Theology

Well-Swilled and Stinking No More

Protestants used to have strong antipathies toward Roman Catholicism. (Our sixteenth-century forebears used adjectives such as “shameless, fat, well-swilled, stinking, papistical … ,” as historian Timothy George wrote on our May 16 editorial page.) Times change, and in recent years, evangelicals and Catholics have cooperated closely in the prolife movement and other ventures.

Two essays and one news story in this issue help us think more clearly about the state of Catholic-evangelical relations: From Oxford, England, Alister McGrath, a leading authority on the doctrine of justification by faith, responds to the new Catechism of the Catholic Church. From Vancouver, Canada, J. I. Packer explains why he, as a Reformed theologian, signed the document “Evangelicals and Catholics Together” (ECT). And from Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, Rebekah Schreffler chronicles the agonies of Protestant clergy who follow in the steps of Cardinal Newman.

Ever since ECT was published this past spring, debate has swirled around the document and its signers. (See the comments of Charles Colson, one of ECT’s architects, in our Nov. 14 issue.) One constant of both the controversy and the conversion stories is stereotyping. Some critics seem to want to lock the Catholic church into the sixteenth century, as though it did not have subtle but significant ways of changing without actually abjuring what went before. Some enthusiastic converts, on the other hand, betray a starry-eyed idealism that fails to reflect the diversity among Catholics in both belief and practice.

In some ways, many Catholics we know are rather Protestant in spirit – congregational in focus, quasi-conversionist in their emphasis on personal faith, independently minded, and somewhat indifferent toward official teaching.

The essays in this issue should help CT readers get a better picture of today’s Catholic church.

Copyright © 1994 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Also in this issue

Cosmic Combat: Philip Yancey explores themes not often captured on Christmas cards

Cover Story

The Other Side of Christmas, Part 2

Cover Story

The Other Side of Christmas

Do We Still Need the Reformation? Part 1

Pentecostals Renounce Racism

Graham Preaches Reconciliation in Atlanta

Alabama Pastor's Murder Prompts Unity

Episcopal Bishop Joins Others on Road to Rome

Should Expectant Mothers Be Tested for HIV?

The Lost Sex Study

Religious Schools Fear Accreditation Changes

Do We Still Need the Reformation? Part 2

Why I Signed ‘Evangelicals and Catholics Together’

BOOKS: Modern Wise Men Encounter Jesus. Part 1

BOOKS: Modern Wise Men Encounter Jesus. Part 2

Abstinence - Chic, Like a Virgin

Russian Orthodox Church's Influence Expands

Will Rwanda Be Rebuilt?

Rachel Saint Dies

Editorial

EDITORIAL: For Whom the Bell Curves

News

Pope Lands on Bestseller List

News

Close Encounters Across Cultures

News

News Briefs: December 12, 1994

News

Michael English Launches Second Career

LETTERS: The Population Problem

Fear of Looking Forward

Why We Believe in the Virgin Birth

News

Schuller Seeks Theater Converts

ARTICLE: Cosmology’s Holy Grail By Hugh Ross

BOOKS: Friends or Lovers?

BOOKS: Worth Mentioning

Classic & Contemporary Excerpts from December 12, 1994

Conservatives Gain Upper Hand

No Conservative Tide on Homosexual Rights

Michigan Judge Nixes 'Charter Schools'

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