{"id":84684,"date":"2024-07-05T17:07:48","date_gmt":"2024-07-05T21:07:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?p=84684"},"modified":"2026-06-06T00:51:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T04:51:51","slug":"james-swan-is-clueless-re-purgatory-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2024\/07\/james-swan-is-clueless-re-purgatory-development.html","title":{"rendered":"James Swan is Clueless Re Purgatory & Development"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
<\/a>
Photo Credit: book cover for my (copyrighted) 2007 book, designed by Chad Toney [info. and purchase information]<\/figcaption><\/figure>Anti-Catholic Reformed Protestant polemicist James Swan (his words in blue<\/span> below) is up to his old tricks again. This time, he attempts to cynically draw a line between Catholic scholars and lay Catholic apologists (including myself). His argument is that all we apologists do is dogmatically assert with insufficient reason that 2 Maccabees 12:41-46 self-evidently asserts purgatory in its full developed dogmatic meaning or proves that doctrine, whereas Catholic scholars (he provides the example of noted Franciscan theologian and Bonaventure scholar Zachary Hayes, OFM) are \u201cfundamentally more honest . . . compared to the Catholic apologists\u201d<\/span> and take into account the element of development of doctrine. It\u2019s the classic false dichotomy tactic, from anti-Catholics. \u201cDivide and conquer!\u201d He continues:<\/p>\n
Hayes seems to realize that simply assuming the conclusion of what one wants to prove Biblically becomes tenuous in light of history. For Hayes, elements of Purgatory are found in 2 Maccabees 12, but as to purgatory proper, it was the result of development begun at the level of popular piety. For Catholic apologists, the text simply means purgatory. These are two very different approaches.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This is found in his article, \u201cThe Perspicuity of 2 Maccabees 12 on Purgatory?<\/a>\u201d (Boors All<\/em> revised version of 9-16-11). He starts out by referring to an imaginary \u201cgulf between Catholic scholarship and popular Catholic apologists . . . Many of the current Catholic apologists look at Biblical texts and simply assume they clearly prove purgatory.\u201d <\/span>The version on his Boors All<\/em> blog is the \u201cde-Armstronged\u201d one: the game he plays where he refuses to name my name, even when he refers to my books. The original (with<\/em> my dreaded name) was posted on James White\u2019s blog on 3 March 2009<\/a>. Here is the heart of his argument and blast against Catholic apologists:<\/p>\n
\u00a0When Karl Keating addresses this text in\u00a0Catholicism and Fundamentalism<\/em>\u00a0(San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1988), he first asserts \u201cScripture teaches that purgatory exists\u201d (p. 193) and then among a few proof texts, he bolsters his claim with: \u201cThen there is the Bible\u2019s approbation of prayers for the dead: \u2018It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they might be loosed from their sins\u2019 (2 Macc 12:46).\u201d In his book<\/span>\u00a0What Catholics Really Believe<\/a><\/em>\u00a0he states, \u201cUnless it refers to Purgatory, 2 Maccabees 12:46 makes no sense\u201d (p. 90). In his book,\u00a0Answer Me This!<\/em>\u00a0(Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor, 2003), Patrick Madrid states, \u201cThe doctrine [of purgatory] is expressed clearly in the Old Testament book of 2 Maccabees 12\u201d (p. 204).\u00a0The New Catholic Answer Bible<\/em> [Wichita: Fireside Catholic Publishing, 2005] insert [written by Paul Thigpen]<\/span> answers the question \u201cIs Purgatory in the Bible?\u201d by stating, \u201cThe writer of 2 Maccabees praises the offering of prayers and sacrifices for the dead (see 12:38-46). Why do the departed need such assistance from us? So that their sins \u2018might be blotted out\u2019 (12:42)\u201d (Insert H2). In his book, A Biblical Defense Of Catholicism<\/em> [MS Word Version, 2001] Dave Armstrong has a section entitled \u201cScriptural Evidence for Purgatory.\u201d The account described in 2 Maccabees 12:39-42, 44-45 is said to \u201cpresuppose purgatory\u201d (p.128). . . .\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
In their zeal to win converts, current Catholic apologists think that simply citing a verse will be enough to win converts. When they\u2019re challenged to exegete a passage, texts like 2 Maccabees 12 become minefields. For instance, Dave Armstrong\u2019s \u201cBiblical defense\u201d of this text boils down to saying Jewish people prayed for the dead and Jesus never corrected this belief as an error of the Jews, nor did he deny a \u201cthird state\u201d in the afterlife (p.128).<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Now let\u2019s unpack this nonsense. Paul Thigpen, in The New Catholic Answer Bible<\/em> (notes co-written by yours truly) did not<\/em> claim that this passage proved the full-blown doctrine of purgatory. Swan cited only the section that he mistakenly think bolstered his own critique. Rather, he states:<\/p>\n
