Church History

There may be no event in Church History so fraught with controversy as the Inquisition. The topic is often used to discredit the Catholic Church, too frequently by people whose own knowledge of the relevant circumstances and events is thin...

The Founding of the American Republic is on trial. Critics say it was a poison pill with a time-release formula; we are its victims. Its principles are responsible for the country's moral and social disintegration because they were based on the...

The papacy is no stranger to controversy. In many ways it’s Catholicism’s defining doctrine—but also its most divisive. From medieval pontiffs who acted like princes to a modern pope whose every casual statement sets off a social-media...

Common Sense About the Common Good Pope Leo XIII wrote of the “harvest of misery” that socialism brings. Pius XI said that it’s impossible to be a good Catholic and a good socialist. John Paul II spent his papacy combating...

About a century after Jesus died, a battle began for the Old Testament. Large numbers of faithful Christians fought about its contents and even about its right to be called a Christian book! On one side, many Jewish converts charged Paul and most of...

Islam...Is it a religion of peace?...Are Muslims an easy ally in the fight against global secularization and the culture of death?...Are their beliefs really so different than our own? Some Christians view Islam as a sister religion, a branch of the...

Many Protestants call themselves “Bible Christians”—in contrast with Catholics, who ignore the Bible because they have the Church instead. Too many Catholics have taken this mistaken assumption for granted. We don’t have to...

“I believe because it is absurd.” - Tertullian? “God helps those who help themselves.” - The Bible? “Preach the gospel always; when necessary, use words.” - St. Francis of Assisi? "The thing that makes me saddest is...

Here's an unflinching look at the lives and sacrifices of those first Christians who were given the task of spreading the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Relying on ancient documents — as well as the latest archeological findings and scientific...

Do you want to be a better Catholic? Reform Yourself! The sixteenth-century Catholic Church was definitely in need of reform. Too many of its leaders were worldly and corrupt; too many of the faithful were living in laxity or ignorance. Unfortunately,...

Why Is That In Tradition? explains the crucial biblical difference between Tradition with a capital T and the many "small-t" traditions and customs that are of human origin. When non-Catholics dispute the Church's teachings, they often distort the facts...

What if Protestantism were true? What if the Reformers really were heroes, the Bible the sole rule of faith, and Christ’s Church just an invisible collection of loosely united believers? As an Evangelical, Devin Rose used to believe all of it...