Per Christum

6 Denominations in 6 Weeks

I’ve had an interest in Christian denominations since I knew they existed. I remember scanning Mead’s Handbook in High School, trying to decide where I would worship once I was on my own. This is an article I would have definitely related to 5 years ago and it’s a fun read even now.

If my religious experience were an ice cream truck, the only thing in the freezer would be vanilla pops. And, once every quarter, some grape juice.

and

Roman Catholic

At 8:55 a.m., the parking lot is almost full. I watch maybe two dozen people exit their cars and enter the building, but none of them are carrying a Bible. Huh. I leave mine in the car, too, because when in Rome …

. . .

Everyone does this routine—genuflect, cross, kneel, pray—before being seated. Me? I just plop down all Protestant-like. I might as well have been wearing a “Luther is my homeboy” T-shirt.

HT:  Ragamuffin

You think evangelicals memorize a ton of scripture?

Some do. But most, especially cradle evangelicals, have about 5-10 texts repeatedly reinforced throughout their lives. These they hide in their heart. These become their touchstones for their soteriology — their understanding of salvation. It’s somewhat like a child in a liturgical communion learning the Apostle’s Creed.

Now Catholics do this as well. Or at least we try.

But when I see “Verse for the Week” in my local non-denominational, evangelical service bulletin or missionary newsletter, I think, “why this one, and not another?”

It’s the Key Verse tradition.

crossposted at CINE

I’ve got my NY Mass ticket and put the plane ticket on the old credit card.

I will see the Pope this weekend, but I’d like to see you as well. Let me know if you live in or near NY or are going this weekend and want to meet up. I’ll be there from Friday afternoon to Monday morning.

This will be my first time in this fair city, so I could certainly use any help you can give.

OH, and I don’t have a place to stay yet, so any suggestions for lodging is appreciated. I’m looking for somthing in the price range of free to dirt cheap.

This post should provide plenty of interesting data for those wishing to psychoanalyze my conversion to Catholicism, as I could’ve written this at probably any point as an Evangelical from age 16 on, if I had had the courage.

Most times, I don’t love the Bible.

When I try to read it, which isn’t often, I can’t seem to relax. It’s like my brain has to go into doctrine mode or something, systematizing what I read and matching it to beliefs of mine or others. Then I start analyzing my analyzing…

I read a passage or two and can easily come up with a couple hundred questions. Who’s supposed to answer these? Ever since I was introduced to the “Study Bible”, I’ve found its notes and outlines and essays much more interesting. At least it explains concepts, “compares scripture with scripture”, establishes historical context, etc.

If I think I understand something, I remember the myriad of times I’ve heard sermons or read explanations that helpfully contradict (often using other scripture) what seemed so obvious before.

Very little of it appeals to me stylistically. If I want some Jesus, I’m more likely to pick up Benedict, Guardini, Sheed, or even Rice. If I want some OT action, I’d much rather read something like Buechner’s Son of Laughter about Jacob.

I can say I do love to hear the Scriptures read in the context of the liturgy. My brain doesn’t have time to get bogged down in all that chaotic interpretation. I can relax. Simply listening can be an act of worship.

Some online articles concerning the Bible that I’ve enjoyed:

Pontficator.
Enloe On the O vs. the A.
Papist.
Our Own David Bennett the Eisegete.

cross-posted at cine

Dropped the thing into MS Word.

Including title and footnotes:

Words: 19,358

I asked Word to create a summary with only 10 sentences.

Faith is Hope.
To come to know God—the true God—means to receive hope.
Answer: “Faith”.
“Eternal life”.
Faith is the substance of hope.
Is Christian hope individualistic?
A world without God is a world without hope (cf. Eph 2:12).
Only God can create justice.
Mary, Star of Hope.
Did hope die?

According the The Blog Readability Test, the Encyclical comes in as:

What does veneration mean, in a religious context? It means to give someone honor, to pay someone respect, etc. As human beings, we can’t do this gnostically, just unthinkingly sending invisible respect beams to one another.

At little Johnny’s birthday, we don’t just stand around meditating about his positive attributes. No, we sing to him while he merely listens. We give gifts to him while he simply receives, opens, and responds. We prepare specials foods and decor. We designate an entire day to what is, in material terms, nothing more than a common obstetric procedure.

