Roman Catholicism

by Loraine Boettner

Publisher:

P&R

, 1962

Overview

Roman Catholicism sets forth the differences between evangelical Protestantism and the Roman Catholic Church, both in regard to doctrine and in regard to the practical effects of Catholicism and Protestantism in the lives of ordinary believers. Boettner urges the evangelical community to draw from the apostolic church and from Scripture to discern the proper mode of belief and practice. He shows that the beginnings of Protestantism lie not in the fourteenth century, but in the belief and practice of the Early Church.

Contents

Top Highlights

“The distinctive attitude of the present day Roman Church was fixed largely by the Council of Trent (1545–1563), with its more than 100 anathemas or curses pronounced against all who then or in the future would dare to differ with its decisions.” (Page 9)

“It sets forth the pope’s claim to be ‘the successor of Peter, the Vicar of Christ” (Page xi)

“This document on the Church repeats in substance the teaching of the Council of Trent that ‘Priests and bishops are the representatives of God on earth.… Justly, therefore, they are called not only angels, but gods, holding as they do the place and authority of God on earth,’ and that the priests have ‘the power of consecrating and offering the body and blood of our Lord and of remitting sins’ (Cathechism of Trent).” (Page xi)

“‘Temples, incense, oil lamps, votive offerings, holy water, holy days and seasons of devotion, processions, blessings of fields, sacerdotal vestments, the tonsure (of priests, monks and nuns), images, etc., are all of pagan origin’ (p. 359).” (Page 10)

“But in the Greek the word Peter is Petros, a person, masculine, while the word ‘rock,’ petra, is feminine and refers not to a person but to the declaration of Christ’s deity that Peter had just uttered—‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’” (Page 105)

Product Details

• Title: Roman Catholicism
• Author: Loraine Boettner
• Publisher: P&R
• Publication Date: 1962
• Pages: 466

About Loraine Boettner

Loraine Boettner (1901–1990) a Reformed Theologian, born on a farm in Linden, Missouri. After obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree from Tarkio College in 1925, he attended Princeton Theological Seminary where he studied Systematic Theology under Dr. Casper W. Hodge and received his Th.B. (1928) and Th.M. (1929). He taught Bible for eight years in Pikeville College, Kentucky. In 1933 he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Tarkio College, and in 1957 the degree of Doctor of Literature. He was a member of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.