tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-364060452011-12-26T07:49:10.611-05:00"The Reformers' <i>forensic</i> understanding of justification ... the idea of an <i>immediate</i> divine imputation [of righteousness] renders superfluous the entire Catholic system of the priestly mediation of grace by the Church." (Bruce McCormack, <i>What's at Stake in the Current Debates over Justification,</i> from Husbands and Treier's <i>Justification,</i> pg 82.)John Bugaynoreply@blogger.comBlogger661100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-48480229448044318042011-04-29T05:14:00.002-04:002011-04-29T05:15:46.125-04:00

Here are my first two posts:http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2011/04/oral-character-of-early-christian.htmlhttp://triablogue.blogspot.com/2011/04/motivations.htmlTake some time to visit over there.

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-10614565876803891312009-11-16T06:40:00.003-05:002010-11-27T03:32:27.859-05:00

My life is marked by a desire to understand. As a young man I read through the New Testament, and I was struck at how very different it was from the Roman Catholic religion that I had been raised to practice. Since that time, I've been intensely interested in understanding how things have gotten the way they are. Since May of 2010, I've been invited to be a team member at http://

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-64644369470501999332009-05-24T04:03:00.003-04:002009-05-24T04:04:54.562-04:00

Again, from James White: Why am I not a Roman Catholic? Because Roman Catholicism has a gospel that does not give peace, because it fundamentally violates the Scriptural teaching on how one is made right with God. Rome has a false gospel that cannot save, hence, I have no reason to abandon the peace I have with God through Christ's perfect atonement for the treadmill of Rome's sacramental system

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-6231540943096794272009-04-17T03:41:00.004-04:002009-04-17T03:44:05.828-04:00

I am tremendously moved by this man's faith in the context within which he lived:Luther then replied: Your Imperial Majesty and Your Lordships demand a simple answer. Here it is, plain and unvarnished. Unless I am convicted [convinced] of error by the testimony of Scripture or (since I put no trust in the unsupported authority of Pope or councils, since it is plain that they have often erred and

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-10027519587605603462009-04-12T17:47:00.004-04:002009-04-12T17:57:26.661-04:00

The following is from James White, "On Really Believing the Gospel". I am not a Roman Catholic because Roman Catholicism is a false religion. It is headed by an imposter, a man who claims to be something he is not. The Pope is not the Vicar of Christ, he is not the head of the Christian Church, he is not a "Holy Father," and I owe him no fealty, honor, nor respect in the religious sense. Roman

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-70080902588359829472009-03-29T06:27:00.000-04:002009-03-29T06:30:23.651-04:00

... the Catholic church is in steep decline in the west. Those who are drawn to it are not drawn to it because it makes sense: they are drawn to it because it offers them a context in which to get both authoritarian certainty and new age superstitious gratification regarding "mystery". It's the ultimate spiritual shell game.

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-18702509416530260772009-02-14T07:44:00.001-05:002009-02-14T07:45:49.688-05:00

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2009/01_02/2009_02_09_Dreher_HowMuch.htm

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-72869535294017249222009-01-02T03:44:00.004-05:002009-01-02T03:54:32.155-05:00

The Mac "Breakthrough" ad captures in a humorous way precisely "The Spirit of Catholicism" as personified by the many "apologies" that Pope John Paul II made during his pontificate. Here's how one Orthodox priest received those "apologies":"In any event, the Pope did not apologize on behalf of the Roman Church for anything, did he? Instead, he asked God to forgive some sons and daughters of the

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-11791955605912609142008-12-31T02:37:00.003-05:002008-12-31T03:05:11.616-05:00

In his commentary on Romans, Fitzmyer comments that Luther was not the first to invoke sola fide in his translation of Romans. Others used the term in a broader context as well. Below the atericks is what Fitzmyer states on pp. 360-361 of Romans, A New Translation with introduction and Commentary, The Anchor Bible Series (New York: Doubleday, 1993).********************************** At 3:28

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-5956369148807039522008-12-11T06:06:00.001-05:002008-12-11T06:08:33.317-05:00

Scott Clark has an excellent summary, here. Here are some of the salient points: The medieval Western (Roman) church was a tangle of internal tensions just waiting to burst apart. If we consider the magisterial, confessional Reformation on historical terms, there were, by 1530, two churches in the West: Protestant and Papist. By 1580, there was one significant division within confessional

