The following article is by Reed K. Merino. I’ve reposted it by permission. The Day I Became Two Thousand Years Old! At Philadelphia, on December 14, 1968, our bishop Robert DeWitt in the “apostolic succession” ordained me as an Episcopalian priest at our parish, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. Over a period of several years, I …
Recently, Eastern Orthodox apologists have worked to develop a new argument for the veneration of icons. This time, they are arguing from images of praying people found in the catacombs. This argument, which I will call the Participatory Art Argument, starts by pointing out that, in the catacombs, as I mentioned in my archaeology post, …
Does Archaeology of Pre-Nicene Orant Images Prove Iconodulia? Read More »
Catholic Answers (catholic.com) is a hugely influential ministry. One of their functions is to provide people with pop-level arguments for Roman Catholicism. They repackage Roman Catholicism in a very appealing way. One of the goals of Catholic Answers is to prove that the Roman Catholic Church is in continuity with the early church. So many …
Is Catholic Answers Committed to Intellectual Honesty? Read More »
On this site, I’ve shown that we can reasonably conclude that the New Testament is infallible without drawing on an infallible tradition or magisterium to prove that it is. Anabaptists and Protestants, then, are in an excellent position—we have excellent support for our belief that Christian doctrine comes from the teachings of the apostles in …
by William R. McGrath This article was written around 1955 and published as an article and then a booklet. In this article, McGrath argues that the Protestant Reformation failed, being hamstrung by needing to follow political considerations. Instead, he advocates for following the example of the early Anabaptists, who even modern Anabaptists should learn from. …
The Anabaptists: Neither Catholic nor Protestant Read More »
The subject of Mary has created divisions within the church. The doctrines about Mary have been pushed by the Catholic and Orthodox churches to the point that, if other traditions do not accept the doctrines, they believe these traditions to be erring in the faith and the cause of this division. But is this really …
Is the Assumption of Mary found in Revelation 12? Read More »
In this article, what I want to do is to help us rid our minds of modern and medieval thinking when approaching Paul’s letters, and step back into the first century context and read from their vantage point. My proposal is actually very simple. Read Paul’s words for what he actually says, not what we …
This is the full text of the Schleitheim Confession, the earliest Anabaptist confession of faith. This material is from Anabaptists.org and was originally printed by Rod and Staff Publishers, Inc., Crockett, KY (Sixth Printing, 1985). The Schleitheim Confession was adopted by a Swiss Brethren Conference, February 24, 1527. I have added clarifications in brackets. Brotherly Union …
When reading Jesus’ commands can we ever say, “We know Jesus didn’t mean that, because that’s so obviously not true”? In this article, I discuss whether we can be justified in interpreting Jesus’ commands according to our moral intuitions. This is the fourth and final article in a series on the doctrine of nonresistance, which …
Divine Command Theory | What if Jesus didn’t really mean that? Read More »
This article is the third of a series on the doctrine of nonresistance, which is based on Jesus’ command to do no violence. More specifically, nonresistance is the view that even when striving for justice, Christians, unlike earthly governments, must only employ methods other than violence. This doctrine was so named by the Anabaptists, but …
Early Church Fathers on War, Violence, and Pacifism Read More »
