Program / Course 21: Liturgical Theology / Lesson 7.4
What you will learn
- Explain why judging a practice and judging a person are different acts.
- Apply the rules of describing another tradition in its own terms.
- Use Romans 14, 1 Corinthians 8 and 1 Peter 3:15 to think about disagreement over practices.
- Write a fair evaluation that is honest about disagreement and about the limits of the evidence.
The big idea
Testing claims about rituals and objects is a skill that can be used badly. A student can become proud, dismissive or harsh. The Christian traditions all teach that truth and charity belong together. This lesson sets out rules for describing other people’s devotion fairly and for judging a practice without judging the person. Honesty requires saying plainly what the evidence shows, including when it is uncomfortable. Respect requires first understanding the practice as its practitioners do, and remembering that only God knows the heart.
Key terms
- Charity (love)
- In Christian teaching, the love of God and neighbor that is the greatest of the virtues (1 Corinthians 13:13).
- False witness
- Speaking untruth about a neighbor, forbidden by the ninth commandment in Catholic and Lutheran numbering and the eighth in Reformed and Orthodox numbering.
- Steelman
- To state an opposing view in the strongest form its supporters would accept, before replying to it.
- Weak and strong (Romans 14)
- Paul’s terms for believers who differ on food and days, in which one may be more or less scrupulous.
- Stumbling block
- In 1 Corinthians 8 and Romans 14, something that leads another believer to act against conscience.
- Ecumenism
- The movement to promote understanding and unity among Christian churches.
- Condescension
- A tone that treats others as less intelligent or less sincere than oneself.
Background
The New Testament contains several texts on disagreement over practices. In Romans 14 Paul discusses believers who differ about food and holy days and says, “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind” (Romans 14:5), and warns against despising or judging one another. In 1 Corinthians 8 and 10 he discusses food offered to idols and concludes that love should limit freedom. In Athens he began with the people’s own religious observances and with a line from their own poets (Acts 17:22-28). Peter tells believers to give an answer for their hope “with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15).
The churches have also reflected on this in modern times. The Second Vatican Council’s decree on ecumenism (1964) asked Catholics to describe other communities fairly and to avoid expressions that might give offense. Protestant and Orthodox bodies took similar steps in the World Council of Churches and in bilateral dialogues. The agreements are limited, but the call to fair description is widely shared.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: Judge the practice, not the person
A claim may be false while the person who believes it is sincere, wise in other matters and closer to God than the critic. Jesus warned against judging (Matthew 7:1-5), which does not forbid discernment but forbids condemning hearts. A fair writer therefore says, This practice has no early source, and not, These people are fools. The church’s own authorities may need to correct a practice. A private student’s task is to state what the evidence shows.
Step 2: Describe it as its practitioners do
Before criticizing, state the practice in a way that its members would recognize and accept. Use their own sources: a catechism, a liturgical book, an official teaching. Do not describe a tradition from its critics. When reporting Catholic teaching on relics, quote the Catholic church’s teaching. When reporting the Reformed objection, quote a Reformed confession. Then, if the student disagrees, say so, and say why. This is the discipline of the research assignment in this course.
Step 3: Separate the kinds of disagreement
Some disagreements concern facts, such as when a practice began. Evidence can settle these, or show that they remain uncertain. Some concern interpretation, such as what a verse means. Informed people differ. Some concern authority, such as whether a church has power to add practices. These are disputes between traditions that cannot be settled by an essay. Some concern preferences, such as styles of music or building. A student should say which kind of disagreement is in view, so as not to treat a difference of preference as a difference of truth or a difference of authority as a difference of fact.
Step 4: Honesty about one’s own tradition
Honesty applies first to the student’s own side. Every tradition has accepted legends, forged documents and doubtful devotions at some time. A fair reader applies the method to their own practices as strictly as to others’. A reader who finds that something they love has a thin historical basis may still keep it as a custom, give thanks for it or drop it, but should not claim that it is more ancient or more authoritative than the evidence allows. A reader who finds that something they have rejected has a strong historical basis should say so.
Step 5: What a student alone should do, and not do
In private study the student can read, test and conclude. In conversation the student should ask before correcting, avoid correcting in public a person who is not asking, and recall Paul’s concern for the weaker conscience. If asked, the student should say honestly what the evidence shows and what remains uncertain. A student who belongs to a church should take questions about its practice to its pastors or teachers, and not set up as a judge of the church. The program does not replace a church, a teacher or the sacramental and communal life of any tradition, and it does not ask the student to leave one.
- Can I state this practice so that a practitioner would say yes, that is what I do?
- Am I judging the practice, the person or the tradition?
