Transcription of Catholic Biblical Apologetics
1 Catholic Biblical ApologeticsDr. Robert J. SchihlPaul D. FlanaganPlease visit our website at: otherwise noted, all Scripture texts are taken from theNew American Bible with Revised New Testament andRevised Psalms 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, and are used bypermission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of theNew American Biblemay be reproduced inany form without permission in writing from the copyright owner. 1985 2013, Robert Schihl and Paul FlanaganCatholic Biblical ApologeticsiTable of 1 Apologetics Without 1An Incomplete Picture .. 1 Dearly Beloved Catholic Brothers and Sisters .. Catholic and Christian: Faith and 5 The Transmission of Authoritative Doctrine .. 5 Apostolic Confessions of 7 Post Apostolic Confessions of 8 Salvation: A Biblical Portrait.
2 10 Salvation: Being Saved .. 10 The Catholic Response to Are You Saved? .. 11 The Knowledge of Salvation .. 12 Faith and Works .. 12 The Process of Christian Initiation .. 14 The Church: A Biblical Portrait - A New Testament Apologetic .. 16 The Marks of the 22 Labels Among Christians .. 23 Genealogy of Christian Faith 24 Modes of Transmitting Authoritative Doctrine .. Revelation By Letter (2 Thess 2:15): The Bible .. 33 Divine Revelation .. 33 The Bible: Written 34 The Hebrew Scriptures: Books of the Old Testament .. 35 Historical and Geographical Background for the Development of the Two Old Testament Canons .. 36 Background Chart: Development of the Old Testament Canons .. 39 Chronology of the Apostolic Age and the Development of the New Testament Canon.
3 41 The Canon of the Bible .. 43 Comparison of Terms for Disputed Books .. 45 Inspiration of the 45 Hermeneutics: Understanding Revelation .. 46 Major Church Pronouncements on the Revelation By Word of Mouth (2 Thess 2:15): Handing On .. 53 Paradosis:Handing On Divine Revelation .. 53 The Biblical Model for Handing On Truth and Refuting Error: Acts 15, The Council of 55 Acts 15 Model: General or Ecumenical Councils of the Church 56 Acts 15 Model: General Councils of the 58 Apostolic Fathers of the Church .. 62 Post Apostolic Fathers of the Church .. 63 Doctors of the Church .. 66 Handing On Divine Revelation: Vatican Council II .. Handling and Teaching Authority .. 73 Peter: A Biblical Portrait .. 73 Matthew Chapter 16, Verse 18: The Primacy of Peter.
4 76 The Charism of Truth Handling: Infallibility .. 79 Bishop of 80 Bishops of Rome: 82 The Charism of Infallibility: The 84iiCatholic Biblical Sacraments: The Life of The Christian .. 87 The Sacraments: The Life of the Christian .. 87 Baptism: Initiation and Regeneration .. 95 Confirmation .. 104 The Eucharist: The Lord s 107 Healing/Anointing of the Sick .. 112 Matrimony .. 113 Orders .. Communion of 119A Biblical Portrait of Saint .. 119 The Canon of Holiness .. 120 The Role of the Saints .. 121 The Intercession of the 121 The Canonization of 123 Images and Relics of the Saints .. 124 Praying to the Saints / Praying for the the Mother of Jesus: 127 Mary: An 127A Biblical Portrait of 128 Mary: Virgin and Ever Virgin .. 130 The Immaculate Conception of Mary.
