Roman Catholicism
Catholic Councils and Decrees (30) Counter-Reformation (11) Indulgences and Purgatory (6) Inquisitions (2) Mary and the Saints (6) Papacy (25) Relics and Traditions (4) Roman Catholic Doctrine (36) Roman Catholic Glossary (2) Roman Catholic Sacraments (26) Roman Catholics (46)
From Catholicism to Christ
A guide for Christians seeking to speak with Roman Catholic family and friends with care, patience, and a clear grasp of the gospel.
From Catholicism to Christ
A guide for Christians seeking to speak with Roman Catholic family and friends with care, patience, and a clear grasp of the gospel.
Index of Prohibited Books
The Roman Catholic Index of Prohibited Books: what it was, why it began in 1559, a sampling of its rules and entries, and Rome's position on it since 1966.
Index of Prohibited Books
The Roman Catholic Index of Prohibited Books: what it was, why it began in 1559, a sampling of its rules and entries, and Rome's position on it since 1966.
Recommended Resources
Recommended resources for Catholic readers who want to understand what the Protestant Reformers taught and why.
Recommended Resources
Recommended resources for Catholic readers who want to understand what the Protestant Reformers taught and why.
Roman Catholicism
An introduction to Roman Catholic belief, doctrine, and polity, and how the Reformers answered it from Scripture.
Roman Catholicism
An introduction to Roman Catholic belief, doctrine, and polity, and how the Reformers answered it from Scripture.
Rome and the Evangelicals Since Vatican II
Tables RCC18 and RCC19: a timeline of Catholic and Evangelical dialogues since Vatican II, and of notable crossings between the two communions.
Rome and the Evangelicals Since Vatican II
Tables RCC18 and RCC19: a timeline of Catholic and Evangelical dialogues since Vatican II, and of notable crossings between the two communions.
Catholic Councils and Decrees
De Haeretico Comburendo
The English statute of 1401, De heretico comburendo, authorizing the burning of heretics.
De Haeretico Comburendo
The English statute of 1401, De heretico comburendo, authorizing the burning of heretics.
Roman Catholic Councils
The general councils of the Western church from Lateran I in 1123 to Trent in 1563: the medieval councils Rome reckons ecumenical, what each decreed, and how they set the stage for the Reformation.
Roman Catholic Councils
The general councils of the Western church from Lateran I in 1123 to Trent in 1563: the medieval councils Rome reckons ecumenical, what each decreed, and how they set the stage for the Reformation.
Roman Catholic Decrees
A timeline of the official decrees of Roman Catholic councils and popes that bear on the Reformation: Scripture, salvation, the sacraments, worship, Mary, papal authority, and persecution.
Roman Catholic Decrees
A timeline of the official decrees of Roman Catholic councils and popes that bear on the Reformation: Scripture, salvation, the sacraments, worship, Mary, papal authority, and persecution.
The Constitutions of Oxford
The Constitutions of Oxford, 1409, which restricted preaching and Bible translation in response to Wycliffe and the Lollards.
The Constitutions of Oxford
The Constitutions of Oxford, 1409, which restricted preaching and Bible translation in response to Wycliffe and the Lollards.
The Council of Basel–Ferrara–Florence
The Council of Basel, Ferrara, and Florence, 1431 to 1449: a council against a pope, a settlement with the Hussites, a brief union with the Greeks, and the definitions of purgatory and the seven sacraments.
The Council of Basel–Ferrara–Florence
The Council of Basel, Ferrara, and Florence, 1431 to 1449: a council against a pope, a settlement with the Hussites, a brief union with the Greeks, and the definitions of purgatory and the seven sacraments.
The Council of Constance
The Council of Constance, 1414 to 1418: the Great Schism ended, the supremacy of councils declared, Wycliffe condemned, and Jan Hus burned in defiance of an imperial safe-conduct.
The Council of Constance
The Council of Constance, 1414 to 1418: the Great Schism ended, the supremacy of councils declared, Wycliffe condemned, and Jan Hus burned in defiance of an imperial safe-conduct.
The Council of Pisa
The Council of Pisa of 1409: cardinals of both obediences depose the rival popes of Rome and Avignon, elect Alexander V, and leave the church with three popes.
The Council of Pisa
The Council of Pisa of 1409: cardinals of both obediences depose the rival popes of Rome and Avignon, elect Alexander V, and leave the church with three popes.
