DOCSLIB.ORG

St. Pius X Parish

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
St. Pius X Parish St. Pius X Parish Pastor: Father John G. Horgan, STL Email: [email protected] Rectory Phone: 604.929.1404 Parish Email: [email protected] Parish Website: www.stpiusxnorthvan.ca Roman Catholic Church - 1150 Mount Seymour Road, North Vancouver, BC V7G 2M1 Bulletin for the First Sunday of Advent – Week of November 29, 2020 FATHER JOHN’S PAGE Understanding the Immaculate Conception by Fr. Joseph Mary Elder, O.F.M.Cap. On December 8th, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a holy day of obligation. Many Christians, including a large number of Catholics, mistakenly believe that this feast is in reference to the conception of Jesus Christ in the womb of the Virgin Mary. This is incorrect; the feast honors rather the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother St. Anne. Belief in the Immaculate Conception of Mary is a dogma of the Church proclaimed infallibly by Pope Pius IX in the papal bull Ineffabilis Deus on December 8, 1854. The bull states: “We declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the first instant of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace of the Omnipotent God, in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of mankind, was preserved immaculate from all stain of original sin, has been revealed by God, and therefore should firmly and constantly be believed by all the faithful.” Working with teenagers in youth ministry, I am often asked by an astute young person: “If this is a dogma of the Church, why did they wait 1800 years to say so?” It is a question confusing to many Catholics and disturbing to many of our Protestant brothers and sisters as well. Revealed Truth Public Revelation refers to the truths revealed by God that are necessary for our sanctification and eternal salvation. This is distinguished from Private Revelations such as those made by Our Lady of Guadalupe to St. Juan Diego or by Jesus Christ to St. Faustina. Private Revelations, when authentic, may never add anything new to the Public Revelation (Deposit of Faith), but only recall elements being neglected at an important moment in human history. The Church teaches that the Public Revelation of Jesus Christ ended with the death of the last apostle, St. John. From that moment forward, there will be no new Public Revelation. Therefore, every truth God wished to reveal to us has already been revealed! If this is true, why is there no mention of the term “Immaculate Conception” in the entire Bible? Why is the term not referred to in any of the writings of the earliest Church Fathers? St. Pius X Parish – Week of November 29, 2020 Bulletin The Development of Doctrine Just prior to his Ascension into Heaven, Jesus made the following promise to his apostles: “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth” (John 16: 12-13). With this promise, Jesus assured his apostles and their descendants that the Holy Spirit would guide them into a fuller understanding of the truths already revealed by God. History has borne this promise out. Through prayer, reflection, discussion – and often intense arguments – the Church has come to a richer understanding of God’s revealed truth and given more descriptive and exact language to its wording. This process of growing in understanding of truth over time is referred to by Saint John Henry Newman as the “Development of Doctrine.” In his 1845 book, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, Newman states that later explicit teachings of the Church are actually elaborations on what is implicitly present in Revelation – both in Sacred Scripture and Tradition – which were present from the beginnings of the Church. Newman uses the analogy of an acorn blossoming into the fullness of an oak tree to elucidate the meaning. Someone looking at an oak tree could easily conclude that is has nothing in common with an acorn. Yet, the mature oak tree is the logical development of the acorn. Over time, an acorn grows roots, bursts forth from the soil, begins to soar toward the sun, develops branches and grows leaves. Each step along the way is a logical development of the previous step. So it is also with the authentic development of doctrine as well. The Immaculate Conception, Scripture and the Early Church Fathers Catholic Theologians point out that the doctrine of Mary’s Immaculate Conception is contained in the teaching of the Fathers of the Church, but in an implicit manner. Their frequent expressions on the subject of the “sinlessness of Mary” are so ample and absolute that they may be taken to include original sin as well. Throughout the first five centuries of the Church, theologians referred to Mary using such epithets as “in every respect holy,” “in all things unstained,” “super-innocent,” and “singularly holy.” They make repeated comparisons to Mary with Eve prior to the fall, as