Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
History and Religion
Karl Keating Botches Cyprian “Infallibility Citation”

Karl Keating Botches Cyprian “Infallibility Citation”

Last updated on: June 6, 2026 at 12:45 am by Dave Armstrong

Karl Keating Botches Cyprian “Infallibility Citation” 2026-06-06T00:45:44-04:00 Dave Armstrong

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Elitist (not pop!) apologist Scott Eric Alt-Left has made a good point about Keating apparently botching a citation purported to be stated by the Church father St. Cyprian (c. 210-258), and he complains:

[A]n entirely bogus quotation attributed to St. Cyprian of Carthage, . . . gets quoted and requoted across Catholic apologetics cyberspace — apparently without anyone bothering to check out the citation. . . . This fake quotation is meant to prove that St. Cyprian taught papal infallibility:

Alt-Left notes that none of five separate patristic sources that he checked contains these words as Keating “cited” them. Perhaps he became aware of this deficiency in Keating’s book, Catholicism and Fundamentalism (1988) from a forum page on OrthodoxChristianity.Net (dated 2-2-09). Someone cited the “Keating version” and “Irish Hermit” pontificated:

Unfortunately this is one of those mangled and made up quotes which the Orthodox have spent years on Catholic Answers Forum trying to correct. Saint Cyprian never said that. Some modern Catholic apologists have made it up. It is not an honest way of discussing things with the Orthodox -I don’t mean you but I mean the original people who made up the quote. . . .

As someone says on the thread: “If a college student did this on a paper, he could be EXPELLED.” And they blame Karl Keating for it, although I am not sure just who is guilty. Keating may have picked it up from someone else.

Keating cited St. Cyprian in his book as follows:

Cyprian of Carthage, writing about 256, asked: “Would heretics dare to come to the very seat of Peter whence apostolic faith is derived and whither no errors can come?” [footnote: Cyprian, Epistulae 59 (55), 14] (p. 217)

Oddly, the notation of “59 (55), 14” occurs in Vol. I of The Faith of the Early Fathers (1970, p. 232), by William A. Jurgens, but Keating didn’t follow Jurgens’ version of the letter in question. Jason Evert repeated the same error in a 2002 article for Catholic Answers.

[later note from 11-3-21: the folks at Catholic Answers read this article. Two staff members contacted me and said that they would be removing four references to this “citation” that were found on their site (including the above one, which is no longer there). Moreover, they will be sending a note to Ignatius Press: publisher of Keating’s book where this error seems to have originated in more recent times. Everyone makes mistakes. What is more important is how we deal with them. Catholic Answers doesn’t deserve the derision that Alt-Left and other “elitist cynics” have been pouring upon them]

Alt-Left then indignantly (?) opines:

Evidently someone — we’ll never know who — deliberately altered Cyprian’s wording so as to create a proof-text for papal infallibility. Mr. Keating did not verify it, his book started a movement, and a fake quotation spread through the apologetics subculture like a coronavirus. . . .

All this is one more reason why I say caveat emptor when it comes to pop apologists. A lot of dubious quotations get circulated and few people try to trace them back to a primary source. They are repeated on faith (and also, to be honest, out of laziness). And they acquire the pseudo authority that comes from repetition.

But this is a lesson that apologists need to start acting more like careful scholars than like robotic regurgitators who mindlessly reshare fake quote memes on Facebook.

Alt-Left had written (with derisive exaggeration) at the beginning of the article: “Its addiction to fake quotations is an indictment on pop apologetics.”

Just for the record (since Alt-Left has recently made a scathing attack on my work), I searched for this version of Cyprian’s words (or alleged ones) on my blog, and my books, Catholic Church Fathers: Patristic and Scholarly Proofs (2007) — in which I cited the Schaff ANF version, pp. 257-258 — and Biblical Proofs for an Infallible Church and Papacy (2012), and it wasn’t to be found.

