No Sola Fide in the Early Church Paid Members Public
I cite what the late renowned Protestant scholar Philip Schaff admitted in respect to Luther’s doctrine of sola fide, or of forensic justification where Luther claimed a person was declared (not made) just/righteous by faith in Christ alone, being virtually unknown in the early Church. All emphasis will
Esdras & The Early Church: A Response to William Webster Paid Members Public
by John Betts Introduction William Webster, a popular Evangelical Protestant apologist, has written a book on the formation of the Canon of Scripture. Together with his online material on this subject, he essentially recycles many of the arguments Protestants and Catholics have had for centuries on this. Webster seems to
A 2nd Response to William Webster on Esdras Paid Members Public
By John Betts Protestant apologist William Webster has finally responded to the article I wrote in 2004, entitled Esdras & The Early Church: A Response to William Webster. Yet unfortunately this ‘response’ is essentially a re-posting of his original material that fails to substantiate his assertions and repeatedly misrepresents or
John of Hyrcanus Among the Prophets? Paid Members Public
Jewish historian Flavius Josephus writes about a high priest during the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes IV and the Maccabean period, named John Hyrcanus. The historian claims that Hyrcanus was given the gift of prophecy and that God spoke to him and enabled him to foretell future events. Here’s what
The Holy Eucharist In the Early Church Paid Members Public
The following excerpt is taken from the late Christian historian Jaroslav Pelikan’s book, The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Vol. 1: The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600), published by University of Chicago Press in 1975, pp.166-171. All emphasis will be mine. The same
St. Augustine, Trinity & Filioque Pt. 2 Paid Members Public
The following is taken from St. Augustine’s On the Trinity Book 5 (V). All emphasis will be mine. Chapter 8.— Whatever is Spoken of God According to Substance, is Spoken of Each Person Severally, and Together of the Trinity Itself. One Essence in God, and Three, in Greek, Hypostases,
Rashi & Messianic Prooftexts Paid Members Public
In this post I will be citing from The Complete Tanakh (Tanach) – Hebrew Bible with Rashi Commentary in respect to particular Old Testament passages, which this renowned medieval Rabbi interpreted as being messianic prophecies. All emphasis will be mine. Gen. 15:11 and Abram drove them away. Heb. וַיַ
ICONS IN THE EARLY CHURCH Paid Members Public
In this post I will cite some 2nd–4th Christian references testifying to the usage and veneration of sacred icons and images such as crosses. All emphasis will be mine. TERTULLIAN Chapter 16 For, like some others, you are under the delusion that our god is an ass’s head.