This is part of a series on Roman Catholicism. See this index. In “Living Voice,” I discussed the official Roman Catholic position on scripture and teased the upcoming series on justification by faith. But, before we delve into the new series, I want to continue setting up the background for …
Summary The chart above summarizes what we’ve found throughout this series. First, the ancient liturgy… Dismissal Eucharist Oblation Epiclesis Lord’s Supper …is strongly attested to. Sixteen out of seventeen writers that we examined in the first 300 years affirmatively assert an ancient, non-Roman liturgy. They don’t always discuss all aspects …
Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430) Augustine became a Roman Catholic Christian in 386, so he is unique in this series in that he was of-a-sorts fully Roman Catholic. And yet he is known for holding a lot of Protestant positions. It will be interesting to discover his views on …
Hilary of Poitiers (310-367) Let’s start immediately with the quotation that FishEaters provides: Hilary is writing about the Trinity and how the elements of the Last Supper pertain to it. It is a bit vague from this clipped paragraph precisely what is being discussed. Let’s back it up a paragraph: …
Ambrose of Milan While we have seen a number of writers altering the ancient liturgy—Cyril in 350, Serapion in 353, Apostolic Constitutions in 375, Chrysostom in 400—it is Ambrose writing in 389 that is most blatant in embracing the doctrinal innovations of the newly risen Roman Catholic Church. Ambrose joins …
John Chrysostom (347-407) John Chrysostom was an extremely prodigious writer, composing around 700 sermons, 250 letters, and a number of other works, including biblical commentaries. He wrote all of his works during the transitional period during the rise of Roman Catholicism. His writings reflect the changes in the development of …
Basil of Caesarea (330-378) Recall in Part 25: Gregory Nazianzus, that Basil attended the funeral of Gregory Nazianzus (the Elder). That eulogy was given by Gregory (the Younger). Basil and Gregory were friends. Given that Gregory (the Younger) agreed with the doctrinal views of Gregory (the Elder) and that Basil …
Interlude This series is, in part, a response to FishEaters, who was raised up as a credible expert on the Roman Catholic Eucharist: I had, for a while, wanted to respond to FishEaters’ “The Eucharist,” but we needed to set up the ground work of this series before we could attempt …
The Rise of Roman Catholicism In Part 16: Apostolic Constitutions (375-380), we got hints on how the Eucharist and Lord’s Supper was ultimately combined and reordered into one Roman liturgy. As we continue this series, we will see how the innovations described by the “heretical”Apostolic Constitutions sit right into the middle …
Tertullian At first glace these quotes seem rather tame and innocent. But they are among the most divisive words ever written in the church. For the first time in this series, additional contextual analysis—from outside this mostly self-contained series—is required. Tertullian is the first writer in the church to use …