The Council of Vienne
The Council of Vienne, 1311 to 1312, under Clement V: the suppression of the Knights Templar, the condemnation of the Beguines and Beghards, and chairs of Hebrew, Greek, and Arabic in the universities.
The Council of Vienne
The Council of Vienne, 1311 to 1312, under Clement V: the suppression of the Knights Templar, the condemnation of the Beguines and Beghards, and chairs of Hebrew, Greek, and Arabic in the universities.
The Fifth Lateran Council
The Fifth Lateran Council, 1512 to 1517, under Julius II and Leo X: papal supremacy over councils, the immortality of the soul, the censorship of printed books, and a call to reform that closed seven months before the Ninety-Five Theses.
The Fifth Lateran Council
The Fifth Lateran Council, 1512 to 1517, under Julius II and Leo X: papal supremacy over councils, the immortality of the soul, the censorship of printed books, and a call to reform that closed seven months before the Ninety-Five Theses.
The First Council of Lyons
The First Council of Lyons of 1245 under Innocent IV: the deposition of the Emperor Frederick II and a new crusade after the loss of Jerusalem.
The First Council of Lyons
The First Council of Lyons of 1245 under Innocent IV: the deposition of the Emperor Frederick II and a new crusade after the loss of Jerusalem.
The First Lateran Council
The First Lateran Council of 1123 under Callistus II: the Concordat of Worms confirmed, clerical marriage forbidden, and the crusading indulgence renewed.
The First Lateran Council
The First Lateran Council of 1123 under Callistus II: the Concordat of Worms confirmed, clerical marriage forbidden, and the crusading indulgence renewed.
The Fourth Lateran Council
The Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 under Innocent III: transubstantiation defined, annual confession imposed on every Christian, procedures against heretics, and the Fifth Crusade.
The Fourth Lateran Council
The Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 under Innocent III: transubstantiation defined, annual confession imposed on every Christian, procedures against heretics, and the Fifth Crusade.
The Second Council of Lyons
The Second Council of Lyons of 1274 under Gregory X: a short-lived union with the Greek church, the filioque reaffirmed, purgatory and seven sacraments professed, and the papal conclave established.
The Second Council of Lyons
The Second Council of Lyons of 1274 under Gregory X: a short-lived union with the Greek church, the filioque reaffirmed, purgatory and seven sacraments professed, and the papal conclave established.
The Second Lateran Council
The Second Lateran Council of 1139 under Innocent II: the schism of Anacletus II closed, clerical marriages declared invalid, and the Petrobrusians and Henricians condemned.
The Second Lateran Council
The Second Lateran Council of 1139 under Innocent II: the schism of Anacletus II closed, clerical marriages declared invalid, and the Petrobrusians and Henricians condemned.
The Third Lateran Council
The Third Lateran Council of 1179 under Alexander III: the two-thirds rule for papal elections, the condemnation of the Cathars, and the first hearing of Valdes of Lyons.
The Third Lateran Council
The Third Lateran Council of 1179 under Alexander III: the two-thirds rule for papal elections, the condemnation of the Cathars, and the first hearing of Valdes of Lyons.
Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation
The Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation: its roots before Luther, the Council of Trent and its anathemas, the Jesuits, the Roman Inquisition and the Index, and what it reformed and what it refused.
The Counter-Reformation
The Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation: its roots before Luther, the Council of Trent and its anathemas, the Jesuits, the Roman Inquisition and the Index, and what it reformed and what it refused.
Council of Trent
The Anathemas of Trent
The thirty-three canons on justification decreed by the Council of Trent in its sixth session, January 13, 1547, each ending with anathema sit, in the 1851 translation of Theodore Alois Buckley.
The Anathemas of Trent
The thirty-three canons on justification decreed by the Council of Trent in its sixth session, January 13, 1547, each ending with anathema sit, in the 1851 translation of Theodore Alois Buckley.
The Council of Trent
The Council of Trent, 1545 to 1563: Rome's answer to the Reformation. Its three periods, the decree on Scripture and tradition, the decree on justification and its anathemas, the abuses it genuinely reformed, and the Protestant replies of Calvin and Chemnitz.
