Q & A on Topic: Why Did You Leave Your Religion?
Biblical Interpretation

Q & A on Topic: Why Did You Leave Your Religion?

To the ancients who lived in a warrior culture, Stoic philosophy is very appealing. The Stoics don’t ask the question: Why do bad things happen to good people? Instead, they admit that good and bad things happen to everyone, that the rain falls on both the bad and the good. Bad things happen to good people, that is part of life. The real question is: How can God help us endure and prevail over our suffering? […]

Biblical Interpretation

Blessed Are the Poor, Woe to the Rich, and Other Woke Compassionate Bible Verses

Among the Church Fathers, St Ambrose teaches us,
“Blessed are the poor. Not all the poor are blessed, for poverty is neutral. The poor can be either good or evil,” unless he is the blessed pauper described by Proverbs 19:22, “’A righteous poor man is better than a rich liar.’ Blessed is the poor man in whom the prince of this world finds nothing. Blessed is the poor man who is like that poor Man who, although he was rich, became poor for our sake,” […]

Biblical Interpretation

Do Christians Need To Go To Church? Which Type of Church Should You Attend?

St Augustine’s memorable reflection on our question appear in his Confessions, which is really one of the first testimonials. St Augustine tells us the story of Victorinus, a philosopher who studies the Gospels and the Church Fathers but declines to attend services, asking “Do the walls of the Church make you a Christian?” Victorinus was a learned man, an erudite pagan Platonic philosopher, the Word of the Lord spoke directly to him from the page, perhaps he felt intellectually superior to many simple Christians he knew.

In the words of St Augustine, in his studies Victorinus became “resolute, he was seized by the fear that Christ might deny him before the holy angels if he was too faint-hearted to acknowledge Christ before men, and he felt himself guilty of a great crime in being ashamed of the sacraments instituted by the Word of God in his lowly state.” […]

Biblical Interpretation

St Augustine: On Christian Teaching, How To Read Scripture

St Augustine teaches, “Whoever thinks he understands the Holy Scriptures, or any part of them, but interprets them in a way that does not build up this two-fold Love of God and love of neighbor, does not truly understand the Scriptures. If, on the other hand, a man draws a meaning from Scriptures that builds up the two-fold Love of God and love of his neighbor, although he does not precisely understand the exact meaning of the author, his error is not pernicious, and he is wholly clear from the charge of deception.” […]

Biblical Interpretation

Biblical Interpretation in the Catholic Church, the 1994 Pontifical Biblical Commission Decree

Historically, the Catholic Church has defended itself from attacks, both real and imagined, from enemies of the faith, and this defensiveness also extended to Biblical studies. The twentieth century saw a relaxing of this defensiveness, culminating in the decree Dei Verbum pronounced by Vatican II, encouraging Catholic scholars to use more modern methods of interpreting the Scriptures, under the guidance of the Vatican office, the Pontifical Biblical Commission. […]

Biblical Interpretation

Book Review: Early Church Fathers Library – 38 Volumes in 3 Series

This 38-volume library of the works of the Early Church Fathers in the first few centuries of the Church is an invaluable resource for the serious student of Theology, and the Scriptures also, since many of the writings of the early Church Fathers are Biblical commentaries.  Although this collection was compiled in the late 1800’s by Protestant scholars, it is still a primary English source for many of these works for scholars of all denominations. […]