(August 18, 2015 at 4:08 am)Randy Carson Wrote: Notice that Ignatius does not take pains to introduce the term "Catholic Church"; instead he uses it in a manner suggesting that the name was already in use and familiar to his audience.
Might that be because catholicus or katholikos were actual words - simply meaning the whole? And I simply love the way you brush over the at least dozens of different branches of christianity back then. Branches like Arianism, so influencal with certain peoples that they had the power to seriously threaten what you understand to be the Catholic church. Combined with not looking at the archeological and historical evidence on pre Constantinian christianity, it makes your wilful ignorance even more obvious.