The strongest objections each tradition raises against the others

Program / Course 11: Church, Sacraments, and Authority / Lesson 4.5

What you will learn

• State the strongest objections that Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants raise against each other on authority.
• Present each objection as its own supporters would, not as a caricature.
• Identify the reply each tradition gives.
• Practice a method for testing whether a description of another tradition is fair.

The big idea

Each of the three traditions has an account of authority that its members find convincing and a set of objections to the other two. The strongest objections are the ones that members of the other tradition feel they must answer. Catholics ask how the faith is kept one without a final voice. Orthodox ask how Rome and the Reformers justified changing what was received. Protestants ask whether the church’s teaching can be tested against the apostles’ word. Stating these objections fairly, and the replies, is the test of understanding.

Key terms

Steelman

To state an opposing view in its strongest and most persuasive form, as its best defender would.

Strawman

A weak or distorted version of an opposing view that is easy to defeat.

Development of doctrine

The idea that the church’s understanding of revealed truth grows over time.

Filioque

A Latin word meaning and from the Son. A phrase added in the West to the Nicene Creed’s statement about the procession of the Holy Spirit.

Private judgment

The use of one’s own reading and conscience to interpret Scripture and decide doctrine.

Ecclesial communion

Shared faith, sacraments and ministry among churches.

Background

Debates about authority have a long history of harsh words. Sixteenth-century writers on all sides often described their opponents in ways the opponents would not recognize. Modern ecumenical dialogue, from the twentieth century onward, has tried a different method: each side states the other’s position until the other agrees that it is accurate. This lesson follows that method. It states the strongest objections that each tradition makes, and the replies.

The lesson is not an argument about who is right. It assumes that each position has been held by thoughtful people for good reasons. The goal is to describe the points of pressure. A reader who can state them has done much of the work of understanding.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: Catholic objections to the Orthodox

Catholics ask how the Orthodox settle a dispute that the bishops cannot resolve. They point to the divisions among Orthodox churches over Ukraine and over national claims. They hold that the Petrine ministry exists exactly to provide a point of unity, and that the early church appealed to Rome in times of crisis.

Orthodox reply: unity is a gift of the Spirit and is kept by shared faith and Eucharist, not by a single jurisdiction. The early church solved its crises in councils, and the West itself, in the great Western schism of 1378 to 1417, had two or three claimants to the papacy. Both sides admit that their model has been tested.

Step 2: Catholic objections to Protestants

Catholics ask first whether sola scriptura can be found in Scripture, and second how Protestants can know the canon without the church. They also ask how a principle that has produced many disagreements about baptism, the Eucharist and the church can claim to be a clear rule. Many Catholics add that Protestantism ended the sacramental and priestly structure that the early church held.

Protestant reply: the doctrine is a conclusion from what Scripture says about itself, the church recognized the canon as a witness and did not create it, and disagreement exists in all churches. They also hold that the Reformers recovered the gospel of grace that had been obscured, and that sacraments are rightly understood as means of grace attached to the Word.

Step 3: Orthodox objections to Catholics

The Orthodox ask whether the papal definitions of 1870 can be reconciled with the early church’s conciliar practice. They object to the filioque as an addition made without an ecumenical council, and to new doctrines such as purgatory in its Western form and the Immaculate Conception in its Western form. They hold that Western Christianity changed the faith by legal reasoning and by the growth of papal power.

Catholic reply: the pope’s role has roots in Scripture and the early church, development is a mark of a living faith, and the filioque expresses a truth taught by Latin fathers. Many Catholics add that the Orthodox position on the papacy was more varied before the break, and that the Catholic Church has Eastern members who keep Eastern liturgies and also hold the pope’s primacy.

Step 4: Orthodox objections to Protestants

The Orthodox ask on what basis the Reformers set aside the Tradition and the sacramental order that the church received. They note that Protestant churches lack apostolic succession in the Orthodox sense, that they differ among themselves on sacraments, and that the Reformers inherited Western ideas, such as an emphasis on legal categories of salvation, that the East did not share. They are also wary of the way that Scripture can be read as a private text.

Protestant reply: the Reformers sought to return to Scripture and the early church and rejected later developments they judged unscriptural. Many Protestants admire the Eastern fathers and the liturgy and ask whether some Orthodox practices also rest on later developments. They hold that apostolic faith matters more than a line of ordinations.

