One final quotation:
“The creation of a plural system of Churches with their separate baptisms (Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist) implied also the emergence of a plural system of civil citizenries or communities. Therefore, in the case of States with multiple confessional communities, new systems had to be devised to test the fealty to the King of his subjects, independently from their faithfulness to one or the other of the new, confessional Churches or denominations. One such system, which overcame confessional pluralism, was to ask all subjects, including women and children, to swear an oath of fealty to the King, without reference to their diverse rituals of baptism and to their confessional identity.”
Given this, one can hardly imagine a more politically radical agenda than that of the ecumenical movement, which recognizes only one baptism. No wonder Satan has worked so hard to derail various forms of modern catholicism, and to make biblically-conscious Christians suspicious of all ecumenism. So long as the common oath is to a human king, Satan rests easy; when there is one baptismal oath to King Jesus, Satan shudders.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…