Posted by Luke J. Wilson on 8th March 2021 in Etymology | catholic,church fathers,church history,etymology,roman catholic,eastern orthodox,Great Schism,Muratorian Fragment
For many people today, non-Christians and (low church) Christians alike, when
they hear
the word “Catholic”, certain images spring to mind:
the Pope,
the rosery, Catholic school, big old churches buildings, choirboys, maybe monks or statues
of Mary even; and sadly more recently, sex abuse scandals.
But, generally speaking, all
of these are actually aspects
of Roman Catholicism — a particular branch
of Christianity, and not what
the word “catholic” truly means as we’ll see when examining how
the early church used
the word and what
the original Greek word means.
καθολικός (katholikos)
the Greek word where we get
the English word “c...