The Apologist Who Believed Too Much
A sophomore apologetics assignment on Justin Martyr's First Apology cost me the church I was raised in. What chapter 66 says about the Eucharist.
Garrett Ham — Faith. Service. Law.
Thoughtful writing on faith, constitutional principles, military service, and community from Garrett Ham.
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Matthew 13:44–52: The Hidden Treasure, the Pearl, and the Scribe’s New and Old
A Catholic exegesis of Matthew 13:44–52: the hidden treasure, the pearl of great price, the dragnet, and the scribe who brings out the new and the old.
The Didache — Old Enough for the Canon, and Still Left Out
The Didache may be older than the last books of the New Testament, yet no Bible ever carried it. What the earliest church order says, and why it was left out.
The Case Against John MacArthur: A Critical Assessment
A former evangelical's comprehensive assessment of John MacArthur: the scholarship claimed for him, his documented exegetical errors, and his record.
The Epistle of Barnabas — The Near-Miss That Bore an Apostle's Name
Quoted as Scripture in Alexandria and bound into Codex Sinaiticus, the Epistle of Barnabas bore an apostle's name—yet the New Testament closed without it. Why.
1 Clement — The Letter from Rome That Almost Entered the New Testament
1 Clement was read as Scripture at Corinth and bound into Codex Alexandrinus. How the letter came so close to the New Testament, and why the Church left it out.
Matthew 13:24–43: The Weeds, the Mustard Seed, and a Field Left to Grow
A Catholic exegesis of Matthew 13:24–43: the parables of the weeds, mustard seed, and leaven, the Psalm 78 citation, and Augustine’s corpus permixtum.
Pope Saint Marcellinus: The Twenty-Ninth Pope, the Lapse Rome Tried to Forget, and the Council That Never Met
Marcellinus, the twenty-ninth pope (296–304), was accused of sacrificing to idols, erased from Rome's oldest calendars, and defended by a council that never met.
Pope Saint Marcellus I: The Thirtieth Pope, the Broken Church He Rebuilt, and the Mercy That Got Him Exiled
Marcellus I, the thirtieth pope (308–309), rebuilt Rome's Church after the Great Persecution and was exiled by Maxentius for making the lapsed do penance.
Pope Saint Miltiades: The Thirty-Second Pope, the Emperor's Peace, and the Schism It Could Not Heal
Miltiades, the thirty-second pope (311–314), lived from the last persecution into Constantine's peace, received the Lateran, and judged the first Donatist trial.
Pope Saint Caius: The Twenty-Eighth Pope, the Ladder of Holy Orders, and the Emperor's Kinsman
Caius, or Gaius, the twenty-eighth pope (283–296), governed in the long peace before Diocletian's storm—a confessor, not a martyr, whose gravestone survives.
Pope Saint Eusebius: The Thirty-First Pope, the Schism Over the Lapsed, and the Enemy Exiled Beside Him
Eusebius, the thirty-first pope (309 or 310), reigned four months before the emperor Maxentius exiled him—and his rival Heraclius—over the fate of the lapsed.
Pope Saint Eutychian: The Twenty-Seventh Pope, the Reign No One Can Measure, and the Stone That Tells the Truth
Eutychian, the twenty-seventh pope (275–283): a reign Eusebius counts in months and Rome in years, legends of beans and buried martyrs, and one true stone.
1 John — “God Is Love,” the Antichrists, and the Verse That Was Never There
The First Letter of John gives us “God is love,” the antichrists, and the Bible’s most famous fake verse. A Catholic reads 1 John and its road into the canon.
The Letter to Philemon — A Runaway Slave, the Shortest Letter Paul Wrote, and Scripture's Quiet Case Against Slavery
The Letter to Philemon: Paul, the runaway slave Onesimus, and 'no longer a slave but a brother.' A Catholic look at slavery, Paul's shortest letter, and canon.
Pope Saint Anterus: The Nineteenth Pope, a Forty-Day Reign, and the Greek Tombstone That Outlived His Legend
Anterus is the nineteenth pope (235–236): a forty-day reign, probably the first pope laid in the Crypt of the Popes, and a broken Greek epitaph that calls him bishop, not martyr.
Pope Saint Callixtus I: The Sixteenth Pope, the Slave Who Wore the Keys, and the Scandal of Mercy
Callixtus I is the sixteenth pope (c. 217–222): a former slave, convict, and cemetery administrator whose policy of readmitting grave sinners after penance scandalized the rigorists—and won.
