Protestants are people of the word; Catholics are people of the sacraments. That’s the way it’s usually divided up.
Sed contra, I say: Medieval Catholics frequently denied that there were sacraments in Eden; Protestants have just as frequently affirmed Edenic sacraments. The upshot: For Protestants, sacraments are inherent in human interaction with God; for Catholics (at least medieval ones), sacraments were a postlapsarian accommodation.
Sed contra, I say again: Medieval Catholics frequently said that the sacraments of the old law were mere signs; Protestants have just as frequently said that the sacraments of the Old Testament offered Christ and His benefits to Israel. The upshot: Protestants upgraded, not downgraded, sacramental efficacy.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Restoring Man at Notre Dame
It is fascinating to be an outsider on the inside of an institution going through times of…
Deliver Us from Evil
In a recent New York Times article entitled “Freedom With a Side of Guilt: How Food Delivery…
Natural Law Needs Revelation
Natural law theory teaches that God embedded a teleological moral order in the world, such that things…
