- Journal Details
- Format
- Journal
- eISSN
- 2284-7308
- First Published
- 20 Sep 2012
- Publication timeframe
- 3 times per year
- Languages
- English
Search
- Open Access
The Eucharist and the Ministerial Priesthood a Reply to Kenneth Collins and Jerry Walls
Page range: 3 - 19
Abstract
In chapters 9 and 10 of their book
Keywords
- Eucharist
- redemption
- re-present
- sacrifice
- Roman Catholic
- Open Access
An Evangelical Protestant’s Reflections on Roman Catholic Mariology
Page range: 21 - 38
Abstract
I count myself privileged to respond to Kenneth Collins and Jerry Walls recent book on Roman Catholicism. I live in Fort Worth, TX, and I am a member of Wedgwood Baptist Church, which is one of more than 40,000 churches that together comprise the Southern Baptist Convention. I mention this so readers will know that my comments come from a conservative Evangelical Protestant perspective, and my thinking stems from a tradition that is decidedly not Roman Catholic. Having said this, I’m much more sympathetic to Roman Catholicism than a great many Evangelicals, including Collins and Walls. I offer my criticisms of Rome, but I ask that readers not interpret me as someone who denies that the Roman Catholic Church counts as a Christian institution. In an effort to show good faith on this front, allow me to offer some defenses of Roman Catholicism against what I take to be over the top criticisms from some Protestant Evangelicals.
Keywords
- Mariology
- bodily assumption
- theotokos
- second-eve
- ever-virgin
- co-redemptrix
- Open Access
Eastern Orthodox Agreement and Disagreement with Kenneth Collins and Jerry Walls
Page range: 39 - 54
Abstract
In their book,
Keywords
- Eastern Orthodoxy
- John Henry Newman
- development of doctrine
- sacred tradition
- biblical interpretation
- Open Access
Mary and Fátima: A Modest C-Inductive Argument for Catholicism
Page range: 55 - 65
Abstract
C-Inductive arguments are arguments that increase the probability of a hypothesis. In this paper, we offer a C-Inductive argument for the Roman Catholic hypothesis. We specifically argue that one would expect the Miracle of Fátima on Roman Catholicism more so than on alternative hypotheses. Since our argument draws on confirmation theory, we first give a primer for how confirmation theory works. We then, provide the historical facts surrounding the Miracle of Fátima. We offer up two competing naturalistic explanations that attempt to explain the historical facts, but then, argue that a supernatural explanation is superior. Having established that something miraculous likely occurred at Fátima, we move to argue for the overall thesis of the paper. Finally, we engage several objections to our argument.
Keywords
- Fátima
- Miracle of the Sun
- Swinburne
- Roman Catholicism
- Open Access
On Reading the Bible as Scripture, Encountering the Church
Page range: 67 - 86
Abstract
As an exercise in the ‘theology of disclosure’, the present essay proposes a kind of phenomenological analysis of the act of reading the Bible as Scripture with the goal of bringing to light the theoretical commitments which it implicitly demands. This sort of analysis can prove helpful for the continuing disputes among Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox insofar as it is relevant for one of the principal points of controversy between them: namely, the relationship between Scripture, Tradition, and Church as theological authorities. It proceeds by analyzing both the objective and subjective ‘poles’ of the act, and it illuminates the presence of the Church and her Tradition on both sides. The Church—i.e., the community of God’s people—is both that which is immediately encountered in the text, as well as the factor which enables scriptural reading in the first place. The article terminates with an application of the insights of the preceding discussion to the controversy about icons.
Keywords
- phenomenology of Scripture
- Tradition
- Bible
- ecclesiology
- icons
- Open Access
The Problem of Bad Popes: The Argument from Conspicuous Corruption
Page range: 87 - 104
Abstract
The fact that a number of popes have been bad in the sense that they did not even meet minimal standards of moral integrity and sincere piety poses a serious problem for Roman Catholicism. After surveying a gallery of these infamous popes, I hone in more exactly on just what the problem is. I then argue that the problem remains on both a weak providence view and a strong providence view. According to the former, there is no guarantee that the man chosen pope is God’s will. According to the latter, deploying the resources of middle knowledge, God can make sure that popes infallibly avoid error and teach only truth by making sure the right man is chosen pope. Neither view satisfactorily explains how the papacy can be as important as Rome says it is while so many popes have been such unworthy holders of the office.
Keywords
- infallibility
- conspicuous corruption
- Duffy
- Ratzinger
- Flint
- Open Access
Assessing Papal Probabilities: A Reply to Joseph E. Blado
Page range: 105 - 116
Abstract
Joseph Blado critiqued my probabilistic arguments against Roman papal doctrines by deploying probability arguments, particularly Bayesian arguments, in favor of the papacy. He contends that there are good C-inductive arguments for papal doctrine that, taken together, add up to a good P-inductive argument. I argue that his inductive arguments fail, and moreover that there are three good C-inductive arguments against papal doctrine in the neighborhood of his failed arguments. I conclude by critiquing his retreat to what he calls ‘skeptical papalism’ as a last ditch sort of move to defend papal doctrine.
Keywords
- papal doctrine
- probability arguments
- Luz
- intertextuality