Evangelicals and Catholics Together

Evangelicals and Catholics Together
Editors Charles Colson and Richard Neuhaus
Hodder & Stoughton. 236 pages. £9.99
ISBN 0 340 66507 6

The title of the book repeats the one given to the statement issued in April 1994 by evangelical and Catholic scholars. There was a barrage of criticism and this book is basically the reply. There is a firm refusal to withdraw. Jim Packer even quotes Luther: 'I will not recant'.
The preface by David Alton, MP, is significant is that his brave stance in Parliament on the abortion issue would be endorsed by many who are not Catholics. But they would maintain that agreement and action on a vital social issue does not in any sense involve agreement on the gospel.
This book, however, jumps from co-operation on an issue of public morality to the notion that this is part of fulfilling a gospel aim to redeem the culture. Charles Colson writes as a prominent evangelical and urges the necessity for this: 'Our contemporary culture needs to be re-evangelised' (p.3). This, he claims, is the task for all true Christians, and is an area in which evangelicals and Catholics should join in a united enterprise. It sounds like a revival of the old social gospel aiming to establish the kingdom of God on earth. Surely Paul strikes a different note. It is not our task to judge outsiders but rather to discipline the church (1 Corinthians 5.12).

Infallibility of Scripture

Colson then goes back on this notion of re-evangelising culture and stresses our primary call to evangelise sinners. But that brings us to the need to define the gospel, and in this exercise the gulf between Rome and the gospel is as wide as ever. Colson insists that we hold in common the great basic truths of the gospel But just to take one of these truths - the infallibility of Scripture - how can we be united on this when Rome has her accompanying claim for papal infallibility?
The same line is taken as George Weigal urges Catholics and evangelicals to lead in 'reconstructing the moral foundations of American public life' (p.50). It is astonishing to find an evangelical from Wheaton College (Mark Noll) seeing the first sign of evangelical/Catholic rapprochement in the election of John F. Kennedy, the first Catholic US president. He acknowledges Kennedy's 'womanising' but sees his moral defects as 'ecumenical' as it linked him with Protestant delinquents! (p.94). This extraordinary presentation leads on to eulogising the pope for his anti-communist stand.
Avery Dulles produces all kinds of ecumenical blueprints, but admits that church unity is beyond any conceivable horizon.

Not easy

He is followed by the two heavyweights in the symposium, Jim Packer and Richard Neuhaus. Jim recognises the concerns of fellow evangelicals who cannot see how he, with his reformed background, can think of joint mission with Rome, what he calls 'mission activity in partnership with Roman Catholics' (p.163). He also admits that it is easy to be involved in social action, but to be involved 'in joint evangelistic action will certainly not be easy' (p.167).
It is extraordinary to admit that claims to papal infallibility are a stumbling block, and then to claim that such papal utterances barely reach double figures. It is like saying that blasphemy is not quite so bad as long as it is only rarely used!
In like vein he maintains that believing in baptismal regeneration is not so serious if stress is also laid on faith. He points to the great figures who lived before the Reformation and who did not accept or even know of the formula 'by faith alone'. Our difficulty is not with such, but with the developed Roman Catholicism of the Council of Trent which pronounced a curse on those who insist on 'faith alone'. Richard Neuhaus (one of the editors of the book) argues for the traditional Catholic position and rejects 'faith alone' as the basic factor.

Object of deep devotion

There is one glaring omission - that of a sustained treatment of the cult of Mary. The Second Vatican Council, so frequently quoted for its alleged reforming zeal, declared Mary to be 'the mother of the church', bringing the mystical body to birth just as she bore the physical body of Jesus. The present pope has been notable for his extreme emphasis on Mary as the object of deep devotion. The cult of Mary - I use the title from Pope Paul VI's encyclical Marialis Cultus - is the token of a totally unbiblical approach to God. Significantly, the cult has wide acceptance among traditionalists, liberals and charismatic Catholics. This is not to say that this is the one major stumbling block. It is simply to point out that these claims for her sinless perfection stemming from her immaculate conception, her co-operation at Calvary in offering her Son, her ascent to heaven without tasting death, her queenly reign as intercessor - all these speak of a paganising influence which is reflected in so many other dogmas.

Diverging from Scripture

I have no difficulty with friendly relationships and I have met in debate with RC theologians. But this blurring of distinctions, this claim for evangelical 'unity', this substitution of cultural renewal for evangelistic enterprise - all this sadly parts company with Scripture.

Herbert M. Carson

The Times of August 30 (page 15) reported that the Pope emphatically asserted on August 29 that Jesus had no brothers or sisters and that his mother Mary was a virgin before and after the birth of Jesus . . . 'Behind the Pope's assertion that Jesus had cousins, but not brothers, lies his preoccupation with the cult of the Virgin Mary. He frequently visits Marian shrines and holds up Mary as an example to all women. The notion of Mary's 'perpetual virginity' took hold only in the 5th century. But the Pope insists that Mary had been referred to a aeiparthenos - Greek for eternally virgin - since 'the earliest Christian period'.'

Infallibility of Scripture

Not easy

Object of deep devotion

Diverging from Scripture

Herbert M. Carson

Main Articles

Other articles