Learning about Catholicism
The Roman Catholic Church is something towards which I felt indifference for most of my life. Admittedly, my interests are heavily shaped by the people I meet. I have friends from a Charismatic background whom I admire, and so was interested in their interpretation of spiritual gifts for a time. I encountered people I admire who are Emergent, Reformed, Baptist who practice street evangelism who are members of the Church of Christ, and who are members of the Christian Church—I have listened to each of them with interest.
The reason I’m interested in Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Anglicanism, therefore, is probably partly because I currently know (or know of) admirable people who are Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Anglican. Of course the admirability of any given person isn’t a reason to accept his or her belief-system and I know very kind considerate people who believe things I can’t accept.
But this aside, the real reason I am fascinated with Catholicism is the issue of authority. By authority I don’t just mean the papal authority but also the authority of longstanding tradition. What Protestantism seems to offer me is a buffet filled with many different flavors of Christianity. I can fill up my plate with whatever suits me best—A pile of Christian activism, some Southern Republican Christianity on the side, a bit of Pentecostalism for some flavor, and throw a hint of liberal Christianity in so as not to offend. I can easily reject any doctrine which disturbs me. There are hundreds of thousands of pastors in this country, all of whom believe slightly different things, so I should have no trouble finding a church that teaches what I am already comfortable with believing. In doing this, I run the danger of conforming God to myself rather than conforming myself to God. If there is nothing about my God that makes me uncomfortable, he is probably a creation of my own design.
I very well may be wrong on this point, but it seems that The Catholic Church has enjoyed a continuity that the heirs of the Reformation have not. Yes, the Reformers claimed they were returning to the uncorrupted early Christian Church. That was their intent, but instead they introduced an age in which countless factions claim different interpretations of that same early church. Catholicism by contrast offered a comparatively unified time-tested interpretation of scripture.
Right now I’m finishingA Biblical Defense of Catholicism by David Armstrong. It is a book of Catholic apologetics written from the perspective of a former evangelical Protestant. The book may have some weaknesses. For instance, I have heard that Catholicism doesn’t really require Biblical proof-texts in the same way that Protestantism does. Even if this is the case, I think the Catholic Church at least maintains that its teachings are consistent with the Bible and that its teachings are certainly not unbiblical.
I hope to finish the book soon—by the end of the week. I’ll probably share more at that time.
Hey, Kevin!
I hope you guys have had a good holiday season; Christ is born! Glory to God in the highest!
I’ve a couple of other books you might enjoy even more than this one by Armstrong. Let me know if you want to borrow one when you get back.
Looking forward to seeing you again!
Kevin B.
Thank you! I am very interested in reading your Thomas Howard book, Evangelical Is Not Enough, since you recommended it so highly. Hope you and your family are doing well in 2007.
Hi kevin. I have similar thoughts and struggles. Though I think conforming oneself (or being conformed) to God is ultimately different from being conformed to a church, even one of long-standing traditions. What’s more, even said church of long-standing traditions is capable of offering all those different flavors you mentioned, and the center, which we from without think on with affection, sometimes does little to quell the more unsavory flavors. Catholics are not necessarily as solid within as we see them from without. In fact, I wonder at times if we non-catholics hear what the pope says and find ourselves agreeing more eagerly than many catholics.
It was interesting for me to observe the process by which the new pope, whom i like, was chosen. It almost felt like election time in the US, only there wasn’t quite as much mud to sling. I suppose with John Paul II on the “throne” for so long, I hadn’t ever realized how political the Church is in that matter. This is not to say any of it was bad – for men, it seems, yearn to be political (I just read 1 Samuel) – but it is nevertheless interesting for me to imagine what it must be like to be “rooting” for one dude and then being obliged to submit to another quite unlike the one you hoped for. Again, it’s like politics, but with something of a magic twist, for while we as Americans deigned to submit when Bush won again, we nevertheless did so with a scowl. Yet, once the new pope is chosen, he is the voice of the church, whether you were rooting for him or not, and it goes rather against one’s cahtolic faith not to put hope in the incumbent Pontiff.
Well, what I’m saying may all be a bunch of trash. They’re musings, at most. I too yearn for a bit of authority. But at one time Christ’s authority in my life seemed to be sufficient as it was, where I was, in which church I was. Of course, that may have been my teenage romance in disguise as authority, or perhaps whichever protestant church I was in at the time made up to look like Christ’s authority. Or it could have simply been a younger and less rugged faith and hope.
I’d love to talk with you on the subject, see where you are with the whole deal, and not just *at* you as I seem to have done here.
peace,
derek
Thanks for the input, Derek!
Definitely Christ’s authority is supreme–as I’m guessing any good Catholic would admit. But in league with Christ’s authority is the authority of scripture and the authority of the Church (which, at the very least, had a role in forming scripture and doctrine).
Then comes the issue of how to interpret scripture and how to interpret Christ’s words. There are many suggested voices of authority here including: higher-criticism/scholarship, the personal urging of the Holy Spirit, the decisions of ecumenical councils, the decisions of the pope…
Unfortunately, the computer lab is closing so I’ll have to stop here. Your post was thought provoking. I am not even close to being aware of all the controversies and politics of Catholicism–or even of its history. So for now I’m still learning.