Over
250 prominent scholars, pastors, and church leaders from around the world
released on Tuesday a theological statement affirming the essentials of the
Reformation. And its Protestant authors contend that in this 500th anniversary
year, the document is a "catholic" statement in its best sense.
The Reforming Catholic
Confession is a document which outlines the main theological commitments
held by a wide breadth of Protestant Christians, including evangelicals, since
the Reformation. The purpose of such a statement is to demonstrate the
remarkable togetherness that exists throughout the world among Protestants on
the core elements of Christianity, said Jerry Walls, an author and professor of
philosophy at Houston Baptist University.
Despite
how some Roman Catholics fasten the divisions within Protestantism as a case
against it, including the joking about there being 33,000 different
denominations — as if the entire legacy of the Reformation is endless religious
splintering — the Confession showcases the extensive agreement on the substance
of the historic Christian faith, Walls told The Christian Post.
The
statement's signatories include a sizable list of biblical heavyweights who hail
from a variety of traditions. Over 110 Christian institutions, over 30 of which
are international, are represented.
"I
just got the idea that one of the best ways we could actually commemorate the
Reformation, and remind people of what really lay behind it and what motivated
the Reformers was to come up with a confession of faith that represented the
substantial unity among the heirs of the Reformation," Walls said.
He
summarily wrote to several biblical scholars and theologians about the idea, all
of whom responded favorably, including Kevin Vanhoozer, a professor of
systematic theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield,
Illinois, and author of Biblical Authority After Babel: Retrieving the Solas in the Spirit
of Mere Protestant Christianity.
As
Walls, who is Wesleyan, and Vanhoozer, who is Reformed, began working together
and continued reaching out to even more people across the denominational
spectrum to join them, the momentum for the project only increased and a
palpable excitement was afoot.
"What
I really started to sense was that this thing could really be significant,"
Walls said. "It was just beautiful to see Pentecostals and Lutherans working
together to find common language."
The
Reforming Catholic Confession contains 12 articles that outline their beliefs in
such basic Christian tenets as "The Triune God," "The Atoning Work of Christ,"
"The Gospel," and "The Church," particularly as it relates to what the Reformers
accomplished.
The
beliefs are followed by 25 "why we say what we say" explanations that capture
key cornerstones and dimensions of the Christian faith. No single group of
participants got every single thing they wanted expressed in the document, which
underwent multiple drafts and lengthy revisions, but they nevertheless arrived
at a mutually agreed upon declaration.
"The
question was not 'Does this statement say everything you would want it to say,
but 'Can you agree with us thus far?'" Walls said.
As
for why they decided to call it a "catholic" confession, Walls said he felt it
is important to reclaim the word "catholic."
"The
Church of Rome simply calls itself, 'The Catholic Church.' It is
not the catholic church,'" he emphasized. "It is one part
of the holy catholic church."
"We
want to make clear that 'catholic' is a much more expansive reality than the
church of Rome. And we want Protestants to understand that when they are true to
their own heritage, and their own roots, they are 'catholic' also."
The
genesis of the statement began earlier this year as Walls was researching for
his upcoming book, Roman but Not Catholic: What Remains at Stake 500 Years After the
Reformation, which he wrote with Kenneth Collins. One of the things the
two authors emphasize is that Protestantism is a better representation of true
Catholicism than Roman Catholicism is.
On
Oct. 31, Protestant evangelicals around the world will mark the 500th
anniversary of the start of the Reformation, when Martin Luther nailed 95 theses
to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, objecting to corrupt practices of
the Roman Catholic Church, most notably the selling of papal indulgences.
"A
lot of people have been asking the question 'Is the Reformation over? Was it a
mistake?" said Kevin Vanhoozer, who took charge of the drafting the initial
statement, in an interview with CP.
"I
would say that there is a permanent gain that we shouldn't lose."
The
Reformation was not "a Pandora's box that unleashed an interpretive anarchy and
schism upon the world," he stressed.
"In
fact, Protestants have always agreed about the essentials. What has happened is
where we disagree about some things, and as it is with every family, when you
disagree and you have so much in common, it is because you have so much in
common that the disagreements look so much larger."
Article
2 of the Confession addresses "Holy Scripture" and the line Protestants are
famous for: "sola scriptura." This is the phrase that underpins the Roman
Catholic joke about Protestants having tens of thousands of denominational
groups due to the variety of ways the Bible can be interpreted without a
magisterial authority like the Roman Catholic Church has. http://www.christianpost.com/news/over-250-protestant-leaders-sign-reforming-catholic-confession-on-essentials-of-christian-faith-198747/
