Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 10138 Historicism is one of the four major approaches to interpreting the book of Revelation, and for many centuries it was the dominant Protestant reading. It holds that the visions of Revelation describe the broad sweep of church history from the apostolic age to the Second Coming, with the various symbols corresponding to specific…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 60062 This is a question that requires both honesty and care. Millions of Roman Catholics around the world hold a sincere faith in Jesus Christ, attend Mass, pray, give sacrificially, and seek to live according to their understanding of God’s will. At the same time, the official doctrinal positions of the Roman Catholic Church,…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 60040 The word “deconstruction” has become one of the defining terms of the contemporary church conversation. Testimonies of people “deconstructing their faith” fill social media, podcasts, and bestseller lists, and the movement has touched every denomination and tradition. But Christianity already has a word for the process of examining inherited beliefs, stripping away what…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 09018 The doctrine of apostolic succession is one of the foundational claims of Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and some Anglican ecclesiology. It asserts that the authority of the original apostles has been transmitted in an unbroken chain through the laying on of hands from bishop to bishop, from the first century to the present…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 09017 The differences between Roman Catholic and Protestant churches are not minor variations on a shared theme. They involve fundamental disagreements about the nature of salvation, the authority of Scripture, the role of the church, and how a sinner stands before a holy God. Understanding these differences matters, not because Protestant-Catholic dialogue should be…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 09016 The sheer number of Christian denominations is one of the most frequently raised objections to the faith, both by sceptics and by sincere believers who find it troubling. If Christians worship the same God and read the same Bible, why are there thousands of separate organisational structures, each with its own confession, polity,…
Reading Time: 5 minutesQuestion 13004 The Reformation is one of the most consequential events in the history of the Christian church, and its effects continue to shape the theological, ecclesiastical, and cultural landscape of the Western world. Understanding what happened, why it happened, and what it achieved is essential for any believer who wants to understand how the…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 07108 Arminianism is the theological tradition named after Jacobus Arminius (1560-1609), a Dutch Reformed theologian who challenged certain aspects of the Calvinist system from within the Reformed tradition itself. It is often presented as the opposite of Calvinism, but this oversimplifies both traditions. Understanding what Arminius actually taught, where his followers developed his ideas,…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 07096 Calvinism is one of the most influential theological systems in the history of Protestant Christianity. Named after the sixteenth-century Reformer John Calvin, though its roots extend further back into Augustine’s theology, it offers a comprehensive account of God’s dealings with humanity that centres on divine determination and unconditional election. Understanding what Calvinism teaches,…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 07087 The Five Solas are the foundational principles of the Protestant Reformation, expressed in five Latin phrases that summarise what the Reformers recovered from Scripture in their challenge to the teaching and practice of the Roman Catholic Church. They are not five separate doctrines so much as five facets of one great truth: salvation…