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-78009275478231868852008-10-31T08:56:00.001-04:002008-10-31T08:58:26.911-04:00

Thanks to Jason Engwer:http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2008/10/november-1-1950.htmlhttp://triablogue.blogspot.com/2006/09/assumption-of-mary-in-earliest-sources.htmlhttp://triablogue.blogspot.com/2006/09/assumption-of-mary-in-later-sources.html

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-70912847469160392182008-10-26T15:24:00.005-04:002008-10-31T08:58:52.703-04:00

Jason Engwer, whom I've had the honor of associating over the last half dozen years, has done a tremendous amount of reading and writing on Reformation topics, which he has shared generously, first through his ministry with NTRMin.org, and now with Triablogue. Each year for Reformation Day (October 31), Jason has posted a selection that reminds us what a great and tremendous event the Reformation

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-55623208302352442772008-10-26T10:11:00.002-04:002008-10-26T10:12:59.912-04:00

At the Heidelblog.

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-91712019030228705642008-10-26T05:10:00.000-04:002008-10-26T05:11:33.536-04:00

Here.

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-33639002937531978872008-10-25T20:18:00.002-04:002008-10-26T05:12:38.384-04:00

James White on Honorius and Development.

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-61370841617456906022008-10-25T17:36:00.002-04:002008-10-25T17:39:36.875-04:00

Found here: My own reasons for not becoming Roman Catholic have not changed. It was precisely the problem of doctrinal development that I found unsatisfactory. I believe that J. B. Mozley's The Theory of Development provides the decisive critique of [John Henry] Newman on development of doctrine. Mozley argues that Newman commits a logical fallacy of amphibole by not distinguishing between two

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-40350396683482577802008-10-08T04:23:00.003-04:002008-10-08T04:31:00.207-04:00

I said: The way I have put it in the past is, "at first, everyone just wanted to high-tail it out of Rome. That was the first mission. Once they got going, they found out they were going in different directions." I really think that is a good way of putting it. The response came back: To begin with, it's not so much the Reformation that enabled such things. Rather, when the Church of Rome lost

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-18296188011454853862008-10-05T01:28:00.009-04:002008-10-07T06:29:29.580-04:00

Silvestro Mazzolini, usually named Sylvester Prierias, was a member of the Roman Commission entrusted with introducing canonical proceedings against Luther in the spring of 1518. He composed the Dialogus as an expert opinion for the commission in the spring of 1518, and may have submitted it [to whom?] as early as April or May 1518. On August 7, 1518, Luther received the Dialogus together with

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-42984560317206039422008-10-03T12:56:00.003-04:002008-10-03T12:59:35.853-04:00

Turretinfan (I know I didn't spell that the way he spells it) posted a very fine piece about the need for "the active obedience of Christ." The proverbial "Good Samaritan" may feel warm and fuzzy after helping out his neighbour, but even the Good Samaritan is simply doing that which God commands. Thus, even the best mere man who most perfectly loves God and his neighbor can only hope to have a

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-1288740117489572442008-10-02T10:20:00.001-04:002008-10-02T10:24:32.513-04:00

I wanted to second a thought provided by James Swan. There is also the problem of Catholic apologetic double standards. The Catholic apologists assume Trent was following the tradition of the church, and there was no teaching of "faith alone" previous to Luther. In other words, Luther invented "justification by faith alone." It didn't exist until Luther. It can't be verified in church history. It

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-14362282462281529792008-09-15T04:10:00.001-04:002008-09-15T04:32:20.917-04:00

HereIt's important to note that the "Solas" were not doctrines in and of themselves, but they became ways of summarizing these key Reformation doctrines.

