Author Scott Hahn (2027)

In the early 1990s, Hahn was already a rising star in Catholic circles for his “covenant theology” framework. But he noticed something odd: traditionalist Catholics and radical Protestant critics both claimed the ancient “Mass of the Ages” (the Tridentine Latin Mass) was essentially different from the Novus Ordo Mass introduced after Vatican II. Traditionalists said the old Mass was pure sacrifice; critics said it was a pagan holdover. Both agreed: the two rites were theologically worlds apart.

More provocatively, he argued that the Last Supper itself was not a “Mass” but a Passover meal transformed by Jesus into the new covenant sacrifice —meaning neither rite fully captures the original event. Both are legitimate, complementary expressions of the same reality. Author Scott Hahn

This simple insight infuriated extremists on both sides. Traditionalists accused him of minimizing the old Mass. Progressives accused him of legitimizing the old Mass. Hahn just shrugged and kept teaching. It shows Hahn not as a polemicist (his public image), but as a structural theologian who uses ancient covenant patterns to resolve modern liturgical wars—peacefully, and with evidence. In the early 1990s, Hahn was already a