Catholics can catch a lot of flack for venerating Saints. It is Obviously Idolatry to many unfamiliar with it.

Except for Anglicans, most protestants don’t have “Saints” in the Catholic sense. But they do have what are sometimes called “heroes of the faith” or “great figures of the gospel”. There are sermons preached on them, books written about them, etc.

[ snark ] Now, I looked on some websites and tried to find out how these super-spiritual protestants are elevated to such a position. Who decides who gets to be Always-Quotable Heroes of the Gospel? There are two main ways:

1. The Magisteria of book publishers decide which biographies will sell.

2. Individual pastors decide which men agree with them and quote them in their sermons. Why do they quote Jonathan Edwards, puritan and not Ralph Toney, Baptist preacher and auto-mechanic? Because they’ve created an unbiblical adoration of fallible men! [ / snark ]

That totally tongue-in-cheek comparison probably doesn’t work on every count, but it can be easily done if I assume that protestants are being disingenuous or un-biblical.

(cross-posted at CINE)

Fortified by 500 years of experience, modern exegesis has clearly recognized, along with modern literature and the philosophy of language, that mere self-interpretation of the Scriptures and the clarity resulting from it do not exist.

In 1928 Adolf von Harnack said, with typical bluntness, in his correspondence with Erik Peterson that “the so-called ‘formal principle’ of old Lutheranism is a critical impossibility; on the contrary, the Catholic one is better”. Ernst Käsemann has shown that the canon of Sacred Scripture as such does not ground the Church’s unity, but the multiplicity of confessions. Recently, one of the most important Evangelical exegetes, Ulrich Luz, has shown that “Scripture alone” opens the way to every possible interpretation.

Lastly, the first generation of the Reformation also had to seek “the centre of Scripture”, to obtain an interpretive key which could not be extrapolated from the text as such. Another practical example: in the clash with Gerd Lüdemann, a professor who denied the resurrection and divinity of Christ, etc., it has been pointed out that the Evangelical Church cannot do without a sort of Magisterium.

When the contours of the faith are blurred in a chorus of opposing exegetical efforts (materialist, feminist, liberationist exegeses, etc.), it seems evident that it is precisely the relationship with the professions of faith, and thus with the Church’s living tradition, that guarantees the literal interpretation of Sacred Scripture, protecting it from subjectivism and preserving its originality and authenticity. Therefore the Magisterium does not diminish the authority of Sacred Scripture but safeguards it by taking an inferior position to it and allowing the faith flowing from it to emerge.

From ANSWERS TO MAIN OBJECTIONS AGAINST DOMINUS IESUS.

(Emphasis and paragraph breaks mine. HT: Me)

I wrote a reply to comment from an earlier post and thought I’d post it on the main page for further discussion.

Jox77 writes:

I have only recently begun studying Roman Catholic theology. I am really trying to understand it. I have to be honest and say that I do not intend to become part of the Roman Church, but I do want to know its doctrine firsthand–not from some Evangelicals who have axes to grind.

Perhaps my harsh language stems from my struggle to understand your system. For example, I thought that Tradition included what the Magisterium have spoken through the centuries. Apparently, I’m way off. Now I have to ask–What is Tradition?

You are to be commended for the desire to avoid mere polemics and seek to learn about Catholicism from Catholics.

Let me try to explain the relationship in my own words, then I’ll refer you to the new Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which summarizes in Q&A format the official Catechism promulgated by Pope John Paul II.

A Familial Example:

The complete apostolic tradition (also called the Deposit of Faith) is like everything your mom ever taught you.

She wrote down many things to you in letters. These are like the Holy Scriptures.

Other things she taught you orally. Some of them were repeated so many times you could never forget them, even though they were never written down. The patterns of life, the worldviews, the proper emphases, & the assumed morality that you have carried with you and will pass on to your children. She did not write to you extended treatises on the importance of eating or bathing, yet you learned to do these things often. These things are like the other channel of the deposit of faith, called simply Tradition.

