Safe Haven

This is a defense of Sola Scriptura, I guess. Isn't this the mighty Leithart? Isn't he supposed to know more than us? Mother Church cowers in fear! After all, we didn't know the Spirit speaks to the Church! Why didn't you say so? If I have to believe in Sola Scriptura in order to really understand Scripture, I'll just put off that reading of Amos I was going to do. I mean, I'll just clutter it up, deferring to the bishops in Council, or those morons Augustine and Aquinas. I don't know what's so hard to understand about the problem. Tell you what, Leithart, riddle me this one: Jack Collins and Gerhard Forde in a room, explaining their respective theologies to a class of eager and receptive students. Lots of agreement. Lots of appeals to the Fathers, and to Scripture. But if Scripture is the final rule, who's right in the matters where they disagree? Do they not represent separate ecclesial bodies because those people believe this to be a much more...

Well, the 73 books of the Holy Bible according to Mother Church and the first edition of the RSV from Ignatius Press (?) are these: (Of course I'm not looking; I'm gonna be tested on this eventually) 1. Genesis 2. Exodus 3. Leviticus 4. Numbers 5. Deuteronomy 6. Joshua 7. Judges 8. Ruth 9. 1 Samuel 10. 2 Samuel 11. 1 Kings 12. 2 Kings 13. 1 Chronicles 14. 2 Chronicles 15. Ezra 16. Nehemiah 17. Tobit 18. Judith 19. Esther 20. Job 21. Psalms 22. Proverbs 23. Ecclesiastes 24. Song of Songs 25. Wisdom 26. Sirach 27. Isaiah 28. Jeremiah 29. Lamentations 30. Baruch 31. Ezekiel 32. Daniel 33. Hosea 34. Joel 35. Amos 36. Obadiah 37. Jonah 38. Micah 39. Nahum 40. Habakkuk 41. Zephaniah 42. Haggai 43. Zechariah 44. Malachi 45. 1 Maccabees 46. 2 Maccabees (and of the New Testament of Our Lord Jesus Christ) 47. Matthew 48. Mark 49. Luke 50. John 51. Acts 52. Romans 53. 1 Corinthians 54. 2 Corinthians 55. Galatians 56. Ephesians 57....

I admit it; I've been pretty useless today. I started making a list of music for a friend who is entirely ignorant of popular music (How fun is that? Answer: a ton.) and it took me away to the far reaches. I realized that I had to 1) acclimate him to popular music (in a non-threatening, non-sinful way) of the last 30 years, and 2) keep it quality enough that he won't despise me. I knew he needed to hear "The Big Three"--Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, and Celine Dion--so I've made a list for each of the first two, and Celine's will come. I'm not a huge Celine fan, so I'll have to judge the importance of each song quite apart from what I think of it personally. Each of them has a legitimate argument for being the best female pop vocalist in my lifetime, or even currently (Celine, call your office!). The first two lists were easy--you can capture Whitney in fewer than 20 songs without missing a landmark--and Mariah has been so dominant on the charts that ...

In my last post, toward the end, I spoke of exclusion; I want to be very clear: I'm merely talking about distinguishing truth and falsehood, not making a party only a few are welcome to. Joshua Lim, a new friend, writes eloquently about the problem of radical depravity (in Calvinism, and perhaps a few other systems) and interpretive authority here. It seems very odd that people so deeply committed to the idea of their own inability would become--at a very convenient time--extremely optimistic about interpreting the Scriptures. If this inability and sinfulness were carried through to its logical end, skepticism is the result. It should be the result for dogmatic conclusions rendered from a(n) hermeneutical spiral that doesn't end, but most of you don't see the problem yet. On the one hand, the church is posited as the defender against the excesses of pietistic individualism, but it is a 'church' that lacks reality in a physical sense. And that was for the sake of ac...

