40 Questions About Roman Catholicism

Gregg R. Allison

• Publisher: Kregel Academic
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9780825486920
• Topic: Théologie et religion
• Subtopic: Dénominations chrétiennes

Straightforward answers about Roman Catholicism for a Protestant audience The Roman Catholic faith is one of the world's most widespread religious traditions, yet the unique aspects of Roman Catholicism elicit perennial questions from adherents and outsiders alike. Such questions tend to fall into three major categories: historical backgrounds, theological matters, and personal relationships. Using Catholic Church documents and the writings of Catholic scholars, Baptist systematic theologian Gregg Allison distills the teachings of Catholicism around forty common questions about Catholic foundations, beliefs, and practices. The accessible question-and-answer format guides readers to the issues that concern them, including:
• Where do Roman Catholic and Protestant beliefs differ?
• What happens during a Roman Catholic Mass?
• How does Roman Catholicism understand the biblical teaching about Mary?
• Who are the saints and what is their role?
• How can my Roman Catholic loved ones and I talk about the gospel? 40 Questions About Roman Catholicism explores theology and practice, doctrine and liturgy, sacraments and Mariology, contributions and scandals, and many other things, clarifying both real and perceived differences and similarities with other Christian traditions.

PART 1

Historical and Foundational Questions

SECTION A

Historical Questions

In this first section, I explore questions about the origin of the name Roman Catholic, trace the history of the Church up to the Reformation, highlight the key events and doctrines that led to the division of Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, and conclude with a look at the impact of Vatican Council II.

QUESTION 1

Why Is It Called the Roman Catholic Church?

The story behind the title “the Roman Catholic Church” goes back to the early church and its self-identification. But one specific word in that title did not appear until the beginning of the thirteenth century.

The Four Traditional Attributes of the Church

Early in its history, the church defined itself as “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.”¹ As for oneness, the true church is characterized by unity, with special reference to sound doctrine: “The church, though dispersed throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this [one] faith.”² This attribute of oneness is well supported biblically. Jesus prays that we, his followers, would be united (John 17:11, 21–23). The Holy Spirit grants unity to the church, which is one body with one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one Father (Eph. 4:1–6; cf. 4:13). The church is one, identified by unity.

The church’s holiness stands in stark contrast to the world and its sinfulness. The holy church is set apart for God and for his purposes. At the same time, the church often falls short of this mark, living as already-but-not-yet pure. This disappointing reality demands that church leaders, like Justin Martyr, call the church to cease from sin and to pursue holiness: “Let it be understood that those who are not found living as Christ taught are not Christians, even though they profess with the lips the teachings of Christ.”³ This attribute of holiness is well supported biblically as seen in the description of the church as a sanctified, saintly assembly (1 Peter 2:9), a depiction that is true even of the worldly church of Corinth (1 Cor. 1:2). Given this status of holiness, church leaders exhort their members to live as holy people (1 Peter 1:14–16).

The term catholicity needs clarification. Rather than referring to the particular Roman Catholic Church, this descriptor refers to the church’s universality.⁴ The church is catholic for two reasons. The first reason is the presence of Christ in it, as Ignatius explained: “Where there is Christ Jesus, there is the Catholic Church.”⁵ The second reason is Christ’s commission for the church: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19). This Great Commission is universal in scope.⁶ Because the true church is catholic, Ignatius warned others: “Whoever does not meet with the congregation/church⁷ thereby demonstrates his arrogance and has separated [or judged] himself.”⁸ The church’s universality is well supported biblically, as seen above.⁹

Apostolicity means that the church follows the teachings of the apostles. Such apostolicity stands in contrast with counterfeit churches that invent and promote false doctrine. From the beginning, Christ taught his apostles, they planted apostolic churches, and these apostolic churches planted other churches, which in turn planted still other churches.¹⁰ Groups that could not trace their origins to the apostles or to these apostolic churches were false churches. More critically still, apostolicity applies to those churches that obey the written teachings of the apostles—Scripture itself. Apostolicity finds biblical support in the foundational role of the apostles (Eph. 2:20) and their authoritative instructions (e.g., 1 Cor. 14:37; 2 Thess. 2:15; 3:4, 6, 10, 12; Titus 1:3; 2 Peter 2:3).

In summary, the early church acknowledged four identity markers: the church is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.

The Additional Attribute of Roman

Up to the beginning of the thirteenth century, these four attributes were sufficient to identify the church of Jesus Christ. The adjective Roman was added to this list of descriptors in 1208. The occasion was sparked by an incident involving a pastor named Durand of Osca. He had left the Catholic Church and become a preacher for the Waldensians, a splinter movement condemned as heretical.¹¹ In returning to the Catholic Church, he made this confession: “We believe with our heart and confess with our mouth one church only, not that of the heretics, but the holy church—Roman, catholic, apostolic—outside of which we believe that no one is saved.”¹² To abbreviate, it is the Roman Catholic Church.

As we will soon see, the descriptor Roman came to be emphasized at this point because the church in Rome was beginning to flex its religious and political muscles and to make exaggerated claims for itself.