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-39687903714674345662008-08-24T10:17:00.001-04:002008-08-24T10:27:40.231-04:00

Oxford Journals The Journal of Theological Studies 2005 56(2):655-658; doi:10.1093/jts/fli169 From Paul to Valentinus: Christians at Rome in the First Two Centuries. By PETER LAMPE. Pp. xviii + 525. London: T. & T. Clark (a Continuum imprint), 2003. ISBN 0 567 080501. N.p AT last the long-awaited English translation of the second edition of Die stadtrömischen Christen in den ersten beiden

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-15657255607350039982008-08-09T02:27:00.003-04:002008-08-09T02:47:00.553-04:00

There is a new article up at the Reformation 21 site, "Steady As You Go," by Alistair Begg. It is his commencement address from May 2008, and his advice to these graduates is, "be prepared for the long haul." A couple of quotes, and a couple of comments (from within my self-imposed confinement of dealing with Roman Catholic issues here): In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-15584862909847471012008-08-07T07:58:00.004-04:002008-08-07T08:15:03.233-04:00

In the last few days, I have spent quite a bit of time, responding to a certain group of Catholic claims, beginning here in response to this , and following up here and here and in some of the more recent posts. I have also begun interacting with the initial Bryan Cross post here. I'm not sure how all that got started, I think someone saw the Robert Godfrey photo, (either Mike Brown or Jason

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-15738507954612246542008-07-02T09:33:00.002-04:002008-07-02T09:38:25.956-04:00

From Benjamin Warfield, "The Theology of the Reformation"What happened at the Reformation, by means of which the forces of life were set at work through the seething, struggling mass, was the revival of vital Christianity; and this is the vera causa of all that has come out of that great revolution, in all departments of life. Men, no doubt, had long been longing and seeking after "a return of

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-35024799019673463092008-04-13T06:18:00.003-04:002008-04-13T06:26:54.585-04:00

Here's an email that I sent to some of the bloggers whose blogs I link to:Gentlemen: On the occasion of Pope Benedict's trip to the US, here is a news story that shines the light on a fine example of a "head-in-the-sand" practice with regard to "church discipline":In 1990, Pope John Paul II issued Ex Corde Ecclesiae, an encyclical whose provisions included a requirement that theologians teaching

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-40942063513572754852008-03-21T05:05:00.003-04:002008-03-21T05:27:11.160-04:00

Who among us would settle for a doctor who really wasn’t a doctor, or a lawyer whose credentials were a sham? These types of individuals could do great harm to us. Yet the papacy grew into its own “authority” on the strength of a document that was a clear forgery. A doctor with a forged diploma would and should be prosecuted as a quack, but when a document foundational to the authority of the

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-29690328286280153062008-03-01T08:01:00.001-05:002008-03-01T08:03:07.896-05:00

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-16128709698310997252008-02-10T19:44:00.000-05:002008-02-10T20:26:55.327-05:00

This article by Dr. Robert Godfrey, President of Westminster Seminary, California, and Professor of Church History there, was published on the occasion of the death of Pope John Paul II and the election of Benedict XIV. It is a few years old, but it has an ongoing kind of relevance because what was "unexplored and unchallenged" at the time has remained publicly unexplored and unchallenged.Dr.

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-22731514702628789062008-02-09T03:26:00.000-05:002008-02-09T03:43:52.068-05:00

James White is running a video series on his blog, "Theology Matters". Theology matters in our lives, because our theology determines our attitudes about God, which in turn, shapes our behaviors. If we have a "right theology," we can understand our relationship with God, our place in the universe, and use that as a foundational basis for living our lives. If we have a "wrong theology," (and

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-17987318878470527372008-02-01T04:57:00.001-05:002008-12-31T05:07:29.247-05:00

Catholic theology teaches that Adam was in some kind of “state of grace” before the fall. This grace was some kind of “stuff” that God applied that made Adam really special. The notion of infused grace is part of a wider ontology that is applied to the original created state. Augustine had maintained that Adam was upheld in righteousness by an enabling grace that was added to an ontologically

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-68961212142902129742008-01-30T03:25:00.000-05:002008-01-30T03:27:11.818-05:00

Here.

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-41973477278027236542008-01-26T06:44:00.000-05:002008-01-26T08:50:06.213-05:00

This is one of the most aware and hopeful accounts of Reformation Theology that the reader will ever see. It is incredibly relevant to the current world of theology. Horton begins with the presupposition not only that “the Reformation tradition” contains a huge amount of “unexploited potential” for engaging this current world, but that this potential is found within the framework of Covenant

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-50817454465552354292008-01-17T07:56:00.000-05:002008-01-17T08:02:01.830-05:00

Catholic Bibles have 72 books as all good school children learned in my day. The Protestant Bibles have 66. Who's right? And who should we believe about who's right? Consider this short snippet (it's about 6 minutes long, with a little bit of audio, and mostly some pretty music):