ancestress of a redeemed people. St. Augustine goes so far as to say: “As regards the Mother of God, I will not allow any question whatever of sin.” Mary as the New Eve Theologians point likewise to the implicit affirmations of the Immaculate Conception in Scripture. Two passages in particular contain the seeds of the doctrine. In Genesis 3:15, after the fall of Adam and Eve, the Lord says to the serpent who tempted them, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he shall crush your head, and you strike at his heel.” This Old Testament passage is a prophecy of the Gospel (thus it is often referred to as the Protoevangelium, ‘first gospel’). The prophecy states that the “seed” of the woman will crush the “serpent’s” head. This can only refer to Jesus Christ, who is to crush Satan victoriously by his work of redemption. It follows, therefore, that “the woman” must be the Mother of Jesus. In Genesis 3, both Jesus and Mary are said to be in a state of “enmity” against the serpent, which in the Hebrew original means “complete and radical opposition” to him. It is for this reason that it is not likely that God would have permitted Mary to inherit the condition of “original sin” from Adam and Eve. Any participation by her in the disorder and corruption of the soul that the rest of us inherit from Adam and Eve would place the Mother of Jesus at least partially under the sway of Satan and evil, and thereby contradict the complete “enmity” between Mary and Satan prophesied in Genesis 3. 2 | Page St. Pius X Parish – Week of November 29, 2020 Bulletin The second Bible passage that points to the implicit truth of the Immaculate Conception is Luke 1:28, the words of the angel Gabriel to Mary at the Annunciation, “Hail, full of grace.” In the original Greek of the New Testament, the phrase “full of grace” is translated from the word kecharitomene. In this passage, “full of grace” is used as a name or title for Mary, and she is the only one addressed in this fashion in the entire Bible, so it must indicate something special and distinctive about her. The Celebration of the Immaculate Conception The celebration of an actual liturgical feast of the Immaculate Conception was kept in the Eastern Church long before its appearance in the West and was largely the achievement of the monastic communities. The first authentic record of this celebration is found in the Canon of St. Andrew of Crete, written at the close of the seventh century. The monks selected the date, December 9, for the celebration of the feast, which was then retained in the calendars of the Eastern Churches. Gradually it emerged from the cloister, and eventually, before the close of the ninth century, it was already a universal feast of obligation in the Byzantine Empire. From the East this devotion spread to the Western Church. It is in Naples that we find the first authentic testimony, a calendar engraved upon marble, on which is found the inscription under the date of December 9: “The Conception of Saint Mary Virgin.” Scholars fix the date of this marble calendar between 840 and 850. The first definite and authentic knowledge of the feast in the Western Church is found in England in the eleventh century. Here the feast was commemorated on December 8. At the close of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the feast spread throughout Western Europe and began to be celebrated in numerous dioceses. The Theological Controversy The Medieval Scholastics are held up by the Church as some of the greatest theologians in history. Among the many giants of this time are St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Albert the Great, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Anselm and St. Bonaventure. The problematic question is why such medieval theological giants like St. Thomas and St. Bernard did not preach or teach the Immaculate Conception of Mary. The answer is relatively simple. Although they firmly believed in the sinlessness of the 3 | Page St. Pius X Parish – Week of November 29, 2020 Bulletin Virgin Mary, they were unable to construct a theological defense of her Immaculate Conception. The puzzle for Thomas and others was how – not whether – Mary was sinless. St. Bernard stated the problem as such: “If Mary could not be sanctified before her conception itself, on account of the sin involved therein, it follows she was sanctified in the womb after her conception, which, since she was cleansed from sin, made her birth holy and not her conception” St.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Table of Contents