The Council of Trent
The Council of Trent, 1545 to 1563: Rome's answer to the Reformation. Its three periods, the decree on Scripture and tradition, the decree on justification and its anathemas, the abuses it genuinely reformed, and the Protestant replies of Calvin and Chemnitz.
Jesuits
Ignatius of Loyola
The Basque soldier who founded the Jesuits, the most effective instrument of the Counter-Reformation.
Peter Canisius
The Jesuit “second apostle of Germany,” whose catechisms answered Luther’s for two centuries.
Robert Bellarmine
The Jesuit cardinal whose Disputations became Rome’s standard systematic answer to Protestant theology.
The Jesuits
The Society of Jesus: Ignatius of Loyola, the Spiritual Exercises, the Jesuits at Trent, their schools and missions, the English mission, and the Reformation response.
The Jesuits
The Society of Jesus: Ignatius of Loyola, the Spiritual Exercises, the Jesuits at Trent, their schools and missions, the English mission, and the Reformation response.
Indulgences and Purgatory
All Souls’ Day
All Souls' Day (November 2): its origin at Cluny, Rome's teaching on purgatory, suffrages, and indulgences for the dead, the Reformation's rejection of it, and a biblical response.
All Souls’ Day
All Souls' Day (November 2): its origin at Cluny, Rome's teaching on purgatory, suffrages, and indulgences for the dead, the Reformation's rejection of it, and a biblical response.
Indulgences
The Roman doctrine of indulgences and the controversy that led Luther to post the Ninety-Five Theses in 1517.
Indulgences
The Roman doctrine of indulgences and the controversy that led Luther to post the Ninety-Five Theses in 1517.
Purgatory
The Roman doctrine of purgatory, its place in the medieval system of indulgences, and the Reformers’ scriptural response.
Purgatory
The Roman doctrine of purgatory, its place in the medieval system of indulgences, and the Reformers’ scriptural response.
Inquisitions
Inquisitions
The Inquisitions of the Roman Catholic Church: their background, development, methods, and justification, their part in the persecution of the Reformation, and a list of the principal tribunals from 1184 to the present.
Inquisitions
The Inquisitions of the Roman Catholic Church: their background, development, methods, and justification, their part in the persecution of the Reformation, and a list of the principal tribunals from 1184 to the present.
Mary and the Saints
All Saints’ Day
All Saints' Day (November 1): its history from the Pantheon to Gregory IV, Rome's teaching on the intercession and merits of the saints, its place in the beginning of the Reformation, and a biblical response.
All Saints’ Day
All Saints' Day (November 1): its history from the Pantheon to Gregory IV, Rome's teaching on the intercession and merits of the saints, its place in the beginning of the Reformation, and a biblical response.
Mary
An introduction to Roman Catholic Mariology: the four Marian dogmas, Mary as Mediatrix and Queen, and Marian devotion, weighed against Scripture, with a closing word on how Christians rightly honor the mother of our Lord.
Mary
An introduction to Roman Catholic Mariology: the four Marian dogmas, Mary as Mediatrix and Queen, and Marian devotion, weighed against Scripture, with a closing word on how Christians rightly honor the mother of our Lord.
Mary Comparison
A side-by-side comparison of Roman Catholic and Reformation teaching on Mary.
Mary Comparison
A side-by-side comparison of Roman Catholic and Reformation teaching on Mary.
Papacy
Head of the Church
A side-by-side comparison of Roman Catholic and Reformation teaching on the papacy.
Head of the Church
A side-by-side comparison of Roman Catholic and Reformation teaching on the papacy.
Papacy
A historical examination of the rise of papal authority, its development in the medieval church, and its departure from the New Testament pattern.
The Great Schism of the Papacy
The rival Roman, Avignon, and Pisan popes; the councils of Pisa and Constance; and the Great Schism's relation to John Wycliffe and Jan Hus.
The Great Schism of the Papacy
The rival Roman, Avignon, and Pisan popes; the councils of Pisa and Constance; and the Great Schism's relation to John Wycliffe and Jan Hus.
The Papacy
The papacy examined: Rome's claims for Peter and his successors, Matthew 16:18, the rise of the Roman see, papal infallibility, its corruptions, and the answer of Scripture and the Reformers.
The Papacy
The papacy examined: Rome's claims for Peter and his successors, Matthew 16:18, the rise of the Roman see, papal infallibility, its corruptions, and the answer of Scripture and the Reformers.
