Wednesday, July 15, 2015
And You Thought You Were Protestant
Thoughtful Christian lists 12 favorite quotes of St. Francis of Assisi. This is , mind you, a decidedly protestant blog.
Set me to thinking about how much we protestants owe to our Catholic brethren. Seriously, we are not defined by what we are, but by the fact that we are NOT them. That's a pretty big deal. Interestingly, most of what we consider protestant theology has precedent in Catholic thought long before Luther was born. (Think Augustine and Calvin for a bit.) We reformed, we did not build anew.
What this says in large part is that the Reformation was a political, ecclesiastical event far more than it was a holy or spiritual event. Simply put, there would be no protestantism, no evangelicalism, if there were no Catholicism. Yet so many of ignore, or worse condemn, our Catholic brethren.
Look, I'll be the first to acknowledge that much of Catholicism is eclectic to say the least, perhaps even arcane, but it is vry real and it is very serious stuff. And by and large it is good. (BTW, can you honestly tell me your church doesn't have a few faults of its own?)
Maybe it's time we paid a bit more attention, and granted a bit more honor.
Catholicism ecumenism protestants
Set me to thinking about how much we protestants owe to our Catholic brethren. Seriously, we are not defined by what we are, but by the fact that we are NOT them. That's a pretty big deal. Interestingly, most of what we consider protestant theology has precedent in Catholic thought long before Luther was born. (Think Augustine and Calvin for a bit.) We reformed, we did not build anew.
What this says in large part is that the Reformation was a political, ecclesiastical event far more than it was a holy or spiritual event. Simply put, there would be no protestantism, no evangelicalism, if there were no Catholicism. Yet so many of ignore, or worse condemn, our Catholic brethren.
Look, I'll be the first to acknowledge that much of Catholicism is eclectic to say the least, perhaps even arcane, but it is vry real and it is very serious stuff. And by and large it is good. (BTW, can you honestly tell me your church doesn't have a few faults of its own?)
Maybe it's time we paid a bit more attention, and granted a bit more honor.
Catholicism ecumenism protestants