Now let’s say you were her only son and her only survivor after her death. You knew her and her teachings better than anyone. Before she died, she gave you power of attorney over her estate. You interpret her teachings. Now what if some distant cousin comes along and tries to tell you “what your mom really meant”? You can pull rank, so-to-speak, and give an authoritative decision about her estate. You are like the Magisterium, the teaching office of the Church.

The Bible as Example:

The Bible serves as a excellent example of the unity of Scripture, Tradition & Magisterium.

Firstly, it is Scripture. It is the Word of God written.

Secondly, it is Tradition. The scriptures do not tell us where they end and where they begins. They do not contain a written, inspired “table of contents”. What is Bible and what is non-Bible? Tradition answers here. “These books are what have been passed on from the apostles. Those are not.” The scriptures also do not magically fall from the sky to each generation.

Thirdly, it is Magisterium. Scripture and Tradition are not sentient beings that can settle disputes. The teaching authority of the church is the mouthpiece of the deposit of faith: it codifies it, crystallizes it and defines it for all Catholic Christians everywhere. It defines canon. It defines doctrine — never above the Word of God, but always its servant.

From the CCCC:

The Transmission of Divine Revelation

11. Why and in what way is divine revelation transmitted?

God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4), that is, of Jesus Christ. For this reason, Christ must be proclaimed to all according to his own command, “Go forth and teach all nations” (Matthew 28:19). And this is brought about by Apostolic Tradition.

12. What is Apostolic Tradition?

Apostolic Tradition is the transmission of the message of Christ, brought about from the very beginnings of Christianity by means of preaching, bearing witness, institutions, worship, and inspired writings. The apostles transmitted all they received from Christ and learned from the Holy Spirit to their successors, the bishops, and through them to all generations until the end of the world.

13. In what ways does Apostolic Tradition occur?

Apostolic Tradition occurs in two ways: through the living transmission of the word of God (also simply called Tradition) and through Sacred Scripture which is the same proclamation of salvation in written form.

14. What is the relationship between Tradition and Sacred Scripture?

Tradition and Sacred Scripture are bound closely together and communicate one with the other. Each of them makes present and fruitful in the Church the mystery of Christ. They flow out of the same divine well-spring and together make up one sacred deposit of faith from which the Church derives her certainty about revelation.

15. To whom is the deposit of faith entrusted?

The Apostles entrusted the deposit of faith to the whole of the Church. Thanks to its supernatural sense of faith the people of God as a whole, assisted by the Holy Spirit and guided by the Magisterium of the Church, never ceases to welcome, to penetrate more deeply and to live more fully from the gift of divine revelation.

16. To whom is given the task of authentically interpreting the deposit of faith?

The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the deposit of faith has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone, that is, to the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome, and to the bishops in communion with him. To this Magisterium, which in the service of the Word of God enjoys the certain charism of truth, belongs also the task of defining dogmas which are formulations of the truths contained in divine Revelation. This authority of the Magisterium also extends to those truths necessarily connected with Revelation.

17. What is the relationship between Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium?

Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium are so closely united with each other that one of them cannot stand without the others. Working together, each in its own way, under the action of the one Holy Spirit, they all contribute effectively to the salvation of souls.

It’s good to be Home in Rome after Swimming the Tiber on my Journey to the Fullness of the Faith of the Surprisingly Catholic Church Fathers who Gave Us the Bible.

(†posted at Chad Is Not Enough)

When I tell friends and family that I’m becoming Catholic, one of the first questions I get is:

“How does your wife feel about all this?”

I should probably answer, “why do you ask?”, because I really am curious. Maybe it’s because they know she knows me well and that her opinion will be more balanced than mine. Maybe some want to know how convincing the whole Catholic thing really is; if the conversion is having a ripple effect then they should wake up and take notice, and not dismiss me as a weirdo doin’ his individualistic thang.

Maybe they just want some context for my drastic decision. Maybe they’re stalling so they don’t have to bring up Mary Worship™. Maybe they want to hear some juicy intra-marital religious conflict, replete with local Kansas Citene Councils and dueling, mutual anathemas being hurled from the opposing faith traditions contained in one apartment.

Or maybe they just genuinely care about me and my family and think I should too.