Like \u201cthe Holy Trinity,\u201d \u201cpurgatory\u201d is a term not occurring in Scripture; but the reality it refers to is implied by scriptural truths.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This is virtually the same point that Fr. Hayes makes. Swan cites him, writing about 2 Maccabees 12:39-45, as \u201cevidence for the existence of a tradition of piety which is at least intertestamental and apparently served as the basis for what later became the Christian practice of praying for the dead and performing good works, with the expectation that this might be of some help to the dead. . . . we might better ask if anything in Scripture initiated the development that eventually led to the doctrine of purgatory.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fr. Hayes accepts development of doctrine; so do Catholic apologists. There is no fictional \u201cdivide\u201d here. Swan is simply spinning and engaging in obscurantism and sophistry. Karl Keating\u2019s book, Catholicism and Fundamentalism<\/em>, cited by Swan, also has a twelve-page chapter, \u201cDevelopment of Doctrine,\u201d in which he states, \u201cDoctrines had to be thought out, lived out, even pierced together, over centuries\u201d (p. 142). This includes the doctrine of purgatory. In Keating\u2019s other book that Swan brings up, What Catholics Really Believe<\/a><\/em>, he\u2019s also more tentative and nuanced than what Swan very selectively presents to his readers:<\/p>\n
But does Scripture mention purgatory directly, even under some other designation? Maybe . . . (p. 89)<\/p>\n
Scripture at least indicates that a third state, apparently\u00a0 much like purgatory, could exist. (p. 90)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I don\u2019t have Patrick Madrid\u2019s book that Swan cites, but I have a similar one (signed by the author!), Why is That in Tradition?<\/em> (Our Sunday Visitor, 2002). In that volume he discusses development of doctrine from pages 16-23, including using the famous acorn to oak analogy of development (pp. 19-20). He wrote in another book of his that purgatory \u201cis expressed clearly in the Old Testament book of 2 Maccabees 12\u201d but it doesn\u2019t follow that it was the fully developed<\/em> doctrine. And that prooftext involves deduction as well. Even the Holy Trinity was not fully developed for some five centuries after Christ. This is nothing unique at all.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease Hit \u2018Subscribe\u2019\u201d!<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0If you have received benefit from this or any of my other 4,600+ articles, please follow this blog by signing up (with your email address) on the sidebar to the right (you may have to scroll down a bit), above where there is an icon bar, \u201cSign Me Up!\u201d: to receive notice when I post a new blog article. This is the equivalent of subscribing to a\u00a0YouTube<\/em>\u00a0channel. Please also consider\u00a0following me on Twitter \/ X\u00a0and purchasing\u00a0one or more of my 55 books<\/a>.\u00a0All of this helps me get more exposure, and (however little!) more income for my full-time apologetics work. Thanks so much and happy reading!<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
Then he comes to me. Any insinuation that I somehow am unaware of development of doctrine (whether concerning purgatory or any other doctrine) is flat-out ludicrous. It\u2019s the main reason<\/a> I was persuaded of the truth of Catholicism (after reading St. Cardinal Newman\u2019s Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine<\/em><\/a>), and I have a web page<\/a> devoted to it, as well as a book<\/a>. My first book, A Biblical Defense of Catholicism<\/em>; completed in 1996), that Swan cites, has a 13-page chapter on development, too (which can be read online for free<\/a>). I wrote in this chapter:<\/p>\n
At the very least, these passages prove that there can and does exist a third, intermediate state after death besides Heaven and Hell. Thus, Purgatory is not a priori unthinkable from a biblical perspective (as many Protestants casually assume). True, the Hebrew Sheol is not identical to purgatory (both righteous and unrighteous go there), but it is nevertheless strikingly similar. (p. 133)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I have even commented in one of my articles about the passage in question from 2 Maccabees:<\/p>\n
[T]he question is, why did the Jews \u201cpray for the dead\u201d and \u201cmake atonement for the dead\u201d as the passage in 2 Maccabees states? They did because they assumed that the dead were still in some sort of state in which they could be aided by intercessory prayer. And that can only be a third state besides heaven and hell. This is what the people whose practice is described must have believed. It doesn\u2019t require a fully developed notion of purgatory; only an intermediate state of some sort besides heaven and hell: a place where they can still be helped by prayer on their behalf. . . . (\u201cPurgatory: My Biblical Defense Of Its Doctrinal Development\u201d<\/a>: 9-20-11)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I\u2019ve made many other similar statements, as documented in the above article:<\/p>\n