    THE VIRGIN MARY Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 3 THE LIFE OF MARY ..................................................................................................... 4 THE LEGEND OF JOACHIM AND ANNE ........................................................................ 4 THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION ................................................................................. 5 THE EARLY LIFE OF MARY .............................................................................................. 5 THE ANNUNCIATION .......................................................................................................... 6 MARY’S VISIT TO ELIZABETH ........................................................................................ 6 THE BIRTH OF JESUS .......................................................................................................... 7 THE CHILDHOOD OF JESUS ............................................................................................. 8 THE MINISTRY, DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS ....................................... 8 MARY’S ROLE IN SALVATION HISTORY .............................................................. 9 1 THE VIRGIN MARY I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; They will strike at your head, while you strike at their heel. Gen. 3:15 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign; behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear
    [Show full text]
  • The Immaculate Conception in Ecumenical Perspective
    32 THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION IN ECUMENICAL PERSPECTIVE By DONALD G. DAWE HE POPULAR presupposition of ecumenical dialogue is that ~ we should start with the easy matters first and proceed ]1 slowly, if at all, to the more difficult questions. This IL approach has served the ecumenical dialogue on marian questions well up to this point. Common exploration of~scripture has swept away much misunderstanding. Historical studies of the protestant reformers, their piety and theology, have shown a deep and widespread concern for Mary that had been lost by their later followers. While rejoicing in these discoveries, one is always left with the stubborn realization that we do not live in the first century, or the sixteenth century, but the twentieth century. Our theological questions, our ecumenical concerns and our piety are shaped by the traditions of the Church as it exists today. Therefore we need to look at the traditions that have shaped the Churches of today as they search for the meaning of Mary. When we leave historical and biblical studies to look at contem- porary marian devotion and theology, we are painfully aware of the depth and seriousness of conflict. Nowhere is this more evident than in considering the two great marian definitions that have been crucial to modern Roman Catholicism -- the promulgation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854 and the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1950. Suddenly we find ourselves transported from the realm of the familiar, where agree- ment lies close to the surface, into those most difficult and painful questions, where deep and threatening differences become evident.
    [Show full text]
  • Changing Images of the Virgin Mary in Lutheran Sermons of the Sixteenth Century Beth Kreitzer
    Reforming Mary OXFORD STUDIES IN HISTORICAL THEOLOGY Series Editor David C. Steinmetz, Duke University Editorial Board Gerhard Sauter, Rheinische Friedrich- Irena Backus, Universite´ de Gene`ve Wilhelms-Universita¨t Bonn Robert C. Gregg, Stanford Susan E. Schreiner, University of University Chicago George M. Marsden, University of John Van Engen, University of Notre Notre Dame Dame Wayne A. Meeks, Yale University Geoffrey Wainwright, Duke University Robert L. Wilken, University of Virginia THE GOSPEL OF JOHN IN THE THE CONFESSIONALIZATION OF SIXTEENTH CENTURY HUMANISM IN REFORMATION The Johannine Exegesis of Wolfgang Musculus GERMANY Craig S. Farmer Erika Rummell PRIMITIVISM, RADICALISM, AND THE THE PLEASURE OF DISCERNMENT LAMB’S WAR Marguerite de Navarre as Theologian The Baptist-Quaker Conflict in Seventeenth- Carol Thysell Century England REFORMATION READINGS OF THE T. L. Underwood APOCALYPSE HUMAN FREEDOM, CHRISTIAN Geneva, Zurich, and Wittenberg RIGHTEOUSNESS Irena Backus Philip Melanchthon’s Exegetical Dispute with WRITING THE WRONGS Erasmus of Rotterdam Women of the Old Testament among Biblical Timothy J. Wengert Commentators from Philo through the Reformation CASSIAN THE MONK John L. Thomspon Columba Stewart THE HUNGRY ARE DYING IMAGES AND RELICS Beggars and Bishops in Roman Cappadocia Theological Perceptions and Visual Images in Susan R. Holman Sixteenth-Century Europe John Dillenberger RESCUE FOR THE DEAD The Posthumous Salvation of Non-Christians in THE BODY BROKEN Early Christianity The Calvinist Doctrine of the Eucharist and the Jeffrey A. Trumbower Symbolization of Power in Sixteenth-Century AFTER CALVIN France Studies in the Development of a Theological Christopher Elwood Tradition WHAT PURE EYES COULD SEE Richard A. Muller Calvin’s Doctrine of Faith in Its Exegetical THE POVERTY OF RICHES Context St.