Cross posted at Chad Is Not Enough.

For Day 2 & 3 of The Church Fathers Lenten Reading Plan, the assigned text covers Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus, one of the earliest examples of Christian apologetics.

The primary focus of apologetics is “giving and answer”. Answers are relatively useless however, unless there are questions. I think that while many questions concerning Christianity do not change over time, others are dictated by cultural and personal environments. Therefore the answers must be constantly developing and adapting. Let’s look briefly at what questions the Epistle to Diognetus answers.

• What makes Christianity different from my other religious options? (Ch. 1)
• What’s wrong or lacking in those other religious options? (Ch. 2-4)
• If I become a Christian, how will I relate to the world? (Ch. 5-6)
• Who is Christ, after whom you are named? (Ch. 7)
• Why do we need Him? (Ch. 8)
• Why did God take so long to send Him, if we need Him so badly (Ch. 9)
• What will I get out of this? (Ch. 10)
• Are you just making this up? (Ch. 11)
• I still don’t understand. Can you give me an illustration? (Ch. 12)

The epistle begins providing answers with a comparative study of the religious offerings at that time:

Since I see thee, most excellent Diognetus, exceedingly desirous to learn the mode of worshipping God prevalent among the Christians, and inquiring very carefully and earnestly concerning them, what God they trust in, and what form of religion they observe, so as all to look down upon the world itself, and despise death, while they neither esteem those to be gods that are reckoned such by the Greeks, nor hold to the superstition of the Jews; [emphasis mine]

In Chapter 5, details are given concerning the universality of Christianity:

For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe.

And perhaps their greatest apologetic asset is the early Christians’ response to persecution:

When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.

Some of us have experienced this irrational hatred for Christianity. I can’t say I’ve seen much, but I know it exists. In today’s pluralistic United States, this does not often result in widespread physical persecution, but there are exceptions. However the severity of persecution, we should always remember to rejoice; for we know that we are sharing in Christ’s suffering and therefore being quickened into life.

To address the question of “Who is Christ?”, a beautiful passage from Ch 7 describes the way He draws His people:

This [messenger] He sent to them. Was it then, as one might conceive, for the purpose of exercising tyranny, or of inspiring fear and terror? By no means, but under the influence of clemency and meekness. As a king sends his son, who is also a king, so sent He Him; as God He sent Him; as to men He sent Him; as a Savior He sent Him, and as seeking to persuade, not to compel us; for violence has no place in the character of God. As calling us He sent Him, not as vengefully pursuing us; as loving us He sent Him, not as judging us. For He will yet send Him to judge us, and who shall endure His appearing? [emphasis mine]

The bolded text above presents an engaging illustration of the Trinity and the divinity of Christ. Christ was an ambassador of the King, while at the same time, a King Himself.

Cross posted at Chad Is Not Enough.

There is a reason we teach children to fold their hands and close their eyes when praying. It helps them to focus, and it shows them that they are doing something special. When I grew into my teenage years, I rejected such pietistic outward displays of “religion” and preferred casual conversation with my buddy, Jesus, and was encouraged in this direction by older men in my church.

Of course the next step in this process is to stop praying at all, and just commune with God throughout your day. Now there is nothing ultimately wrong with this mystical, relational, fellowship with God. But it should be balanced with the sacred, the times set apart, the liturgical, the forms and postures. Make special time to pray to God. At the very least close your eyes and fold your hands to keep them out of trouble.

Now, I said all that so I could say this: I prayed the Rosary for the first time a couple days ago. One of the beauties of this devotion is it not only keeps your hands from distraction, it uses your hands. It involves them. Your hands hold the beads, guiding the way as you pray. Not only are your hands occupied, but your your mouth and ears are occupied during the Hail Mary’s, allowing your mind to meditate on the special events of Christ’s life and work.

The rosary consists of many different prayers. It includes the Apostles Creed, the Our Father (or Lord’s Prayer), the Glory Be, the Hail Mary and sometimes others. It is a prayer of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, but while praying it, it is undeniably Christocentric. Mary points us to Christ. And even devotions to her can do nothing but point us to her Son. While praying the prayers, you ponder the “mysteries” or events of Christ’s life.