The bulk of Newman\u2019s extraordinary work is devoted to the exposition of a series of analogies, showing conclusively that the Protestant static conception of the Church (both historically and theologically) is incoherent and false. He argues, for example, that notions of suffering, or \u201cvague forms of the doctrine of Purgatory,\u201d were universally accepted, by and large, in the first four centuries of the Church, whereas, the same cannot be said for the doctrine of original sin, which is agreed upon by Protestants and Catholics.<\/p>\n
Protestants falsely argue that purgatory is a later corruption, but it was present early on and merely developed. Original sin, however, was equally if not more so, subject to development. One cannot have it both ways. If purgatory is unacceptable on grounds of its having undergone development, then original sin must be rejected with it. Contrariwise, if original sin is accepted notwithstanding its own development, then so must purgatory be accepted. (\u201cDevelopment of Doctrine: A Corruption of Biblical Teaching?\u201d<\/a>: published in\u00a0The Catholic Answer<\/em>, Sep. \/ Oct. 1995)<\/p>\n
Like \u201cthe Holy Trinity,\u201d \u201cpurgatory\u201d is a term not occurring in Scripture, but the reality it refers to is implied by scriptural truths. [The Catholic Answer Bible<\/em><\/a>, 2002]<\/p>\n
Authority in the early Church was developing just as the biblical canon and Christology and Mariology and purgatory and prayers for the dead and original sin and everything else were developing. [1-10-04]<\/p>\n
Of course we won\u2019t find a fully developed medieval conception of purgatory [in 1 Cor 3], but it is foolish to expect that anyway, just as it would be to expect to find full Chalcedonian Christology and trinitarianism in all its glorious nuanced complexity. That is true of all doctrines, so why should purgatory be an exception? [3-3-07]<\/p>\n
Gavin [Ortlund] mentions the \u201ccore essence\u201d of purgatory. Yes, we Catholic apologists (including Trent Horn) often focus on that, especially regarding the earlier Church fathers because this is how it is with virtually all doctrines. They develop and become much more fully understood as time goes on. So there is nothing odd or unusual about boiling down the essence of the doctrine to a few ideas. It can be as simple as five words: \u201cpurging of sin after death.\u201d Things, for example, like whether the purgatorial \u201cfire\u201d is literal or not, or whether purgatory is a place or condition, are not<\/em> essential elements. And for that reason, Catholics are allowed to hold different views on those matters. (\u201cReply #2 To Gavin Ortlund On Purgatory\u201d<\/a>: 5-14-22)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I habitually either qualify or presuppose doctrinal development or make clear in context that I am not claiming that Scripture \u201cproves\u201d a full-blown doctrine of purgatory. Hence, I used to have a paper up, entitled,\u00a0\u201c50 Bible Passages On Purgatory and Analogous Processes\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The very title shows that I was not maintaining that each passage was\u00a0explicit<\/em>, and that there were analogies of process that suggested the concept of purgatory. A hundred times in my writings, I\u2019ve stated that the Catholic notion of \u201cbiblical evidence\u201d is\u00a0not absolute proof<\/em>, but rather,\u00a0consistency and harmony with Scripture<\/em>\u00a0and a given doctrine, including implicit and indirect, deductive indications.<\/p>\n
As usual, James Swan performs very poorly in his \u201cresearch\u201d and winds up warring quixotically against several straw men (all the Catholic apologists he critiques and their fictional supposed antipathy to development of doctrine). Pray for the man. So much twisting and misrepresenting of others\u2019 views \u2014 no matter how much he may tragically despise their theology \u2014 can\u2019t possibly be good for his soul. \u201cYou shall not bear false witness\u201d (Mt 19:18; cf. Ex 20:16: one of the Ten Commandments).<\/p>\n
*<\/div>\n
***<\/div>\n
\n
****
***\nPractical Matters<\/em><\/strong>: Perhaps some of my 4,600+ free online articles (the most comprehensive \u201cone-stop\u201d Catholic apologetics site) or\u00a0fifty-five books<\/a>\u00a0have helped you (by God\u2019s grace) to decide to\u00a0become Catholic<\/a>\u00a0or to\u00a0return to the Church<\/a>, or better understand some doctrines and\u00a0why<\/em>\u00a0we believe them<\/a>.<\/p>\nOr you may believe my work is worthy to support for the purpose of apologetics and evangelism in general. If so, please seriously consider a much-needed financial contribution. I\u2019m always in need of more funds: especially\u00a0monthly<\/em>\u00a0support. \u201cThe laborer is worthy of his wages\u201d (1 Tim 5:18, NKJV). 1 December 2021 was my 20th anniversary as a\u00a0full-time Catholic apologist<\/a>, and February 2022 marked the 25th anniversary of my blog.<\/p>\n
PayPal donations<\/a>\u00a0are the easiest: just send to my email address: apologistdave@gmail.com. Here\u2019s also a\u00a0second page to get to PayPal<\/a>. You\u2019ll see the term \u201cCatholic Used Book Service\u201d, which is my old side-business. To learn about the different methods of contributing (including\u00a0Zelle<\/a>), see my page:\u00a0About Catholic Apologist Dave Armstrong \/ Donation Information<\/a>.\u00a0Thanks a million<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0from the bottom of my heart!***
