Significant changes in the Roman Catholic Church

Editor’s note: The following post arises from small group reflections from The Rise of Global Christianity, 1910–2010, taught by Dr. Todd Johnson at Boston University in the Fall of 2010. Led by doctoral students, the small groups discussed lectures given by Christian scholars in various disciplines, including significant changes that have occurred in global Christianity over the past 100 years.

Last night, November 10th, Vincent Machozi came to our class as a representative for the Roman Catholic tradition. He began by reminding us that the adjective “Roman,” before Catholic is a relatively recent development. Such a distinction only appeared after the Reformation, when Protestant history and Roman Catholic history finally diverged after sharing a common history for 1,500 years. It was an effective way to remind a classroom of Protestants that although he, as a Roman Catholic, and we, as Protestants, are now separate Christian traditions, together we still have much in common.

In our small group discussion, this peaceful rapprochement was immediately picked up. “I am blown away,” a student effused, “at the enormous shifts within the Roman Catholic Church over the last century. There is an entirely different attitude towards Protestants, other religions, and toward the laity.” The changes are so enormous, that one student wondered how the Roman Catholic Church is able to negotiate the reversals.

Another student made a fascinating observation: “Roman Catholics used to teach that there was no salvation outside the institutional church. They have changed now, and have accepted Protestants as separated, but nevertheless saved, brethren.” In Korea, he went on to explain, Protestants have not been quite so generous. Many Korean Protestants do not believe Roman Catholics are Christians, so practice a Protestant form of “no salvation outside the [Protestant] Church.” Further discussion revealed the complex history of Catholicism and Protestantism in Asia. In several East Asian languages, Roman Catholicism and Protestantism are distinguished as entirely separate religions; they are not considered as two strands of one Christian tradition. This reflects the antagonistic history of the two streams.

It was good to be reminded that, historically, there has been very real animosity between Roman Catholics and Protestants. The shift in attitude over the last generation may cause amnesia. In fact a student responding to the Korean Protestant condemnation of Roman Catholics, initially stated that never happened in the West. “There was suspicion between the two groups, yes, but not a Protestant conviction that Catholics were going to hell.” A short review of Protestant history, though, quickly refreshed her memory, and amended her position.

One student expressed mixed feelings about the seismic changes in Roman Catholic doctrine initiated at Vatican II. The pope, he recalled, was trying to open a window to modernity. Observers, though, have suggested the Roman Catholic Church paved a superhighway for modernity. The sustained resistance to modernity ended, and there was widespread accommodation to the modern world. Yet, a generation later modernity seems hopelessly doomed by post-modern critiques. “How ironic,” he noted, “that people are now trying to find effective points of resistance to the modern mindset. A generation ago, the Roman Catholic Church appeared to be a bastion of resistance, but because of Vatican II now seems complicit in the modern project.” Another student added, “The post-modern attack on meta-narratives is in need of a powerful antidote. Roman Catholicism used to have a strong meta-narrative; now, though, it seems hopelessly confused as it tries to accommodate the truth claims that exist from competing religious communities.” Something may have been gained at Vatican II, but there was a wistful longing—by Protestants of all things—for all that was lost.

Daryl Ireland, discussion moderator

Protestant-led ecumenical movements

Editor’s note: The following post arises from small group reflections from The Rise of Global Christianity, 1910–2010, taught by Dr. Todd Johnson at Boston University in the Fall of 2010. Lead by doctoral students, the small groups discussed lectures given by Christian scholars in various disciplines, including significant changes that have occurred in global Christianity over the past 100 years.

Our discussion this week centered on Protestantism over the last hundred years within the broader context of Global Christianity. The term ‘Protestant’ includes churches within what are often referred to as ‘mainline’ denominations. These churches have roots in the Reformation (including Lutheran, Reformed, Presbyterian, Methodist, and Congregationalist). Within Protestantism two important tensions surfaced: denominational division (both between mainline traditions and internal break-offs within a tradition), and the ecumenical movements of the past century initiated between Protestant churches. It became evident in our discussion that these tensions can be viewed as challenges or opportunities for renewal.

