By Clement Harrold
October 15, 2026
After almost three years of writing weekly blog posts for the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, the time has come for me to transition to a new venture and a new challenge.
Two weeks ago I began my doctoral studies in theology at the University of Oxford. God willing, this will be a three-year program consisting primarily of independent research and language training, culminating in a book-length dissertation.
The subject of my research will be St. Thomas Aquinas’s atonement theology and how we can draw on his understanding of the Church as Mystical Body to deepen our understanding of redemptive suffering.
I am excited to be embarking on this project while also being daunted by the scale of the work that lies ahead of me.
If you would, please offer a prayer for me as I begin my research, that it may be fruitful in the service of Christ and His Church.
I began writing weekly blog posts for the St. Paul Center during the second year of my master’s degree at the University of Notre Dame. The first blog post I ever wrote was “Did Judas Receive the Eucharist at the Last Supper?,” which, incidentally, has become one of my most read pieces.
Since then, it has been a true privilege (and at times a real challenge!) to write a new piece week in and week out.
What follows below are some stats on which of my articles have gained the most traction, along with the articles of which I am most proud. While I shall no longer be a weekly contributor to the St. Paul Center’s blog, I do hope to keep writing the occasional piece when inspiration strikes.
Dedicated readers might keep an eye out for my book of Lenten reflections, Lift High the Cross, which will be hitting the shelves in early 2027. I can be reached at clement.harrold@bfriars.ox.ac.uk.
Blog Posts in Numbers
In 2024 I wrote 50 blog posts totaling approximately 48,000 words.
In 2025 I wrote 53 blog posts totaling approximately 83,000 words.
In 2026 I have written 39 blog posts totaling approximately 66,000 words.
If my calculations are correct, my five longest blog posts were:
- God’s Glory is Revealed on the Cross - 3,049 words
- What the Earliest Church Fathers Taught About Apostolic Succession - 3,027 words
- The Sacred Heart: What It Is and Why It Matters - 2,940 words
- Where is Jesus’ Empty Tomb? - 2,938 words
- The Saving Sadness of Christ - 2,834
20 Most Read Blog Posts
While I’m proud of everything I’ve written for the St. Paul Center, there’s no doubt that some of my blog posts have gotten better traction and reached a wider audience.
Below is a list of my 20 most popular posts:
- What are 10 Things I Should Know About Isaiah?
- Was Mary Magdalene a Former Prostitute?
- Why does God Try to Kill Moses in Exodus 4?
- Did Jesus Really Descend into Hell?
- What are 10 Things I Should Know About Ezekiel?
- 5 Bible Passages Which Point to Purgatory
- Did Judas Receive the Eucharist at the Last Supper?
- What Are 10 Things I Should Know About Daniel?
- Why Does Jesus Praise the Unjust Steward?
- When Were the Gospels Written?
- Is “This Too Shall Pass” in the Bible?
- Was Jesus’ Death the Most Painful Death in History?
- The Deeper Meaning of the Presentation in the Temple
- Why Was Moses Not Allowed to Enter the Promised Land?
- Who Was Melchizedek and Why Does He Matter?
- Why Did God Require Circumcision in the Old Testament?
- 7 Bible Verses Every Child Should Learn
- Why Does Jesus Hold Up King David as a Role Model?
- Do Dinosaurs Prove that Death Existed Before the Fall?
- Does the Bible Say Whether There Are People in Hell?
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Blog Posts Hall of Fame
If you’ve kept reading this far, then perhaps you will be interested in pursuing the 25 blog posts that, for one reason or another, I am most proud of.
I list these in no particular order.
Why Does God Permit Animal Pain?
The problem of animal pain has become an increasingly popular line of argument among skeptics and non-believers. I wanted to grapple with this problem head on, and I poured a lot of time into trying to assemble a summative case for why this problem, though real, should not compel somebody toward unbelief.
Why Does John’s Gospel Not Mention the Institution of the Eucharist?
I had always felt that the absence of the institution of the Eucharist in the Gospel of John was a bit of an embarrassment for Catholics. When I explored the issue further, I realized that what John is actually doing is drawing our attention to the profound unity between the Eucharist and the Cross.
How Can Mary Listen to the Prayers of Millions of People at Once?
I knew that Protestants often bring this up as one of their reasons for rejecting Catholic devotion to Mary. After scouring the web, I felt that existing treatments of the topic were inadequate. I hope that my own contribution was helpful to readers in some way!
Who Are the Different Jameses in the New Testament?
This blog post came out of conversations with a priest-friend who has been fascinated by this question for years. With his help, I was able to compose what I believe to be the most organized and systematic summary of the different arguments that one can find on the Internet today.
What Does Re-Presentation of Calvary Mean?
As a cradle Catholic, I’d always been told that the Mass is a re-presentation of Calvary, but I struggled to articulate what this actually means. This article was my attempt to unpack what we believe and why.
God’s Glory is Revealed on the Cross
It was my mentor, Dr. Scott Hahn, who first alerted me to the way in which John’s Gospel portrays Christ’s crucifixion as an epiphany of divine glory. For a long time I wanted to compile these insights into a single blog post, and I finally got around to doing it just a few weeks ago.
Strange though it may seem, this is one of the articles that I am most proud of. I was determined to bring together as much hard evidence as I could find for the historical reliability of Jesus’s tomb. The results are, in my opinion, compelling. At some point I need to revise the article to add additional details that I’ve discovered since publication, but at any rate, it’s a substantive and important piece.
How Can Angels and Demons Fight if They Don’t Have Bodies?
