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Robert Sungenis

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Robert A. Sungenis (born 1955) is an American Catholic author of apologetic and polemical works critiquing the Protestant doctrines of Faith Alone and Scripture Alone. He is the executive producer of the film The Principle, which critically examines the Copernican principle, advocates a religious belief that the Earth is the center of the universe, and is critical of current scientific theories of cosmology.[1] He has made statements about Jews and Judaism which have been criticized for being antisemitic.

Biography

Robert Sungenis was raised in a Catholic family, but became a Protestant at age 19.[2][dead link] Robert Sungenis obtained his B.A. in religion from George Washington University in 1979, an M.A. in theology from Westminster Theological Seminary, a Presbyterian and Reformed Christian seminary located in Glenside, Pennsylvania, in 1982, and a Ph.D. in religious studies from the Calamus International University (CIU), an unaccredited distance-learning institution incorporated in the Republic of Vanuatu.[3][4][5][6] Sungenis returned to Catholicism in 1992 at the age of 37.[citation needed] Having previously worked for and studied under Harold Camping during his time as a Protestant, Sungenis authored a book critiquing Camping's eschatology.[7] The story of his conversion to Catholicism is chronicled in the first of the Surprised By Truth books edited by Catholic apologist and author Patrick Madrid.[8][9]

Faith alone

Sungenis is known for his defense of the Catholic Church's doctrine of justification and his critique of the Protestant doctrine of salvation by faith alone. In 1997, he published Not By Faith Alone which has received praise from S. M. Hutchens (Senior Editor of Touchstone Magazines) and an endorsement from Fabian Bruskewitz (Bishop of Lincoln, Nebraska), but criticism from Robert N. Wilkin (Editor of Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society).[10][11][12] Sungenis has been interviewed by Michael Horton[13][14][15] on the Catholic Church's doctrine of justification and has debated James White[16] on whether or not sinners are justified by grace through faith alone apart from human works of merit.

Jews and Judaism

Sungenis's views of the Jewish people and Judaism have been sharply criticized by fellow Catholics and by the Southern Poverty Law Center as being antisemitic.[17][18]

In May 2014, Michael Voris interviewed Sungenis about his new movie, The Principle. During the interview, Voris defended Sungenis in regard to his views on the Jewish people and then asked him, "Are you a Holocaust denier?" and "Do you hate Jews?" Sungenis answered "no" to both questions.[19]

United States Catholic Catechism for Adults

Sungenis wrote to the Vatican and met with officials from the bishops' conference in order to voice his concerns about a sentence in the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults (USCCA) which read,

"Thus the covenant that God made with the Jewish people through Moses remains eternally valid for them".

Sungenis believed it implied that the Jews can be saved without believing in Jesus. In the summer of 2008, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) voted to remove the sentence and replace it with

"To the Jewish people, whom God first chose to hear his word, 'belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ".

Monsignor Daniel Kutys stated that the sentence was changed because of the confusion Sungenis' blog was generating with the public regarding the statement, but disagreed with Sungenis' explanation for needing the change. Kutys agrees that Sungenis may have been the first to raise the issue about the sentence.[17]

Geocentrism

Sungenis believes that the observable universe would fit a geocentric model, with the most likely model having Earth immobile at the center of mass of the universe and everything else revolving around it. [20] He wrote the book series Galileo Was Wrong and produced the film Journey to the Center of the Universe describing his ideas on geocentrism.

In May 2015, Sungenis initiated the heliocentric challenge claiming that $100,000 would be awarded to anyone who could provide qualified experimental proof that the Earth revolves around the Sun.[21] Prior to publishing Galileo Was Wrong, Sungenis had a similar $1000 geocentric challenge.[22][23]

Documentary: The Principle

Main article: The Principle

In 2014, Sungenis was an executive producer of The Principle, a documentary which critically examines the Copernican Principle, [24] and features interviews with Lawrence Krauss, Michio Kaku, Max Tegmark, Julian Barbour, and George F. R. Ellis. There was controversy surrounding the film and its participants after a trailer was released on YouTube and the narrator Kate Mulgrew said that she was misinformed as to the purpose of the documentary.[25][26] A trailer for the film states that science has found evidence that God exists.[27]

Publications

  • Not By Faith Alone: The Biblical Evidence for the Catholic Doctrine of Justification, Queenship Publishing (1996), 774 pp. ISBN 1-57918-008-6
  • Not By Scripture Alone: A Catholic Critique of the Protestant Doctrine of Sola Scriptura, Queenship Publishing (1997), 650 pp. ISBN 1-57918-055-8
  • How Can I Get to Heaven? The Bible's Teaching on Salvation Made Easy to Understand, Queenship Publishing (1997), 334 pp. ISBN 1-57918-007-8
  • Not By Bread Alone: The Biblical and Historical Evidence for the Eucharistic Sacrifice, Queenship Publishing (2000), 450 pp. ISBN 1-57918-124-4
  • The Gospel According to Matthew (Catholic Apologetics Study Bible, Vol. 1), Queenship Publishing (2003), 427 pp. ISBN 1-57918-236-4
  • The Apocalypse of St. John (Catholic Apologetics Study Bible, Vol. 2), Queenship Publishing (2007), 544 pp. ISBN 1-57918-329-8
  • The Epistles of Romans and James (Catholic Apologetics Study Bible, Vol. 3), CAI Publishing, Inc. (2009), 665 pp. ISBN 0-9818660-6-9
  • The Book of Genesis: Chapters 1 – 11 (Catholic Apologetics Study Bible, Vol. 4), CAI Publishing, Inc. (2009), 692 pp. ISBN 0-9818660-7-7
  • The First Epistle to the Corinthians (Catholic Apologetics Study Bible, Vol. 5), CAI Publishing, Inc. (2009), 423 pp. ISBN 0-9818660-8-5
  • Galileo Was Wrong: The Church Was Right: The Scientific Evidence for Geocentrism, (CAI Pub. Inc, 2009, 653 pages). ISBN 0-9818660-4-2
  • Speaking in Tongues: Sign of Blessing: Sign of Judgment: A Critical Analysis of the Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, (CAI Pub. Inc. 2010, 80 pages). ISBN 0-9841859-5-X
  • Catholic/Jewish Dialogue: Controversies and Corrections, CAI Publishing, Inc. (2010), 734 pp. ISBN 0-9841859-3-3
  • Bob's Dictionary of Big Words (smaller version), CAI Publishing, Inc. 2011 ISBN 0-9841859-8-4
  • Bob's Dictionary of Big Words (larger version), CAI Publishing, Inc. 2011 ISBN 0-9841859-7-6
  • The Consecration of Russia: How Seven Popes Failed to Heed Heaven’s Command and Brought Turmoil to the Church and the World, Hometown Publications, Inc. copyright 2013, 384 pages, ISBN 978-0-9841859-9-3.
  • The Gospel According to John, CAI Publishing, Inc. 2011, 497 pages, ISBN 978-0-9841859-1-7.

