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What does the word "Catholic" mean?

  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...

Man-Made Tradition vs Apostolic Tradition

Quite often in discussions which are about or involve some aspects of Early Church history or practices earlier Christians did, someone will inevitably throw out the "show stopper" that is "it's all just man made tradition" therefore not valid and the discussion is over. It’s as though saying it's "man made", without considering anything other than that they can't find an isolated chapter and verse in the bible which states something explicitly, means they've "won" the debate! Nothing more to see here folks, someone told us it's man made so we can all go home now. Either that, or the mere mention of the word “tradition” and suddenly you’re accused of be...

The Coming of Jesus: Revelation Fulfilled?

...ny of the Early Church Fathers believed and expected a literal millennial reign at some point in the far future, although opinion on this was divided, and Jerome refers to it as the “millennial fable” in his Commentary on Daniel, as he interprets the Church inheriting an eternal, spiritual kingdom – not an earthly one, along with Eusebius also considering such things as “figurative passages” when speaking against Papias’ literal understanding of it.   There is, though, an extant extra-biblical saying of Jesus which Papias recorded, in which there is a description of life during this millennial reign: “The Lord used to teach about those times...

40 Days with the Fathers: Source Texts Companion Book

...Available soon will be a companion book that will include all of the source texts in full, which I had hoped to get out in time for Lent, but it’s unlikely to be ready in time this year. So if you have my book and would like to read along each day with the Church Fathers as well, I’ve compiled a list of online sources where you can read the original texts. If you don’t have the book and would like it, you can order it now from Amazon and still get it in time for Lent by clicking the following link: Amazon.com; or if you would like to pledge some support towards my book writing in return for some nice perks, you can do so on my Patreon page: https://patreo...

How Polycarp (And Others) Show The Early Use Of The New Testament

...info The Early Church Fathers | Patristics.info The Martyrdom of Polycarp | Patristics.info Polycarp of Smyrna (christian-history.org) Polycarp: An Early Christian Martyr (plough.com) How Polycarp Gives Us Evidence For The Early Use Of The New Testament | Reasons for Jesus The Development of the Canon of the New Testament — Polycarp (ntcanon.org) Polycarp of Smyrna (christian-history.org) Creedal Christians: The Nicene Creed | That Ancient Faith...

Great Lent: The Season of Fasting

...Fasting A spiritual and physical discipline If you are looking for a Lenten reading plan, make sure to check out my book, 40 Days with the Fathers: A Journey Through Church History, which will take you through the first 400 years of Church history in forty days! Lent is upon us once again (according to Western tradition), and so I thought it’d be good to write something on the discipline of fasting, which is often neglected or overlooked in many Protestant Churches. And much like any major holiday, there is the usual arguments and accusations about how it's all just pagan festivities with a "Christian mask". Easter is no different, and usually gets hit...