Historically the ecumenical movement began with Protestant churches as much for practical reasons as for theological commitment to Christian unity. The extensive complexity denominational divisions present head-scratching challenges for missions when several denominations ‘compete’ to present the gospel. It also threatens the long-term sustainability of small congregations of Protestant Christians coexisting in proximity but administered under different denominations. Ecumenical cooperation has the advantage of presenting a united front of Christian unity. It worked well in regions with small Christians populations where no one denomination dominates, such as North India and Thailand, where various churches pooled resources and united.

In our discussion group, however, few knew about Protestant led ecumenical movements, and few experienced an ecumenical spirit within their churches. Dong Gyun expressed that in his Korean Presbyterian heritage there are many internal struggles and many break-offs. Maintaining a distinct identity overshadows the desire for unity. Jin, who is also Korean but a Methodist, pointed out that his tradition remained united in Korea, and much emphasis is placed on staying together within that church, and not so much on communion with other Protestant denominations. The ecumenical spirit was so far removed from Jeff’s local congregation that he questioned whether Protestantism should be distinguished as a group for their ecumenical efforts.

The gulf between the lack of ecumenical awareness and engagement on a local level, and the reality of the ecumenical councils within Protestant churches may be explained by the fact that ecumenical movements seem to have taken place among higher levels of church leadership, far away from the pews. In the book Boundless Faith, Robert Wuthnow draws attention to the centrality of the local congregation rather than the commitment to denomination administration in the lives of American churchgoers. Dong Gyun felt that was right in many ways for it seemed to him that local pastors have a huge influence on whether or not a given congregation will engage in ecumenism. We were left with the important question of whether ecumenism could be more powerful if engaged from the ‘ground-up’ – from the local worshippers to the denominational leadership – and what consequences that might have for Protestants.

Eva Pascal, discussion moderator

Denominationalism in Protestantism

Editor’s note: The following post arises from small group reflections from The Rise of Global Christianity, 1910–2010, taught by Dr. Todd Johnson at Boston University in the Fall of 2010. Lead by doctoral students, the small groups discussed lectures given by Christian scholars in various disciplines, including significant changes that have occurred in global Christianity over the past 100 years.

On the evening of September 29th, Rodney Peterson, the director of the Boston Theological Institute, reviewed the history of Protestantism, and engaged the classroom in a discussion of denominationalism. After he left, small groups were formed to continue reflecting on the evening’s theme.

The first question forwarded, “What does it mean that there are 41,000 denominations in the world?” hung unanswered for several minutes. Finally, one student suggested that the diversity of denominations could be attributed to the diversity of people groups in the world. In that sense, denominations may be an important and positive factor in the rise of Global Christianity.

Another student countered, however, with the observation that homogenous cultures (e.g. Korea), are also divided into many denominations. There must be more than just cultural diversity that accounts for splits.

At that point, a third student suggested that Korean Christianity reflects the denominational history of the Western missionaries that first introduced the faith in a variety of forms.

The conversation branched into a new sphere when the mention of Western missionaries to Korea gave way to Korean missionaries going to other parts of the world. Someone asked, “Do most Korean missionaries start a Korean denomination in the places to which they are sent (e.g. ‘The Seoul Christian Church,'), or do they foster the development of new indigenous denominations?”

One student observed that most Korean missionaries are sent through parachurch organizations and therefore do not try to establish a particular denomination, but foster indigenous denominations. Another student added that in the earlier period of Korean missions there was a stronger emphasis on spreading a Korean form of Christianity, but that has given way to an emphasis on indigenous Christianity. A third student reflected, “If missionaries start their own denominations, they may impose their own cultural form of Christianity; however, if they initiate a new indigenous denomination they further divide the Christian community into 41,001 denominations.”