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-75711893549886570742008-01-17T03:42:00.000-05:002008-01-17T03:46:43.870-05:00

"A Secular Faith: Why Christianity Favors the Separation of Church and State" by D.G. Hart -- a Review by R. Scott ClarkEvangelical involvement in politics has perhaps never been more intense. The Bush administration speaks of integrating faith and politics and has an office of faith-based initiatives. The national media cover the scandals of evangelical leaders because those evangelicals have

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-49846217315331777402008-01-13T19:45:00.000-05:002008-01-13T19:47:56.557-05:00

Triablogue: Theology at sea or, "How the Catholic Church's Foundations are Crumbling."

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-89513375092436429292008-01-13T18:57:00.000-05:002008-01-13T19:24:08.273-05:00

It turns out that even the Mafia is being "transformed" by the internet. PALERMO, Sicily (Jan. 13) - When it came down to business, Cosa Nostra could always count on fear. No more. In a rebellion shaking the Sicilian Mafia to its centuries-old roots, businesses are joining forces in refusing to submit to demands for protection money called "pizzo."And they're getting away with it, threatening to

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-21962853236381186572008-01-06T06:43:00.000-05:002008-01-06T07:01:23.487-05:00

As I read the history of the Reformation, little by little, it occurs to me that the ideas and ideals of the Reformation will be more relevant and more successful in our time than in the time when they were first espoused. Today's Protestant churches seem to be wandering in a lot of different directions. The Reformation will enable Protestants, by the mere discussion of its ideals, to be able to

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-34418457027396792042007-12-22T10:54:00.000-05:002007-12-22T11:04:13.379-05:00

In selecting the Reformation period as the focus of my effort, I am attracted by such summaries as this overview of what John Calvin and his associates were able to accomplish in the city of Geneva during the mid 1550’s. Remember that this was the time during which the Roman Catholic Church was instituting a period of great repression.* * * * * The following is taken from Robert Reymond’s “John

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-39335422226507952912007-12-15T12:28:00.000-05:002007-12-15T12:30:58.209-05:00

at OPC.org

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-33766664232316472882007-12-02T14:56:00.000-05:002007-12-02T15:07:35.632-05:00

In 1543 a little book was published in Venice with the title Trattato utilissimo del beneficio di Giesu Christo crocifisso i cristiani (A Most Useful Treatise on the Merits of Jesus Christ Crucified for Christians), written by an elusive Benedictine monk called Benedetto da Mantova (dates of birth and death unknown, but his surname seems to have been fontanino) with some help from the humanist

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-43283501385410815452007-10-31T13:56:00.000-04:002007-10-31T14:07:14.606-04:00

This is from "The Heidelblog," which is written by Dr. R. Scott Clark, Assoicate Pastor of Oceanside United Reformed Church in Carlsbad California, and Associate Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at Westminster Seminary in California.Reformation Day, as we know it, is misleading. It creates the impression that the Reformation was about "cleaning up" the church. It wasn't. There were

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-68552130135651711212007-10-30T19:33:00.000-04:002007-10-30T19:43:30.054-04:00

If anybody is paying attention, the title of this Blog, "Reformation 500", is intended to focus on the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, which will occur October 31, 2017. My thought is that it would be nice to be in Wittenberg on that date, along with a bunch of other people, remembering that great challenge to the entrenched powers of that day.Of course, it is not 500 years, but 490 years

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-14042594382599090552007-08-13T07:27:00.000-04:002007-08-13T07:44:34.276-04:00

In the comments to this post, an anonymous Catholic claimed that the early church fathers "are by and large Catholic," and that may be true in terms of some visible, external practices (i.e., "making the sign of the cross"), but in truth, the current Roman Catholic religion (doctrinally) is, in the words of one of the other posters there, "nowhere to be found." This is not a novel claim. In fact,

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-46702637061339594212007-07-21T15:12:00.000-04:002007-07-21T15:17:59.200-04:00

Referring to Psalm 8, Michael Horton says: It is theology that gives meaning to every activity of human existence.Because we rarely relate theology to life these days (which is to relate the vertical to the horizontal), we rarely are confronted with the psalmist's reflections. We are rarely captivated with a sense of smallness that turns into a sense of significance based on the calling that God

