Welcome to this first blog post on the new website! If you have any question or comments on Abraham’s God or related topics, I encourage you to contact me, which will allow you to send them directly to me. I cannot guarantee that I will respond to every inquiry, but I will try. If there is a broader area, I will use this blog post to respond. I will also use this to keep you posted on progress and issues on Abraham’s Devil, as well as maybe blowing off steam from time to time on issues I feel are important.

Right now I am packing for a trip to Northern Italy and Austria. Ostensibly my wife, Bev, thinks this is our fiftieth-anniversary trip, visiting with some old friends, hearing a concert in Vienna, and spending a few days relaxing and sipping wine in a rented farmhouse on a vineyard in the Amarone area of Italy. Little does she know the real purpose of the trip is to visit Trent, just a few miles away.

Trent is the location of one of the most important Church Councils ever. It was there between 1545 and 1563 that the Catholic Church took an inward look at its doctrines and practices in the immediate aftermath of the Reformation. Luther’s ideas of faith alone, grace alone, and scripture alone had shaken the Catholic Church; Henry VIII sent further trembles when he formed the Church of England in 1537, Francis I had obtained the right to appoint bishops in France from Leo X, and the power of the papacy was being broadly questioned. It was a difficult time for the Catholic Church. As always, visiting the location where these momentous debates took place will fill in the gaps of understanding, as well as invite the possibility of picking up a tidbit or two from books, pamphlets, or discussions available on site.

The Council of Trent was the last council to be held for over four hundred years until Vatican I in 1869. I’ll try not to wait that long before making another blog post.

John