5 133 The Assumption of 135 Private Devotions to Mary: The Rosary .. 136 Apparitions of Mary .. : The Last Things .. 139 Death .. 143 Hell: Reprobation .. 145 Purgatory .. 148 The Parousia: Christ s Second Coming .. 150 Resurrection of the Dead .. 152 Appendix: A Personal Relationship With Christ .. 161 Catholic Biblical Without ApologyApologetics (from the Greekapologeisthai, meaning to defend) is an orderly defense and justification. The intent ofthis work is to present what the Roman Catholic Church teaches, and why. We present the Biblical and rationalcredibility and credentials of Catholic Christian faith. Our apologetic approach bases the teachings of the RomanCatholic Church in Divine Revelation: The Biblical (logos): origin, foundation, and non contradictory nature of the truths of the Bible; The Constant Tradition of the Church (paradosis): the enduring and progressive growth of the truthsunder the guidance of the Holy text grew out of a series of presentations which explained Roman Catholic Church teachings in a manner whichwas easy to understand, yet soundly rooted in the two streams of the one source of Divine Revelation.
6 The authorseach participate in two faith communities, one Roman Catholic , and the other Evangelical Protestant. We realizedthat much of the friction between these communities results from miscommunication and , we set out to explain the basis of foundational Roman Catholic desire to explain rather than convince. Our audiences always come from various faith communities with varyingbeliefs. Our intent is to explain Roman Catholic teachings in a language that makes sense to all the faithcommunities. So often, misunderstandings and friction result from mere differences in Tim 2:14 Remind people of these things and charge them beforeGod to stop disputing about words. Thisserves no useful purpose since it harms those who Tim 2:23 Avoid foolish and ignorant debates, for you know that they breed use the Bible as the foundation for our presentation because we found that Bible based information is the singlemost important mode of initial understanding and sharing between our communities.
7 Yet we make sure that theconstant faith and teachings of the Church are presented as another stream of you read, you may disagree. Of course. We are not debating, just explaining. We seek to set forth the what andwhy of Catholic teaching. Once there is understanding, then we can be in a relationship based upon sharedknowledge rather than Incomplete PictureThis text is incomplete in many ways. No small text can contain the immense teaching and explanation of the RomanCatholic faith. We have hit only the high spots, the truths and issues which we believe are the most important asfoundations of faith. There is much more to cover beyond authors are incomplete also. We present this text from our experience and our viewpoints. We use the Bible andthe Church documents to illustrate our Faith.
8 Yet, we cannot give the topic complete justice because of ourlimitations. Please excuse our errors, blind spots, and views limited by space , this text is information. Yet the process for understanding Roman Catholicism is formation rather thaneducation. In the early history of the Christian Church, the Gnostic heretics tied success in faith to knowledge. TheChurch knew then, and it knows now, that Christianity is a matter of relationships rather than knowledge. Thefoundation of Christianity is relationship with Jesus. One key to this relationship is our relationships with each cannot love God and hate people. Changing our lives to love people and love God more is what formation is allabout. This text cannot show you the reality of Roman Catholicism.
9 Only participation in an active faith communitycan give one the understanding of what Catholics are really these caveats, we present Catholic Biblical 12 Catholic Biblical ApologeticsDearly Beloved Catholic Brothers and SistersIt is important to us that we address a few words to you who already share the fullness of faith in the Roman CatholicChurch with us. We do this because of the fact that we address this text not just to our Catholic brothers and sisters,but also to our brothers and sisters from different faith communities. For that reason we want to verbalize a fewthoughts to many ways this text is primarily for us Catholic Christians. This text began in a Catholic faith community and wasinitially taught in Catholic churches. This text reflects our experience with other Christians who did not know whatwe believed or knew only error about our of us Catholics did not receive the fullness of understanding in our Faith as we might have hoped.
10 This may betrue for many reasons: There probably was a time when we weren t the least interested in the teachings of the Church. We mayhave heard them; but they were not important at that time. On the other hand, after the reception of Confirmation, we (and sometimes our parents under oururging) felt in some way that we possessed the fullness of knowledge of the Faith. Often we ended ourperiod of studying and learning about Christ, His Word and the Church, as adolescents. In some instances, many of us did not receive proper teaching in our Faith because of the weaknessesof priests and religious of the past. In some cases, even they may have been ignorant of the teachings ofour Faith. Before we cast stones, we need to remember that Christ said He comes to call sinners andthat the healthy do not need a physician.
