Articles

Browse select Tabletalk articles and columns exploring themes and topics across a spectrum of relevant issues.

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  • The Significance of Thomas Aquinas by Ryan Reeves

    Thomas Aquinas has always been a whipping boy for theologians. In his own lifetime, his classmates referred to him as the “Dumb Ox” (a play on both his oafish size and the way his critical thinking appeared slow and pondering). …Read More

  • The Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy by R. Scott Clark

    On February 28, 2013, Pope Benedict XVI abdicated the papacy. Six days later, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a Jesuit priest and archbishop of Buenos Aires, was elected by the College of Cardinals and installed as Pope Francis I, bringing to a …Read More

  • The 13th Century by Nicholas Needham

    More traditionally minded Roman Catholics have seen the thirteenth century as the golden age of Roman Catholic civilization. Certainly it witnessed the papacy achieving the summit of its power over the politics and culture of Western Europe. THE REIGN OF …Read More

  • The New Mendicant Orders by David Hogg

    From the earliest days of the medieval period, bishops were expected to preach regularly as they visited congregations throughout their dioceses, and in their absence, there was broad support for ordained presbyters (elders) to fill the vacancy. As in our …Read More

  • The New Monasticism by George Grant

    By the thirteenth century, the West’s idealistic wars against a fearsome Islamic threat had failed ignobly; its stagnating economy had cast a pall of depression across the once prosperous and thriving land; its national and political leaders reveled in pomp, …Read More

  • Bernard of Clairvaux and Mysticism by Stephen Nichols

    One has to appreciate a medieval figure whom Martin Luther and John Calvin looked on with favor and, to a certain degree, approval. The figure in question is Bernard of Clairvaux, a Cistercian monk, abbot, mild mystic, and formidable theologian. …Read More

  • Peter Abelard and the Development of Scholasticism by Gregg Allison

    Peter Abelard (AD 1079–1142) served as professor of philosophy and theology at the University of Paris and was a notable scholastic theologian. Scholasticism is the discipline and method of bringing together philosophy and theology to make God and His ways …Read More

  • Peter Lombard, Master of the Sentences by Andrew Hoffecker

    The roots of Christian doctrine extend back to God’s revelation in the Old and New Testaments. In the early centuries of the church, apologists defended Christian beliefs. Ecumenical councils affirmed the Trinity and theologians fleshed out these beliefs. True systematic …Read More

  • Peter Waldo and the Waldensians by W. Robert Godfrey

    By the twelfth century, the church in Western Europe was indeed powerful and impressive. In the emerging Gothic architecture, we can see something of the devotion of the people and the wealth of the bishops. In the developing scholastic theology, …Read More

  • The Twelfth Century by Nicholas Needham

    The twelfth century was one of the most colorful of the medieval era. Indeed, it would be no exaggeration to say that it was the age of some of the most famous and influential Christians of all time. We need …Read More

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