What that dude said . Seriously, if I write like jazz, he writes like a symphony. Being the spiritual infant that I am, I'm going to keep asking, "Where does dogma come from?" of my putative debate partners on this site. When a Catholic says, "Your appeal to authority is unprincipled," he is saying that it is unclear how you arrive say, at Nicene Trinitarian faith by the means you have chosen (the Protestant canon of Scripture, and appeal to the Holy Spirit). It's just as easy to arrive at somewhere else entirely by the same means. Nicea and Chalcedon (and whatever one decides were "correct" appeals to Scripture) didn't come from thin air. Absent some principle (like, "An ecumenical council is always infallible by its nature") you can't accept one and reject others arbitrarily. You can see just by talking to people that if Tradition in the Catholic Church stands as a monument to...something, that each community formed at the Refor...

Have I mentioned that I find George Michael amazing? I listened to "Kissing A Fool" again, and realized I need no convincing on the point. I also recalled that Michael Buble did a version, but...I'm sorry, Michael, you are consigned to the Cave of No Memory. I can't control other people's radios, and I sure as heck wouldn't turn it off, but I have a rule that I at least try not to torture myself on purpose. [That Cave claimed James Taylor, too, didn't it?--ed.] Yeah. For now. But if he moves, he has a chance. I just couldn't do it in the case of "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)." Pol Pot could have said he liked it, and I'd still listen to it. I mean, honestly. How great is that song? But truly, that day in November was as much a Day The Music Died as any plane crash in the middle of nowhere in 1959. If anybody cares, I haven't written a poem since, either. I guess poets can write tragic poems, too. But poets sing with words; I'...

I'm not applying Catholic ecclesiology to Protestants and criticizing them for inconsistency; it's way deeper than that. I'm pointing out that dogma within a particular Protestant tradition can't be defended with ecclesial authority when the "Church" is fundamentally invisible. Add to that the fact that the individual has final authority over what the Church and catholicity means anyway. I don't care whether you use my Catholic ecclesiology; I'm charging you with being inconsistent with your own. Either catholicity does not require agreement on fundamental matters of doctrine (which is what open communion indicates) or it does. What I'm saying is that you can't stand apart from the Catholic Church on the ground of an issue or issues that you have said is not vital to full communion with respect to yourselves.

I'm going to answer a comment from a previous post here. It was suggested that the divisions among protestants (permit me to poke you in the eye by failing to capitalize it; I would not mean to confer an undue legitimacy on the whole enterprise) are no worry because neither is the entire world Catholic. Having failed to convince every single person to embrace the Church must invalidate the Church's claim, or so this well-credentialed folly goes. I answer that, do you not also exclude those persons who are obstinate in their refusal to embrace Christ in the gospel from the right hand of fellowship? Granted, our dialogue is only analogous, for I presume the validity of your baptism, and thus, some real but imperfect communion with the People of God. In any case, does the dissent of the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Christadelphians invalidate the truths proclaimed at Nicea? Does the mere presence of that dissent legitimize its content? I should say not. Thus, the lack of uniform...

Sorry I've been away; I was on a trip to Madison, WI. Before I left, I had the distinct privilege of watching and celebrating with Fr. Fadi Thomas Maria Auro in his ordination to the priesthood (as I may have mentioned). Having been left to the tender mercies of the Cross children, I was, shall we say, inquisited as to the nature of my food selection. You might say it is highly selective. In any case, any number of ridiculous life-threatening scenarios was put forward, naturally involving the three foods I will not eat. They are eggs, onions, and most varieties of melted cheese. I realize that this is completely preposterous. [You eat pizza, after all.--ed.] Most pizza. In one, I was starving in a prison in Siberia. I foolishly conceded that I'd eat the egg if it was scrambled. This did little to appease my tormentors, who conjured ever more unlikely and unfortunate circumstances for me. Next, I was in the jungles of Bolivia, being chased by zombies. Of course the Zombie Apoca...

With respect, you're missing the point, Protestant. We're not after the essence of God in our hermeneutical process. Certainty need not be absolute, for anyone. But the point is, if you can't prove to other Protestants that you're obviously right in the particularities of your confession , (and neither can he) how are any of you gonna answer the charge of schism from Rome or Constantinople? I can't hold a particular doctrine to be true unless there's good reason to believe it's true. And the Fathers are utterly unanimous: don't believe anything that didn't come from a successor to the Apostles. Even then, if he goes against Tradition, he's wrong.

