In light of the election of a new Pope, I thought it timely to examine one of the more controversial and misunderstood aspects of Catholicism: the existence and role of the Pope. Specifically, I want to examine the evolution of papal authority and its impact on the Catholic Church throughout history. Why A Pope? A succinct answer for why Catholicism has a Pope is that God decreed the papacy. Two Bible verses can support the belief that God created the... Read more
What does it mean to be moral, and what is the role of the conscience in being a “good” person? These are some of the questions that moral theology addresses. In this paper, I will examine Catholic moral theology, the Catholic concept of the conscience, and the three pillars upon which morality rests. Moral Theology Moral theology is the branch of Catholic theology that focuses on the human response to divine revelation. More specifically, moral theology is concerned with human... Read more
“I contend we are both atheists; I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.” – Stephen F. Roberts. The above quote by writer Stephen Roberts is intended to imply that atheists and Christians have both rejected the thousands of gods recorded throughout history; only atheism adds the God of the Bible to the list of rejected gods. This is a... Read more
Reconciling The Biblical Canons To read the Bible correctly requires a certain amount of nuance. What do I mean by correctly? I mean that each book of the Bible has to be categorized appropriately. In turn, this entails that any examination of the text must consider the genre of the particular book, the historical context, who the author was, who the intended audience was, and the purpose of the text. Additional problems arise when one seeks to harmonize the Old... Read more
Most Catholics are very familiar with the phrase Kingdom of God. Indeed, I think that most Catholics are so accustomed to reading or hearing the phrase Kingdom of God that it has numbed our theological senses. Nevertheless, familiarity does not necessarily equate to understanding, and the term is vital to understanding much of the synoptic Gospels, if not the New Testament. In this paper, I will examine what the biblical authors, inspired by God, meant to convey when they spoke... Read more
Evil. Its existence has been a thorn in the side of theology and philosophy for thousands of years. The reality of a world beset by evil has provided atheism with its most influential and compelling arguments against theism. What if, however, evil could actually be evidence for the existence of the God of the Bible? A (Brief) Exploration Of Evil We live in a world afflicted by earthquakes, tornadoes, fires, and hurricanes. This is to say nothing of the effects... Read more
“The Lord bless you and keep you! The Lord let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace!” – Numbers 6:24-26 The inevitable and luminous mystery that always seemed so far away is now pressing upon me. As I am writing these words, my mother is dying. It is surreal even to write these words. The woman who brought me into this world is now leaving it. Indeed, she would leave this world on... Read more
“Everything is grace,” declared Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, and Thomas Aquinas observed that grace perfects human nature. These two statements provide the point of departure for this essay. This article will examine the relationship – if there is one – between nature and grace. Specifically, how does grace perfect nature, and what are the consequences if that grace is rejected? To examine this question, we must understand what is meant by nature and grace. Nature And Grace The term nature... Read more
The intellectual history of Catholic theology is vibrant and surprisingly varied. Arguably, the two most significant contributors to that rich and varied theology are Saints Augustine and Aquinas. To be certain, there is much that Augustine and Aquinas agree upon. However, there are points of variance, and in the essay, I want to examine one such area of disagreement: Christology. Perhaps disagreement is too strong a word. Maybe it is better to state that there are different areas of emphasis... Read more
Saint Athanasius famously claimed that the “Son of God became man so that we might become God” (See Alexandria, Saint Athanasius Patriarch, and Penelope Lawson. On the Incarnation. St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1998). This statement invokes the question of the relationship between God and human beings. It is a question that Trinitarian anthropology seeks to answer. Trinitarian Anthropology: A Definition Of Terms At first glance, the terms Trinitarian and anthropology appear to be incongruent. After all, Trinitarian refers to the nature... Read more
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