The Popes During the Reformation
The condition of the papacy through the Reformation and the succession of popes who responded to it.
The Popes During the Reformation
The condition of the papacy through the Reformation and the succession of popes who responded to it.
Popes
Pope Adrian VI
Pope Adrian VI, 1522 to 1523: the Dutch scholar and tutor of Charles V who confessed the corruption of the Roman court at the Diet of Nuremberg and died with his reforms unfinished.
Pope Adrian VI
Pope Adrian VI, 1522 to 1523: the Dutch scholar and tutor of Charles V who confessed the corruption of the Roman court at the Diet of Nuremberg and died with his reforms unfinished.
Pope Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo de Borja), 1492 to 1503: his rise through family influence, the simony and scandals of his pontificate, and his burning of Girolamo Savonarola.
Pope Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo de Borja), 1492 to 1503: his rise through family influence, the simony and scandals of his pontificate, and his burning of Girolamo Savonarola.
Pope Clement VII
Pope Clement VII, 1523 to 1534: the Medici pope who faced Luther, Charles V, and the sack of Rome, and whose refusal of Henry VIII's annulment opened the English Reformation.
Pope Clement VII
Pope Clement VII, 1523 to 1534: the Medici pope who faced Luther, Charles V, and the sack of Rome, and whose refusal of Henry VIII's annulment opened the English Reformation.
Pope Leo X
Pope Leo X, 1513 to 1521: the Medici pope under whom the indulgence controversy broke out, who condemned Luther in Exsurge Domine and excommunicated him.
Pope Leo X
Pope Leo X, 1513 to 1521: the Medici pope under whom the indulgence controversy broke out, who condemned Luther in Exsurge Domine and excommunicated him.
Pope Paul III
Pope Paul III, the Renaissance pope who convened the Council of Trent and launched the Roman response to the Reformation.
Pope Paul III
Pope Paul III, the Renaissance pope who convened the Council of Trent and launched the Roman response to the Reformation.
Pope Paul IV
Gian Pietro Carafa, architect of the Roman Inquisition, who as pope issued the first papal Index of Prohibited Books.
Pope Paul IV
Gian Pietro Carafa, architect of the Roman Inquisition, who as pope issued the first papal Index of Prohibited Books.
Pope Pius IV
The pope who brought the Council of Trent to its close, confirmed its decrees, and imposed the Tridentine Profession of Faith.
Pope Pius IV
The pope who brought the Council of Trent to its close, confirmed its decrees, and imposed the Tridentine Profession of Faith.
Pope Pius V
The Dominican inquisitor turned pope who excommunicated Elizabeth I and fixed the Tridentine catechism, breviary, and missal.
Pope Pius V
The Dominican inquisitor turned pope who excommunicated Elizabeth I and fixed the Tridentine catechism, breviary, and missal.
Relics and Traditions
Relics
The Roman Catholic veneration of relics: what relics are, how the medieval councils and Trent regulated them, Frederick the Wise's collection at Wittenberg, and the Reformers' answer from Scripture.
Relics
The Roman Catholic veneration of relics: what relics are, how the medieval councils and Trent regulated them, Frederick the Wise's collection at Wittenberg, and the Reformers' answer from Scripture.
Traditions
The question of final authority between Rome and the Reformers: Scripture alone or Scripture with tradition and the church.
Traditions
The question of final authority between Rome and the Reformers: Scripture alone or Scripture with tradition and the church.
Roman Catholic Doctrine
Faith and Assurance Comparison
Table RCC17: Roman Catholic teaching on assurance of salvation, perseverance, and faith compared with Scripture, drawn from the Catechism and the Council of Trent.
Faith and Assurance Comparison
Table RCC17: Roman Catholic teaching on assurance of salvation, perseverance, and faith compared with Scripture, drawn from the Catechism and the Council of Trent.
Faith and Works
What Scripture means by works, and why Rome insists that good works merit grace and eternal life in addition to faith, set against Ephesians 2:8-9, Psalm 49:7-8, Romans 3:24 and 11:6, and the five solas of the Reformation.
Faith and Works
What Scripture means by works, and why Rome insists that good works merit grace and eternal life in addition to faith, set against Ephesians 2:8-9, Psalm 49:7-8, Romans 3:24 and 11:6, and the five solas of the Reformation.