Pope Saint Cornelius: The Twenty-First Pope, the Antipope Novatian, and the Church's Power to Forgive
Cornelius, the twenty-first pope (251–253), faced the rigorist antipope Novatian—and staked the Church's authority on its power to forgive the lapsed after penance.
Pope Saint Dionysius: The Twenty-Fifth Pope, the Two Dionysii, and the Trinity Before Nicaea
Dionysius, the twenty-fifth pope (259–268): the first pope not venerated as a martyr, who rebuilt Rome after persecution and defined the Trinity before Nicaea.
Pope Saint Eleutherius: The Thirteenth Pope, the Martyrs of Lyons, and the Legend of a British King
Eleutherius is the thirteenth pope (c. 175–189)—the deacon who became pope, correspondent of the martyrs of Lyons, and the pope a medieval legend made converter of Britain.
Pope Saint Fabian: The Twentieth Pope, the Dove That Chose Him, and the Martyrdom Carved in Stone
Fabian is the twentieth pope (236–250): a layman chosen when a dove settled on his head, the organizer of Christian Rome, and the first pope whose martyrdom is documented history.
Pope Saint Felix I: The Twenty-Sixth Pope, the Martyrdom He Never Suffered, and the Letter He Never Wrote
Felix I is the twenty-sixth pope (269–274): a martyr's crown he never earned and a famous letter on Christ he never wrote—both forgeries over one solid fact.
Pope Saint Lucius I: The Twenty-Second Pope, the Eight-Month Reign, and the Confessor the Church Mistook for a Martyr
Lucius I is the twenty-second pope (253–254): an eight-month reign spent partly in exile, and a confessor the oldest Roman calendar declines to call a martyr.
Pope Saint Pontian: The Eighteenth Pope, the First to Abdicate, and the Reconciliation in the Mines
Pontian is the eighteenth pope (230–235): the first pope to abdicate, exiled with Hippolytus to the mines of Sardinia—where pope and antipope were reconciled.
Pope Saint Sixtus II: The Twenty-Fourth Pope, the Peacemaker, and the Martyrdom Rome Wrote Down
Sixtus II, the twenty-fourth pope (257–258): the peacemaker who healed the rebaptism schism, then died under Valerian's sword—a martyrdom Rome wrote down.
Pope Saint Soter: The Twelfth Pope, the Charity of Rome, and a Thank-You Letter That Survived
Soter is the twelfth pope (c. 166–175), known almost entirely through a letter from Corinth praising Roman charity. His own letter was read at Sunday worship—then lost.
Pope Saint Stephen I: The Twenty-Third Pope, the Rebaptism War, and the First Appeal to the Chair of Peter
Stephen I is the twenty-third pope (254–257): the rebaptism war with Cyprian, the first surviving papal appeal to the succession of Peter, and a martyrdom the earliest records do not support.
Pope Saint Urban I: The Seventeenth Pope, a Life Written by Legend, and the Riddle of the Two Urbans
Urban I is the seventeenth pope (c. 222–230). Almost nothing certain is known of his reign—the vivid life is legend—and even his grave is disputed between two catacombs.
Pope Saint Victor I: The Fourteenth Pope, the Easter Ultimatum, and the First African in Peter's Chair
Victor I is the fourteenth pope (c. 189–199)—the African who threatened to cut off the churches of Asia over Easter, cut off Theodotus the cobbler for heresy, and marks the papacy's turn to command.
Pope Saint Zephyrinus: The Fifteenth Pope, His Brilliant Enemy, and the Trinity Before the Councils
Zephyrinus is the fifteenth pope (c. 199–217), known chiefly through the hostile pen of Hippolytus. His clumsy formulas on the Trinity ended up in Denzinger's collection of the Church's dogmatic declarations.
The First Letter to Timothy — The Church's Charter and a Contested Letter's Path to Canon
1 Timothy built the Church's offices — bishops, deacons, the pillar of truth. A Catholic look at church order, the authorship debate, and its road to canon.
The Second Letter to Timothy — Paul's Last Words and a Disputed Letter's Road to Canon
2 Timothy is Paul's farewell: 'all Scripture is inspired,' guard the deposit, the good fight. A Catholic look at inspiration, authorship, and the road to canon.
