Lutheranism: Catholic Critique (Index Page)

Justification: Reply to Jordan Cooper (Highlighting Love as the Fulfilling of the Law & Commandments, in Relation to Justification & Salvation) [4-23-24]
*

Biblical Canon & Sola Scriptura (vs. Jordan Cooper) [7-24-24]
*

Lutheran Dr. Jordan Cooper on the “Many” Conversions to Catholicism [Facebook, 8-6-24]

Papal Infallibility: Reply To Lutheran Jordan Cooper (Including Documentation of Popes’ Massive Consultation with Bishops and Others Before Declaring Dogmas, and Particulars of the Voting at Vatican I) [8-7-24]

Newman & Early Church Papal Infallibility & Supremacy (Reply to Jordan Cooper’s Miscomprehensions of St. Cardinal Newman’s Views on the Development of the Papacy & the 1870 Dogma) [1-2-25]
*

Reply to Jordan Cooper on Newman & Development [1-2-25]
*

II. REPLIES TO PHILIP MELANCHTHON’S LOCI COMMUNES

My Latest Project: Replies to Melanchthon’s Work, Loci Communes [Facebook, 8-28-24]

Reply to Melanchthon: Justification #1 (Moral Assurance of Salvation / Examination of Conscience / Bible On Apostasy / Initial Justification & Faith Alone) [8-29-24]
*

Reply to Melanchthon: Justification #2: Good Works 1 (“Working Together” with God / Human Striving & Merit / Tridentine Soteriology / David’s & Paul’s Godly “Boasting” / Regenerate Sinners / Romans 7 & 8 & Sin / God is Pleased by Our Meritorious Acts / Colossians 1:28: Imputed Justification?) [8-31-24]
*

Reply to Melanchthon: Justification #3: Good Works 2 (Trent on “Faith” / Meritorious Works / “Trust” in God / How the Error of “Faith Alone” Originated / Mortal Sin / “Faith” in James) [9-3-24]
*

Philip Melanchthon in Effect Fights with Jesus Over Faith Alone (Rich Young Ruler Passage) [Facebook, 9-4-24]
*

Reply to Melanchthon: Justification #4: Good Works 3 (James Refutes Faith Alone / Faith Without Love is Dead, Too / Love & Justification / Jesus Denies Faith Alone: Rich Young Ruler) [9-5-24]
*

Reply to Melanchthon: Justification #5: Good Works 4 (Isaiah vs. Protestant Soteriology / Absolution, Love, & Remission of Sins / Was Mary Who Wiped Jesus’ Feet with Her Hair, a Believer When She Did So? / Good Works of the Regenerate Rewarded with Heaven) [9-6-24]
*

Reply to Melanchthon on the Invocation of Saints [9-10-24]
*

III. PHILIP MELANCHTHON (1497-1560)

“Absurd” Protestant Divisions: Calvin’s Revealing Lament to Melanchthon [2-6-06]
*

Philip Melanchthon’s Agony Over Protestant Sectarianism [2-8-06]

Astrology: Philip Melanchthon’s Enthusiastic Espousal [5-21-06]

Why Write “Bad” Stuff About Protestant “Reformers”? [5-22-06]

Philip Melanchthon: Death for Denying the Real Presence (He Later Denied the Real Presence Himself) [5-23-06]

Lord Acton: Philip Melanchthon Persecuted Eucharistic Heretics [5-29-06]

Luther & Melanchthon: Bigamy of Philip of Hesse is Biblical (Hartmann Grisar) [2-14-07; abridged on 11-2-17]
*

Melanchthon in 1530 Longed for Return of Catholic Bishops [11-30-07]

Melanchthon Flaws Verified By Biographer Manschreck [4-6-08]

Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Philip Melanchthon Wax Astronomical and Geocentric, Oppose Copernicus [2-5-09]

John Calvin Did Not Pray to Philip Melanchthon [9-19-09; revised, with retraction, on 5-3-16]

Melanchthon’s Agonized Tears Over Early Protestant Divisions [6-15-11; additions on 10-11-17]

James Swan Silliness, Melanchthon, Bishops, & Princes [2-4-15]

IV. THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION (1530) & CATHOLIC REPLIES (THEN AND NOW)

Introduction to the Series [5-1-24]

Augsburg Confession Dialogues: God / Original Sin (Agreement Regarding God’s Nature, But Differences Concerning the Rule of Faith & Concupiscence) [5-2-24]

