Evangelical Roman Catholic Dialogue (2) (original) (raw)
Evangelical – Roman Catholic Dialogue
World of Theology Series, 2023
The official documents of the dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Evangelical Alliance – The Evangelical-Roman Catholic Dialogue on Mission (1977–1984) – Church, Evangelisation, and the Bonds of Koinonia (1993–2002) – Christian Witness in a Multi Religious World (2011) – ‘Scripture and Tradition’ and ‘the Church in Salvation’ – Catholics and Evangelicals Explore Challenges and Opportunities (2009– 2016)
The Church and the Voice of the Other: The Growth of the Faith Community and Dialogue in the Church
2005
Since the Second Vatican Council ended over forty years ago, the Catholic Church has been struggling to find a firm ground in a world of ever-advancing technological change and increasing globalization. Prior to the convening of the Council, the church virtually isolated itself from the rest of the world because it considered itself as a societa prefecta. Dialogue as a communicative act of openness to the other with willingness to change did not exist in the Church because of its understanding of communication as uni-directional-from the hierarchy to the rest of the people. This study examined the church's communicative practices prior to the convening of the Second Vatican Council and after the Council, focusing particularly on the church's understanding of "dialogue." By developing the paradigm of Praxis Religious Dialogue, this study, through the dialogical philosophy of Martin Buber, the incarnational ethics of Emmanuel Levinas, and.Bernard Lonergan's theologico-anthropological process of cognition, offers an approach to a new form of dialogue for the church. This new form of dialogue is embedded in the process of aggiornamento of which the Council emphasized to the church in its deliberations. Through the analysis of the narrative of Revelation, this study encourages the church to be more open to "praxis dialogue" in which priests and laity are considered as partners in dialogue rather than recipients of religious beliefs and instructions. In this Dei (the People of God), "a people to whom God communicates Himself in love" 5 in order to highlight the creative role of the laity. The emphasis on the notion of the People of God defines a people whose sense of their Christian narrative is driven by their communal adherence to the revelatory event that serves as a pilgrimage story of the new Adam. 6 Further, the Council pronounced, in no uncertain terms, the significance of Episcopal collegiality that points the Church to the notion of collective responsibility of all bishops as shepherds of the People of God and to serve as a part of the whole believe in the apostolic college, each sharing in the responsibilies of the whole Church and not as mere chamberlains of the See of Rome. The promulgation of this doctrine also implied that the bishops now should dialogue with the Pope, with other Christian denominations, and other faith traditions in their respective dioceses. 7 Another important document, the Decree on Ecumenism, was formulated by the Council and was driven by the prospect that theology would lose its polemical content as an apologia ready to be used for refutation of other doctrines. Rather, theology in the new conciliar understanding would be concerned with the ecumenical environment in order to study the tradition(s), history, religious culture, spirituality, liturgical worship and life, and above all, the psychological tenets (no.9) of other religions in order to present a theology that removes obstacles to dialogue. 8 In all this, the preparatory commission took note of the centrality of the Christian mysteries by pointing to the inherent elements of humility, respect, devotion, and charity as constitutive of the truth so that ecumenism would demonstrate "a deeper realization and a clearer expression of the unfathomable riches of Christ" (no. 11). Two other important documents, Revelation (Dei Verbum) and The Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes), were promulgated on November 18 and December 7, 1965 respectively with other decretal documents. It should be mentioned that other documents that are ENDNOTES 1 See "Opening Address to the Council Fathers by John XXIII." In The Documents of Vatican II. Walter M. Abbott, ed. (Chicago, IL: Association Press & Follett Publishing Co., 1966), p. 710-719.
CATHOLIC AND EVANGELICAL THEOLOGY
Pro Ecclesia and the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology, which sponsors the journal, have reached a transition point. Carl Braaten and Robert Jenson, who founded the Center and the journal over twelve years ago, have decided to hand on the task to others. I am honored to join with Reinhard Hütter, the new editor of Pro Ecclesia, and James Buckley, the new associate director of the Center, to carry on the work that Carl and Jens did so much to further. But what precisely is the work we are called to carry on? Pro Ecclesia is "a journal of Catholic and Evangelical Theology/' sponsored by the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology. Every once in a while, and especially at times of transition, the question then should be asked: what is this "Catholic and Evangelical Theology" that defines the journal and the Center? The phrase "evangelical catholic" has roots reaching back into nineteenth century Lutheranism. The confessional revival of that time took various forms; many of them sought to reconnect the evangelical core of the Reformation to the catholic context needed to make Christian and ec-clesial sense of that core. The claim was made that the twin forces of pietism and the Enlightenment had severed the Reformation from its catholic roots in both theology and ecclesial life. That tradition of catholic confessionalism was represented in the mid-twentieth century by such men as Peter Brunner and Edmund Schlink and was carried into our time
The Heythrop Journal, 2009
have teamed up to write Is the Reformation Over? a remarkable book about the recent relationship between Roman Catholics and evangelical Protestants. The subtitle of the book notes that their work is to be "an evangelical assessment of contemporary Roman Catholicism," which examines recent friendly relations and continuing difficulties between these two religious groups. The ambitious nature of their project is immediately apparent as the reader is taken on a whirlwind tour Protestant and Catholic animosity, spanning five centuries, and recent manifestations of Roman Catholic and evangelical cooperation. The difficult task before Noll and Nystrom is taking all of these manifestations and making sense of them for the reader. Given the amount of information with which they deal, they do an admirable job. Nonetheless, even as a scholar of American religious history and evangelicalism, I found myself grateful for the "taking stock" summaries concluding each chapter. History is the strength of this book. Here the authors' expertise shines; through the lens of history, they show the reader that animosities between Catholics and evangelicals have subsided since the midtwentieth century. If Martin Luther thought the pope an antichrist in the sixteenth century, little had changed by the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Throughout most of American history, mainstream evangelicals Protestants believed Roman Catholicism, not only theologically erroneous, but incompatible with democratic institutions. This leads the reader to ask why cooperation after centuries of animosity has occurred between these once rivals. The authors cogently argue that changes within the Catholic Church, world Christianity, American society and politics, and evangelicalism helped facilitate the change. In short, this can be boiled down to the changes brought about by the Second Vatican Council and subsequent ecumenical outreach by Pope John Paul II, the advent of a post-Christian context of the western world, the extension of personal liberty and individualism in American society and politics, and the advent of evangelical self-critique and an 1