Grace Comparison
A side-by-side comparison of Roman Catholic and Reformation teaching on grace.
Grace Comparison
A side-by-side comparison of Roman Catholic and Reformation teaching on grace.
Justification Comparison
A side-by-side comparison of Roman Catholic and Reformation teaching on justification.
Justification Comparison
A side-by-side comparison of Roman Catholic and Reformation teaching on justification.
Mortal and Venial Sins
Rome's distinction between mortal and venial sin, in the words of the Catechism and the Council of Trent, set beside the answer of Calvin, the Westminster Standards, and the Puritans: every sin deserves death, and the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin.
Mortal and Venial Sins
Rome's distinction between mortal and venial sin, in the words of the Catechism and the Council of Trent, set beside the answer of Calvin, the Westminster Standards, and the Puritans: every sin deserves death, and the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin.
Nature of Man Comparison
Table RCC14: Roman Catholic teaching on the nature of man compared with Scripture, on the image of God, original righteousness, the fall, original sin, concupiscence, the mind and will, grace, merit, and Mary.
Nature of Man Comparison
Table RCC14: Roman Catholic teaching on the nature of man compared with Scripture, on the image of God, original righteousness, the fall, original sin, concupiscence, the mind and will, grace, merit, and Mary.
Roman Catholic Dogmas
A timeline of Roman Catholic dogmas, dated from the point each teaching took hold in Rome's teaching and worship, with notes on when each was formally defined.
Roman Catholic Dogmas
A timeline of Roman Catholic dogmas, dated from the point each teaching took hold in Rome's teaching and worship, with notes on when each was formally defined.
Roman Catholic Justification
The doctrine of justification as the central issue between Rome and the Reformers, on which every other difference rests.
Roman Catholic Justification
The doctrine of justification as the central issue between Rome and the Reformers, on which every other difference rests.
Roman Catholic Salvation
The collision between Rome's sacramental way of salvation and the gospel of justification by faith alone, in the words of the Catechism, the Council of Trent, and the Reformers.
Roman Catholic Salvation
The collision between Rome's sacramental way of salvation and the gospel of justification by faith alone, in the words of the Catechism, the Council of Trent, and the Reformers.
Roman Catholic Views on Solas
How the five solas of the Reformation answer Roman Catholic teaching on salvation and authority.
Roman Catholic Views on Solas
How the five solas of the Reformation answer Roman Catholic teaching on salvation and authority.
Rome and the Reformation at a Glance
Charts RCC6 to RCC10: the ten agreements and two fault lines, two axioms behind Roman Catholic doctrine, the shared heritage, the two doors into justification, and the merit equation.
Rome and the Reformation at a Glance
Charts RCC6 to RCC10: the ten agreements and two fault lines, two axioms behind Roman Catholic doctrine, the shared heritage, the two doors into justification, and the merit equation.
Rome’s View of the Church’s Role
How Rome's claims for the Church's role in justification, grace, and authority divided Rome from the Reformation churches, set beside what Scripture teaches.
Rome’s View of the Church’s Role
How Rome's claims for the Church's role in justification, grace, and authority divided Rome from the Reformation churches, set beside what Scripture teaches.
Salvation Comparison
A side-by-side comparison of Roman Catholic and Reformation teaching on salvation.
Salvation Comparison
A side-by-side comparison of Roman Catholic and Reformation teaching on salvation.
Scripture Comparison
A side-by-side comparison of Roman Catholic and Reformation teaching on Scripture.
Scripture Comparison
A side-by-side comparison of Roman Catholic and Reformation teaching on Scripture.
Short Pointers on Rome and the Reformation
Ten short pointers on Rome and the Reformation: material and formal sufficiency, tradition, Nicodemism, penance, the Church, Newman's two decisions, the real difference, the shared heritage, saved or being saved, and gift and reward.
Short Pointers on Rome and the Reformation
Ten short pointers on Rome and the Reformation: material and formal sufficiency, tradition, Nicodemism, penance, the Church, Newman's two decisions, the real difference, the shared heritage, saved or being saved, and gift and reward.
The Church Comparison
Table RCC16: Roman Catholic teaching on the Church compared with Scripture, on the whole Christ, the one true Church, ecclesial communities, necessity for salvation, mediation, nature and grace, and the marks of the Church.
