The Lord of Spirits Podcast
Episode: East End Boys, West End Girls
Air Date: February 17, 2026
Hosts: Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick & Fr. Stephen De Young
Theme: The Seen and Unseen World in Orthodox Christian Tradition, with a focus on "Latin" theology and its historical trajectory

Episode Overview

This episode explores the history, concepts, and consequences of "Latin theology"—that is, Western Christian theology as it developed through the Latin language and Roman culture, from antiquity straight through the Middle Ages, Reformation, and on into today’s Catholic and Protestant worlds. The Fathers critique its long-term development, examining the translation of theological concepts, the evolution of theological language and philosophy, and their cultural impacts, contrasting them with the Orthodox experience. Along the way, lively banter and memorable anecdotes abound as they respond to listener questions and reflect on why increasing numbers seek the spiritual depth of Orthodoxy amidst the perceived collapse of Western Christian culture.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why “Latin Theology” and Not Just “Western”?

• Fr. Stephen pushes back on the usage of “the West” as an analytical tool for theology, calling it “a false construct.”

  "[The West] is kind of nonsense in that there is not really a narrative through line that begins in ancient Sumer and ends with post World War II United States global hegemony." (07:00)

• The term “Latin theology” is preferred because it accurately denotes the genealogy from Hellenistic Christianity translated into Latin, informing Roman Catholicism and even Protestantisms, while avoiding confusion around what counts as “the West” or “Western Christianity.”
• Protestantism’s core theological terminology and even landmark writings (such as Calvin’s Institutes) were originally in Latin.
• Takeaway: "Latin theology" is not about geography or culture, but about a linguistic and conceptual trajectory.

2. Translation and Its Consequences

• The processes by which Greek theological concepts were rendered into Latin created both immediate and long-term interpretative issues.
  • At first, concepts were preserved by people bilingual in Greek and Latin.
  • Over centuries, as Greek was forgotten, theological terms became “opaque,” losing their original meanings and accruing new, sometimes misleading meanings.
• Anecdote: North African Christians once rioted over Jerome’s updated Latin translation of the Psalms—demonstrating deep attachments to familiar texts and words. (16:00)

  "People literally rioted in some of the churches because the psalm translations they were used to got replaced by these new ones. That was like the end of the world." (17:00, Fr. Stephen)

• Quote:

  “We tend to think, somewhat naively, that there is a word in one language that equals a word in another language...But when you get to concepts, it’s not like you could just point at something.” (18:41, Fr. Stephen)

• Result: Over 1500 years, word meanings drift and shift—leading to confusion about the original concepts, as in the evolving meanings of “grace,” “worship,” and “word” (as in "Logos" vs. "the Bible").

3. Words, Concepts, and Theological Confusion

• Language drift leads to confusion over doctrine, especially when old words are used with new meanings.
  • Example: “Worship” (latreia/latria/service, proskinesis/bowing, veneratio/adoratio in Latin) changes in meaning and usage over time, and can create confusion between veneration (due to saints) and worship (due to God alone).

    “What is the concept that we’re labeling with those words? ... People mean things by the words they use.” (30:10, Fr. Stephen)

  • Example: “Substantia” (Latin) and “hypostasis” (Greek) are etymological parallels but are used nearly oppositely in their respective theological traditions, particularly regarding the doctrine of the Trinity.

    “If you come from the words mean things squad, we got a real problem.” (33:33, Fr. Stephen)

  • Example: “Dynamis/energeia” (power/operations) vs. “potentia/actus” in Latin provokes fundamental theological divergence, giving rise to issues like “God as pure act” and misunderstandings about God’s nature/operations.

4. Development of Latin Theology

• Early Latin theologians (Tertullian, St. Augustine, Boethius, Anselm) could still operate with the underlying Greek concepts (albeit sometimes dimly).
• Critical Point: St. Augustine—a saint of the unified Orthodox-Catholic Church—anchors Latin theology. However, later generations read him without the original context, leading to novel (“Western”) understandings, especially regarding grace, merit, and original sin.
  • Augustine’s doctrine of original sin is not identical to later Catholic or Protestant positions.

