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Without the filioque.

The supposedly dogmatic, narrow-minded, intractable Ratzinger (at least according to many a press report) has in some sense already waved the white flag in this battleground between Orthodox and Catholics. When in his first speech as Benedict XVI he said, "The current Successor assumes as his primary commitment that of working tirelessly towards the reconstitution of the full and visible unity of all Christ's followers," he seems to be reiterating something he's already been working on.

He continued, "This is his ambition, this is his compelling duty. He is aware that to do so, expressions of good feelings are not enough. Concrete gestures are required to penetrate souls and move consciences, encouraging everyone to that interior conversion which is the basis for all progress on the road of ecumenism."

Relenting on the filioque in a document like this is not a definitive move of Roman Catholicism, and there is still much that separates Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism. But the 1,000-year dispute about the filioque no longer seems to be at the center of the division.

Thus, Benedict XVI may be more ecumenical than his critics let on, which will likely bode well also for his relations to evangelicals.

Anselm may be turning over in his grave about the filioque, but he surely is happy with the evangelical insistence on substitutionary atonement. As they say, win some, lose some.

Happy Anselm day.

Mark Galli is managing editor of Christianity Today

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April (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49