Considering Catholicism
af Greg Smith
Seneste episode
Drawn to Rome, Part 6: Goodness (#494)
Drawn to Rome, Part 6: Goodness (#494)
Om denne podcast
Considering Catholicism explains the beliefs, history, Scripture, and life of the Catholic Church clearly and charitably. It’s for curious Protestants, seekers, people in OCIA, and Catholics who want to know and share their faith. Host Greg Smith spent decades serving across the Protestant world, which gives him an insider’s understanding of the questions people bring. Faithful to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Episoder
De nyeste 50 af 506 episoder
- Drawn to Rome, Part 6: Goodness (#494) · 41 min. · Episode 507Sam stands in the shadow of Mordor and says it plain: there is some good in this world, and it is worth fighting for. That sentence does something to a person. It raises the old…
- The Right Political Questions (#493) · 27 min. · Episode 506After an exhausting election season, it’s easy to argue about which way our country should go without asking what it’s all for. In a 1911 newspaper column, more than a decade…
- Does God Have Gender? (#492) · 25 min. · Episode 409Does God have a gender? Why does the Catholic Church use masculine pronouns like “He” and titles like “Father” and “Son”? In this episode, Greg explores the scriptural…
- From the Vault: Unhappy Reformation Day (#491) · 9 min. · Episode 505For secular folks this is Halloween, for Catholics it's the eve of All Saints Day, but for Protestants it's Reformation Day, when Martin Luther nailed his complaints against the…
- Drawn to Rome, Part 5: Beauty (#490) · 33 min. · Episode 504A glimpse of something beautiful can put you on the road before you have a name for the destination. In this episode Greg returns to the moment in The Lord of the Rings when Sam…
- Drawn to Rome, Part 4: Maturity (#489) · 40 min. · Episode 503Catholicism does not lower the bar to make the faith easier to swallow. It treats people as adults and expects them to grow up — in doctrine, in moral responsibility, in the…
- Drawn to Rome, Part 3: A Quiet Place (#488) · 37 min. · Episode 502Nine or ten at night, fog on a mountain road, and a Catholic chapel the size of a tool shed. A crucifix, a couple of benches, a place to pray. It was the first Catholic building…
- Drawn to Rome, Part 2: The Search for the Source (#487) · 33 min. · Episode 501A Christianity of new beginnings gets old. The megachurch was the recovery of real church, and before that the Jesus Movement, and before that some other return to the original…
- Drawn to Rome, Part 1: No One Gets Argued into Love (#486) · 18 min. · Episode 500Nearly five hundred episodes of this show have been about why the Catholic Church is true. That work was real, and it is not being retired. It was also incomplete. Most people do…
- Beyond and Behind the Four Spiritual Laws (#485) · 30 min. · Episode 499Four true sentences became, for a lot of us, the entire gospel. They were a trailer. They were never the film. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. You are a…
- Romans Road or Road to Rome? (#484) · 51 min. · Episode 498The Romans Road is the gospel many of us first learned: all have sinned, the wages of sin is death, Christ died for us, confess and believe, call on the Lord. Those verses are…
- The Catholic Bogeyman, Part 2: Responding with Love (#483) · 38 min. · Episode 497A myth does not want a conversation. It wants you on defense: ten charges in a minute, each one cheap to shout and expensive to answer. This episode is about refusing that game…
- The Catholic Bogeyman, Part 1: A Myth, Not an Argument (#482) · 36 min. · Episode 496Anti-Catholic propaganda is not a pile of arguments waiting to be answered one by one. It is a story: a pure church, a theft, a long night, a remnant, a monster with a face. That…
- Ed the Candidate, Part 2 (#481) · 27 min. · Episode 495In the second conversation, Ed turns from his own story to the people who write in every week and say they are exactly where he was two or three years ago. He talks about the…
- Ed the Candidate, Part 1 (#480) · 28 min. · Episode 494Ed is no longer just considering. After four-plus years of conversations on this show, he is now a candidate in the mid-year OCIA cohort at our parish and will enter the Church…
- When Catholicism Becomes a Wedge (#479) · 46 min. · Episode 493The hardest part of becoming Catholic is often not the doctrine. It is the moment a friendship, a marriage, or a family table starts to feel the strain. In this episode, Greg…