The Church Comparison
Table RCC16: Roman Catholic teaching on the Church compared with Scripture, on the whole Christ, the one true Church, ecclesial communities, necessity for salvation, mediation, nature and grace, and the marks of the Church.
The Nature of Man in Roman Catholic Teaching
What the Roman Catholic Church teaches about the nature of man: the image of God and original justice, man's state at birth, the abilities and inabilities of the fallen will, how the doctrine developed, the factors that shaped it, and a biblical response.
The Nature of Man in Roman Catholic Teaching
What the Roman Catholic Church teaches about the nature of man: the image of God and original justice, man's state at birth, the abilities and inabilities of the fallen will, how the doctrine developed, the factors that shaped it, and a biblical response.
The Way of Salvation According to the Roman Catholic Church
The way of salvation as taught by Rome and by the Reformers, set side by side.
The Way of Salvation According to the Roman Catholic Church
The way of salvation as taught by Rome and by the Reformers, set side by side.
Roman Catholic Glossary
Glossary of Catholic Terms
A glossary of Roman Catholic terms defined from Rome's own Catechism, Code of Canon Law, and papal documents, each with a brief answer from Scripture and the Reformation.
Glossary of Catholic Terms
A glossary of Roman Catholic terms defined from Rome's own Catechism, Code of Canon Law, and papal documents, each with a brief answer from Scripture and the Reformation.
Roman Catholic Sacraments
Anointing of the Sick
The Anointing of the Sick, or Extreme Unction: James 5, Innocent I, the medieval deathbed rite, Trent and the 1972 reform, Rome’s teaching on its effects, and the answer of Luther, Calvin, and Scripture.
Anointing of the Sick
The Anointing of the Sick, or Extreme Unction: James 5, Innocent I, the medieval deathbed rite, Trent and the 1972 reform, Rome’s teaching on its effects, and the answer of Luther, Calvin, and Scripture.
Baptism Comparison
Table RCC7: Roman Catholic teaching on baptism compared with Scripture, on necessity, efficacy, regeneration, faith, infant baptism, the indelible mark, membership, and compulsion.
Baptism Comparison
Table RCC7: Roman Catholic teaching on baptism compared with Scripture, on necessity, efficacy, regeneration, faith, infant baptism, the indelible mark, membership, and compulsion.
Baptism in Roman Catholic Teaching
What the Roman Catholic Church teaches about baptism: its necessity, its effects, its indelible mark, and its claim on the baptized; with the origin of infant baptism, the factors that shaped it, its bond with civil allegiance, and a biblical response.
Baptism in Roman Catholic Teaching
What the Roman Catholic Church teaches about baptism: its necessity, its effects, its indelible mark, and its claim on the baptized; with the origin of infant baptism, the factors that shaped it, its bond with civil allegiance, and a biblical response.
Confirmation
Confirmation in Roman Catholic teaching: its origin in the baptismal rite, its separation in the West, the Melchiades text, Trent and the Catechism, the answer of Luther and Calvin, and the witness of Scripture.
Confirmation
Confirmation in Roman Catholic teaching: its origin in the baptismal rite, its separation in the West, the Melchiades text, Trent and the Catechism, the answer of Luther and Calvin, and the witness of Scripture.
Holy Orders
Holy Orders in Roman Catholic teaching: the sacrificing priesthood, the seven orders, the delivery of the instruments, celibacy, Trent and the Catechism, and the answer of Luther, Calvin, and Scripture.
Holy Orders
Holy Orders in Roman Catholic teaching: the sacrificing priesthood, the seven orders, the delivery of the instruments, celibacy, Trent and the Catechism, and the answer of Luther, Calvin, and Scripture.
Holy Orders Comparison
Table RCC15: Roman Catholic teaching on holy orders compared with Scripture, on the two priesthoods, ordination, the powers of the priest, permanence, institution, the word priest in translation, and celibacy.
Holy Orders Comparison
Table RCC15: Roman Catholic teaching on holy orders compared with Scripture, on the two priesthoods, ordination, the powers of the priest, permanence, institution, the word priest in translation, and celibacy.
Matrimony
Matrimony as a Roman Catholic sacrament: Ephesians 5:32 and the Vulgate, its medieval rise, Trent on celibacy and divorce, the Catechism, and the answer of Luther, Calvin, and Scripture.
