning
“I was never very appreciative of the saber-rattling on the right over Iran; but the threat of a nuclear Iran is a serious one, not something to take lightly.”
Pumpkin Squares - Rebecca Stark
Q Conference Meetup & Discount - Kevin D. Hendricks
“This is not a bells and whistles hipster event with big names and games. It’s a strategic gathering of thinkers and doers who want to see change and bring change.”
Radiocarbon dating contradicts geological time scale, supports young earth - Daniel G, two or three
So long, Sola? - Nic Paton
Ten Differences Between the Reformation and Rome - Guy Davies (Reformation Theology)
The Uniqueness of Jesus’ Birth - Darrell Bock
Vanilla Holiday - Pseudo-Polymath
What?! (Rick Warren on Hannity & Colmes) - Dan Phillips
Xmas Has Pagan Roots ::: So What? - Theophilogue
“The music you listen to, the way your calendar and clock measures time, the names you use to refer to various planets in the universe, etc., all have ties to pagan religion.”
You Can’t Make This Stuff Up - Justin Wise
“You are looking at a picture of some Christians praying over the Bull outside of the New York Stock Exchange …”
Zimbabwe: Time for South African Government To Do Something - Mark Daniels
“The State of Catholic Bible Reading Today”
December 10, 2008
Pontifications blogger and author David Gibson has written an article for America: The National Catholic Weekly:
“For more than 40 years, the Rev. Roger V. Karban of the Diocese of Belleville has loved the Scriptures, studying them deeply, preaching on them weekly and teaching about them in popular Bible study groups. So galvanized was Father Karban by the Second Vatican Council’s encouragement of Scripture study that he even started assigning Bible readings as penances, a practice he continues to this day …”
Read the whole thing.
“More from the ‘Cesspool’ about Catholicism”
December 9, 2008
Richard Mouw, President of Fuller Seminary, responds to the bloggers at reformata.org, who have referred to the institution as “Fuller Theological Cesspool Seminary” because of his sympathetic stance regarding Roman Catholicism.
Mouw cites quotes from John Calvin and Charles Spurgeon, conceding that some that remain within the Catholic Church are redeemed.
“Father Z’s 20 tips for making a good confession”
November 26, 2008
Twenty items posted by Catholic priest John Zuhlsdorf at his blog:
“We should…
1) …examine our consciences regularly and thoroughly;
2) …wait our turn in line patiently;
3) …come at the time confessions are scheduled, not a few minutes before they are to end;
4) …speak distinctly but never so loudly that we might be overheard;
5) …state our sins clearly and briefly without rambling;
6) …confess all mortal sins in number and kind; …”
“How Can a Person Grow Spiritually in the Next Year?”
November 24, 2008
That question is answered by five church leaders who are (respectively) Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Baptist, Roman Catholic, and Methodist – at Michael Spencer’s blog.
This is a first in a series of posts with contributions from this group, whom Spencer has drolly termed “The Liturgical Gangstas.”
Two reviews of Beckwith’s Return to Rome (update)
November 21, 2008
Michael Haykin’s is here (he provides a link to a pdf):
“Beckwith further admits that his return to Rome ‘had as much to do with a yearning for a deeper spiritual life as it did with theological reasoning.’ … Why he couldn’t find such in Evangelicalism is a very important question that we who remain committed to Evangelical verities need to answer. On every hand, we see a shallowness in Evangelical life and piety that will not go away and needs to be addressed. Though, if the truth be told, nominal commitment in the Roman Church is equally problematic.”
Steve Hays’s critique is posted at Triablogue:
“Let’s now evaluate his case for Catholicism. The first thing I note is that he merely recycles the stock arguments for Catholicism, as if no Protestant had ever heard of these before, much less answered them. Likewise, he recycles the hackneyed objections to Protestantism, as if this would leave us speechless. It’s all rather childish.”
Francis Beckwith’s homepage.
For background on Beckwith’s exodus from evangelical Protestantism, see this list of articles at Christianity Today.
(Update 11/18) Beckwith has responded to Steve Hays … Hays has responded to Beckwith’s response (and the seasons they go round and round, and the painted ponies go up and down …)
(Update 11/21) Dr. Beckwith has posted a last reply to Steve Hays.
David Gibson on the Vatican’s recent ‘Synod of the Word’
November 17, 2008
Read the full WSJ article: “A New Counter-Reformation Starts at the Vatican.”
“For most of October, more than 200 Catholic bishops, along with sundry theologians and experts, met at the Vatican to figure out how to get Catholics to read the Bible — a project easily dismissed by Protestants and some Catholics as too ambitious and about 500 years too late. … But a funny thing happened on the way to modernity: The Catholic Church opened itself to the Word in a way it hadn’t done before. In the process, it fostered a balanced culture of biblical exegesis and devotion (at least among most scholars and clerics) that many in sola scriptura Protestantism might envy.”
Gibson, a Catholic, provides some historical background on the issue of Catholics and Scripture reading, and concludes that the event was a helpful step forward even though more could have been done to promote small-group Bible studies among Catholics.
“Popes Testify that Catholicism and Islam Worship the Same God”
November 14, 2008
A post by ‘TurretinFan’ at the Alpha & Omega Ministries blog:
“Occasionally, I point out that one of the biggest reasons to reject the doctrines of Rome, is that Vatican II dogmatically taught that God and Allah are the same: that Muslims worship the one true God. As well, Vatican II teaches the Jews worship the one true God. This doctrine is false. Those who reject the Son of God reject God, and both religious Jews and Muslims do reject the Son of God. I get a variety of reactions from those who are part of the Roman church when I point this out … “
Neuhaus sees heightened conflict between church and culture in years ahead
November 14, 2008
Richard John Neuhaus has posted an essay (The Coming Kulturkampf) at First Things: On the Square in which he asserts that Obama’s expansion of abortion rights will necessitate (and perhaps bring) resistance from both Catholics and Protestants:
“The Church is much more disposed toward conversion, providing moral guidance, and the transformation of culture. The Christ against culture model is never chosen, but sometimes there is no choice.”
Do you know your saints?
November 1, 2008
Some Catholic humor, courtesy of Fr. Z …
Signs of life
October 31, 2008
… from Team Pyro: Dan Phillips reflects on Luther’s ‘95 Theses,’ and shares why he thinks Rome is still wrong …
