Understanding Catholic Theology

I am not a Catholic, nor am I an expert in Catholicism, but in the summer of 2012 I took a course in Christian Doctrine at the University of Notre Dame with Dr. John Cavadini. I found it enormously helpful for understanding what Catholics believe and why. Click HERE to see a series of posts I wrote on sticking points between Catholics and Protestants (or see below for a full list of post topics with links). These posts started out as class assignments, but they were written with Evangelicals in view.

Have you ever wondered
    . . . why Mary is so important to Catholics?
    . . . where the idea of purgatory came from?
    . . . why religious art is so prominent in the Catholic Church?
    . . . how the Pope came to have so much power?
    . . . if Catholics still use indulgences?

Graphics Courtesy of www.catholicgraphics.us

I hope you find this to be a helpful starting place for answering these questions and more. What you'll read is the fruit of my own wrestling with these questions and others. In the end, though I remain an Evangelical Protestant, I have found that Catholic theology offers profound spiritual insights worthy of our reflection and respect.

• the role of natural theology - part one
• the role of natural theology - part two
• the nature of saving faith
• science and Scripture
• purgatory
• prayer for the dead
• icons
• Mary
• popes and bishops
• penance, indulgences, and the treasury of merit