    [Show full text]
  • Mariology a Dogmatic Treatise on the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God with an Appendix on the Worship of the Saints, Relics, and Images
    MARIOLOGY A DOGMATIC TREATISE ON THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, MOTHER OF GOD WITH AN APPENDIX ON THE WORSHIP OF THE SAINTS, RELICS, AND IMAGES BY THE RT. REV. MSGR. JOSEPH POHLE, PH.D., D.D. FORMERLY PROFESSOR OF DOGMATIC THEOLOGY AT ST. JOSEPH’S SEMINARY, LEEDS (ENGLAND), LATER PROFESSOR OF FUNDAMENTAL THEOLOGY IN THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA ADAPTED AND EDITED BY ARTHUR PREUSS THIRD, REVISED EDITION B. HERDER BOOK CO. 17 SOUTH BROADWAY, ST. LOUIS, MO. AND 68 GREAT RUSSELL ST. LONDON, W. C. 1919 NIHIL OBSTAT Sti. Ludovici, die 11 Feb. 1919 F. G. Holweck, Censor Librorum IMPRIMATUR Sti. Ludovici, die 12 Feb. 1919 X Joannes J. Glennon, Archiepiscopus Sti. Ludovici Copyright, 1914 by Joseph Gummersbach All rights reserved First Edition 1914 Second Edition 1916 Third Edition 1919 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION PART I. MARY’S DIVINE MOTHERHOOD AS THE SOURCE OF ALL HER PREROGATIVES CH. I. Mary the Mother of God CH. II. Mary’s Dignity as Mother of God and the Graces Attached to Her Divine Motherhood § 1. The Objective Dignity of Mary’s Divine Motherhood § 2. Mary’s Fulness of Grace PART II. MARY’S SPECIAL PREROGATIVES CH. I. The Negative Prerogatives of the Blessed Virgin § 1. Mary’s Immaculate Conception § 2. Mary’s Sinlessness § 3. Mary’s Perpetual Virginity § 4. Mary’s Bodily Assumption into Heaven CH. II. The Positive Prerogatives of the Blessed Virgin § 1. Mary’s Secondary Mediatorship § 2. The Cult of the Blessed Virgin APPENDIX. ON THE WORSHIP OF THE SAINTS, RELICS, AND IMAGES CH. I. The Worship of the Saints CH.
    [Show full text]
  • Mary in Orthodox and Catholic Theology
    Theological Studies 71 (2010) WOMAN OF MANY NAMES: MARY IN ORTHODOX AND CATHOLIC THEOLOGY BRIAN E. DALEY, S.J. Catholic emphasis on Mary’s role in the Christian story of salva- tion and on the unique privileges given her by God to accomplish that salvation for humanity continues to trouble some Protestants and seems to distract from the Church’s central preaching. This article attempts to show the continuity between Catholic and Orthodox liturgical and theological traditions on Mary, despite apparent differences in terminology and image, and draws on the works of Sergei Bulgakov and Karl Rahner to reflect on the funda- mental meaning of Mary for both Eastern and Western forms of Christian faith. HEN I WAS A DOCTORAL STUDENT in England, each year I used to go Wwith a group of students on a Holy Week pilgrimage to the medieval Marian shrine at Walsingham. Our group was composed of about 30 young people, half of them Catholic and half Anglican, with an Anglican priest and myself as chaplains. As we walked on our way, we were put up each night by a local parish; the night before we arrived at Walsingham we were usually guests of an Anglican community in a remote village in rural Nor- folk, with a majestic 15th-century church standing alone in the fields. One year, as our straggling, footsore band of pilgrims neared the church, the vicar—a rather eccentric but enthusiastic high-churchman, radiating tou- sled white hair and expansive gestures—came out in surplice and cope with a delegation of his parishioners led by cross and candles to meet us.