References

  1. ^ Bradley, Tony (2016-08-15). "'The Principle' Uses Pseudo-Science to Challenge Understanding of Universe". PopSpective. Retrieved 2017-02-10.
  2. ^ "Biography". Catholic Apologetics International. Archived from the original on March 9, 2010. Retrieved 2010-12-13. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help) (Note: Site for Catholic Apologetics International, catholicintl.com, re-directs to Mr Sungenis' own website.)
  3. ^ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_1kaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XCYEAAAAIBAJ&dq=robert-sungenis&pg=6714%2C4991566
  4. ^ "Unaccredited Universities". Foreigncredits.com. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
  5. ^ Several states have had lists of unaccredited institutions which include CIU.
    Maine: "Maine DOE - List of Non-Accredited Schools - C". Maine Department of Education. Retrieved June 24, 2016.
    Michigan: "Colleges and universities not accredited by an accrediting body of the Council on Higher Education Accreditation" (PDF). State of Michigan. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 28, 2011. (no longer being maintained)
    Texas: "THECB - Institutions Whose Degrees are Illegal to Use in Texas". Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Retrieved June 24, 2016.
  6. ^ Brown, George (2004), "Protecting Australia's Higher Education System: A Proactive Versus Reactive Approach in Review (1999–2004)", in Carmichael, Rob (ed.), Proceedings of the Australian Universities Quality Forum 2004, Australian Universities Quality Agency, pp. 89–98, ISBN 1877090336, retrieved June 28, 2016
  7. ^ Sungenis, R.; Temple, S.; Lewis, D.A. (1994). "Shockwave Two Thousand! The Harold Camping 1994 Debacle". New Leaf Press. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. ^ Madrid, P. (1994). Surprised by Truth: 11 Converts Give the Biblical and Historical Reasons for Becoming Catholic. Basilica Press. ISBN 978-0-9642610-8-2.
  9. ^ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_1kaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XCYEAAAAIBAJ&dq=robert-sungenis&pg=6714%2C4991566
  10. ^ A Response To Robert Sungenis's Not By Faith Alone
  11. ^ Faith Without Ethics
  12. ^ "Not By Faith Alone: The Roman Catholic Doctrine of Justification" (Interview). White Horse Inn. September–October 2007. pp. 42–46. Retrieved 2013-07-10.
  13. ^ "White Horse Inn- Roman Catholics and Justification Part 1". YouTube. White Horse Inn. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  14. ^ "White Horse Inn- Roman Catholics and Justification Part 2". YouTube. White Horse Inn. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  15. ^ "White Horse Inn- Roman Catholics and Justification Part 3". YouTube. White Horse Inn. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  16. ^ "The Great Debate V - Justification by Faith - Sungenis". YouTube. Alpha & Omega Ministries. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  17. ^ a b Burke, Daniel (September 13, 2008). "Catechism Edit 'Troubling,' Jewish Leaders Say Deletion of Passage on Moses in Catholic Handbook Questioned". The Washington Post. pp. B09. Retrieved 2009-04-10. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ "The Dirty Dozen". Intelligence Report. Southern Poverty Law Center. Winter 2006. Retrieved 2009-04-10.
  19. ^ "Mic'd Up "The Principle, Under Attack"". Youtube. ChurchMilitantTV. 30 May 2014. 6:50 and 41:30 mark(Jewish issues), 15:10 and 35:20 mark(Tegmark), 19:30 mark(Krauss), 25:05 mark(Barbour), 29:20 mark(Kaku). Retrieved 15 June 2014.
  20. ^ "Interview Request from Der Spiegel in Germany on Geocentrism". Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  21. ^ Sungenis, Robert. "The $100,000 Heliocentric Challenge". Galileo Was Wrong. Catholic Apologetics International Publishing. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  22. ^ https://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/PSEUDOSC/Geocentrism.HTM
  23. ^ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_1kaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XCYEAAAAIBAJ&dq=robert-sungenis&pg=6714%2C4991566
  24. ^ http://variety.com/2015/film/reviews/film-review-the-principle-1201409088/
  25. ^ Winograd, David (8 April 2014). "Star Trek's Kate Mulgrew Says She Was Duped on Film Narration". TIME. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  26. ^ Newitz, Annalee (7 April 2014). "Why Are All These Physicists in a Weird Creationist Documentary?". io9. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  27. ^ "One of the most heated debates of the century". theprinciplemovie.com. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
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