Everyone's talking about hipsters. There's this book , this show , and unnecessary thick glasses everywhere. I'm not saying they're all bad. I like many hipsters. But, in the tradition of holding very little, if anything back on this blog, I should tell you that my working definition of "hipster" (in a Christian context) is: "pretentious, semi-leftist, city-dwelling, white evangelical." Ouch. [Audrey Assad's definitely a hipster.--ed.] Probably so, but I can abide hipster tendencies as long as they don't add up to a big storm of You Suck. Just understand that I'm defined, hipster, by everything you hate. Consider: --I like the suburbs. --Aside from war and the death penalty, I've never felt the slightest discomfort being a Republican. --I like Michael Bolton, and can even tolerate Celine Dion. (not ironically) --In fact, I don't have a single piece of music that wasn't popular at some point. You've heard of them. --I...

Five men were ordained to the priesthood of Jesus Christ yesterday in the Archdiocese of St. Louis; as a friend of them, I was in attendance. It was a lavish outpouring of grace upon all of us. I'm honored to be acquainted with most of them, and I'd say pretty close to one of them. It reminded me of one of my lurking insights from the journey, one thing I was very right about: "Why would the New Testament be less sacramental than the Old?" Answer: It's not. Not even close. If J.B. Lightfoot had been right in his commentary on Galatians, that the ordained clergy in the Church has always been understood functionally and not sacramentally--following upon Luther's basic rejection of the sacramental hierarchy and the levelling of clergy and lay--it seems to me we should be Plymouth Brethren, Zwinglians, or Restorationists on the point. If we truly believe, on the contrary, that grace is communicated by these sacred signs, and that certain men are called by God for ...

It's not that I didn't enjoy Steve Ray's book Upon This Rock ...because I did. It's just that mine was a long journey. I read that one toward the beginning. It seemed like he had an argument to settle with the fundies. He wanted me, in his text, to see the obvious truth of his conclusion. I wasn't ready to draw any conclusions then. But the book is great, because he does let the Fathers speak for themselves. Just reading the quotations would cause any reasonable person to wonder if has truly understood the Catholic position ecclesiologically and historically. What I'm saying is that the evidence for this unique claim to authority is much stronger than I was prepared to admit at the time. It was all quite shocking, really. I could not think of a more sad commentary on the state of the Catholic Church in the US than this: I was surprised to find warriors for truth and holiness among them. More than this, I didn't think anyone cared enough about the truth--Ch...

So there I was, praying the Rosary, as is my custom--wait, I digress; you see, it was 1 AM, and even though it was technically the next day, God is not an impatient curmudgeon with a pocket watch. I must have been tired. Had to be. I get to the end of the fourth Sorrowful Mystery--yes, Sorrowful--and I get to the 'O My Jesus'. It's supposed to be, "O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of Thy mercy." A noble prayer, and we Catholics know it well. Instead, I say, "O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of Thy fundraising." Yes, this really happened. I stop and say to no one in particular, "What did I just say? Fundraising? What?" [What are you, a megachurch pastor?--ed.] I know, right? So, obviously this becomes the funniest thing this side of my brother and sister-in-law's Weddi...

This is a great response to Leithart, on my exact point about idolatry, from an Orthodox guy. That said, the Church is Orthodoxy? (from the comments) How? No principium unitatis, no definition of what an ecumenical council is, no definitive doctrines about anything, (ethnic Church doctrinal free-for-all) and no way to find them. Oh, yeah, WHERE'S THE BISHOP OF ROME? I digress. Certain enthusiastic Lutherans (let the reader understand) will just have to man up and realize Leithart was wrong on the point. What is the Eucharist? If it is bread, then we of the Catholic Church (and a large number of others) are Idolaters, not cutesy, evangelical, Calvin, your-heart-is-an-idol-factory idolaters, and you should be glad we're excluding you from our covenant-shattering damnable practices, not mad because we won't let you in. On the other hand, you wouldn't have this problem if you weren't bizarrely committed to the idea that you were a snow-covered dung heap who c...

