To Give a Defense

Is the novel Protestant? A reply to Joseph Bottum.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • March 8, 2015 • Literature

Of all things in literature, the one that is the most futile and impossible to generalize about is the novel. There are no limits to its form: That is a mark of its strength. No one can agree even on when the novel began; the standard narrative is that the first novel was Robinson Crusoe (1719), but that’s more a myth of convenience — and cultural chauvinism — than anything else. What about the 11th century Japanese Tale of Genji? The 12th century Arabic Hayy ibn Yaqdhan? The “Four Great Classical Novels” of the Ming and Qing dynasties?

The woman of the Apocalypse according to popes.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • March 4, 2015 • Apologetics; Marian Dogmas

In a recent post, Steve “Purple” Hays of Failablogue (he calls it Triablogue) tries to pit those wicked “lay Catholic pop apologists” against “their religious superiors” in the USCCB. The USCCB says the woman clothed with the sun is the Church, and Hays will side wth the bishops. That’s progress. Perhaps, then, he’ll also side with the bishop of Rome. Pius X, Pius XII, Paul VI, and John Paul II have said the woman clothed with the sun is also Mary. And before you cry, “Contradiction!” Haydock’s Commentary of 1859 says the woman clothed with the sun is Israel, the Church, and Mary.

Did Theodoret of Cyrus teach sola scriptura? White vs. Matatics (1997), part 2.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • March 3, 2015 • Apologetics; Debates; sola scriptura

Not satisfied with his effort to co-opt St. Cyril of Jerusalem into a defense of sola scriptura, Dr.* James White (Th.D., D.Min., etc., etc.), of Alpha & Omega Sophistries, goes on to abuse the text of Theodoret’s Dialogues by quoting him out of context too. This comes at about the 23:00 mark in his 1997 debate with Gerry Matatics. The quotation Dr.* White provides us is this one: “The doctrine of the Church should be proven, not announced. Therefore show that the Scriptures teach these things.” I will get there presently. First some background.

Pope Francis Derangement Syndrome XI: I’m shocked, shocked to find that there is orthodoxy going on in this papacy.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • February 23, 2015 • Pope Francis Derangement Syndrome

Pope Francis Derangement Syndrome, in the secular media, has reached a critical mass where more and more poor souls are reporting themselves shocked, shocked to find that the pope is Catholic. Such gasps would trickle in before, but now they seem to be more frequent. Just this weekend there were two meltdowns in the liberal press: the first at MarketWatch, over the shocking discovery that the pope is not in favor of contraception; the second at the Daily Screech, over the shocking discovery that the pope is not in favor of gender theory.

Giordano Bruno and the truth about the Inquisition.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • February 12, 2015 • Apologetics; Church History

Context is important in these discussions. “The medieval world was not the modern world”; it seems trite and condescending to say that. But it is very important, if we are going to talk about the Inquisition, to understand the world of thought that actually existed at the time. At a time when Europe was universally Christian, religion was the one real stabilizing factor against civil unrest. For that reason, heresy was commonly accepted to be a threat to the security of the state. It was not mere religious error, or difference of opinion but treason.

Obama’s remarks on the Crusades and ISIS: some addenda.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • February 8, 2015 • Apologetics; Church History

Some, on blogs and in social media, have been urging that the outrage has somehow been made up by the right wing. It’s nothing but “noise.” Obama, they say, did not compare the Crusades and ISIS, and violence has been done in the name of Christ. Why, John Paul II even apologized for evil acts done during the Crusades! Which he did. And yet all this misses the mark. For one, the pope never apologized for the Crusades themselves, whereas the whole purpose of ISIS is nothing but barbarous murder and unprovoked aggression. Nor do we deny evil has been done by Christians.

No, Mr. Obama, the Crusades and ISIS are not the same thing.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • February 5, 2015 • Apologetics; Church History

Now, in the most kind and narrow construction you can assign those words, Mr. Obama is not altogether wrong. People have “committed terrible deeds” in the name of Christ. That is true. But. To say that that is no different than cutting the heads off of babies? To say that that is no different than torching prisoners alive in a caged inferno? No. That is wrong, ignorant, false, and vile. What Mr. Obama is saying is that we have no moral right to call what ISIS does evil. What he is saying is that we cannot fight against them and be entirely just.

On Harper Lee’s new book: Should To Kill a Mockingbird have a sequel?

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • February 4, 2015 • Literature

Go Set a Watchman may not exactly make Harper Lee look like a “fool.” That might be the self-doubt of a reclusive author talking, or the jadedness of a public that has learned to take a low view of sequels. I suspect that Lee was unwilling to publish anything after Mockingbird for two reasons: (1) she was, as she once said, more like Boo Radley than Scout Finch, and public attention did not suit her; (2) she knew that nothing else she ever wrote, however good, would be To Kill a Mockingbird. She was publicity shy and wrote a book that is just impossible to match.