Matrimony
Matrimony as a Roman Catholic sacrament: Ephesians 5:32 and the Vulgate, its medieval rise, Trent on celibacy and divorce, the Catechism, and the answer of Luther, Calvin, and Scripture.
Sacraments
The seven sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church, how they served as the medieval means of grace and justification, and the Reformers’ answer, with a fuller article on each sacrament.
Sacraments
The seven sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church, how they served as the medieval means of grace and justification, and the Reformers’ answer, with a fuller article on each sacrament.
The Eucharist
The Eucharist as Rome administers it: its place among the sacraments, the Easter duty, confession before communion, the withheld cup, its effects on venial sin, adoration, and viaticum, weighed by the Reformers and Scripture.
The Eucharist
The Eucharist as Rome administers it: its place among the sacraments, the Easter duty, confession before communion, the withheld cup, its effects on venial sin, adoration, and viaticum, weighed by the Reformers and Scripture.
The Sacrament of Penance
The sacrament of penance: the second plank after shipwreck, its rise from public discipline to private confession, contrition and attrition, confession and absolution, satisfaction and indulgences, and the answer of the Reformers and Scripture.
The Sacrament of Penance
The sacrament of penance: the second plank after shipwreck, its rise from public discipline to private confession, contrition and attrition, confession and absolution, satisfaction and indulgences, and the answer of the Reformers and Scripture.
Mass and Transubstantiation
The Eucharist Comparison
A side-by-side comparison of Roman Catholic and Reformation teaching on the Lord’s Supper.
The Eucharist Comparison
A side-by-side comparison of Roman Catholic and Reformation teaching on the Lord’s Supper.
The Mass
Why the Reformers rejected the Roman Mass as a repeated sacrifice, and what Scripture teaches of the Lord’s Supper.
The Mass
Why the Reformers rejected the Roman Mass as a repeated sacrifice, and what Scripture teaches of the Lord’s Supper.
Transubstantiation
The Roman doctrine of transubstantiation and the Englishmen burned for denying it during the Reformation.
Transubstantiation
The Roman doctrine of transubstantiation and the Englishmen burned for denying it during the Reformation.
Roman Catholics
Catholic Opponents of the Reformation
The major Roman Catholic opponents of the Protestant Reformation: popes, princes, bishops, inquisitors, and theologians, with a short biographical sketch of each.
Catholic Opponents of the Reformation
Albrecht of Brandenburg
The young Archbishop of Mainz whose debt for his offices was paid with the St. Peter’s indulgence, and to whom Luther sent the Ninety-Five Theses.
Bartolomé Carranza
The Dominican archbishop who helped restore Catholicism in Mary’s England and was then himself imprisoned by the Spanish Inquisition for seventeen years.
Charles Borromeo
The nephew of Pius IV who drove Trent to its finish and made Milan the model of a Counter-Reformation diocese.
Charles de Guise
The Cardinal of Lorraine, head with his brother of the Guise party that led Catholic France against the Huguenots.
Cuthbert Tunstall
The scholarly Bishop of London who turned Tyndale away, then bought up and burned his New Testaments.
David Beaton
The cardinal who had George Wishart burned at St. Andrews in 1546 and was murdered there in revenge.
Desiderius Erasmus
The prince of the humanists, whose Greek New Testament of 1516 served the Reformation, but who sought the moral reform of Rome rather than the recovery of the gospel and wrote against Luther on the freedom of the will.
Edmund Bonner
Mary’s Bishop of London, who examined, degraded, and condemned more Protestant martyrs than any other English bishop.
Gasparo Contarini
The Venetian cardinal who came nearest to agreement with the Protestants at Regensburg in 1541, and failed.
Giovanni Morone
The diplomat-cardinal who was imprisoned by Paul IV on suspicion of heresy and then steered the Council of Trent to its close.
Girolamo Aleandro
The scholar-nuncio who burned Luther’s books in the Netherlands and the Rhineland and drafted the Edict of Worms.
Hans Brask
The last great Catholic bishop of Sweden, who fought Olaus Petri and the Reformation until he went into exile in 1527.
Henry Phillips
The young Englishman who befriended William Tyndale in Antwerp and betrayed him to the emperor’s officers in 1535.
Hieronymus Emser
Duke George’s secretary, who waged a pamphlet war with Luther and issued a rival German New Testament built on Luther’s own.
