Last month as many of my readers know, I was in the Ukraine for vacation. On my very first full day in the country, I went on a walking tour in Kiev. Our guide took us around the main areas in the centre of Kiev. Eventually we arrived at a little monastery called St. Michael’s Monastery. She told us that we could go inside the main Church for 5 minutes then come back. I informed her that I was in shorts and it wasn’t appropriate. She said that this church doesn’t care what you wear. I know that in 2014 when I was in Serbia, Kosovo, and Bosnia they wouldn’t let you in unless you had pants on.
Category Archives: Church History
James White, JW Dialogue, and Muslim Dialogue
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGPIrcV5h6Q
I once saw a video with James White on ABN. He was supposed to be talking about Islam but he ventured a little off topic to make a point. He spoke of his ministry to Jehovah’s Witnesses and how he uses a certain tactic. White has two main proof texts that he uses in his dialogue with them. He explains that after the first one is used, there will be a pause as the JW will not have an answer. At this point it’s fun to gloat but it’s imprudent. The correct approach is to tell them to think about it for a bit then ask to show them another one. Dr. White says that they always allow it. From my street corner dialogues, I would say that I have a similar experience. Dr. White is correct on that one.
Attorney General Josh Shapiro Responded to Me About the 2 Indictments
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For the last few days I’ve been commenting frequently on Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s Tweets. I’m asking simply why there were only two indictments. Something few in the media are actually saying. They just scream “300 priests” when they’ve probably never even gone through the report. I haven’t gone through the entire thing(it’s over 1300 pages!) but I’ve read large sections of it. I’ve probably read half of it and I’ll need a very large coffee to read the other half.
The Conversion Story of Rod Dreher
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Rod Dreher
A couple of days ago, Catholic journalist Damon Linker left the Catholic Church and it was essentially due to scandals. Immediately Rod Dreher writes a piece on this which can be found here:
Did the Church Make the Holocaust Possible as Kertzer Says?
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This post is a follow up to the last post where I dealt with the attempted slight of hand of David Kertzer to say that anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism are essentially the same thing. One popular charge leveled against the Church is that while it isn’t directly responsible for the holocaust, it played a role by it’s previous actions by spreading hatred and implementing the policies of segregation and other milder forms of persecution in past centuries.
David Kertzer, Anti-Judaism, and Anti-Semitism
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As someone who studies Church history, the name David Kertzer has come up frequently. He’s a Jewish historian who writes about Jewish relations with the Catholic Church. The time period he mostly covers is from the fall of Napoleon to the Second World War. I used to think that he was of bad motive. Some Jews talk about Church history as solely a way for bashing the Church while completely ignoring the facts. Rabbi Tovia Singer comes to mind in this regard. I used to think that Kertzer was like this but I now no longer believer that he is.
Eusebius of Caesarea Challenges the Liberal View of Pauline Authorship
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Eusebius of Caesarea
One witness to affirming Pauline authorship of the six disputed epistles is the early Church historian Eusebius of Caesarea. Eusebius wrote a history of the early church from the time of Christ to just before the Council of Nicaea. He’s a good witness to the fact that early Church fathers thought critically and weren’t a bunch of ignorant fundamentalists like modern liberals seem to think.
Pauline and Supposed Pseudo-Pauline Authorship
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More intelligent enemies of the Christian Faith really cling on to the theory that St. Paul didn’t write half of the books described to him. Muslims really like this theory, not because they actually care what St. Paul wrote as most Muslims don’t much like St. Paul, but to discredit the New Testament. Why should we trust a document containing multiple forgeries? It’s a valid point. If I believed that the NT was full of forgeries, I wouldn’t trust it for theological purposes; historical purposes maybe but certainly not theological. I simply believe that the NT doesn’t contain forgeries.
Off to the Land of Euromaidan
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I really wanted to talk about the Pope’s change to the CCC but unfortunately the timing was a bit off. I leave for vacation tomorrow. I’m off to the land where it seems Stepan Bandera has been resurrected as a national hero. Yes, I’m off to the Ukraine; the land of my maternal ancestry and Euromaidan.
What’s Wrong With Jewish History? Well….
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtMN3JeR8DM
I’ve started to notice something about Jewish history and I find it quite appalling. I find this in Jewish books, articles and other writings. We can all agree that the holocaust was an extremely tragic event in human history. Jews certainly know this more than anyone. Sadly, it has deeply affected the way that Jews think and do history.