Roman and Catholic: Particularity and Universality

Today, these two words—Roman and Catholic—express two distinct but related aspects of the Roman Catholic Church. The first describes its particularity; the second, its universality. According to Leonardo De Chirico:

There’s the Roman side, with its emphasis on centralized authority, pyramid leadership structure, binding teaching, and the rigidity of canon law. And there’s the Catholic side, which emphasizes a universal outlook, an absorption of ideas and cultures, and the inclusive embrace of cultural practices into the Catholic whole. The human genius of Roman Catholicism and one of the reasons for its survival across the centuries has been its ability to be both, even amid disruptions and tensions.¹³

As the Roman Catholic Church, it expresses its particularity in terms of its claim to be the only true church of Jesus Christ, the possessor of the fullness of salvation, and the ongoing incarnation of Christ with the pope as his vicar, or representative. Its distinctiveness is further seen in its locatedness in Rome, its political and financial organization centered in the Vatican, its spectacle as a medieval monarchical institution, its claim to possess the only true Eucharist, and its grandeur of religious pageantry. As the Roman Catholic Church, it expresses its universality as it embraces all ecclesial communities (Protestants and Orthodox), pluralistically respects other religions to which God communicates his grace (e.g., Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Sikhism), and is itself oriented to the salvation of the world. Its comprehensiveness is further seen in its ecclesiology of totus Christus (the Church is the whole Christ—divinity, humanity, and body), its common liturgy (with its former common liturgical language of Latin), its common confession of faith, and its incorporation of many diverse elements into its theology and practice.¹⁴

This dual identity helps explain why the Church is such a broad-tent movement. Again, De Chirico underscores a key principle of Catholic theology and practice. In Latin, it is “et—et.” In English, it is “and—and” or “both—and.” Because it operates on this basis, the Church is able to keep together what appears to many people to be mutually exclusive alternatives—both X and Y, even though X and Y are like oil and water. To give several examples, in terms of divine revelation, the Church looks to both Scripture and Tradition. It views the accomplishment of salvation as synergistic:¹⁵ both God and the Catholic faithful work together. As for its doctrine of justification, the Church believes it embraces both the forgiveness of sins and moral transformation. And justification comes about by both faith and baptism. Whereas it once fervently maintained that there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church, it now holds that both Roman Catholics and _______ (fill in the blank: Protestants, Muslims, agnostics) can be saved.¹⁶

The Catholic principle of “et—et”/“and—and”/“both—and” is the opposite of the Protestant principle of sola, that is, alone. Sola Scriptura: Scripture alone. Solus Christus: Christ alone. Sola fidei: faith alone. Sola gratia: grace alone. Soli Deo Gloria: the glory of God alone. Additionally, a Protestant criticism of the Church during the Reformation was that it had become overly Roman and lost its true catholicity.¹⁷ Indeed, the Reformers claimed that the Protestant movement was a return to Christianity’s true foundation—the Bible and the early church (for example, the theology of Augustine). Moreover, they saw the Reformation as a protest against the many accretions that the Church had introduced over the course of many centuries. Their complaint was that these additions had unmoored the Church from its anchor and caused it to lose its historical, traditional catholicity.¹⁸

Summary

For well over a thousand years, the church of Jesus Christ identified itself as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. It was not until the thirteenth century that the descriptor Roman was added. Today, the adjective Roman describes the Church’s particularity and the adjective Catholic expresses its universality. Still, the Roman Catholic system, based on the principle of “et—et”/“and—and”/“both—and,” seeks to hold together very diverse elements. Indeed, the Protestant principle of sola—“alone”—dissents from “both—and,” maintaining that many opposing positions embraced by the Church are mutually exclusive. They can’t be held together because they are contradictory.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1.As you think about the four traditional adjectives, how do you assess your own local church in terms of its expression of unity, holiness, catholicity, and apostolicity?

2.How did the Church’s addition of the descriptor Roman alter its history?

3.In what areas (other than the above examples) do you see the Roman Catholic Church attempting to be a broad-tent movement?

4.Do you find helpful the idea that the Protestant principle of sola, that is, alone, stands over against the Catholic principle of “et—et” / “and—and” / “both—and”?

5.What is your assessment of Scripture alone, Christ alone, faith alone, grace alone, and the glory of God alone?

1.Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381).

2.Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.10.1–2 (ANF 1:330–31). The text has been rendered clearer.

3.Justin Martyr, First Apology 16 (ANF 1:168). The text has been rendered clearer.

4.Greek καθολικός (katholicos), or universal.

5.Ignatius, Letter to the Smyrneans 8 (shorter version; ANF 1:90). Later, Irenaeus would add, “Where the church is, there is the Spirit of God; where the Spirit of God is, there is the church.” Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.24.1 (ANF 1:458).

6.As explained by Cyril of Jerusalem, the church is catholic because “it extends over all the world … and because it teaches universally and completely one and all the doctrines which ought to come to men’s knowledge … and because it brings into subjection to godliness the whole race of mankind … and because it universally treats and heals the whole class of sins … and possesses in itself every form of virtue which is named, both in deeds and words, and in every kind of spiritual gifts.” Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 18.23 (NPNF2 7:139–40).

7.Greek ἐκκλησία (ekklēsia...