Augsburg Confession Dialogues: Justification [5-3-24]
*

Augsburg Confession Dialogues: The Church (Ecclesiology) [5-3-24]

Augsburg Confession Dialogues: Penance & Satisfaction [5-5-24]

Augsburg Confession Dialogues: Communion In One Kind [5-6-24]

V. REPLIES TO JOHANN HULSEMANN (1602-1661)

Vs. Lutheran Johann Hülsemann: Sola Scriptura [1-10-25]

Vs. Lutheran Johann Hülsemann: Sanctification [1-13-25]

VI. LUTHERANISM AND THE FATHERS

Early Protestants & St. Augustine: Ambiguity [1-28-04]

Transubstantiation & Church History: Dialogue w Lutheran [2-12-05; abridged on 10-23-18]

Dialogue: Lutherans, Sola Scriptura, & the Church Fathers [5-29-05]

Dialogue: Is Lutheranism or Catholicism Closer to the Fathers? (vs. Kristo Miettinen) [6-3-05]

Development of Sacrifice of the Mass: Dialogue w Lutheran [9-22-05]

Lutheran Chemnitz Wrong Re Fathers & Sola Scriptura (mostly dealing with St. Irenaeus and Tertullian) [8-29-07]

Lutheran Chemnitz: Errors Re Fathers & Sola Scriptura (including analysis of Jerome, Augustine, Origen, Epiphanius, Ambrose, Lactantius, Athanasius, and Cyprian) [8-31-07]

Church Fathers & Justification: Martin Chemnitz vs. Catholicism [9-9-07]

Luther’s Views of Augustine & the Church Fathers [July 2009]

Dialogue with a Lutheran: Church Fathers & Sola Scriptura (vs. Nathan Rinne) [10-13-11]

Dialogue with a Lutheran: Rule of Faith / Fathers / Ecclesiology (vs. Nathan Rinne) [10-17-11]

Dialogue w Lutheran Pastor on the Protestant Revolt (. . . with special emphasis on the beliefs of the Church Fathers: were they were more “Catholic” or “Protestant”?) [3-27-12; edited with links added on 1-8-20]

Dialogue w Lutheran Pastor on Bible & Sola Scriptura (including St. Irenaeus’ View on the Rule of Faith) [10-19-18]

Ecumenical Councils: Catholic vs. Lutheran Perspective (vs. Pastor Ken Howes [LCMS]) [6-16-20]

VII. SOTERIOLOGY (SALVATION, JUSTIFICATION, & SANCTIFICATION) / “FAITH ALONE”

Baptismal Regeneration: Central Doctrine, According to Luther & Lutheranism [1996]

Faith Alone & Original Sin: Reply to Smalcald Articles [1-30-01]

Dialogue w Three Lutherans on Justification & Salvation [2-1-07]

Church Fathers & Justification: Martin Chemnitz vs. Catholicism [9-9-07]

Dialogue with a Lutheran: Salvation & Miscellany (vs. Nathan Rinne) [10-14-11]

“Leaven” of the Pharisees: Hypocrisy or False Doctrine? (vs. Nathan Rinne) [11-3-11]

Is God Alone Holy, According to Scripture? Or Can We Be Too? (vs. Rev. Ken Howes) [5-3-17]

Debate with a Lutheran Pastor on Faith and Works [5-4-17]

Martin Luther and Lutherans on Mortal & Venial Sins [10-30-17]

“Faith Alone” & Salvation: Dialogue w Lutheran Pastor (vs. Rev. Ken Howes) [2-18-19]

Reply to a “Reformation Day” Lutheran Sermon [Vs. Nathan Rinne] (Including St. Augustine’s View on the Rule of Faith & the Perspicuity of Scripture; Luther & Lutherans’ Belief in Falling Away) [10-31-23]

Sola Fide (Faith Alone) Nonexistent Before the Protestant Revolt in 1517 (Geisler & McGrath) [Catholic365, 10-31-23]

VIII. LUTHERANISM AND MARY

Perpetual Virginity of Mary: Held by All Protestant Reformers [1-27-02]

Luther’s Mariology: Have Catholic Apologists Exaggerated It? (And Has Present-Day Protestantism Maintained the Classical “Reformation” Protestant Mariology?) [4-26-03; rev. 7-15-20]

Mary’s Assumption & Historic Protestantism [6-30-08]

Mary Mother of God: Protestant Founders Agree (Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and Bullinger, and Lutheranism) [10-10-08]
*