    "...what St. Augustine himself, the saint believed and taught about original sin is neither the later Roman Catholic view nor the later Protestant view..." (53:20+)

  • Augustine was also notably humble, publishing book-length retractions of his earlier works, which later readers rarely consult or heed.

5. Shift to Scholastic and Transactional Soteriology

• Medieval developments further shift focus: from God “in Himself” to how human beings are saved (anthropology & soteriology).
  • Key events: Pelagianism controversies, councils on grace, polish, and merit.
  • Merit (first as human cooperation, later as “credits” stored up through the sacraments or the saints, invoked through penance, or even purchased via indulgences).
  • The transactional merit system becomes concrete enough to yield actual charts of time out of Purgatory for certain deeds (as late as the 20th century, 135:33ff).
  • Thomas Aquinas’ synthesis (Summa Theologiae) later becomes emblematic of this period posthumously, though he himself was not widely influential while alive.

6. From Reformation to Modern Collapse

• Protestant Reformers, often depicted as radical departure, actually retained most basic Latin concepts, especially around merit and justification, but made the transfer of Christ’s righteousness a “one-time accounting transaction” (imputation/double imputation).

  • Luther’s “snow-covered dung heap” analogy illustrates the extrinsic (external) understandings of justification.
  • Calvin introduces (for the first time) the legal/forensic notion of inherited guilt and penal substitutionary atonement—absent in earlier Latin theology.
  • "Sola fide" (faith alone) becomes awkwardly circular and fraught with assurance anxiety (“Did I really mean it?” births repeated conversions or baptisms).

    "Have you ever really done your best at anything, your absolute best? There was no way you could have devoted one more... who really puts forth maximum effort. Right?" (152:38, Fr. Stephen)

• Modernity and Protestant Fragmentation

  • The “Great Awakenings” in America: hyper-individualistic, anti-theological revivalism, and “convertive” event-focused Christianity—leads to miniscule doctrinal content, immense emotional manipulation.

    “Theology becomes completely unimportant to the movement. You have to have that experience.” (161:53, Fr. Stephen)

  • Liberal Protestantism in Europe (via Hegel, Kant, etc.), imported back to educated American mainlines.
  • Evangelicalism becomes a politically-held “big tent” as all theology and ecclesiology are demoted to secondary issues (168:12), mimicked soon after by American Catholicism (“evangelicalized” Novus Ordo parishes and politics).

• Catholic Church: From Trent to Vatican II to Hegel

  • Post-Reformation Catholicism absorbs Protestant influence and modernism (especially post-Vatican II, influenced by Karl Rahner, et al.), shifting from preservation to self-conscious “development of doctrine” (acorn-oak metaphor now supplanted by the Catholic Church knowing better than St. Paul: 183:29).
  • Lay Eucharistic ministers, pop songs at Mass, and other formerly unthinkable developments are increasingly the norm, not the abuse.

7. Orthodox Stability and the Search for Depth

• In contrast, the Orthodox Church’s orientation is preservationist and apophatic. There is no underlying drift, but rather a consistency of belief and praxis even as smaller changes accrue.

  “...the flaws we have and the problems we have...are the flaws and difficulties that the church has faced in every generation, forever. They’re not new problems. They’re not problems that result from an abandonment of core Christian teachings.” (195:55, Fr. Stephen)

• This is what draws seekers disillusioned by the shifting sands of “Latin theology,” both Protestant and Catholic, to the Orthodox Church: depth, stability, and a spiritual culture that consistently reaches back to its roots.