\n*
\n***
***\n*<\/p>\nPhoto Credit<\/strong>: book cover for my (copyrighted) 2007 book, designed by Chad Toney<\/span> [info. and purchase information<\/a>]<\/p>\n
Summary<\/em>: Anti-Catholic James Swan absurdly contended that lay Catholic apologists & Catholic scholars have a huge disagreement as to whether the doctrine of purgatory developed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Anti-Catholic Reformed Protestant polemicist James Swan (his words in blue below) is up to his old tricks again. This time, he attempts to cynically draw a line between Catholic scholars and lay Catholic apologists (including myself). His argument is that all we apologists do is dogmatically assert with insufficient reason that 2 Maccabees 12:41-46 self-evidently […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":84687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[231,1567,206],"tags":[19116,410,246,7762,832,19113],"class_list":["post-84684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anti-catholicism","category-development-of-doctrine-2","category-saints-purgatory-penance","tag-2-maccabees-1239-46","tag-afterlife","tag-development-of-doctrine","tag-development-of-purgatory","tag-james-swan","tag-purgatory-development"],"yoast_head":"\nJames Swan is Clueless Re Purgatory & Development<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Anti-Catholic James Swan absurdly contended that lay Catholic apologists & Catholic scholars have a huge disagreement as to whether the doctrine of purgatory developed.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2024\/07\/james-swan-is-clueless-re-purgatory-development.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"James Swan is Clueless Re Purgatory & Development\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Anti-Catholic James Swan absurdly contended that lay Catholic apologists & Catholic scholars have a huge disagreement as to whether the doctrine of purgatory developed.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2024\/07\/james-swan-is-clueless-re-purgatory-development.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-07-05T21:07:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-06T04:51:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2024\/07\/Development-552x828-1-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dave Armstrong\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dave Armstrong\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2024\/07\/james-swan-is-clueless-re-purgatory-development.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2024\/07\/james-swan-is-clueless-re-purgatory-development.html\",\"name\":\"James Swan is Clueless Re Purgatory & Development\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-07-05T21:07:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-06T04:51:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e\"},\"description\":\"Anti-Catholic James Swan absurdly contended that lay Catholic apologists & Catholic scholars have a huge disagreement as to whether the doctrine of purgatory developed.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2024\/07\/james-swan-is-clueless-re-purgatory-development.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2024\/07\/james-swan-is-clueless-re-purgatory-development.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2024\/07\/james-swan-is-clueless-re-purgatory-development.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"James Swan is Clueless Re Purgatory & Development\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/\",\"name\":\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism\",\"description\":\"Catholic biblical apologetics\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e\",\"name\":\"Dave Armstrong\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dave Armstrong\"},\"description\":\"Dave Armstrong is a Catholic author and apologist, who has been actively proclaiming and defending Christianity since 1981, and Catholicism in particular since 1991 (full-time since December 2001). Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \\\"This Rock\\\" (now called \\\"Catholic Answers Magazine\\\"), \\\"Envoy Magazine\\\" (Patrick Madrid), \\\"The Catholic Answer,\\\" \\\"The Coming Home Journal,\\\" \\\"Gilbert Magazine\\\" (American Chesterton Society), and \\\"The Latin Mass.\\\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \\\"The Michigan Catholic\\\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \\\"Catholic Answers Live\\\" (twice), \\\"Faith and Family Live\\\" (Steve Wood), \\\"Kresta in the Afternoon,\\\" \\\"Son Rise Morning Show,\\\" \\\"Catholic Connection\\\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \\\"The Catholics Next Door.