    [Show full text]
  • December 4, 2016
    The Second Sunday of Advent December 4, 2016 Mark Your Calendars— This Thursday, December 8th, is the Feast of the Immaculate At 8th and N Streets NW Conception. It is a holyday of obligation. There will be masses here at Immaculate Conception Church at 8:30 am and 12:15 Washington DC pm. If you are unable to attend here, please attend mass on that day at a convenient Catholic church. Office The Service of Lessons and Carols 4002 53rd Street will be held next Sunday, Bladensburg, MD 20710 December 11th at 7:30 pm. Please join us on Gaudete Sunday 202-999-9934 for this joyous time of meditation on the Coming of our StLukesOrdinariate.com Saviour. The service will be followed by a wine and cheese reception. We encourage all parishioners to attend and donate wine, cheese, and crackers for our guests. The Very Rev. Fr. Mark W. Lewis Next weekend is the close of our current Pastor [email protected] Corporal Work of Mercy: Christmas Toys We are almost done collecting Christmas toys for children. The Welcome to St. Luke’s toys will be delivered to St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church, at Immaculate Conception. where they will be given to kids at a Christmas party We are delighted to have you with us. on December 21. Father Michael Kelley, pastor of St. Martin of We are a parish of the Tours, says that most of the kids served by the parish are mostly Personal Ordinariate of African-American; thus, dolls—always popular gifts for little the Chair of Saint Peter, girls—should reflect this.
    [Show full text]
  • Durham E-Theses
    Durham E-Theses A feminist theological critique of texts and traditions about Mary the mother of Jesus Killoury, Karen Marie How to cite: Killoury, Karen Marie (1992) A feminist theological critique of texts and traditions about Mary the mother of Jesus, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/6169/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 A FBMIHIST THEOLOGICAL CRITIQUB OF TEXTS AND TRADITIONS ABOO'l' MARY TBB MOTBBP. 01' JESUS The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. by Karen Marie Killoury M.A. in Feminist Theology The University of Durham 9 ocm 1992 @) 1 6 APR \993 ii "The copyright of this thesis rests with the author.
    [Show full text]
  • Immaculate Free
    FREE IMMACULATE PDF Oliver Lansley | 96 pages | 30 Aug 2007 | NICK HERN BOOKS | 9781854599445 | English | London, United Kingdom Immaculate | Definition of Immaculate by Merriam-Webster The Immaculate Conception [Notes 1] is a dogma of Immaculate Catholic Church which states that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. The Immaculate Conception of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a truth divinely revealed, the denial of which is heresy. We declare, pronounce, and Immaculate that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the Immaculate instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, Immaculate view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore Immaculate be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful. Since the 19th century a dogma has come to bear the meaning of a Immaculate revealed truth proclaimed by Immaculate teaching and hence binding for all time on the faithful; [11] while the Immaculate Conception asserts only Mary's freedom from original sin, the Council of Trentheld between andaffirmed in addition her freedom from personal sin. The mother of Mary is not a biblical character. Original sin is the Christian doctrine that each Immaculate being is born in a state Immaculate sin inherited from the first man, Adam, who disobeyed God in Immaculate the forbidden fruit of knowledge of good and evil and, in consequence, transmitted his sin and guilt by heredity to his descendants.