Such a statement caused one student to muse, “The huge number of denominations overwhelms and saddens me. The pessimist in me sees the growing number of denominations as representing the fact that schism is accepted, and the willingness to dialogue and work together is disappearing.”

Some agreed with negative assessment, and expressed a longing for unity. There was an acknowledgement by a few that the Roman Catholic church’s ability to contain renewal movements, and not fracture into denominations was an attractive alternative to Protestantism’s ceaseless divisions.

Others, though, offered a different perspective. One person suggested that denominations are losing their power to separate. From her own personal experience, she explained that she did not even know what, as a Methodist, made her different from any other Christian until she was in seminary. Another student added that it is not as important to be united to denominational title, as it is to be united in witness. Finally, one student closed the conversation by placing the discussion in a larger context: “Denominations are not that important to me. They are temporal occurrences that will eventually pass away at the eschaton.”

Daryl Ireland, discussion moderator

Contributions of Protestantism in the 21st century

Editor’s note: The following post arises from small group reflections from The Rise of Global Christianity, 1910–2010, taught by Dr. Todd Johnson at Boston University in the Fall of 2010. Lead by doctoral students, the small groups discussed lectures given by Christian scholars in various disciplines, including significant changes that have occurred in global Christianity over the past 100 years.

Dr. Rodney Petersen lectured us about Protestantism around world in terms of its history, denominations and contributions. According to him, Protestantism began by the protest movement against Catholicism in the 16th C, later divided and developed into diverse denominations such as the Lutheran tradition, Reformed tradition, and Anabaptist tradition. He emphasized that it is American denominationalism that contributed to the forming of the global presence of Protestantism. That is because American denominationalism, by his explanation, guaranteed the Christian identity irrespective of having no state church membership. In the 21st C, efforts to unite among the Protestant denominations result in the ecumenical movement which now contributes to the global unity and cooperation between different Christian traditions such as Orthodoxy and Catholicism as well as Protestantism. Based on Dr. Petersen’s lecture and the required reading, our group discussed several issues.

First, we discussed the contributions of Protestantism in the 21st century.

• Protestant churches have been willing to be conciliar, and conciliatory and willing to respect each other and dialog. Roman Catholic church after Vatican II appeared more open and more willing to have interreligious dialogue than "interfamily." Protestants also are getting together more to have interreligious dialogue, which is the contribution of 21st Cent. Protestant’s contribution to cooperate and collaborate. (Sam)
• Protestants are more flexible and more willing to allow freedom of thought and interpretation. They tend to hold the tolerance of different ways of doing things. (Amy)
• Father is Presbyterian pastor and he's a United Methodist. This is not a problem in Korean mainline Protestantism because the religious freedom is respected in Korea. (Earl)
• Question about missions in other places. How much the move to make other churches be independent or was it becoming independent on their own. Is it encouraged by post-colonial independence or were missionaries encouraging indigenization? (Edward)
• There is a criticism of foreign mission. Missionaries propagate their own denomination (and culture). Mission-founded and indigenous churches are two different categories. (Gun)
• One contribution of ecumenical movement was to elevate role of women in church and society. Protestants are more egalitarian than Catholicism. (Gun)

And second, we discussed on the growth of Protestantism and its major challenges.

• What are differences culturally that are leading to such a diversity of theologies? One challenge in particular—the ability of a richly-resourced culture to relate to the challenges facing Christians who are poor, politically oppressed, etc. Resource distribution is an issue. Jesus more a liberator and healer in the Global South, rather than an eschatological hope. (Sam)
• Coming to terms with resources and how to use them is important. (Edward)
• WCC website holds the huge body of work on issues of globalization, eco-justice, and neoliberal economics. These are the challenges. (Amy)
• WCC made decisions on how to deal with capitalism. Global North well developed compared to Global South, which has been excluded. There should be a difference between the views of the Church in the North and South. (Earl)
• I
  t is the time to develop the theology of reconciliation to deal with economic injustice which results in and from the expense of the human enslavement in the poor countries. (Gun)

Gun Cheol Kim, discussion moderator