- What kind of disagreement is this: fact, interpretation, authority or preference?
- Have I applied the same test to my own tradition’s practices?
- Would my words help the person I am talking about, or only make me look right?
- What would I need to learn before I could correct this honestly?
Examples
A visit to a shrine
A Protestant student visits a Catholic shrine with a friend. He does not light a candle or kneel. He asks his friend what the candle means, listens, and says that his tradition does not do this but that he can see it is sincere. They later discuss the Reformed argument and the Catholic reply. Both are friends afterward.
A hasty post
A man posts that Orthodox Christians worship pictures, quoting a hostile website. A reader asks him whether he has read the decree of Nicaea II or an Orthodox catechism. He admits he has not. He deletes the post. (A constructed example.)
Honesty at home
A Catholic woman learns that a pious story told of her patron saint has no source before the sixteenth century. She keeps her devotion to the saint, tells her children the story as a legend and teaches them what is known. She does not claim more than the evidence allows.
Different perspectives
Catholic
The church asks Catholics to speak of other Christians fairly and charitably, and to examine their own practices for abuses. Truth and charity are to be kept together.
Orthodox
The Orthodox tradition teaches humility before the mystery of God and the judgment of God. The church holds that it is the one church, and its members are asked to speak of others without hatred.
Lutheran and Anglican
Both traditions emphasize charity and the distinction between essentials and adiaphora, and Anglicans have a long tradition of comprehensiveness. The eighth commandment, in Luther’s explanation, asks believers to put the best construction on everything.
Reformed and free-church
These traditions hold the truth of Scripture firmly while teaching that believers must not despise one another. Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8 are used by many to counsel patience over disputable matters.
Scholarly
Scholars of religion practice description before evaluation and bracket their own views while reporting what a community believes. They recognize that this is a method and not a claim that all views are true.
Why it matters
The skills in this course, from testing sources to describing rites, can easily be turned into weapons. The last lesson asks the student to use them as a Christian would use any gift, with truthfulness and love. It also makes clear that the program is a tool for understanding, and not a substitute for the church, which every tradition teaches is the place where believers are formed, corrected and fed.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: Respect means never saying that a practice is mistaken.
Correction: Respect means understanding the practice first and speaking truthfully with care. Silence in the face of a question is not required.
Misunderstanding: Honesty means pointing out every error I see.
Correction: Honesty forbids false statements. It does not demand correcting every person at every time. Love governs when and how to speak.
Misunderstanding: Describing a tradition fairly means agreeing with it.
Correction: A fair description states what its members believe. A student may then disagree and say so.
Misunderstanding: If a practice is harmless, no question about its origin need be asked.
Correction: Harmless practices can still be mis-described. Honest study asks about origin, even where the answer does not change the practice.
Knowledge check
What is the difference between judging a practice and judging a person?
A practice can be examined by its sources, doctrine and effects. A person’s heart is known only to God, and a sincere person may hold a mistaken belief. Jesus’ warning against judging in Matthew 7 forbids condemning hearts, not discernment.
What does it mean to describe a tradition in its own terms?
To state its practice and meaning in a way its members would recognize, using its own catechisms, liturgical books and official teaching, and not the descriptions of its critics.
What does Romans 14 teach about disagreement over practices?
Paul says believers who differ about food and days should not despise or condemn one another, and that each should be fully persuaded in his own mind. Love limits freedom, as 1 Corinthians 8 adds.
How should a student treat their own tradition’s practices?
By applying the same method with the same strictness as to others, admitting where the evidence is thin, and not claiming greater antiquity or authority than the sources allow.
Think it through
- When have you been judged unfairly for something you believed or practiced?
- What is the difference between honest disagreement and contempt?
- How can a person hold firm convictions and speak gently?
- What would you say to a friend whose devotion you believe rests on a mistake?
Independent assignment
A fair evaluation
In your own notebook, write 500 to 700 words evaluating one practice from a tradition other than your own. Begin by stating the practice as its members would, using one of their own sources. Then apply the five questions. Close with a paragraph in which you state your conclusion, your reasons and the strongest point on the other side. Do not send this to anyone.
Further study
- Romans 14:5 Each person fully persuaded in his own mind.
- 1 Corinthians 8:9 Do not let your liberty become a stumbling block.
- 1 Peter 3:15 An answer with meekness and fear.
- Ephesians 4:15 Speaking the truth in love.
- Acts 17:22 Paul begins from the Athenians’ own devotion.
- Martin Luther, The Small Catechism Read Luther’s explanation of the eighth commandment.
- C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity Read for an example of writing across differences between churches.
- Huston Smith, The World’s Religions Read for an example of describing religions fairly.