- Why Not "Mere Christianity?" (#478) · 37 min. · Episode 492In this re-release of one of our earliest conversations, Greg and Ed sit down on the podcast’s first anniversary to explain why this show is called Considering Catholicism—and…
- Sacraments: You Can’t Unring the Bell (#477) · 35 min. · Episode 491You cannot unring a bell. Once it has sounded, you can leave the room or cover your ears, but you cannot reach backward and make the ringing not have happened. That is the…
- Why Don't We Just Dedicate Babies? (#476) · 39 min. · Episode 490Why don’t Catholics just dedicate babies the way so many evangelical churches do? In this episode we look carefully at the difference between a sincere baby dedication and the…
- "Dear Doubting Thomas..." Part 7: The Church on Paper vs. the Church in the Pews (#475) · 42 min. · Episode 489Thomas named a frustration many people feel when they look seriously at Catholicism: on paper and in history the Church looks strong, bold, and majestic, yet in many ordinary…
- "Dear Doubting Thomas..." Part 6: Why Should I Trust Your Pope? (#474) · 42 min. · Episode 488Thomas named the papacy as one of the biggest speed bumps on the Road to Rome. The questions are familiar: Who made a man in Rome the boss of Christianity? What about the corrupt…
- "Dear Doubting Thomas..." Part 5: What Happens on the Altar in the Eucharist? (#473) · 31 min. · Episode 487Thomas raised two related difficulties with the Mass: what the Catholic Church actually claims is happening on the altar, and how underwhelming or casual many ordinary parish…
- "Dear Doubting Thomas..." Part 4: Why Would We Need Purgatory? (#472) · 24 min. · Episode 486Thomas asked the natural follow-up question to the “broken window”: if forgiveness cancels the debt but the damage remains, what happens to that remaining damage after we die? In…
- "Dear Doubting Thomas..." Part 3: Why Do Penance if Christ Already Paid the Price? (#471) · 30 min. · Episode 485Thomas asked a question that a lot of people carry quietly: if Christ has already paid the full price for our sins, why does the Catholic Church still talk about penance…
- "Dear Doubting Thomas..." Part 2: Why Confess to a Priest? (#470) · 27 min. · Episode 484Thomas wrestled with a very practical and painful question: Why does the Church insist we confess our sins to a priest when we can just tell God directly? In this episode Greg…
- "Dear Doubting Thomas,..." Part 1: Is the Catholic Church for Real? (#469b) · 27 min. · Episode 483Thomas wrote with a question that sits underneath almost everything else: Can the Catholic Church really be trusted with its extraordinary claims? In this first episode of the…
- Mary in the Dock, Part 7: Her Bodily Assumption into Heaven (#469) · 29 min. · Episode 482In this final episode of the Mary in the Dock series, we examine the Assumption of Mary — the solemn teaching that, at the end of her earthly life, the Immaculate Mother of God…
- Mary in the Dock, Part 6: Her Perpetual Virginity (#468) · 38 min. · Episode 481In this installment of Mary in the Dock, we put the claim of Mary’s perpetual virginity on trial. Many Protestants see the “brothers of Jesus” mentioned in the Gospels and the…
- How Do Altar Rails Make You Feel? (#467) · 42 min. · Episode 480In recent years, a number of dioceses have moved to remove or ban altar rails, even as some younger priests have begun reinstalling them. These disputes often follow a familiar…
- Who Is a "Christian?" (#466) · 40 min. · Episode 479In the wake of the Pentagon’s recent effort to simplify its religious affiliation codes — and the resulting controversy when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was…
- Where Peter Is (#465) · 31 min. · Episode 478In a world flooded with thousands of competing voices — each claiming to represent “biblical Christianity” with their favorite proof texts — how do you actually tell authentic…
- Mary in the Dock, Part 5: The Immaculate Conception (#464b) · 21 min. · Episode 477In Episode 5 of the series Mary in the Dock: Ordinary or Extraordinary?, Greg Smith puts the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception on trial. Protestants often object that it has…
- Mary in the Dock, Part 4: The Ark of the New Covenant (#463b) · 26 min. · Episode 476In Episode 4 of the series Mary in the Dock: Ordinary or Extraordinary?, host Greg Smith puts the Catholic doctrine of Mary as the New Ark of the Covenant on trial. Protestants…