\\\" His large and popular website, \\\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\\\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \\\"index\\\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \\\"Surprised by Truth\\\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \\\"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\\\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \\\"The Catholic Verses\\\" (2004), \\\"The One-Minute Apologist\\\" (2007), \\\"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\\\" (2009), \\\"The Quotable Newman\\\" (editor: 2012), and \\\"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\\\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \\\"The New Catholic Answer Bible\\\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \\\"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\\\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \\\"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\\\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \\\"Quotable Wesley\\\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"James Swan is Clueless Re Purgatory & Development","description":"Anti-Catholic James Swan absurdly contended that lay Catholic apologists & Catholic scholars have a huge disagreement as to whether the doctrine of purgatory developed.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2024\/07\/james-swan-is-clueless-re-purgatory-development.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"James Swan is Clueless Re Purgatory & Development","og_description":"Anti-Catholic James Swan absurdly contended that lay Catholic apologists & Catholic scholars have a huge disagreement as to whether the doctrine of purgatory developed.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2024\/07\/james-swan-is-clueless-re-purgatory-development.html","og_site_name":"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","article_published_time":"2024-07-05T21:07:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-06-06T04:51:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":512,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2024\/07\/Development-552x828-1-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dave Armstrong","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dave Armstrong","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2024\/07\/james-swan-is-clueless-re-purgatory-development.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2024\/07\/james-swan-is-clueless-re-purgatory-development.html","name":"James Swan is Clueless Re Purgatory & Development","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-07-05T21:07:48+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-06T04:51:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e"},"description":"Anti-Catholic James Swan absurdly contended that lay Catholic apologists & Catholic scholars have a huge disagreement as to whether the doctrine of purgatory developed.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2024\/07\/james-swan-is-clueless-re-purgatory-development.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2024\/07\/james-swan-is-clueless-re-purgatory-development.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2024\/07\/james-swan-is-clueless-re-purgatory-development.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"James Swan is Clueless Re Purgatory & Development"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/","name":"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism","description":"Catholic biblical apologetics","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e","name":"Dave Armstrong","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dave Armstrong"},"description":"Dave Armstrong is a Catholic author and apologist, who has been actively proclaiming and defending Christianity since 1981, and Catholicism in particular since 1991 (full-time since December 2001). Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \"This Rock\" (now called \"Catholic Answers Magazine\"), \"Envoy Magazine\" (Patrick Madrid), \"The Catholic Answer,\" \"The Coming Home Journal,\" \"Gilbert Magazine\" (American Chesterton Society), and \"The Latin Mass.\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \"The Michigan Catholic\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \"Envoy Magazine.\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \"Catholic Answers Live\" (twice), \"Faith and Family Live\" (Steve Wood), \"Kresta in the Afternoon,\" \"Son Rise Morning Show,\" \"Catholic Connection\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \"The Catholics Next Door.\" His large and popular website, \"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \"Envoy Magazine.\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \"index\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \"Surprised by Truth\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \"The Catholic Verses\" (2004), \"The One-Minute Apologist\" (2007), \"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\" (2009), \"The Quotable Newman\" (editor: 2012), and \"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \"The New Catholic Answer Bible\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \"Quotable Wesley\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).","sameAs":["https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}