“Why Are Catholics So Dogmatic About the Perpetual Virginity of Mary?” / Confessional Lutheran Agreement [11-1-08]

Debate with Lutherans Regarding Luther’s Mariology; Including my Citation Mistake from 1994 (Clarification and Retraction) [10-2-11]

Dialogues with Lutherans Regarding Three Luther Mary Quotes [10-6-11]

Reply to Lutheran Gene Edward Veith on Mariology [10-7-11]

The Annunciation: Was Mary was Already in a Sublime State of Grace? (Dialogue with a Lutheran) [10-8-11]

Dialogue with a Lutheran: Immaculate Conception (vs. Chuck Wiese) [2-18-13]

“Who Cares About Early Protestant Mariology?” [10-16-14]

Reply to an Anti-Catholic Lutheran Personal Attack (Regarding My Alleged Lack of Knowledge About What Lutherans Are Theologically Bound to Accept) [Facebook, 5-25-19]

James Swan, the Immaculate Conception, Luther, & Lutherans: He Still Refuses to Admit that Many Eminent Lutheran Scholars Contend that Luther Believed in Mary’s Immaculate Conception for His Entire Life [6-22-23]

*
IX. THE DEATH PENALTY FOR HERETICS / THEFT OF CATHOLIC CHURCH PROPERTY

Dialogue w Lutheran Historian on 16th-Century Intolerance [2-15-06]

16th Century Theft of Church Properties (vs. Lutheran Historian) [2-22-06]

Philip Melanchthon: Death for Denying the Real Presence (He Later Denied the Real Presence Himself) [5-23-06]

16th c. Calvinists vs. Lutherans: Who Suppressed Catholics [3-21-07]

“Reformation” Theft of Thousands of Catholic Churches [4-12-08]

Luther & Anabaptist Executions in the 1530s [8-7-14]

Reply to Reformed Luther Apologist James Swan’s Request for Documentation of Executions of Anabaptists Sanctioned by Luther, in the 1530s [8-17-14]

Luther Favored Execution of Heretics (vs. Jordan Cooper) + Good & Bad Protestant & Catholic Apologetics & Historical Revisionism & “Twisting” [3-21-24]

X. ECCLESIOLOGY / THE “REFORMATION” / RULE OF FAITH / SECTARIANISM

Protestant Revolt Was Largely Politically Motivated [6-11-91]
*

Protestantism Was Not a Revolt? [6-2-03]

The Real Diet of Augsburg (1530) vs. the Protestant Myth [3-3-04]

Regensburg (1541) & Poissy (1561): Protestant “Ecumenism”? [4-27-04]

Is Lutheranism Officially Anti-Catholic? [4-26-05]

Dialogue: Lutherans, Sola Scriptura, & the Church Fathers [5-29-05]
*

“Absurd” Protestant Divisions: Calvin’s Revealing Lament to Melanchthon [2-6-06]

Philip Melanchthon’s Agony Over Protestant Sectarianism [2-8-06]
*

James White Deacons-Elders-Bishops Controversy (Original title: “Dumbbells and Deacons: Does No Protestant Denomination Whatsoever Regard Deacons as the Equivalent of Pastors and Elders — or Even Bishops?) [6-16-07]

Lutheran Chemnitz Wrong Re Fathers & Sola Scriptura (mostly dealing with St. Irenaeus and Tertullian) [8-29-07]
*

Lutheran Chemnitz: Errors Re Fathers & Sola Scriptura (including analysis of Jerome, Augustine, Origen, Epiphanius, Ambrose, Lactantius, Athanasius, and Cyprian) [8-31-07]

Nature of Tradition & Church: (vs. Two Lutheran Pastors) [10-9-07]

The Nature of the Church: Lutheran-Catholic Dialogue [11-19-07]

Causes of the Protestant “Reformation” (vs. a Lutheran Pastor) [11-20-07; abridged somewhat on 10-23-17]

Melanchthon in 1530 Longed for Return of Catholic Bishops [11-30-07]

Zwingli, Bucer, Oecolampadius: Luther & Lutherans Not Christians [1-10-08]

Erasmus vs. Luther Disputes Documented [Feb. 2009]

Dialogue with a Lutheran Inquirer [WELS], on Lutheran-Catholic Differences [4-6-09]

Unbridled Sectarianism, Sola Scriptura, Luther, & Calvin [6-24-09]