The Chili's was better than I remembered. Actually, I said that last time. Perhaps a revision of my opinion is in order. It was the highlight of the night. My nephew "graduated" preschool tonight, complete with gowns and diplomas, the whole bit. I was caught between wanting to support him and thinking, "This is really stupid, and is the reason why we're so soft today." I thought some Gwen Stefani was in order before bed. Big mistake. "Early Winter." The words stick like sharp knives. I didn't think I'd make it to the end. But I enjoyed the pain so much, I listened to it again. Before I heard that, it was "Don't Speak". It seemed apropos at first, and then I realized it was the exact opposite. I would very much like someone to speak, to explain to me why any of this suffering is good or appropriate. I have a pretty high tolerance for things that truly suck, and I have great faith. I know I do. But I'm out. You couldn'...

Being Catholic starts and ends with a person who says, "You know, I could be wrong." Chesterton said something like that. A huge part of that is to surrender one of the hallmarks of the Reformation: The primacy of individual interpretive authority. To have been a Protestant who comes home adds a special edge to everything I do as a Catholic. Every act of charity (few as they probably are) comes with an unspoken apology: "I was wrong; I'm sorry." To be Catholic is not to say that the Reformers said or did nothing true. It is definitely not to say that the Catholic Church in all times and places is free from sin. Ha! In fact, I gratefully acknowledge that Protestants of various stripes are doing and believing large parts of the apostolic faith better and truer than her putative sons and daughters, oftentimes. But it is to say that no instance of sin in the 16th century fundamentally changes what the Church is, and had been: The visible hierarchical supernatural ...

Talkin' To Mary, Part 47 (?) I've been praying the Rosary a lot, as the title suggests. It started out as a spiritual work of mercy for my family, and I guess it still is that. But I attended Mass yesterday, and some things started to fall into place. When you pray the Rosary, you're participating in the Eucharistic liturgy. As I like to say, "This is that." I'm not just praying by myself and for myself; I'm joining myself to that sacrifice. If you think about it, it makes sense. Christ is everything; the love He offered on the Cross he still offers today in every Mass. This is what many people don't understand about the Rosary (and about Mary): everything we say about Mary and to Mary is inextricably connected to her Son. No, really. Everything. Everytime you talk to her, it's like she says, "Isn't my Son great?" Like any mother would do. But in this case, she's the mother of the Word incarnate. That's bound to get inter...

I need to be the Apostle of The Blindingly Obvious for a bit here. The conviction of theists of all flavors is that God (or gods, if you like) has spoken. Among theists, then, disagreements center around either the source or the content of divine revelation. Most of the disputes in the "culture wars" arise because non-theist people have a fundamental assumption that religion as we find it is merely human; the natural world is all that truly matters or exists. So, the answer to the question, "Why don't these Christians just live like normal people and embrace X, Y, and Z?" is, "We can't. God has spoken in Jesus Christ." Not that most seculars live consistently by what we find in nature anyway, but the point is, if you're arguing with a Christian, if you hold on to the assumption that religion is a nice story with an ethical gloss, you'll think he's nuts. But you should question your own premise on that one. I agree with the atheists on t...

Ah, the life of a writer. On the other hand, if I'm gonna make a go at this writer thing, maybe I should go outside sometimes. [That would require you to put on a clean shirt.--ed.] And various other things. [Like stop listening to Audrey Assad for 5 seconds.--ed.] I know; it's out of control. We're all so lucky I can't find any of my portable music players right now. [For being tech-aware, (if not savvy) you sure are stodgy.--ed.] Thank you. I delight in being behind the times, because the times suck. Jesus would be behind the times, too, but he's always making himself present in His merciful love everywhere. [Ahem.--ed.] Fine, it's not an altar. Julia Roberts got left at the table. It's not an altar call; it's a table call. Jesus told us to leave our gifts at the table. Right. Maybe instead of making such an unnecessary and unwarranted fuss about the Mass as a sacrifice, you might explore how it could be one, given that Christ's sacrifice on the Cr...