  “...the thing that they keep saying over and over again, both men and women, is that they're there because they want a deep spiritual life, which means that they're not getting it somewhere else.” (191:39, Fr. Andrew)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Fr. Stephen on “Western Civilization”:

  “The west, the way it’s talked about, or Western civilization is kind of nonsense in that there is not really a narrative through line…” (07:00)

• On Changes in Language:

  “Words don’t actually mean things. People mean things by the words they use.” (30:25, Fr. Stephen)

• On Augustine:

  “St. Augustine is a saint. He is named a church Father by the fifth Ecumenical Council, so no shade is being thrown at him.” (45:51, Fr. Stephen)

• On Merit and Salvation:

  “The term that gets repurposed is merit...and that merit then is applied to people for their salvation, to humans for their salvation...it has to be quantifiable, has to be containable, right? It has to be finite in some sense to be able to be moved to some people and not others.” (123:16, Fr. Stephen)

• On Protestant Assurance Anxiety:

  “There’s still a massive gap for doubt to shift through… Do you ever really meant it? … Have you ever really done your best at anything, your absolute best?” (152:38, Fr. Stephen)

• On Orthodoxy:

  “When I look at the Orthodox Church today, I could be happy to think it’s in a good place. That doesn’t mean it’s perfect... But the flaws we have...are not problems that result from having lost elements of traditional Christian praxis.” (195:55, Fr. Stephen)

Call-In Segment Highlights

• [71:20] Eddie: Asks about Greek terms for worship ("latria," "dulia," "proskinesis")—reveals confusion caused by word-concept shifts evidence.
  • “Don’t get hung up on the words… the actual actions [matter].” (73:11, Fr. Andrew)
• [76:38] Rachel: Questions the claim that “serpent” in Genesis 3 is “dragon” (drakōn) in Greek; Fr. Stephen clarifies it is a textual variant, not mainline LXX.
• [80:31] Rachel (again): Asks if you need to know Greek or “Orthodox” languages to be a true Orthodox Christian; answer—no, but it’s helpful, and the Church’s depth transcends translation.
• [89:10] John: Why bother with pagan philosophy if it’s demon-influenced?
  • Response: Many Fathers studied it for useful techniques (logic, rhetoric, etc.), but “anything good or true belongs to us” (Justin Martyr).
• [97:00] Nicholas: Recommends NET Bible with full notes for those who don’t know the original languages.

Flow of the Episode (with Timestamps)

• [00:00–06:50]: Intros, banter, and setting up the “Latin theology” theme.
• [06:51–18:41]: Why “Latin” matters; story of translation and its perils.
• [18:42–33:40]: Word-concept mix-ups (worship, Trinity terminology, “energies”)
• [33:41–53:00]: St. Augustine’s role—his historical context, legacy, and how he is misunderstood.
• [53:01–68:21]: The medieval period—linguistic drift, Platonic phase, Eucharistic debates.
• [68:22–102:28]: High Middle Ages—shift to anthropology/soteriology, merit & grace system, Thomas Aquinas.
• [102:29–139:11]: Break; call-ins; Bible translation, philosophy, language study.
• [139:12–152:43]: Third half—Reformation, Protestant developments, anxiety of assurance, imputed righteousness.
• [153:12–180:10]: Great Awakenings, modern fragmentation and collapse, Protestantization of US and European Catholicism, Vatican II and Karl Rahner.
• [180:11–203:45]: Final reflections—stability of Orthodoxy; why people seek out the Orthodox faith now.

Final Message

Amidst centuries of shifting doctrine, translation-induced confusion, and theological innovation in Latin Christianity, the Orthodox Church remains unique for its stability and living continuity with the ancient faith. The episode encourages seekers, describing Orthodox faith as both a safe harbor from—and the true center and fulfillment of—the longing for authentic, deep Christian spirituality.

“Welcome home and dig in, because this is the place to be.” (195:39, Fr. Andrew)

Further Resources

• Readings: NET Bible (with full notes), Eastern Orthodox Bible, Lexham English Septuagint.
• Book recommendations: Fr. Stephen DeYoung’s The Whole Counsel of God.
• To learn about Orthodoxy or find a parish: orthodoxintro.org

For more, listen to the full episode or submit questions for future shows at lordofspirits@ancientfaith.com