Category: Apologetics

Introduction to Islam

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This is one of the many blog entries I was halfway through before being distracted by something shiny… I started preparing this series of entries around the time of the media storm from the “Burn a Qur’an Day“. I was rather surprised by the reaction of many Christians to this dispute, but what I found even more troubling was their apparent lack of basic familiarity with the religion of Islam.

In this series of posts I will not be disputing any assertion made by Islam. I only intend to provide a brief sketch of the religion.  I would like this to be an introduction and brief overview for the average Christian who is unaware of Islam’s claims.

Please note, I have done my best to ensure factual accuracy in all these posts and have used Islamic sources as much as possible to ensure that I’m not propagating Christian misconceptions of Islam.  I did send this to some Muslim friends for comment, but I have yet to hear back. If you are a follower of Islam and believe that I have misrepresented your religion, please drop me an email and I will  remedy the situation.

Muhammad

Islam (“submission to God”) was founded by Muhammad in the early 7th Century, a little over six hundred years after Jesus’ ministry, seven hundred and sixty-six miles away from Jerusalem in Arabia.  In the early part of Muhammad’s life he was a successful trader and then, through marriage to a wealthy widow, he became an important figure.

Thanks to his wealth, at the age of forty, Muhammad was able to spend much of his time in meditation in a cave on the outskirts of Mecca. It is said that it was during this time that he began to receive messages from Allah (God) through Jibril (the Archangel Gabriel).  He was told that these messages were to be preached to all mankind.  They were subsequently written down by his companions and collected together to form the Muslim holy book: the Qur’an/Koran (literally “the recitation”).

Muhammad’s followers were initially fairly small in number, consisting mainly of his own family. There were soon violent persecutions in Mecca against the Muslims, causing Muhammad to move to Medina where Islam was more favourably received.  A little later, the first jihad (holy war) took place. Muhammad returned to Mecca and destroyed the idols there and within eight years Muslim armies had conquered (and effectively converted) the whole of Arabia.

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Beginning Ignatius’ letter to Polycarp

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Well, we’re finally here!  The last letter of St. Ignatius of Antioch!  I’m posting this a bit earlier than usual because the next couple of weeks are going to be rather busy.

Each of the Ignatius’ letters are special for different reasons, but his letter to Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna, holds a special place in my heart.

In some ways it reminds me of the book of Proverbs, since Ignatius often offers Polycarp advice in the form of short exhortations.

This is the only personal letter Ignatius wrote to a fellow bishop and should, in my not so humble opinion, be required reading for all pastors and all those who minister in the Church.

When I have friends who enter the seminary, they usually receive a card from me with a quotation which comes from somewhere in this letter.  Whenever I become discouraged in the ministries in which I serve, this is the document I usually dig out.

“St. Ignatius of Antioch’s letter to Polycarp” PDF
“St. Ignatius of Antioch’s letter to the Polycarp” Audio

I said this was Ignatius’ last letter, but that is not strictly true, for there was one final letter he wrote, to both his “God Jesus Christ” and to the “Catholic Church”. However, this was a letter of a different kind…  Rather than being written in private, this letter was written in an amphitheatre before thousands of jeering Romans.  Rather than using parchment, he used his own flesh and, in place of ink, his own blood.

St. Ignatius, pray for us.

Beginning Ignatius’ letter to the Smyrnaeans

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The final two letters of St. Ignatius which we read are both sent to the city of Smyrna.  The first letter is sent to the Church as a whole, the second specifically to their bishop, Polycarp.

This first letter is special for many reasons, but particularly because it contains Ignatius’ clearest declaration of faith about the Eucharist, as well as being the earliest recorded use of the phrase “Catholic Church”. Invented at Nicea?  I don’t think so.

Here is my abridged version of the letter:

“St. Ignatius of Antioch’s letter to the Smyrnaeans” PDF
“St. Ignatius of Antioch’s letter to the Smyrnaeans” Audio

Beginning Ignatius’ letter to the Philadelphians

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Ignatius is moving!

Thus far we have been reading the letters this inspirational martyr wrote from the city of Smyrna, but we must now follow him to Troas where he will write his last three letters before completing his journey to Rome and to the mouths of the wild beasts!

Ignatius now addresses the schism and the Judaising attempts at the church in the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia. Here is my abridged version of the letter:

“St. Ignatius of Antioch’s letter to the Philadelphians” PDF
“St. Ignatius of Antioch’s letter to the Philadelphians” Audio

Beginning Ignatius’ letter to the Ephesians

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This week in the JP2 Group we will be continuing our study of the letters of St. Ignatius of Antioch, martyr of the early 2nd Century.

Last week we read his words to the Trallians where Ignatius presents unity with the bishop as a defence against heresy. This week we move on to the letter he wrote to the Ephesians, the community in which Paul lived for three years and to whom he wrote a letter which we find in Sacred Scripture.

In this letter Ignatius pulls together all the different topics we have seen him address in his letters thus far: unity, the episcopacy, heresy, the Eucharist etc. However, as well as being a nice revision of all we have seen thus far, he also gives us some advice on how to deal with those outside the Church.

After looking at several different translations, I have, again, created my own abridged version so that we will be able to complete our study of this letter in a single evening.  The letter to the Ephesians is quite long so unfortunately I had to cut quite a bit. Anyway, here it is:

“St. Ignatius of Antioch’s letter to the Ephesians” PDF
“St. Ignatius of Antioch’s letter to the Ephesians” Audio

Another Patristics Resource

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Wow, they just keep coming!  Soon there will be published yet another “user friendly” resource for the writings of the Early Church Fathers! I just got the following email from Karl Keating, president of Catholic Answers:

My debate was a beautiful failure. My opponent was Dave Hunt, an inveterate anti-Catholic, a Fundamentalist writer of risible but widely-read books that “exposed” the Catholic Church… Our venue was a large hall near Detroit. The place was packed, chiefly with people who weren’t sympathetic to the points I was trying to make. One such listener was Alex Jones, then pastor of an inner-city Pentecostal church.

Years later, when Steve Ray introduced me to Alex, he said I was responsible for Alex’s conversion to the Catholic faith—but that Alex hadn’t been impressed by a single argument I made during that debate (Ouch!)

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New Church Father Resource

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As I am sure it has now become clear, I’m a big fan of the Early Church Fathers 🙂 I always try to encourage everyone I know to become familiar with their writings and discover the wisdom they have to pass on to us. I’ve just been notified of a new website, www.churchfathers.org which seeks to do the same.

The nice thing about this website is that it groups Church Father quotations by topic, such as “The Real Presence”, “Intercession of the Saints” etc, which makes it a particularly useful reference for apologetics.

The other thing I like about it is that all the quotations have a document name and date attached to them – I’m always frustrated when I come across a great Early Church Father quote but I then have to spend time tracking down the document name and date of composition….well, no more.

Joe, the creator of the website also has a newsletter to which you can subscribe for a free weekly quote from a Church Father.  Getting familiar with the Church Fathers really couldn’t get any easier…

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