Category Archives: Church History

Posted on

Refuting James White’s Fav Argument Against the Papacy

by

With Cameron Bertuzzi saying on social media that he’s closer to becoming Catholic than he ever was before, James White has gone into ultra-reformation mode and is throwing out all of his bad anti-Catholic arguments.  I want to deal with one of them.  He often throws this out but no one challenges him on it.  It’s the ridiculous pseudo-argument cooked up my 19th century Protestants that the Church of Rome didn’t have a monarchial bishop until the mid-second century.  Until then they had a plurality of elders.  Let’s shred this argument, shall we?

Posted on

How Protestants(Especially James White) View Typology

by

One of the most beautiful things about the Christian faith is the amazing connection between the two testaments.  This is not only done through theology and prophesy but typology as well.  I recently completed the Lectio Mary Bible study online lectures by Brant Pitre.  This lecture and many others are available on formed.org.

Posted on

Don’t Read Paul the Deacon!!!

by

Being the church history geek that I am, I try to read as many primary sources as possible.  There was a sale on Amazon and I managed to get History of the Lombards by Paul the Deacon for a very decent price. The Lombards are the ancestors of those who live in Southern Germany.  I’m not sure if I’m descended from these people as my ancestors are from central Germany.  The word Lombard is an anglicized version of Langobard which means “Long Beard”.  Apparently these people didn’t like shaving.

Posted on

Sozomen and the Ishmaelites

by

We often hear from Muslims that Muhammad and his early followers were descended from the Ishmaelites.  Obviously Islam doesn’t come on the scene until the 7th century.  We don’t know much about Arabia prior to Islam.  Most of our information comes from secondary accounts and modern day archeology.

Posted on

James White’s Faulty List: Pope Leo the Great and the Immaculate Conception

by

There is a list going around with eight Popes that supposedly denied the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Mother of God.  James White likes to talk about this list constantly and it can be found on his website.  Here is the link:

Posted on

A Forgotten Church Father – St. Isidore of Seville

by

With some leftover birthday money I bought a book by an obscure and somewhat unknown Church Father.  We know that after the Spaniards reconquered Cordoba in 1236 AD they produced some theological and spiritual giants.  While under Islamic occupation, their growth was stunted but we need to remember that they played a somewhat important role before that.  We all remember Hosius of Cordoba, one of the heroes of Nicaea.  In later centuries we have Isidore of Seville.

Posted on

Islam – First to Claim the Great Apostasy

by

I’ve mentioned on this blog before that I focus a lot on Church history.  In these modern times we have so many resources available to us that it’s so easy to learn Church history.  We can start with the book of Acts which is the earliest chronicle of the Church.  After that, the church continued to grow in the Roman Empire and beyond it and the sources are readily available.

Posted on

Where do I go after those 5 books?

by

In my last post I talked about the five books where one needs to get started on studying church history.  Notice that I’m really focusing on primary sources?  All five books that I’ve mentioned are written in the first millennium so they can’t be warped by a modern bias.  Obviously if you want to learn about the Church of England and how it was founded, read Bede and not John Foxe.

Posted on

Getting Started In Church History – 5 Books

by

I’ve made no secret that I focus a lot on Church history.  I believe that history is really important in general but since I blog about religion, it makes sense that Church history is brought into account.  I also think it’s a great polemic against Islam.  Islam clearly makes historical claims about Jesus Christ and the early Christians that cannot be meshed with confirmed history.  Aside from Muslims though, it’s a good tool against the cults.  If one knows history then the “Great Apostasy” card can no longer be played.  I once asked some LDS missionaries why Joseph Smith needed to restore the Church.  Their response was the Council of Nicaea.  I then challenged them if the Gospel was readily available prior to the Council.  They were in a hurry at that point.

Posted on

The Real Simon of Cyrene

by

We all know who Simon of Cyrene is, don’t we?  The man who helped Jesus Christ carry the cross.  What people don’t know is that he is the one who actually died on the cross while Allah rescued Jesus and raised him to himself as the Quran says in Surah 4:157.  Actually that’s not what happened, but the New Testament tells more than we think about Simon of Cyrene.