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Archive Early Church Fathers Ecclesiastical Polity Reformed Irenicism Sacred Doctrine Steven Wedgeworth

The Leadership of the Catholic Church: Now vs. Then (Pt. 6)

It’s time to bring our series on the identity and government of the church to a conclusion. You can find the previous installments here: Part 1: The Crisis of Rome and Its Claims of Ultimate Authority Part 2: Church Origins and Officers in the New Testament  Part 3: Bishop-Elders and Bishops in the Late First […]

Categories
Archive Early Church Fathers Ecclesiastical Polity Steven Wedgeworth

The Leadership of the Catholic Church: Now vs. Then (Pt. 5)

As we move into the third century, the relevant body of Christian literature grows considerably. The episcopalian structure of government has become more universal, and all of the writers of this period reference a singular bishop as holding a place of authority. They also largely repeat Irenaeus’ argument about bishops succeeding from the apostles and […]

Categories
Archive Early Church Fathers Ecclesiastical Polity Sacred Doctrine Steven Wedgeworth

The Leadership of the Catholic Church: Now vs. Then (Pt. 3)

We are continuing our series on the identity and government of the Christian Church and how it relates to the claims of the Roman Catholic Church. My first post explained why this question is freshly relevant and urgent for Roman Catholics, and it laid out the Roman Catholic claims about how the Christian Church was founded […]