- Development of Doctrine in Real Time: Live Debates and Clear Boundaries (#462b) · 42 min. · Episode 475The Acorn and the Oak: Development of Doctrine, Part 2 Picking up right where Part 1 left off, Greg and Cory apply the principles of authentic development to some of today’s most…
- What Development of Doctrine Really Is (And Isn’t) (#461b) · 33 min. · Episode 474The Acorn and the Oak: Development of Doctrine, Part 1. In this first part of our conversation with Cory, we explore the beautiful Catholic understanding of how doctrine…
- Mary in the Dock, Part 3: Is Mary the New Eve? (#460b) · 32 min. · Episode 464In Episode 3 of the series Mary in the Dock: Ordinary or Extraordinary?, host Greg Smith puts the Catholic doctrine of Mary as the New Eve on trial. Protestants often object that…
- Mary in the Dock, Part 2: Mother of God — Blasphemy or Biblical Truth? (#459b) · 30 min. · Episode 463In Episode 2 of the series Mary in the Dock: Ordinary or Extraordinary?, host Greg Smith puts the Catholic doctrine of Mary as Mother of God (Theotokos) on trial. Many modern…
- Mary in the Dock, Part 1: Is Devotion to Her Idolatry? (#458) · 35 min. · Episode 462In the powerful opening episode of the new series Mary in the Dock: Ordinary or Extraordinary?, host Greg Smith puts the Catholic practice of Marian devotion on trial. Are…
- Mystery, Magic, and the Search for Meaning (#464) · 42 min. · Episode 473In this unscripted, freewheeling conversation recorded at the secret compound, Ed shares the profound shift happening in his heart as he prepares to enter OCIA and come into full…
- Why I’m Not Giving Hot Takes on the New AI Encyclical (Yet) (#463) · 16 min. · Episode 472Pope Leo XIV released his first encyclical today — Magnifica Humanitas — addressing the dignity of the human person in the age of artificial intelligence, transhumanism, and…
- The Sexual Subtext Behind So Many Anti-Catholic Arguments (#462) · 39 min. · Episode 471Greg dives into a surprising pattern that keeps surfacing in Catholic-Protestant conversations: why so many objections to Catholicism quickly circle back to sex, sexuality, and…
- Moral Theology, Part 3: Prudential Judgments (#461) · 36 min. · Episode 470In the final part of this three-part series, Greg takes the philosophical foundation from Episode 1 and the moral schematics from Episode 2 and applies them directly to four very…
- Moral Theology, Part 2: Tools and Norms (#460) · 21 min. · Episode 469In the second part of this three-part series, Greg builds directly on the foundation laid in “The Anatomy of Evil” and moves into the practical schematics the Church has spent…
- Moral Theology, Part 1: The Anatomy of Evil (#459) · 36 min. · Episode 468In a world of loud moral arguments and social-media slogans, real precision often gets lost. In this three-part series, Greg unpacks one of the most attractive features of…
- 10 Years Catholic: What We’re Grateful For, and What Still Surprises Us (#457) · 59 min. · Episode 467In this special conversation episode, Greg sits down with his friend and longtime collaborator Cory to mark the 10th anniversary of the night they both entered the Catholic…
- Just How Depraved Are You? (#456) · 34 min. · Episode 466In this candid monologue, Greg retraces his own path from campus-ministry apologetics at a liberal university into the tight, intellectually satisfying world of…
- "I Never Said You Stole His Money:" Why "Bible Alone" Doesn't Work (#455) · 31 min. · Episode 465What if the way we’ve been taught to read the Bible is actually creating the very divisions we see today? In this episode of Considering Catholicism, host Greg Smith shares his…
- Imago Dei in the Age of AI, Part 4: Our Destiny Lies Beyond the Machines (#454) · 18 min. · Episode 461This is Part 4 of our four-episode series “What Is Man That You Are Mindful of Him? Imago Dei in the Age of AI.” As artificial super-intelligence seems ready to out-perform us on…
- Imago Dei in the Age of AI, Part 3: Will AI *Really* Change the World? (#453) · 24 min. · Episode 460This is Part 3 of our four-episode series “What Is Man That You Are Mindful of Him? Imago Dei in the Age of AI.” Everyone says AI is going to completely remake human…
- Imago Dei in the Age of AI, Part 2: The Problems AI Can’t Solve (#452) · 29 min. · Episode 459This is Part 2 of our four-episode series “What Is Man That You Are Mindful of Him? Imago Dei in the Age of AI.” In a world that increasingly measures human worth by output…
