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Catholic

2026-03-10T21:25:55-06:00

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.

Theological Assumptions Vs. the Historical Record

Last updated on: March 10, 2026 at 9:25 pm By Dennis Knapp

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In my last two articles, I described my journey to Catholicism and challenged Protestant readers to show me where I overlooked Protestantism in the historical record before the sixteenth century (aside from places where it already agrees with Catholicism). In my exchanges with Protestants and others—including Mormons (LDS)—I frequently encounter theological assumptions that I cannot reconcile with the historical record. Perhaps my interlocutors place little value on history and view the historical record as inconsequential. Or perhaps they begin with... Read more

Latter-day Saint

History and Religion

2026-03-09T13:21:42-06:00

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.

Predestination: Between Sovereignty and Love

Last updated on: March 9, 2026 at 1:21 pm By Dennis Knapp

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Guest writer: Pilgrim. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. (Romans 8:29) Introduction For centuries, Catholic theology wrestled with two paradoxical truths. First, God genuinely wills all to be saved, yet some are lost, and second, that salvation depends entirely on His sovereign grace, yet man has free will. Two great schools emerged to try to resolve this. Their debate came to a head in the late sixteenth century when... Read more

History and Religion

Catholic Theology

Predestination

salvation

2026-03-05T20:25:11-06:00

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.

Protestants, Can You Show Me What I Missed?

Last updated on: March 5, 2026 at 8:25 pm By Dennis Knapp

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In a previous article, “Explaining Away” the Appeal of Catholicism, I explained why I, as a Reformed Protestant, converted to Catholicism. To restate: as a Reformed Protestant, I believed that the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation reclaimed true biblical and authentic Christianity. However, after a thorough investigation of the primary sources—including theology courses that engaged those sources directly—I could not find my Reformed Protestant faith in the early, Nicene, or post-Nicene Church, except in places that affirmed Catholic authority. As a Protestant... Read more

General Christian

History and Religion

2026-03-04T09:20:23-06:00

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.

Mike Lewis at WPI: Gold in the Fire Or Smoke in the Air

Last updated on: March 4, 2026 at 9:20 am By Dennis Knapp

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This article from frequent guest contributor Peter (Pilgrim) perfectly demonstrates what I called out in my last article, Why I Often Criticize Progressive Catholicism. By Guest Writer: Pilgrim. Introduction There is something almost touching about the modern Catholic progressive’s relationship with Church authority. He submits to it; this we are assured early and often. He accepts the teaching. He upholds the Magisterium. He would simply like the record to show that the arguments for it are not very good, that... Read more

Progressive Christian

Politics and Religion

Catholic Theology

2026-02-28T23:07:49-06:00

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.

Why I Often Criticize Progressive Catholicism

Last updated on: February 28, 2026 at 11:07 pm By Dennis Knapp

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Recently, one critic chastised me for my continued criticism of progressive Catholicism. His accusation rests on the assumption that any disagreement with my “fundamentalist” take on Catholicism amounts to disagreement with Catholicism itself. Specifically, he claims: I equate my interpretation of Catholicism with Catholicism itself. Progressive Catholics merely disagree with me, not with the Church. My constant appeals to doctrine function as a power move rather than a theological claim. Yet he offers no concrete examples to show where my... Read more

Progressive Christian

Politics and Religion

Progressive Catholics

2026-02-26T16:45:34-06:00

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.

Grace, Freedom, and the God Who Does Not Coerce

Last updated on: February 26, 2026 at 4:45 pm By Dennis Knapp

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Guest author: Pilgrim. Author’s note: I happened upon this blog a year ago. Despite my (occasional?) irritability, I have enjoyed reading comments here and participating in the discussions. I have also tried to listen to the objections to the Catholic faith from atheists, theists, “progressive Catholics,” “retired Catholics,” and others who are openly critical of the Church. This series of essays arose from those conversations. Now, with the season of Lent upon us, it seems a good time to offer... Read more

Religion News

2026-02-23T22:08:06-06:00

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.

“Explaining Away” the Appeal of Catholicism

Last updated on: February 23, 2026 at 10:08 pm By Dennis Knapp

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Recently, a good Protestant friend of mine — a Presbyterian pastor, no less — sent me an article by a concerned Presbyterian campus minister named Jonathan Clark, provocatively titled Resisting the Lure of Catholicism and Orthodoxy. My friend has known me for nearly thirty years. He walked with me through my conversion from Reformed Protestantism into full communion with the Catholic Church. We still go back and forth about Catholicism. When we speak, we speak candidly. I love the man.... Read more

Evangelical

History and Religion

2026-02-21T17:24:08-06:00

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.

Does Skin Color Change the Moral Weight of Suffering?

Last updated on: February 21, 2026 at 5:24 pm By Dennis Knapp

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A bit of personal background may help frame this discussion. I grew up in Southern California as part of the working poor. For most of my childhood, my family of five moved from one small two-bedroom apartment to another. I shared a bedroom with my two sisters. The neighborhoods where I lived were majority Hispanic, so I grew up as a White minority. I mention this because conversations about race, injustice, and racial suffering dominate much of our cultural discourse.... Read more

General Christian

History and Religion

Catholic Theology

History

Suffering

2026-02-18T12:56:21-06:00

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.

The Church Cannot “Walk Back” Reality

Last updated on: February 18, 2026 at 12:56 pm By Dennis Knapp

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In my last article, Falsifying Reality: Dante, Truth, and Gender Identity, a Catholic commenter named Todd Flowerday made a claim that deserves closer attention. During a discussion about the origins of transgender identity—whether it comes from God or not—Flowerday wrote: Because the science of human embryology isn’t totally settled. The human genome has been mapped, yes, but we don’t know the full interplay with endocrinology or environmental factors in the womb. It would seem that sexual identity isn’t a choice... Read more

Politics and Religion

Catholic Theology

Trinity

Gender Identity

Progressive Catholics

2026-02-15T13:29:22-06:00

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.

Are We God’s Referees?

Last updated on: February 15, 2026 at 1:29 pm By Dennis Knapp

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Guest writer: Pilgrim. What Jesus teaches about judgement, suffering, and why we are not God’s referees. Introduction There is a very human instinct, when something bad happens to someone, to wonder what they did to deserve it. And there is an equally human instinct, when we read the harsher parts of the Old Testament, the sudden deaths, the divine punishments, the apparent scorekeeping, to feel that we understand what is going on: God is rewarding the good and punishing the... Read more

Politics and Religion

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