In the very next paragraph, Keating cites — as he often has throughout the years — the three-volume Radio Replies by Fr. Leslie Rumble and Fr. Charles M. Carty (Rockford, Ill.: TAN Books, 1979; originally from 1938, 1940, and 1942). In fact, it appears this is where Keating (or someone doing research for him) obtained his “citation.” In volume 1, question 429 (unknown page), Rumble and Carty wrote:

St. Cyprian, about 256, wrote of the See of Rome, “Would heretics dare to come to the very seat of Peter whence apostolic faith is derived and whither no errors can come.” [no question mark in original]

I vigorously searched Google Books, where many 19th century books can be found and wholly or partially accessed and could find no earlier reference to the “Keating citation” before Rumble and Carty. I would guess that they got it from somewhere else (some more obscure patristic collection or Catholic apologetics work); I sure hope that they didn’t merely mold it to their liking: which would be dishonest. We simply don’t know.

But it’s exceedingly likely that they are the source that Keating used. He trusted them, but didn’t double-check, and so unfortunately included in his book what can only be viewed as shoddy and unsubstantiated patristic research. If I were him, I would rectify the mistake and address it publicly: because many others are citing it, as I discovered while searching for the alleged quotation. Unfortunately, it can’t be changed until such time as another edition of his book is published.

***

Practical Matters: if any of my 3,850+ free online articles and 50 books have helped you (by God’s grace) to decide to become Catholic or to return to the Church, or better understand some doctrines and why we believe them, and/or if you believe my work is worthy to support for the purpose of apologetics and evangelism in general, please seriously consider a much-needed financial contribution. 1 December 2021 will be my 20th anniversary as a full-time Catholic apologist.

PayPal donations are the easiest: just send to my email address: apologistdave [at] gmail [dot] com (change the “[at]” to @ and “[dot]” to an actual dot, and take out spaces). “Catholic Used Book Service” is my old side-business. To learn about the different methods of contributing, including 100% tax deduction, etc., see my page: About Catholic Apologist Dave Armstrong / Donation Information. Thanks a million from the bottom of my heart!

***

Photo credit: [Amazon]

***

Summary: Karl Keating offered a citation of St. Cyprian that can’t be verified from standard patristic collections. He likely got it from 1940s radio priests Rumble & Carty.

Fathers of the Church

Papacy & Infallibility

accuracy of patristic quotations

Previous Post

October 27, 2021

Hays’ Calvinist Prooftexts #4: Judgment of Assyria

Next Post

October 28, 2021 Does God Use Even Lowly Apologists to Help Save Folks?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category & Last Things About Me Anti-Catholicism Atheism & Agnosticism Baptism and Sacramentalism Bible and Tradition Blessed Virgin Mary Books by Dave Armstrong C. S. Lewis Calvinism & General Protestantism Catholic Apologetics Catholic Apologists Catholic conversion Catholic converts Christmas Church (Ecclesiology) Church History Conversion and Converts Development of Doctrine Eastern Orthodoxy Ecumenism & Christian Unity Eucharist & Liturgy Fathers of the Church French Translations G. K. Chesterton Hell Hell & Satan Hell & Satan & Last Things Heresies & Comparative Religion Holistic Health Inquisition & Crusades & Scandals James White Jews & Judaism & Old Testament John Calvin John Henry Newman Liberal / Modernist Theology Life Issues Literary Resume Lutheranism Mariology Martin Luther Music Orthodoxy Papacy & Infallibility Personal Page Philosophy & Science Political & Ethical & Moral Issues Protestant Persecution & Intolerance Protestantism Purgatory Purgatory & Penance Romantic & Imaginative Theology Saints & Purgatory & Penance Salvation Salvation & Justification Satan & Last Things Sexuality and Gender Issues Spanish Translations Traditionalism vs. Radical Catholic Reactionaries Traducciones al español / tradução para português Trinitarianism & Christology Uncategorized Videos

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 April 2010 March 2010 December 2009 October 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 March 2009 February 2009 October 2008 September 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 May 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 October 2005 June 2005 April 2005 February 2005 July 2004 May 2004 April 2004

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz