Book Review: The Church and the Papacy by Trevor Jalland

A fellow apologist that I know highly recommended The Church and the Papacy by Trevor Jalland.  Jalland was an Anglican scholar who lived in the 20th century.  The more I do research, the more I realize that Anglicans in the 1800s and the early 1900s wrote some pretty amazing stuff.  I’ve scoffed at Anglicans before but I honestly do want to take that back because they have a rich intellectual tradition.  This book was originally published in 1942.  I’ve typically only reviewed newer books on this website but I couldn’t let this one go.  It’s out of print but used copies are available.

Refuting Michael J Kruger’s Misuse of St. Jerome

In late September I joined William Albrecht and Erick Ybarra on Reason and Theology to talk about the monarchial episcopate in the early Church.  Together we looked at the early documents to show that in fact, the Church of Rome had a monarchial bishop from the very beginning.  The idea was to disprove the revisionist theory that the early Roman Church was governed by a college of presbyters as opposed to having one monarchial bishop above the presbyters.

Pope Francis Contradicts himself on the Death Penalty

I wish he was still Pope

We all know that Pope Francis has taken it in himself to declare war on the Catholic teaching on the death penalty.  He has changed the catechism and has further expanded on this in his recent encyclical Fratelli Tutti. Sadly though, in his efforts to promote heresy, he contradicted himself.  Let’s be honest, Francis isn’t known for his orthodoxy in terms of Church teaching.  It’s no surprising that in opposing the teachings of the Church(found in scripture, tradition, and magisterial documents), he contradicts himself.

One of the most important doctrines of the early Church

Above is a great lecture by Sam Shamoun on baptism.  Sam Shamoun is one of my favourite Youtubers and he’s a great.  I also admire the fact that he doesn’t tolerate people going off-topic or being sectarian in the chat.  I’d recommending watching at least two of his videos every week.

St. Cyprian and two kinds of Schism

In my attempts to read the Church fathers and hunt for the mysterious Islamic Christians who don’t seem to exist, I’ve been reading the works of St. Cyprian of Carthage; a third century Church father who was martyred in 258 AD.  He had to deal with the issue of the Novatian Schism.

Islam vs. Baptism

In November of last year I was honoured to be the best man at my former roommates’ wedding.  Earlier this month, he and his wife welcomed their first child into this world.  On Saturday the child was welcomed into God’s family through the sacrament of baptism.  Baptism saves according to St. Peter and this child was saved when he was baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.  I was the godfather.

Muslim Apologists, Q, and the New Testament

Here is a trend that I’ve noticed among Muslim apologists.  They say that the New Testament is corrupted because it has late manuscripts, many variants, and other problems.  Most can’t back this statement up.  All Muslim apologists that I know who have gone the textual criticism route have abandoned it as they’ve realized it’s a dead end.  Well, everyone except the infamous Ijaz Ahmad who was recently exposed for doxxing and using racial slurs against a Christian apologist.  It should be noted that Ahmad has come out with material in regards to the crucifixion of Christ.  I will be getting to that in my upcoming posts. 

Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox Terminology

I recently read The Triads by Gregory Palamas.  Gregory Palamas is a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church who helped end a theological civil war in 14th century Byzantium.  I sat down on Saturday and read the whole thing in the evening.  It’s not that long but I was told by a fellow Catholic apologist that my version of the Triads was abridged.