I realize that I haven’t posted any new content for several months. Even though I have been busy, I haven’t forgotten my desire to learn more about the Catholic faith and share my own convictions without being overbearing.

The Friday before last, I responded to posters I saw around campus to see a film about Pope John Paul II with the Newman club. The film was good and starred the main character from A Princess Bride as the pope in his younger days. I was saddened by the decision he had to make between the priesthood and a potential marriage, when in comparison, worthy Mormon males are encouraged to magnify both privileges. But as I attempt to understand Karol Wojtyla in the context of his own faith, I can see the good fruit that the decision produced and I am glad he put his talents to optimal use. The film portrayed the pope as having a very keen sense of humor and willing to stand up to his principles, which were sometimes at odds with Communist-controlled Poland. My short response here can’t do justice to such a great man. Read the rest of this entry »

[ed. notes: A friend of mine, Ted Jones, has prodigiously compiled some notes in regards to Pelagianism heresy. I have heard that Mormons are semi-pelagianists, but I haven't carefully compared the two beliefs. A review of history might be relevant in some way to the recent coverage given to Catholic clarification about the fate of unbaptized infants.]

8-10 years or so back I did some reading on Pelagianism and took notes on cards. I finally decided to transcribe those notes to the computer. As the notes were taken long ago; I have trouble reading my own handwriting at times (grin); the note and the source references are sometimes too cryptic for me to even decipher anymore. But anyway, here it is. It is 15 pages long, but mostly in short sentences, so the contact is actually rather small (130K). It will be noticed that the controversy waged long after Augustine died (430), and continued to do so for centuries.

Pelagianism: a Chronology Read the rest of this entry »

Steve asks:

On this feast of the Immaculate Conception I thought it might be a good time to ask if the Mormon Church has any official doctrine on the events surrounding Mary’s conception of Christ? That, and I just wanted to see if people still visit this site.

I am glad to see at least some people still visit this site, although I think it only gets about half the traffic that it got when it first started up. I am excited to field a new question in addition to some other posts I have planned. Read the rest of this entry »

As promised, I’m going to piecewise review Hugh Nibley’s book. The Apostles and Bishops in Early Christianity and where appropriate make connections with Mormon priesthood development. This will act as a fairness control and will probably have the effect of softening some of Nibley’s criticisms. I’ll start with the Editors’ preface, and if any book needed such this one does, because it remains an unpolished literary work. Something that is bound to be frustrating is that the editors were unable to track down some of Nibley’s sources, especially some that buttress his arguments at crucial junctures. This is on top of of some of Nibley’s typical freelancing with footnotes, something he has come under fire for even among Mormon scholars. In fairness to Hugh, he never intended this manuscript to be for publication, rather it contains lecture notes for a 1954 class originally containing 155 pages, but expanded to 239 in the FARMS compilation. Read the rest of this entry »

I have putting off a review of the 15th volume in The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley since reading it before starting the Mormons and Catholics blog for a number of reasons. The first is that I wanted to set the tone for this site by not diving directly into a books or criticisms that would put Catholics on the defensive. After reading some discussions on ZLMB, Catholic Answers, and FAIR I have come to realize there are good Catholic responses to challenges made in regards to apostolic succession. When I read some Catholic debates with Protestants over issues of authority, I generally find more affinity with the Catholic arguments. I would hope that Catholics could come to likewise appreciate the Mormon arguments presented in Mormon/Protestant debates. Protestant ones rely on, as I see it, promoting a “priesthood of all believers” at the expense of having a lineage traceable to the apostles and essentially refusing to recognize Mormon or Catholic priesthoods as legitimate primarily based on criticisms derived from scriptural interpretations. So perhaps in exploring ideas that Nibley introduces might reveal more common ground between Mormons and Catholics and hence not be so divisive.

Read the rest of this entry »