Hieronymus Schulz
Luther’s own bishop, who first counseled silence and then vowed to see the monk in the fire.
Hugo von Hohenlandenberg
The Bishop of Constance, in whose diocese Zurich lay, whose mandates against Zwingli’s preaching only hastened Zurich’s break with him.
Jacopo Sadoleto
The eloquent cardinal whose letter urging Geneva back to Rome drew Calvin’s classic Reply in 1539.
James Beaton
The Archbishop of St. Andrews who had Patrick Hamilton burned in 1528, Scotland’s first martyr of the Reformation.
Johann Eck
Luther’s ablest debater, who forced him at Leipzig to side with Hus and carried the bull of excommunication into Germany.
Johann Fabri
Zwingli’s friend turned foe, who represented the Bishop of Constance at Zurich and earned the name “hammer of heretics.”
Johann Tetzel
The Dominican indulgence preacher whose sales just beyond Wittenberg’s border provoked Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses.
Johannes Cochlaeus
The tireless polemicist who betrayed Tyndale’s first English New Testament at Cologne and wrote the hostile life of Luther that shaped Catholic memory for centuries.
John Fisher
The scholarly Bishop of Rochester who led the English theological attack on Luther and died for refusing Henry VIII’s supremacy.
John Hamilton
The last Catholic Archbishop of St. Andrews, who burned the aged Walter Myln in 1558 and opposed the Reformation Parliament of 1560.
John Longland
The king’s confessor and Bishop of Lincoln who led the great persecution of the Buckinghamshire Lollards in 1521.
Julius Pflug
The humanist bishop of Naumburg who sought reunion on Rome’s terms and helped write the Augsburg Interim of 1548.
Lorenzo Campeggio
The canon lawyer and legate who organized the first Catholic league in Germany and urged Charles V to use fire and sword at Augsburg.
Noël Béda
The Sorbonne’s formidable syndic, who hounded Lefèvre, Erasmus, and Berquin and demanded torture for the “false doctors.”
Pierre de la Baume
Geneva’s worldly last prince-bishop, whose flight from the city in 1533 opened the way for Farel and Calvin.
Reginald Pole
Henry VIII’s royal cousin turned cardinal, who returned as papal legate to reconcile England to Rome under Mary.
Stanislaus Hosius
The Polish cardinal who led the Counter-Reformation in Poland, presided at Trent, and worked to bring Sweden back to Rome.
Stephen Gardiner
The able Bishop of Winchester who led the Catholic reaction against Cranmer and, as Mary’s chancellor, revived the burning of heretics.
Sylvester Prierias
The papal theologian whose reply to Luther made the pope, not Scripture, the infallible rule of faith.
The Spirituali Timeline
Table RCC20: a timeline of the Spirituali, the Catholic reformers around Gasparo Contarini and Giovanni Morone, from Contarini's crisis in 1511 to the close of the Council of Trent in 1563.
Thomas Cajetan
The learned cardinal-legate who examined Luther at Augsburg in 1518 and demanded that he recant.
Thomas More
The brilliant humanist and Lord Chancellor who wrote thousands of pages against Tyndale and Luther and prosecuted English evangelicals.
Thomas Wolsey
Henry VIII’s all-powerful cardinal, who burned Luther’s books in London and on his deathbed urged the king to destroy “this new pernicious sect.”
William Warham
The aged Archbishop of Canterbury who sought to destroy Tyndale’s New Testaments, tried Latimer, and yielded the royal supremacy “so far as the law of Christ permits.”
Catholic Rulers and Statesmen
Catherine de’ Medici
The queen mother of three French kings whose shifting policy ended in the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of 1572.
Charles V
The emperor who outlawed Luther at Worms and spent his reign trying to restore one faith to his divided empire.
Duke George of Saxony
The bearded duke of Dresden who hosted the Leipzig Debate and became Luther’s most determined princely enemy.
Mary I
The Catholic queen who restored the papacy in England and under whom 288 Protestants were burned.
Mary of Guise
The French queen-regent of Scotland whose struggle with John Knox and the Protestant lords ended with her death in 1560.
Philip II
The king who crushed the Spanish Protestants, made war on the Dutch, and sent the Armada against England.
The Duke of Alba
Philip II’s iron general, whose Council of Troubles brought terror to the Protestant Netherlands.
