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Does Irenaeus prove the Roman Catholic papacy?

In this episode of Weighed in the Balance, we continue examining Cameron Bertuzzi's argument that Protestantism faces an inescapable dilemma when it appeals to early Christian writers such as Irenaeus.

Irenaeus is an extremely important witness to early Christianity. But does accepting his testimony about the authorship of the Gospels require us to accept everything he says about the church in Rome? And does Irenaeus' reference to the Roman church's "preeminent authority" actually establish the later Roman Catholic doctrine of papal primacy and universal jurisdiction?

We examine those questions by looking at:

• Irenaeus' testimony concerning the succession of bishops at Rome
• The famous passage concerning Rome's "preeminent authority" (potentior principalitas)
• The Latin transmission of a work originally written in Greek
• Whether Irenaeus actually teaches papal primacy or universal jurisdiction
• The distinction between an early bishop of Rome and the later doctrine of the papacy
• The historical evidence for Luke's authorship of Luke-Acts
• Cameron Bertuzzi's use of early Christian testimony
• The argument from the historical reliability of Christian and Islamic sources
• The dating and transmission of the Gospels compared with later Islamic hadith collections
• Why historical evidence cannot simply be reduced to "Irenaeus said it, therefore it must be true" or "Irenaeus said it, therefore Rome must be right"

The goal of Weighed in the Balance is simple: to examine claims carefully and see whether they can hold up to scrutiny.

If you're Roman Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, or simply interested in the historical development of Christian doctrine, I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

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