Ep. #115 – He Founded the Catholic Church w/ Tim Staples
Summary
What was the nature of the early Church? Why should we believe Christ founded the Catholic Church? Shouldn’t we think of the Church as an invisible set of all believers? What about the fact that the Westminster Confession of Faith professes to hold to a visible model of the Church? Tim Staples joins us to discuss these questions and more.
Guest Bio
Tim Staples is Director of Apologetics and Evangelization at Catholic Answers. He converted to Catholicism in 1988 and has been working in Catholic apologetics for over 25 years and is the author of multiple books including Behold Your Mother: A Biblical and Historical Defense of the Marian Doctrines.
Topics
- You’ve been doing apologetics for a long time. What has changed since when you started out?
- Why should we think Christ founded a visible Church?
- What scriptural evidence and early historical evidence supports the claim that Christ founded the Catholic Church?
- How should we understand the different distinctions between bishop and presbyter in light of the fact that the Greek words for them are used interchangeably in some New Testament texts?
- Why don’t the New Testament authors call the elders priests if they were indeed priests?
- What else would you include in making the case that Christ founded the Catholic Church?
Resources
Behold Your Mother: A Biblical and Historical Defense of the Marian Dogmas by Tim Staples
Defending Your Faith: How to Counter Standard Objections to Catholicism by Tim Staples
Catholic Answers School of Apologetics
Christ Founded a Visible Church (blog article) by Dr. Bryan Cross
Related Episodes
CORE #08 – He Founded the Catholic Church (part 1)
CORE #09 – He Founded the Catholic Church (part 2)
Ep. #105 – Pope Peter w/ Joe Heschmeyer
Ep. #106 – Tradition, Lexicons, and Paradigms w/ Dr. Bryan Cross