Another one of those interesting questions that cradle Catholics often fail to ask! This one took me a surprisingly long time to write because I was genuinely unsure as to what spiritual warfare could even mean in the angelic realm. While the answers I came up with are incomplete, I do believe they provide a helpful starting point.
10 Things the Bible Tells Us About St. Joseph
Over the past couple of years, I’ve done a whole series of “10 Things” pieces, including for the four major prophets and the three Synoptic Gospels (I might get to the Gospel of John eventually). Nevertheless, the one I am most proud of is this piece on St. Joseph. A close runner-up would be 10 Things You Should Know About the Psalms.
Did Jesus Really Descend into Hell?
I wrote this in response to a question from a friend, who was puzzled by what we affirm in the Apostles’ Creed about Christ descending into hell. I learned a lot in the process.
How Should Catholics Understand the Rogue Exorcist in Mark 9?
This was a fun one, particularly given the number of dodgy homilies that this passage is liable to inspire. TLDR: this Gospel passage isn’t saying that being a member of the Catholic Church is unimportant.
Could Jesus Really Be Tempted?
This question really troubled me for a while, and I was dissatisfied with the explanations I found online. With the help of St. Gregory and St. Thomas Aquinas, I felt I was able to make real headway in understanding both the reality and the contours of the temptation that Christ experienced during His time on earth.
No fireworks in this one, but I’m proud of the way I was able to summarize a large amount of material into a (fairly) compact case for how the Gospels are historically reliable documents.
Revisiting the Scriptural Foundations of the Papacy
I was asked to write this one in the wake of the death of Pope Francis. Upon beginning my research, I was surprised at how much difficulty I had in locating a thorough, systematic exposition of all the New Testament data pointing to St. Peter’s primacy. I therefore hope this can be a useful resource in Catholic-Protestant apologetics moving forward.
Why Catholics Are Right About Mary
I’ve written a number of pieces on Our Lady, several of which I think are quite valuable. This one was an attempt to synthesize everything I have written so far.
St. Mary Magdalene and the Song of Songs
Anybody who has followed my work will know that I have a deep love for St. Mary Magdalene. Of the different pieces I’ve written about her on the St. Paul Center blog, this one might be the most unique.
I wrote this in an attempt to help a lady who has suffered much and who found it troubling each Easter Vigil when one of the Old Testament readings from the prophet Isaiah speaks of God temporarily abandoning us. I kept putting the piece off because I wanted to do it justice, but in the end I was quite pleased with how it came out.
Does the Bible Say How Much Money We Should Give to Charity?
Not the flashiest piece, but I was always curious to know whether the traditional practice of tithing has real biblical roots. Read the piece if you want to find out!
Why Did God Require Circumcision in the Old Testament?
Non-believers will sometimes point to the biblical practice of circumcision as evidence that people of faith are backwards and inhumane. Researching this piece was helpful for me in understanding why, contra the skeptics, circumcision actually plays a beautiful symbolic role in God’s plan of salvation.
Why Was Moses Not Allowed to Enter the Promised Land?
I wrote this one in response to an innocent query from a friend. Little did I realize that, many hours later, I would still be scratching my head trying to figure out the answer! It turns out this question is one that the rabbis have debated for centuries. Nevertheless, it was helpful to think through some of the more plausible theories.
Why Does Jesus Praise the Unjust Steward?
It might be the most notorious parable of all, but I have come to love it. I’m grateful if this piece can be helpful for people who hear this Gospel reading at Mass and aren’t totally sure what to make of it. I also recently had a wise priest share with me a theory that says that the parable can also be understood as pointing to purgatory and indulgences. I think he might be onto something!
Why Are Protestant Bibles Smaller?
There wasn’t a lot in here that was original to me, but I wanted to put together my best case for why, at the end of the day, the problem of the biblical canon truly is the Achilles heel for Protestants. Because Protestants lack a coherent epistemology, they are incapable of answering a question as basic as, “Which books belong in the Bible?”
What Consolation Does God’s Answer to Job Offer to Those Who Are Suffering?
Job is sometimes caricatured as offering cold comfort to those in pain. “God is God and you are not, so suck it up, buttercup!” In reality, the story of Job offers profound insights into why God allows us to experience trials, as well as the way in which He meets us in the midst of our suffering.
Does God Have a Sense of Humor?
This was fun to write, and I enjoyed reflecting on the fact that Jesus surely did laugh and tell jokes. He was human, after all!
Does God Command Child Abuse When He Tells Abraham to Sacrifice Isaac?
It’s a question that skeptics bring up all the time, and I wanted to construct an answer that was more systematic than many of the presentations I have found online. I pray it may be helpful for souls who have a desire for faith but find themselves questioning God’s goodness.
That’s all from me!
Thank you to those of you who have been faithful readers these past couple of years. I always write with my readers at the forefront of my mind and heart, and I strive for clarity in all my teaching. I’m so grateful for those of you who have reached out with kind words and thoughtful questions over the years, and I thank the Lord for allowing me to use my talents to serve His Kingdom in this small way.
To Him be the glory!
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About Clement Harrold
Clement Harrold earned his master’s degree in theology from the University of Notre Dame in 2024, and his bachelor’s degree in theology, philosophy, and classics from Franciscan University of Steubenville in 2021. He is a columnist for The Catholic Herald, and his writings have appeared in First Things, Word on Fire, Catholic Answers Magazine, Church Life Journal, Our Sunday Visitor Magazine, Crisis Magazine, and the Washington Examiner.
