Dr. William Whittaker, Bishop John Jewel, Letter to Diognetus

William Whittaker’s “Disputation on Holy Scripture:” Dr. Whittaker continues his Bible tour on textual criticism and brings us to more passages. He seems to be wandering around the canon, doubling down on his critique of Bellarmine’s unwillingness to concede the superiority of the Hebrew and Greek to the Latin. One needs Greek and Latin to follow his arguments. It sounds much like a seminar room of ThM and PhD students quibbling over this-and-that. This much: Dr. Whittaker is a Bible-man in the original languages. John Jewel’s “Apology for the Church of England:” Jewel begins his point-by-point rebuttal of Romish articles, including Scripture alone for the people of God in their homes and parishes. He also rebuts clerical celibacy and artwork in churches. “Ante-Nicene Fathers down to 325 AD: the Epistles of Mathetes to Diognetus, Tutor of Marcus Aurelius, is introduced. This discusses Greek and Jewish religion. He goes on to explain the Christian lifestyle—we look like you, speak your language, adopt your law and customs, we marry but we never kill our children.