Notre Dame professor Dr. Candida Moss says Jesus “wasn’t down with marriage.”

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • February 2, 2015 • Apologetics; Exegesis

Dr. Candida Moss is all wrought up over the LDS “half-hearted shuffle toward LGBT equality.” Dr. Moss prefers the mad dash over the cliff: When she says “LGBT equality,” what she means is “marriage equality,” in spite of the fact that no one, not even Dr. Moss, believes in any such thing. Would she advocate marrying your dog? a three-year-old child? the exhumed body of King Tut? So let us get this myth of “marriage equality” out of our heads from the start. To define marriage is to limit it, and the real goal is not marriage “equality” but marriage plasticity.

Aborted ethics and wrongful liabilities: What hath the Court wrought?

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • January 30, 2015 • In the News; Politics; Pro-Life Issues

You will have heard, I take it, of a recent “wrongful birth” lawsuit. The Daily Screech reported on it in August: After an amniocentesis, parents were told they had a healthy baby. Turned out, baby has Syndrome Z. Turned out, the medical office had misread the results. So parents sued on the premise that they would have aborted the baby if only they had known about the Syndrome Z. This was not a unique case; half of all U.S. states recognize “wrongful birth” as a cause of action, and one couple was awarded a full $50 million in such a suit.

Pope Francis Derangement Syndrome X: Anti-papal malarkey and damnable schism.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • January 28, 2015 • Pope Francis Derangement Syndrome

Where the pope most challenges you, perturbs you, drives you up the wall: That is the very thing you need to hear. The problem is not Peter. Rachel Lu is right: If you continue this mad campaign against Francis, your words will end up being used by secular leftists to promote their own agenda for the culture and the Church. And when that happens, you will have no room to whine about it. If you are a Catholic, you don’t ever, ever, shut your ears to Peter. Unity is in Peter. And schism , whether in fact or only by obstinacy, is damnable.

A frustrated Steve Hays resorts to ad hominem, more haze.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • January 27, 2015 • Pope Francis

When a post begins in this wild and frothing way: “Papal lackey Scott Eric Alt is once again trying to save the pope’s rancid bacon” — you know you are reading one frustrated guy. Poor soul. That’s okay. I’m patient here. I get it. The lights are slow to go on at Failablogue. Frustration leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering! So let us, with patience, help poor Purple Haze out of his, well, purple haze. Mr. Haze first goes amiss in his reply to a point I made about the argument from authority.

Pope Francis Derangement Syndrome IX: Glenn Beck needs a team to teach him about Catholicism.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • January 26, 2015 • Pope Francis Derangement Syndrome

Glenn Beck, with the selfless charity of one who thinks well of himself, has offered to put together a “team” that will teach Pope Francis what capitalism really is. Oh boy. Here we go again. Whenever I see stuff like this, I always wonder whether those saying it have read the pope’s words first-hand. Have they read Church social teaching, in the Church’s own words? Do they think they need to? Or do they get all their information about the Church and the pope from the secular press? Veritas? Quid est veritas? Even Rush Limbaugh’s storied pursuit of the truth stopped.

’Scuse me while I refute this guy: A reply to Steve “Purple” Hays on the pope, NFP, and C‑sections.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • January 26, 2015 • Pope Francis

Steve “Purple” Hays has replied to my post from Friday. If your general practitioner has affirmed that you are safely free from stomach acid and there’s no danger that it will blow up on you from exposure to bilge, you can read his response. But since the man is in a deep muddle, I’m going to fisk his post with some length and patience. I’m always here to help him. It’s a service I offer Calvinists at my blog. Mr. Hays begins his post by referring to me as “one of this pope’s many self-appointed handlers” and “a lay blogger.” Now, I know why he does this: It is to poison the well.

In attack on pope, polemical rogue Mr. John Bugay makes crude joke about multiple orgasms.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • January 23, 2015 • Anti Catholicism; Pope Francis

There is no cesspool so foul that John Bugay will not jump into it with full-throated glee if it serves his hatred of the Church. The man lost his shame years ago. Consider that it was this very same polemical rogue who once photoshopped a Hitler moustache onto St. Therese of Lisieux, removed it only under the strong persuasion of his pastor, and all the while whimpered that he had been much maligned and abused by the Catholics who called him out. Well, dear reader, the dog has returned to his vomit, this time with a foul and smelly joke about orgasms.