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-51929389222970850642007-07-14T07:01:00.001-04:002007-07-14T07:03:21.188-04:00

I am reading (off and on) Michael Horton’s “Where in the World is the Church”? (© 1995, 2002, Michael Horton, Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing), subtitled, “How to Be a Worldly Christian.” A basic theme for the book might be, “As Luther declared, “The devil is God’s devil,” so too Calvin argued that all satanic and demonic influences of evil are under the sovereign command of God and are held

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-12340053064185851722007-07-12T10:19:00.000-04:002007-07-12T10:22:34.593-04:00

From James White: Now, allow me to be perfectly clear. I reject everything the Pope says here as being true. I accept his authority to define these things for those who follow him. I simply reject that he is an authority for Christians, anywhere (including Rome). He is not the Holy Father (a term used by Jesus of God, the Father, alone), he is not the Vicar of Christ (a term describing the Holy

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-52837372568207931472007-06-27T07:23:00.000-04:002007-06-27T07:33:04.225-04:00

The International Monument to the Reformation (French: Monument international de la Réformation, German: Internationale Reformationsdenkmal), usually known as the Reformation Wall,[1] is a monument in Geneva, Switzerland. It honours many of the main individuals, events, and documents of the Protestant Reformation by depicting them in statues and bas-reliefs.The Wall is in the grounds of the

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-89202034313068322072007-06-27T05:08:00.000-04:002007-06-27T05:20:41.604-04:00

From Michael Horton, "Where in the World is the Church?" The sovereignty of God is not only an essential tenet of the Christian faith in particular (and theism in general), but it is also immensely practical for our confidence that God fights our battles for us; evil can never have the last word. At the Cross, we are told, our debt was not only canceled, but 'having disarmed the powers and

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-32884971422244766732007-06-26T07:30:00.000-04:002007-06-27T05:22:22.634-04:00

Here is a brief excerpt from "The Power of the Powerless", written in 1978, during the time when the grip of the Soviet Union seemed unbreakable: By breaking the rules of the game, he has disrupted the game as such. He has exposed it as a mere game. He has shattered the world of appearances, the fundamental pillar of the system. He has upset the power structure by tearing apart what holds it

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-15373451353623899842007-06-23T04:09:00.000-04:002007-06-23T08:52:22.328-04:00

 This is one of the best photos I've ever taken of my wife. It was March 2003, just before she went off to Iraq. This is one that I kept close by the whole time she was gone. She has returned, of course, she is out of the army now, and she is sleeping peacefully in the bed behind me as I write. In September she will begin the first year of her nursing program. Getting into that program

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-29303214263671392392007-03-19T08:32:00.000-04:002007-03-19T08:41:44.646-04:00

Steve Hays as posted a whopper of a response to Philip Blosser's long post on Sola Scriptura. (Blosser, currently Professor of Philosophy at Lenoir-Rhyne College, made an appearance in the comments box of this very blog, here.I was gratified to see that Hays cited extensively from Peter Lampe's book on the history of the church in ancient Rome, which I've also cited extensively. Lampe's work is a

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-65107172263220036162007-03-03T22:50:00.000-05:002007-06-16T18:05:51.139-04:00

...our plan of instruction now requires us to discuss the church, its government, orders, and power; then the sacraments; and lastly, the civil order. At the same time we are to call back godly readers from those corruptions which Satan, in the papacy, has polluted everything God had appointed for our salvation. John Calvin, "Institutes", 4.1.1.

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-60594413016216462932007-02-09T21:10:00.000-05:002007-02-07T08:49:05.988-05:00

1. We affirm that Evangelicals and Roman Catholics commonly confess the faith of the ecumenical creeds. We deny that this catholic consensus is sufficient for recognizing the Roman church as a true visible expression of Christ’s body.2. We affirm that the doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone is “the article by which the church stands

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-82803187556615192152007-02-07T07:37:00.000-05:002007-02-07T08:49:06.074-05:00

The photo that I show here is taken from my wedding day, June 1, 1987. My wife of nearly 20 years, who sees what I read, who knows what I brood about better than any human being alive, has asked me two pointed sets of questions. 1. On the occasion of the election and installation of Pope Benedict XVI, who was universally acclaimed as a brilliant theologian, she asked, "What do you know that he

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-29607428209138183712007-01-02T04:42:00.000-05:002007-01-02T04:57:50.962-05:00

Steve Hays has posted a very long response to a selection from the Robert Sungenis book "Not By Scripture Alone." I've posted a response to this, based on some of the things I've already posted here, regarding the backpedalling nature of the papacy. There is a much more detailed response to NBSA available in the Holy Scripture: The Ground and Pillar of Our Faith series by Rev. David King and

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-75275192673452280102006-12-29T03:47:00.000-05:002006-12-29T03:49:43.676-05:00

From Triablogue. Not comprehensive by any stretch, but very insightful.

