The Christian Vanguard

I teach 10th and 11th grade history, but as a bit of an afterthought. When I applied to this school to teach, my goal was to teach theology, but history (and literature) came with the package. It's the subject I am the least enthusiastic about. Before today, I suppose the reason I would give you if you were to ask me why we ought to study history is so that we know ourselves. I find myself in this American context, and I am partially shaped by my environment, so I ought to know how I got here, and this should clue me in as to where I ought to go and how to get there.  After a small conference I attended today hosted by Hillsdale, the thinking became a bit clearer for me. History, the speakers said, is a study of particulars. The reason we study history is because when we teach history, we are presenting an argument. It's not just a narrative. And what history does is something like provide precedents, or minor premises. So for example, if I suffer from a corrupt government, I w...

It is a common anti Catholic argument to point out that Pope St. Gregory (540-604 AD) denied the title of "Universal Bishop." If the Pope himself denied the title, then how can the Pope claim to have universal jurisdiction over the entire church? This argument has been around since at least the reformation, as we see it in John Calvin's Institutes , and it still made today by people like James White, Geisler and MacKenzie. So what exactly did Pope St. Gregory say? In a few different places, he says things like,  None of my predecessors has consented to bear this profane title, for when a Patriarch adopts for himself the title of 'universal' the title of Patriarch suffers discredit. No Christian, then, has the desire to adopt a title that would cause discredit to his brethren. And  Was it not the case, as your Fraternity knows, that the prelates of this Apostolic See, which by the providence of God I serve, had the honour offered them of being called Univers...