John Calvin Rebukes Lutheran “Beasts” and “Evil”, Calls Luther an Idolater [3-23-10; Facebook]

Melanchthon’s Agonized Tears Over Early Protestant Divisions [6-15-11; additions on 10-11-17]

Bible on Submission to Church & Apostolic Tradition + Biblical Condemnation of the Rebellious & Schismatic Aspects of the Protestant Revolt [8-27-11]

Dialogue with a Lutheran: Church Fathers & Sola Scriptura (vs. Nathan Rinne) [10-13-11]

Dialogue with a Lutheran: Rule of Faith / Fathers / Ecclesiology (vs. Nathan Rinne) [10-17-11]

Early Protestant “Unity”: Calvin vs. Westphal vs. Luther / Calvin Denies Baptismal Regeneration [11-6-11]

Luther: Monks & Priests More “Earnest” Than Lutherans [11-10-11]

Dialogue with a Lutheran on Ecclesiology & OT Indefectibility Analogies (vs. Nathan Rinne) [11-22-11]

Dialogue on the Term, “Protestant Reformation” and Alternatives (“Era of Reformations” and “Protestant Revolt”) (vs. Dr. Edwin W. Tait) [1-7-14]

Dialogue with a Lutheran on Christian Authority [5-6-16]

Socratic Dialogue / Debate vs. Anti-Lutheran Catholic [3-20-07 and 10-24-17]

Critique of Ten Exaggerated Claims of the “Reformation” [10-31-17; its 500th anniversary date]

Dialogue w Lutheran Pastor on Bible & Sola Scriptura (including St. Irenaeus’ View on the Rule of Faith) [10-19-18]

Debate w Lutheran: Church Infallibility & Death Penalty [11-10-18]

Ecumenical Councils: Catholic vs. Lutheran Perspective (vs. Pastor Ken Howes [LCMS]) [6-16-20]

Has Lutheranism Avoided Denominationalism? (Widespread Lutheran Compromise & Caving on Abortion & Same-Sex “Marriage”) [8-10-22]

XI. THE EUCHARIST, SACRIFICE OF THE MASS, AND THE SACRAMENTS

Baptismal Regeneration: Central Doctrine, According to Luther & Lutheranism [1996]

Sacramentarian Controversies (Calvin vs. Luther vs. Zwingli) [3-29-04]

Transubstantiation & Church History: Dialogue w Lutheran [2-12-05; abridged on 10-23-18]

Development of Sacrifice of the Mass: Dialogue w Lutheran [9-22-05]

Philip Melanchthon: Death for Denying the Real Presence (He Later Denied the Real Presence Himself) [5-23-06]

Lutherans, Corpus Christi, & Eucharistic Adoration [6-18-07]

Lutheran View of the Mass / Catholics & Lutheran Worship [11-19-07]

Quiz on Early Protestant / “Reformation” Eucharistic Harmony [8-23-09]

Eucharist: Ubiquity, Signs, Lutheranism, Etc. (vs. Calvin #43) [11-27-09]

John Calvin Rebukes Lutheran “Beasts” and “Evil”, Calls Luther an Idolater [3-23-10; Facebook]

Quibble About Lutheran Dislike of the Term “Consubstantiation” [4-20-11]

Early Protestant “Unity”: Calvin vs. Westphal vs. Luther / Calvin Denies Baptismal Regeneration [11-6-11]

Martin Luther and Lutherans on the Duration of the Real Presence in the Eucharist, the Elevation, and Adoration (Bishop Bossuet) [1-27-12]
*

Mass: Re-Sacrifice? (vs. Lutheran Pastor Ken Howes) [4-2-12]

“Re-Presentation” vs. “Re-Sacrifice” in the Mass: Doctrinal History [4-4-18]

Catholic Transubstantiation vs. Lutheran Consubstantiation [4-2-20]

Response to a Lutheran Apologetic (Pr. Will Weedon) (Featuring Liturgy and the Sacrifice of the Mass in the Church Fathers) [11-11-24]

XII. COMMUNION OF SAINTS / INVOCATION AND INTERCESSION OF THE SAINTS

Early Protestant Antipathy Towards Art (+ Iconoclasm) [1991]

“The Prayer of a Righteous Man Availeth Much” (Jas 5:16: KJV) (Dialogue with a Lutheran) [6-8-05]

Reply to Lutheran on Invocation of Saints (vs. Jordan Cooper) [12-1-15]

Dialogue: Rich Man’s Prayer to Abraham (Luke 16) and the Invocation of Saints (vs. Ken Howes) [5-3-17]