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-66241821103063762062006-12-10T18:33:00.000-05:002006-12-10T18:43:03.443-05:00

[The Bible] insists on beginning with a Creator whose being is utterly different from the being of creation. Second, it argues that because of this he can be known by his creatures. While, of course, we can never know God exhaustively, yet we may know him truly, in his essence. Even unbelievers know God, though they try to suppress the knowledge of him (Rom 1:18-21). Paul reminds his Roman

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-63083403352472338012006-11-22T06:51:00.000-05:002006-11-22T07:48:54.091-05:00

The Catholic historian Klaus Schatz, in his work on papal primacy, affirms that Catholic and non-Catholic Scholars agree that: The further question whether there was any notion of an enduring office beyond Peter's lifetime, if posed in purely historical terms, should probably be answered in the negative. That is, if we ask whether the historical Jesus, in commissioning Peter, expected him to have

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-19983725338018672812006-11-20T05:38:00.002-05:002008-08-05T10:41:49.478-04:00

The following selection is from Peter Lampe, “From Paul to Valentinus” “Christians at Rome in the First Two Centuries”. Lampe is a professor of New Testament Theology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany.Lampe describes this work as, “a city-oriented historical study”. He uses a variety of material to give a historical picture of Christianity in the city of Rome during the first two centuries

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-4942297683998216212006-11-12T07:58:00.000-05:002006-11-12T08:18:16.691-05:00

What I've said just below should not be taken to mean that I think Roman Catholicism is totally bad. There are many good aspects, both historically, and today.Just as a small personal example, I used to love to go and sit in an empty Catholic church and pray. The sense of worshipfulness was quite striking. Very much in Catholicism lends itself well to personal devotion.Historically, the Catholic

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-1161855777757595302006-10-26T05:33:00.000-04:002006-11-12T07:54:03.318-05:00

My main idea for this blog will be "The Roman Catholic Church is not what it says it is." Of course, "what it says it is" is found both in the Vatican II document, "Lumen Gentium," and in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I'll provide links to these, and expand on these ideas over time. (This is a longer term project for me, remember.)But the fact that Catholicism is still "a force" within

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-1161596668473445942006-10-23T05:42:00.000-04:002006-11-12T07:54:03.052-05:00

Since I've mentioned the Wired Magazine article, I should point out that Steve Hays of Triablogue has responded to Richard Dawson's book, "The God Delusion," at length.

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-1161516153637369692006-10-22T07:21:00.000-04:002006-11-12T07:54:02.637-05:00

As I write this morning, I have the latest issue of “Wired” magazine sitting on my desk. The front cover features “The New Atheism. No Heaven. No Hell. Just Science.” The subtitle is “Inside the crusade against religion.” I haven’t read the article. But given the admissions that I’ve already made below, I realize that I am in conflict with major trends in the world today. (I also know that there

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-1161458079173045482006-10-21T14:57:00.000-04:002006-11-12T07:54:01.958-05:00

Why the Reformation? Church historian Phillip Schaff writes about that as the introduction to his Volume 7 discussing the German Reformation: § 1. The Turning Point of Modern History.The Reformation of the sixteenth century is, next to the introduction of Christianity, the greatest event in history. It marks the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of modern times. Starting from religion,

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36406045.post-1161454674432085522006-10-21T14:04:00.000-04:002006-11-12T07:54:01.680-05:00

Maybe I'm a bit ahead of myself, but the year 2017 will be the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, and I believe this anniversary and the years leading up to it will provide an ideal opportunity for Christians to pause and reflect on where they've come from, as a way of refocusing on where we need to go for the future.I do not write from a position of strength. That is, I am not

John Bugaynoreply@blogger.com0