Can Bishops debate?

  • Thread starter Thread starter JSRG
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
J

JSRG

Guest
I read somewhere that bishops aren’t allowed to enter debates, like a debate with a Protestant. Does anyone know if this is true? If it is true, why is that?
 
Last edited:
JSRG said:
I read somewhere that bishops aren’t allowed to enter debates,
Click to expand...
I remember the Second Vatican Council of which , as applies to all Ecumenical Councils , only bishops were members . There was plenty of debate .
 
Looking up “Bishop debate” on YouTube doesn’t find them, though. I could find a few discussions, but not formal debates. (note I’m referring to Catholic bishops, John Shelby Spong, who was in a few debates, was an Anglican bishop)
 
On Bishop Robert Baron’s Reddit AMA recently, he said in his description “I love to debate with atheists.” So… yes, they can debate.
 
I mean debate as in a public debate, like what Jimmy Akin or Scott Hahn will get into.
 
A bishop may not think such a debate is a useful or productive use of his time. He may also think that the Jimmy Akins and Scott Hahns of this world cover that function quite well.

Catholic bishops are priests and administrators, primarily concerned with providing for the needs of their large dioceses. Their time is extremely limited and their main function is not apologetics. Some bishops, like Bishop Barron, like to participate in some apologetics because they like it and are good at it, but there’s no requirement or expectation that a bishop is going to run around engaging in debates with non-Catholics. The Church has long ago settled any doctrinal issues and there’s really nothing to debate from the Catholic perspective.

Jimmy Akin, Scott Hahn etc. participate in such debates as a form of evangelization work, which is their main focus as Catholic apologists. They don’t have to worry about getting the sacraments to people and running a big diocese full of churches with all that entails.
 
I don’t think this is the case. I believe Cardinal Pell debated Richard Dawkins in recent times. I vaguely remember Cardinal Schoenborn also participating in debates with regard to evolution, but I can’t find anything on it now.

In the 19th century, the Archbishop of New York, John Hughes, had some famous debates with the prominent Presbyterian minister John Breckinridge.
 
Last edited:
There was also that Intelligence Squared debate with the former Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe and that Nigerian archbishop against the late Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry, The Catholic Church is a force for good in the world, which if I’m remembering it right our side didn’t do so well.
 
You will have to search for bishop Name and the subject you are interested in or something like Catholic bishop and subject.
 
I remember that. I don’t think they did much research on their opponents on that one. Fry and Hitchens go for the throat in debates and both are… not fans of the catholic church
 
ConsistantlyBaffled said:
I remember that. I don’t think they did much research on their opponents on that one. Fry and Hitchens go for the throat in debates and both are… not fans of the catholic church
Click to expand...
On the other hand, they are preidctable to the point of boredom, and just recycle variants of the same small set of arguments over and over, so a well prepared apologist who is able to thinbk quickly should easily be able to take them down easily.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top