St. Catherine of Alexandria disputing before the enthroned emperor and a crowd of philosophers and courtiers, beneath a Roman triumphal arch

Debates

Every formal debate of Robert Sungenis on YouTube, the ones on his own channel broken down exchange by exchange.

Live debatesOn other channels

Pinturicchio, The Disputation of St. Catherine of Alexandria, 1492 to 1494, Borgia Apartments, Vatican. Public domain.

Live debates

3 h 46 min

Live debate, 2013

Authority in Religion

Robert Sungenis vs. David Hester

Is the Bible the exclusive standard of authority for Christian faith and practice, or do the Roman Catholic Magisterium, the Bible and apostolic tradition together constitute that authority?

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3 h 5 min

Live debate, 2023

The Marian Dogmas

Robert Sungenis vs. Steve Christie

Are the Catholic dogmas of Mary's Immaculate Conception, Assumption and perpetual virginity found in Scripture and tradition?

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Scripted replies

No opponent at the table, but a debate all the same: a published critique answered point by point on camera.

On other channels

Debates hosted by the other side or by a moderator, 1 of them going back to 1995. Each opens on YouTube; breakdowns are being added a few at a time.

  • Is the Bible the Sole Authority for Christians?: Robert Sungenis vs. William Lockwood
    Feline90 · 44 minIs the Bible the Sole Authority for Christians?vs. William Lockwood

Debate reviews

Other people's debates on the same questions, reviewed by Robert on his live show.

Akin vs. White on Justification (2024)

Robert Sungenis reviews Akin vs. White on Justification (2024)

In 2024 Jimmy Akin of Catholic Answers and James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries debated the doctrine of justification. Robert's two-part review plays Akin's statements in order and compares each one with the Council of Trent and the 1997 Catechism, concentrating on imputed righteousness, the phrase faith alone, and the 1999 Lutheran-Catholic Joint Declaration. John Salza handles the closing section on the meaning of Catholic anathemas.

  • 2:26Akin urged both sides not to dispute about words and to look only at substance, and Robert answered that substance can only be known through the words people use, so the meaning of the words is part of the argument.
  • 28:18Robert argued that imputed or forensic righteousness is a Protestant category rather than a Catholic one, since Trent and the Catechism describe justification as faith, hope and charity infused into the soul at baptism.
  • 40:51Robert argued that the 1999 Joint Declaration carries no doctrinal weight for the Catholic Church, because it was signed by Cardinal Cassidy rather than the pope, and Cardinal Ratzinger declined to travel to Regensburg to sign it.
  • 47:27Robert noted that Paul never joins the word alone to faith anywhere in his letters, though he uses the word alone often and in the very chapters where he discusses justification, while James uses the phrase only to deny it.
  • 22:36Akin read Canon 9 of Trent as condemning only faith understood as intellectual assent, and Robert argued that Canon 9 names no particular kind of faith and condemns the position that nothing needs to be added to faith for justification.
  • 1:29:06On anathemas, the review argued that the 1983 Code of Canon Law dropped the word but kept the substance under the name excommunication, so telling a Protestant audience that anathemas no longer exist leaves out what still applies.

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White vs. Heschmeyer (2025)

Robert Sungenis reviews White vs. Heschmeyer (2025)

In 2025 James White and Joe Heschmeyer of Catholic Answers debated the question, is the mass a propitiatory sacrifice. Robert reviewed the debate during his live Wednesday program, working from notes he took while listening. His comments center on the word propitiation, on why the sacrifice is presented to the Father, and on the Old Testament passages cited during the debate.

  • 21:21Robert argued that the affirmative side carried the burden of defining what a propitiatory sacrifice is, and that no such definition was given, which left the central word of the resolution unexplained.
  • 25:36Robert explained propitiation from the Greek as the appeasing of God's wrath, and distinguished it from the penal substitution model in which Christ pays a legal price for the sins of the elect.
  • 36:43Robert argued that White accepts from Hebrews 9:24 that the sacrifice is presented to the Father but gives no reason why, while the Catholic reason, which Trent supplies, is the sins Catholics keep committing after baptism.
  • 47:34Robert criticised the debate format, since a fifteen minute opening followed immediately by cross-examination left no room for the rebuttal periods he was used to and too little time to lay out a thesis this large.
  • 51:02Robert said he no longer uses Malachi 1:11 or Isaiah 66:21 as prophecies of the mass, since the Hebrew of Malachi 1:11 has no verb pointing to the future and the surrounding context is about Israel's polluted sacrifices.
  • 1:17:00Robert credited Heschmeyer with a good point on Aristotle, that the substance and accidents framework used by Aquinas is not needed in order to hold what the church teaches about the Eucharist.

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Looking for the books behind these arguments? All of Robert's books.