The Letter to Titus — A Gentile on Crete, the Great God and Savior, and a Disputed Letter's Road to Canon
The Letter to Titus: church order on Crete, 'our great God and savior,' the bath of rebirth. A Catholic look at grace, authorship, and its road to canon.
The Second Letter to the Thessalonians — The Man of Lawlessness and a Disputed Letter's Path to Canon
2 Thessalonians warns against a forged letter — and is itself one of Paul's disputed letters. A Catholic look at the man of lawlessness and the restrainer.
The Epistle to the Colossians — The Least Important Church, an Early Heresy, and a Ghost Letter
Paul never saw Colossae and an earthquake soon wrecked it—yet its letter was never doubted, and it spawned a forged 'Laodiceans' that haunted the Bible for centuries.
The Epistle to the Ephesians — The Letter That Lost Its Address and Kept Its Place
Ephesians was never doubted—yet its address may be a blank, Marcion called it 'Laodiceans,' and modern critics doubt Paul. A Catholic reads its road through the canon.
The Epistle to the Philippians — Joy in Chains and the Quietest Road into the Canon
Philippians was never doubted—yet Polycarp spoke of 'letters,' critics cut it in three, and its hymn built Christology. A Catholic reads its road through the canon.
The First Letter to the Corinthians — The Oldest Words in the New Testament and Its Road Into the Canon
A Catholic on 1 Corinthians — the quarrelsome church whose letter preserves the oldest creed and the earliest Eucharist in the New Testament, and its road into the canon.
The Second Letter to the Corinthians — The Letter No One Doubted and No One Can Agree Is One Letter
A Catholic on 2 Corinthians — Paul's most personal letter, its power-in-weakness gospel, and the integrity debate behind a book the Church never doubted.
The Epistle to the Galatians — The Undisputed Letter at the Heart of the Canon's First War
Galatians was never doubted—yet Marcion put it first, the church fought over it, and Luther called it his own. A Catholic reads its road through the canon.
3 John — The Elder, Gaius, and the Man Who Loved to Be First
The Third Letter of John is the shortest book in the Bible, never names Jesus, and records a real first-century church quarrel over hospitality. A Catholic reads Gaius, Diotrephes, and its long road into the canon.
The Acts of Paul — Thecla, the Baptized Lion, and the Forger Who Loved Paul
A presbyter in Asia forged the Acts of Paul 'out of love for Paul'—and was deposed for it. How the book gave the Church Thecla, the baptized lion, and 3 Corinthians, and why it was still left out of the canon.
The Gospel of John — The Spiritual Gospel and Its Journey to Canon
John's is the highest Christology in the New Testament — the Gospel the Gnostics loved and a few of the orthodox feared. A Catholic examines its authorship, the Alogi, and its path to the canon.
The First Letter to the Thessalonians — The Earliest Christian Writing and Its Journey to Canon
1 Thessalonians is most likely the oldest surviving Christian writing. A Catholic examines its date, the parousia, the misread “rapture,” and its path into the New Testament canon.
The Acts of the Apostles — The Birth of the Church and Its Journey to Canon
Luke's second volume tells how the Church went from an upper room in Jerusalem to the heart of Rome. A Catholic examines the authorship, the 'we' passages, the historicity debates, and the path of Acts to the canon.
The Book of Revelation — The Bible's Most Contested Book and How to Read It
A Catholic reading of Revelation: who wrote it and when, why the Christian East nearly rejected it, and the four ways Christians have read its visions.
The Gospel of Luke — The Evangelist of Mercy and Its Journey to Canon
Luke, the Gentile physician and companion of Paul, wrote the longest Gospel — and the one Marcion tried to hijack. A Catholic examines its authorship, sources, theology, and path to the canon.
The Book of Romans — Paul's Masterwork and Its Road Into the Canon
A Catholic on the Book of Romans — the one letter no critic could deny, the most tangled text in the New Testament, and why it stands first among Paul's letters.
The Gospel of the Hebrews — A Lost Gospel and the Canon It Never Joined
The Gospel of the Hebrews survives only in scraps quoted by the Fathers — the risen Christ appearing to James, the Holy Spirit called his mother. A Catholic reads the fragments and asks why it never entered the New Testament.
1 Peter — The Apostle’s Letter of Hope in Suffering
The First Letter of Peter is the one catholic epistle the early Church never doubted. A Catholic reads its author, its ‘Babylon,’ its theology of suffering, and the riddle of the spirits in prison.