Replies to Seth Kasten on Invocation of the Saints

Lutherans & Invocation #1 (Intro) [1-11-24]

Lutherans & Invocation #2 (Definitions of Prayer & Intercession; God Sharing His Glory; Views of St. Augustine & Many Other Church Fathers) [1-11-24]

Lutherans & Invocation #3 (Necromancy; Can Saints Hear Us?) [1-12-24]

Lutherans & Invocation #4 (Revelation; Luke 16) [1-17-24]

XIII. GENERAL / MISCELLANEOUS

Dialogue with a Lutheran: Introductory Matters [10-12-11]

Dialogue with a Lutheran: Salvation & Miscellany [10-14-11]

Reply to an Anti-Catholic Lutheran Personal Attack (Regarding My Alleged Lack of Knowledge About What Lutherans Are Theologically Bound to Accept) [Facebook, 5-25-19]

Reply to Lutheran Johann Gerhard (1582-1637) #1: Ecclesial Infallibility; Trent: Protestants Are Regenerated Christians By Virtue of Baptism; Total Clearness of Scripture?; St. Bernard & the Catholic Church on Meritorious Works [1-8-25]

Reply to Lutheran Johann Gerhard (1582-1637) #2 (De Fide Dogma on Communion in One Species Only; Theological Discord; Sola Scriptura) [1-9-25]

XIV. EARLY LUTHERAN “ECUMENISM” AND TOLERANCE (?)

Protestant Inquisitions: “Reformation” Intolerance & Persecution [June 1991; rev. 10-31-03, 3-7-07. Greatly abridged and re-typeset on 9-14-17]

Early Protestant Antipathy Towards Art (+ Iconoclasm) [1991]

Astonishing Hostility to Higher Education in Early Protestantism [1991]

The Real Diet of Augsburg (1530) vs. the Protestant Myth [3-3-04]

Regensburg (1541) & Poissy (1561): Protestant “Ecumenism”? [4-27-04]

“Absurd” Protestant Divisions: Calvin’s Revealing Lament to Melanchthon [2-6-06]

Word “Protestant” Stemmed from Intolerance of Catholic Worship [2-8-06]

Dialogue w Lutheran Historian on 16th-Century Intolerance [2-15-06]

Melanchthon in 1530 Longed for Return of Catholic Bishops [11-30-07]

Zwingli, Bucer, Oecolampadius: Luther & Lutherans Not Christians [1-10-08]

John Calvin Rebukes Lutheran “Beasts” and “Evil”, Calls Luther an Idolater [3-23-10; Facebook]

XV. PRAYER AND PENANCE FOR THE DEAD / PURGATORY / HADES

Prayer for the Dead & Retroactive Prayer (Luther & Protestants) [3-22-05]

Dialogue with Four Lutherans on Jesus’ Descent Into Hell [2-1-07]

John Wesley Believed in Prayer for the Dead (also, approval of Luther and Lutherans) [7-13-09]

Dialogue w Lutherans: “Proxy Baptism”? (1 Cor 15:29) [12-28-18]

*
***
*

Practical Matters: I run the most comprehensive “one-stop” Catholic apologetics site: rated #1 for Christian sites by leading AI tool, ChatGPT — endorsed by popular Protestant blogger Adrian Warnock. Perhaps some of my 5,000+ free online articles or fifty-six books have helped you (by God’s grace) to decide to become Catholic or to return to the Church, or better understand some doctrines and why we believe them. If you believe my full-time apostolate is worth supporting, please seriously consider a much-needed monthly or one-time financial contribution. “The laborer is worthy of his wages” (1 Tim 5:18, NKJV).

PayPal donations are the easiest: just send to my email address: [email protected]. Here’s also a second page to get to PayPal. You’ll see the term “Catholic Used Book Service”, which is my old side-business. To learn about the different methods of contributing (including Zelle and 100% tax-deductible donations if desired), see my page: About Catholic Apologist Dave Armstrong / Donation Information.

You can support my work a great deal in non-financial ways, if you prefer; by subscribing to, commenting on, liking, and sharing videos from my YouTube channel, Catholic Bible Highlights, where I partner with Kenny Burchard (see my own videos), and/or by signing up to receive notice for new articles on this blog. Just type your email address on the sidebar to the right (scroll down quite a bit), where you see, “Sign Me Up!” Thanks a million!

***

Last updated: 13 January 2025