On the Journey

On the Journey with Matt and Ken, Ep. 64: What Was the Reformation, And Why Did It Happen? Part III

As Matt Swaim and Ken Hensley have been discussing in this series, there were many historical and cultural factors that caused the Reformation to happen when it did. But it is impossible to overstate the impact that the hypocrisy, greed, and arrogance of Catholic leaders at every level had on the revolution that Christianity underwent in the 16th century.

The rot in the Church was so bad that even some of the saints who lived at the time discouraged believers from going to Rome, lest they have their faith destroyed. Matt and Ken look at how this corruption in the Catholic Church served to further feed the chaos of the Reformation.

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On the Journey with Matt and Ken, Ep. 63: What Was the Reformation, And Why Did It Happen? Part II

Matt Swaim and Ken Hensley continue their series exploring the causes of and reasons for the Continental Reformation by considering three major elements that played into it: the invention of the printing press, the proliferation of new theological ideas, and the rise of humanism as an educational philosophy. Exploring these three factors helps make sense of why the Reformation happened when it did.

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On the Journey with Matt and Ken, Ep. 62: What Was the Reformation, And Why Did It Happen? Part I

Matt Swaim and Ken Hensley begin a new series on the Continental Reformation, which is often understood as having started with Martin Luther before expanding rapidly across Europe and beyond.

As Evangelical Protestants, Matt and Ken had both done historical studies of the issues at stake in the Reformation. But the deeper they both dove into the theology, the cultural conditions of the time, and the personalities involved, the more they began to realize that there was a lot more for both of them to learn about what the Reformation actually was, and why it happened.

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On the Journey with Matt and Ken, Ep. 61: Christian Authority – The Infallibility Question

After several weeks discussing Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium, Matt Swaim and Ken Hensley conclude their discussion of how they wrestled with the question of Christian authority on their way into the Catholic Church.

Infallibility is one of the most misunderstood concepts in all of Catholic teaching, and to both Matt and Ken as Protestants, it sounded completely insane and unbiblical. They share some of the misconceptions they had about what the Catholic Church actually means by infallibility, and how it's not based on the administrative skills and talents of any particular pope or bishop, but on the very promise of Jesus Himself.

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On the Journey with Matt and Ken, Ep. 60: Christian Authority – The 3-Legged Stool

Having spent several weeks looking at how they began to rethink Christian authority as Evangelical Christians, Matt Swaim and Ken Hensley begin to unpack the three-legged stool of Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Magisterium that function as the guiding authority for the Catholic Church.

The three cannot be separated. Sacred Scripture is preserved and interpreted through Sacred Tradition, and then taught actively by the Magisterium. Pull any of those legs off of the stool, and division and chaos ensue.

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On the Journey with Matt and Ken, Ep. 59: Christian Authority – The Development of Doctrine

Matt Swaim and Ken Hensley continue their discussion of how they wrestled with the question of Christian authority on their way into the Catholic Church.

This time, they take a closer look at the way the papacy developed in the early Church. The Catholic claim is that the bishop of Rome, the successor of St. Peter, is the head of the Church. But how that came to be involves a process of development that helps us understand how the Holy Spirit continued in the promise of Jesus to lead the Church into all truth.

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On the Journey with Matt and Ken, Ep. 58: Christian Authority – The Historical Case

Matt Swaim and Ken Hensley continue to discuss how they went from Evangelical Christian understandings of authority to embracing what the Catholic faith teaches about the relationship between Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Magisterium.

In this episode, Matt and Ken dig into some of the early Christian sources that point to Rome as the "headquarters" of the Church, and how it came to be seen that way. As the site of the martyrdoms of Peter and Paul, the consensus of reliable early Christian sources shows us that Rome became the central seat of Christian leadership within the  lifetimes of the apostles.

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On the Journey with Matt and Ken, Ep. 57: Christian Authority – Peter and the Keys

Before moving on to a discussion of Christian authority from a historical perspective in the next episode, Matt Swaim and Ken Hensley bring together some of the most important points about what Scripture tells us in regard to authority, and discuss how those pieces fit together to give us a picture of how the early Church thought about itself.

For both Matt and Ken in their Protestant backgrounds, the Bible was considered the sole and sufficient rule of faith, so understanding the overall Scriptural sense of authority was central in their approach to considering the claims of the Catholic Church.

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On the Journey with Matt and Ken, Ep. 56: Christian Authority – Peter the Rock

Matt Swaim and Ken Hensley continue to discuss how they went from Evangelical Christian understandings of authority to embracing what the Catholic faith teaches about the relationship between Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Magisterium.

In Matthew 16, when Jesus changes Simon's name to Peter, what is the significance of that moment and what are its implications? Matt and Ken look at how the language used by Jesus in this passage has importance for Peter's role in the early Church, as prophet, patriarch, foundation, steward, rabbi, and even forgiver of sins.

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On the Journey with Matt and Ken, Ep. 55: Christian Authority – Peter in the Early Church

Matt Swaim and Ken Hensley continue their discussion of how they wrestled with the question of Christian authority on their way into the Catholic Church.

Moving on from Peter's role in the Gospels, Matt and Ken look at his role in the early Church as detailed especially in the first chapters of the Book of Acts. From his role preaching at Pentecost, to his testifying before Jewish authorities, to healings and miracles, it is clear that Peter is in a role of leadership among the apostles.

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