    [Show full text]
  • Roman Catholicism Continuity and Change by Hans Heinz
    Reflections (BRI Newsletter) Editor’s note In light of the fact that the Christian world is commemorating the five hundredth anniversary of Luther’s Reformation in 2017 it seems appropriate to have a closer look at the Roman Catholic Church. Has the Roman Catholic Church really changed since the second Vatican Council, as some claim? Are the concerns the Protestant Reformers have raised about the Pope and the Roman Catholic faith still valid? Or have they become superfluous in the current ecumenical Zeitgeist? Is the Roman Catholic Church today closer to the New Testament ideal of early Christianity than it was during the Middle Ages and the time of Luther’s Reformation? This article by Hans Heinz provides an insightful overview of the Roman Catholic Church and some of its cardinal teachings and shows where it has changed or remained unchanged over the centuries. While this article does not cover some of the most recent developments, its conclusions remain valid. Perhaps a later article can provide an update on more recent developments within the Roman Catholic Church since Benedict XVI. Hans Heinz taught Church History and Theology for many decades in Austria and Germany and is the author of several books. Roman Catholicism Continuity and Change By Hans Heinz In terms of numbers the Roman Catholic Church is the largest Christian church in today’s world. For a long time it had a say in the political history of Europe, and even today it is still an extraordinarily significant factor in many cultures. In this current age, characterized by ecumenism, it endeavors to be the voice for all Christians—even for all religions.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 December 10, 2006 SERIES: Advent 2006 SERMON: Holy Mary, Mother of God? SCRIPTURE: Luke 1:26-56 SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus T
    1 December 10, 2006 SERIES: Advent 2006 SERMON: Holy Mary, Mother of God? SCRIPTURE: Luke 1:26-56 SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus The cover story for Life magazine a few years ago was entitled The Mystery of Mary . The story begins: “Two thousand years after the Nativity, the mother of Jesus is more beloved, powerful and controversial than ever.” I may be adding to the controversy this morning. Before we get started, I would like to know how many of you grew up Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox, or perhaps even now belong to a Catholic or Orthodox Church. I had a dear pastoral colleague in St. Louis who grew up in St. Elizabeth and St. Clement parishes, attended Catholic grade school, was a graduate of DeSmet Jesuit High School, and even once considered the priesthood. After a life-changing conversion in 1985 he attended Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and joined our pastoral staff. Ten years ago I asked him to preach a sermon about the Virgin Mary. He did so, and I am indebted to him for some of the research I share with you today. Paul Stolwyk said in that sermon, While I consider myself an evangelical Protestant, I do not hate the Catholic Church. I am very appreciative of my Catholic heritage. In 1985, when I personally trusted Christ, my ability to understand the gospel of grace was built upon a foundation of understanding that I had gained by being taught in Catholic schools and attending the Catholic Mass. But that understanding left me with some large holes.
    [Show full text]
  • An Evangelical Protestant's Reflections on Roman Catholic Mariology
    Perichoresis Volume 18.5 (2020): 21–38 DOI: 10.2478/perc-2020-0026 AN EVANGELICAL PROTESTANT’S REFLECTIONS ON ROMAN CATHOLIC MARIOLOGY BENJAMIN H. ARBOUR* Institute of Philosophical and Theological Research 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 Bap- tist 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 con- servative 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 Ca- tholicism 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 In Defense of Roman Catholicism against the Claims of Extreme Protestants To be sure, there have been plenty of Protestants who have denied that the totality of Roman Catholic teaching is compatible with Christian orthodoxy. I do not mean to minimize the important differences between Evangelical and Roman Catholic soteriology, especially as concerns the doctrine of justi- fication.
    [Show full text]
  • ©® 2004 Joe Griffin 04-08-19.CC02-325
    ©Ê 2004 Joe Griffin 04-08-19.CC02-325 / 1 Encyclopaedia Britannica’s 1911 Article on The Bazaar of Heraclides: Nestorius’s Polemic to Cyril & Ephesus; Theotokos & Subsequent Marian Heresies 49. Although Nestorius was long assumed to be the founder of Nestorianism and its false doctrine of the hypostatic union, later discoveries discredit this. The dénouement of this important controversy is provided by the 1911 edition of: Black, John S. and Alexander J. Grieve. The Encyclopaedia Britannica. 13th ed. (New York: The Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1911, 1926), 19:411-12: The Nestorian Heresy. As Monophysitism is the doctrine that the God-man has only one nature, so Nestorianism is the doctrine that He was two complete persons. So far as Nestorius himself is concerned, however, it is certain that he never formulated any such doctrine; nor does any recorded utterance of his, however casual, come so near the heresy called by his name as Cyril’s deliberately framed anathema. It must be remembered that Nestorius was orthodox on the subject of the incarnation, and sincerely, even fanatically, held every article of the Nicene creed. (Karl J. von) Hefele \hā' fa-la\ [(1809-1893) a church historian famous for his history of the church councils], one of the most learned and acute of Cyril’s partisans, is compelled to admit that Nestorius accurately held the duality of the two natures and the integrity of each … and was perfectly correct in his assertion that the Godhead can neither be born nor suffer. Nestorius did not refuse to speak of Mary as being the mother of Christ … but he thought it improper to speak of her as the mother of God.
    [Show full text]