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The clearest example of a sacred Tradition that both Catholics and Protestants accept is the canon of Scripture. The word canon comes from a Greek word that means “rule,” and refers to the Church’s official list of inspired writings. You can find this list in the table of contents of every Catholic or Protestant Bible.The canon of Scripture was first declared in Rome in A.D. 382and was later defined at two Catholic councils in North Africa(Hippo in A.D. 393 and Carthage in A.D. 397).How …

One evening I had the sad duty of attending my neighbor’s funeral. The assistant pastor from the church stood up and after a few remarks about the deceased began to give a sermon. The first ten minutes was dedicated to how he knew that my neighbor believed in Jesus and was in heaven, so there was no need to pray for her or offer Masses or anything like that. The next thirty minutes or so (it’s difficult to tell since it seemed like eternity) was dedicated to explaining why it doesn’t matter whic …

As Valeriy Alikin of St. Petersburg Christian University explains,“Christians began to read apostolic epistles in their gatherings at the latest from the middle of the first century onwards.” At the end of his first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul instructs,“I adjure you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the brethren”(5:27). And after the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15, the leaders of theChurchsend Paul and St. Barnabas to Antioch with a letter addressed to“the brethren who are of …

At first, the apostles conducted their teaching mission in a purely oral form. Peter preached a sermon on Pentecost.He did not issue a pamphlet.By teaching orally, the apostles followed the example of Jesus, who didn’t author any books, letters, or treatises. Only once do the Gospels mention Jesus writing, and that was with his finger on the ground (John 8:6, 8). Communicating God’s word orally was the most effective way to do it. The great majority of people—even in Israel—were illiterate. …

We recently sat down with Catholic Answers Senior Apologist Jimmy Akin, to talk about why the Bible is a Catholic book. Q. Our Protestant friends often speak of “the word of God” as if it was limited to just the Bible. Is that true? Jimmy: No. The Bible speaks of the “word of God” as being several different things. It certainly includes the Bible, but it also includes the word of God communicated to people orally—in the form of Tradition, as when the apostles preached the word to …