Step 5: Protestant objections to Catholics and Orthodox

Protestants ask whether the doctrines of papal infallibility, the Marian dogmas, purgatory and the invocation of saints can be found in Scripture, and whether tradition has become a means of adding to the gospel. They hold that the church’s teaching can err, as councils and popes have disagreed, and that the final test must be the apostles’ word. Against the Orthodox they ask similar questions about icons, the veneration of Mary, and the claim that the Orthodox Church alone has kept the faith unchanged.

Catholic and Orthodox replies: these practices grow from the Incarnation and the communion of saints, and are seen in the early church; Scripture itself was handed on within the church; and the church’s authority is needed to protect the gospel from private distortion. Each tradition holds that it keeps the gospel whole, and each admits historical failures.

Step 6: A test of fairness

Before writing about another tradition, a student can apply a four-part test. First, would a member of that tradition recognize the description as accurate? Second, is it drawn from that tradition’s own texts and not from its critics? Third, does it avoid the weakest arguments and take the strongest? Fourth, does it distinguish official teaching from popular belief and from the views of individual writers? A description that passes the four parts is a fair one, even if the writer disagrees with it.

1. Would a member of this tradition accept this statement of the objection?
2. What is the strongest reply the other tradition has?
3. Is the objection about doctrine, history, practice or all three?
4. Does the objection depend on a premise that the other side does not share?
5. Which part of the objection is accepted by both sides?
6. What does each side say about its own weaknesses?

Examples

Different perspectives

Catholic

The Catholic Church holds that Christ founded a visible church with a teaching office and a head, and that other Christians are joined to it in different degrees. Catholic dialogue documents describe Orthodox churches as sister churches and Protestants as ecclesial communities. Catholics regard the quest for unity as a duty.

Orthodox

The Orthodox Church holds that it has kept the faith of the apostles and fathers whole, and that reunion requires agreement in faith, not only mutual courtesy. Orthodox theologians take part in dialogue with Catholics and Protestants and differ on how open to be.

Protestant

Protestants hold that the church is found where the gospel is preached and the sacraments are given, and they often recognize believers in all traditions. Many Protestants take part in dialogue, and many also stress that agreement should be on the basis of the gospel as taught in Scripture.

Scholarly view

Historians and ecumenical scholars note that many old disputes were sharpened by politics and mistrust. They also note that some differences remain real after careful study. Agreed statements such as those from international Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran and Anglican commissions show how much can be clarified.

Why it matters

Many people form their opinions about other churches from caricatures. The ability to state an opponent’s strongest argument is the basis of fair study, of respectful conversation and of sound judgment. It also protects a student from the common error of replying to a weak argument while the real one goes unanswered.

Common misunderstandings

Knowledge check

Think it through

1. Which objection against your own tradition, if you have one, is hardest to answer?
2. Why do people tend to describe other traditions by their worst examples?
3. What would count as a successful reply to an objection, as opposed to a restatement of one’s own position?
4. How could a respectful conversation between people of different traditions be arranged?

Independent assignment

Six objections, six replies

In your notebook, write the strongest objection that each tradition raises against each of the other two, which makes six in all. For each, write the objection in 60 to 90 words in terms its supporters would accept, followed by the reply in 60 to 90 words. Use at least three primary sources. Then apply the four-part fairness test to your own work and note any place where you were unsure. Keep the work in your notebook.

Further study

• Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church Read the section on ecumenism and the Catholic view of other Christians.
• Timothy (Kallistos) Ware, The Orthodox Church Read the account of the differences between East and West.
• Westminster Assembly, The Westminster Confession of Faith Read chapter 1 and chapters 25 to 31 for a Protestant statement.
• First Vatican Council, Decrees of the First Vatican Council (including Pastor Aeternus on papal primacy and infallibility) Read the definitions that Orthodox and Protestants most often challenge.
• Jaroslav Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine (5 volumes) A historian’s survey of how the traditions developed.
• John 17:21 That they all may be one.
• Ephesians 4:15 Speaking the truth in love.
• Proverbs 18:17 The first to plead his cause seems right, until another comes and examines him.