Or, What is Christianity?

It began as a one-off post but turned into a loosely-themed series about Christianity and the Catholic Church, what they are, what they aren’t. Just some basic musings, some corrections of common misunderstandings, some attempt at a basic philosophy or way of looking–not that I am claiming to be a philosopher. But some philosophical understanding helps a great deal, I think, when it comes to thinking, reasoning, and talking about these things. Without it people can think, say and do the most unreasonable things possible and then, of course, blame all of that on Christianity and the Church. (Series began in November 2023.)

1. Is Christianity really just a book and some beliefs? The Christian religion is not primarily a set of beliefs. Though it does have a set of beliefs, it can’t be reduced to them. In the Bible and in the early years the followers of Christ called what they were doing, following the Way, following Christ, picking up their crosses and carrying them daily, as their Master had commanded. Posted November 6, 2023.
2. What must I believe or What must I do: I’ve heard some say that Christianity is all about what a person is supposed to believe but that other religions are more concerned with what a person is supposed to do. Now this just gets Christianity all wrong. Jesus says over and over what we are to do in order to have salvation. Posted November 13, 2023.
3. It is not about control: The God Who gave us life and lets us pariticipate in His Divine Life made us in His image. He knows how we should live, and how we should not, and He has revealed this to us. As a way to “control” us? To those who look at it through a lens that views all of life as a desire and struggle for power, it will probably seem so. But that doesn’t make it so. Posted November 20, 2023.
4. Light of the World: St. Athanasius had to face a Church in which almost all her members, including clergy and hierarchy, had gone over to the side of heresy. I spent the weekend reading the Light of the World, by Jaroslav Pelikan, about St. Athanasius and how he faced that crisis and laid the foundation for Christian theology for the next thousand years, probably longer, probably until now, even. Posted December 5, 2023.
5. Is good good enough?: You probably saw those signs a few years ago. It was an ad campaign by a group implying that we can be good for goodness’ sake, be good without religion. But can we? And is it enough to be good? What is good or goodness? We use these words all the time but we rarely explain what we mean when we speak of them.
6. Who needs philosophy? Short answer: You, me, and everybody. We all have a philosophy, anyway, might as well have a good one that makes sense. Long answer: well, read the post already. It’s not that long.
7. Prelude to Nicaea: We begin to learn about philosophical distinctions, preparing to explore the arguments & events that led to Early Church councils, and the struggle to understand and talk about Who (and what) Jesus is.
8. Road to Nicaea continues: The Road to Nicaea continues with Dr. Marshner. I posted the next talk in his series & added some thoughts about last week’s talk, about the verses in Philippians 2, and μορφή (morphe), form & nature.
9. Chalcedon: Humanity or Divinity?: Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, falls on St. Valentine’s Day this year and what that says to me is this: Lent is all about Love and Love is all about letting go of everything that stands between the Lover and the Beloved. Prefer nothing to Christ, as St. Benedict would say (Rule of Benedict, 4:21). Lent is the perfect time to turn away from the things of this world and focus on His Kingdom which is not of this world, to focus on the things that truly matter. The day is already late and the time to begin, or to begin again, is now.
10. Christ did not suffer so that we don’t have to. He suffered so we could. So we could offer our suffering to be united with His redemptive suffering, for the conversion of sinners and the salvation of souls…
11. Stations of the Cross: If you’ve been Catholic for a while, you’ve probably taken part in the Friday devotions of Lent and I don’t mean just the fish fry dinners. I mean the Stations of the Cross, reading the words in one of those little booklets, turning to face each station on the wall. I remember the first time I attended the Stations in the parish where I took instruction and was received.
12. I can see clearly now: When I was younger, before the days of plastic lighter weight lenses, I wore thick glass glasses. They were heavy, too. But without them I couldn’t see two feet in front of me. But once I got that first pair of glasses, what a difference they made. Later on when I was in my late thirties, that’s what discovering Catholicism was like. I could see things I’d never seen before and see other things in a whole new way.
13. Oops! Errata from the previous post: Apologies for the error. What can I say, old eyes and small brain, what a combination, eh? Kind of amusing considering that the title of that post was “I can see clearly now.” Sigh. It’s always something.
14. I am a soul who has a body, oh, really?: How many times have you heard someone say it? “I am a soul, I have a body.” That’s not what the Church teaches. Think it doesn’t matter? Oh, but it does.
15. It’s not about comfort: “I understand why you need religion, it gives you comfort.” Say, what? It gives me a lot of things. Comfort is not one of them.
16. My First Holy Thursday Experience: a lightly edited re-post about a night I hope I’ll always remember.
17. It’s about transformation: It’s about allowing and working with the Lord as He molds us lovingly into the saints He has always meant for us to become.