Connected Christianity

Welcome to the seventh Christian Reconciliation Carnival. For your dining pleasure, the contributors to this month’s Carnival have provided a sumptuous feast to satisfy both mind and spirit. Bon appétit!

Appetizers

We begin with sampling of general-interest delicacies both bitter and sweet.

First, the bitter herbs of division in the body of Christ. Weekend Fisher discusses divisions in the ancient church in “It Happened at Chalcedon,” posted at Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength. And speaking of divisions, Joe Carter of The Evangelical Outpost has re-posted an oldie but a goody, “The Wife Beaters,” in which he takes Christians (particularly evangelicals) to task for being so cussedly belligerent toward each other:

I’m disturbed by the number of Christian men—and it’s almost always men—who waste their intellectual gifts fighting with fellow believers. Perhaps we need to have lengthy critical examinations of such issues as paedobaptism or predestination. But how many people truly believe God intends for them to spend a large bulk of their time, energy, and intellect correcting other Christians who might take a different view?

Meanwhile, Terri of The Lost Genre Guild has written on “Romans 14 and Responding to Critics.” How do we pursue peace when discussing non-essential matters with fellow believers? Terri has some interesting ideas.

On a sweeter note, Mark Olson, the Pseudo-Polymath, notes that one of the main hindrances to ecumenism is that most Christians are otherwise occupied on Sunday mornings! Read his suggestion for addressing this problem in “Ecumenism and the Problem of Sunday Morning.” Then go over to Tom Gilson, the Thinking Christian, who shares a touching story of two churches overcoming their differences for the sake of ministry in “Two Churches, Two Races, One Heart.”

Next are a couple of spicy morsels sure to please. Kyle Potter of Vindicated links to his “Essays on Community.” which represent “[his] best attempts to put [his] ecclesiology into plain language.” Well done, Kyle!

Codepoke of The Familyhood Church treats us to a chemistry lesson with ecumenical implications in “Carbon Copies.”

Tossed Salad

The big news in July on the Christian reconciliation front was, of course, the recent the Vatican Statement on the Church. Airton da Silva has provided a nice rundown of recent Vatican documents and reactions to them at his blog, Observatório Bíblico. Don’t be put off by the Portuguese: there are plenty of links to resources in English.

As you can imagine, the responses of the blogosphere were as mixed and crunchy as the ingredients in a great tossed salad. Several bloggers were quick to remind us that claiming to be the one true Church has always been part of Catholic theology, and journalists really needn’t have sensationalized what was essentially a restatement of centuries-old doctrine. See, for example, “The Only Way” at The Grail Code.

Among non-Catholics, responses ran the gamut from the genuinely offended—like Claude Mariottini, “Pope Declares: Other Christians are Not the True Church“—to those who, while disagreeing with the statement, appreciated the Pope’s candor, preferring not to sugar-coat the differences between us. In this camp I would place John Hobbins of Ancient Hebrew Poetry, who thinks “Papa Ratzinger Is on a Roll.” Somewhere in between, you’ll find Jesus Creed’s Scot McKnight (”The Pope on Protestant ‘churches’“) and yours truly (”Not True Churches?“), writing at Dr. Platypus.

You should also check out “Orthodox Reactions to the CDF Document” compiled by the writer at Cathedra Unitatis. This person, who prefers not to share his/her name, is an Orthodox Christian “strongly considering” conversion to Roman Catholicism.

Finally, Bryce P. Wandrey of Theological Inquiries quotes a Lutheran theologian on the topic of “The Church We Long For.”

The Main Course

Partly in response to the Vatican statement, I was wondering if we might be able to say something nice about churches other than our own. That’s why I suggested “Almost Persuaded” as the topic of the month. For our entrée, we’ll consider what positive things we see in our Christian neighbors and wrestle a bit with what conversion to a different church (even if only hypothetical) would mean.

In my entry, “I’m Not Crossing the Tiber, but My Toes Are In the Thames,” a lifelong Baptist looks admiringly at some of the positive aspects of the Anglican tradition. Weekend Fisher, who is Lutheran, wrote something similar about Eastern Orthodoxy in “Almost Persuaded….”

Mark Olson, a recent Orthodox convert from the Episcopal church, chimed in with “Who’s Got Next?“: a very thoughtful piece on what conversion ought to mean:

For I think we should less be searching and attending a church which conforms to me, than the reverse. That is, the church as such is something to which I am subsidiary. One should not choose a church based on it’s beliefs and confession being consonant with who I am and what I believe. Right doctrine demands I join the church which is consonant doctrinally and historically connected with the church that was established by the Apostles.

Mark wrestles with the question of where he might end up were Orthodoxy not an option and sees himself ending up in communion with Rome, although preferably in one of the Catholic rites where priests are allowed to marry.

Although not strictly on topic, I thought Rod Dreher’s “No Perfect Church” and “Leaving Church/Joining Church” over at Cruchy Con provide yet more food for thought on some of the issues Mark and others raised. Rod, I should note, is a former Catholic who fairly recently converted to Orthodoxy. He has written several posts about why people convert, of which this is the most recent.

And since we have by now slipped from the realm of “almost persuaded” to people fulling embracing a new (to them) Christian tradition, I must mention Ben Myers’ “Encounters with Tradition” series at Faith and Theology, in which guest bloggers have shared their spiritual pilgrimages. The project has actually been running all summer (read the series intro here), so for the sake of completeness I’ll point you to all seven installments in the series so far.

1. From Pentecostal to Anglican? by Aaron Ghiloni
2. From Evangelical to Post-evangelical by D. W. Congdon
3. From Congregationalist to Reformed Baptist by Gary Davies
4. From Pentecostal to Vineyard by Frank Emanuel
5. Becoming a Global Baptist by Michael Westmoreland-White
6. From Restoration to Orthodoxy by Daniel Greeson
7. Why I Am Still a Wesleyan by John Mark Poling

Some of these “jumps” are rather small, though no doubt significant for those who made them; others look like they would have frightened Evel Knievel. Thanks to you all for sharing your stories.

While we’re talking about denominational traditions, Adrian Warnock, a self-professed Reformed Charismatic (!), insists, “I Don’t Want Balance - I Want It All!” Meanwhile, the Fearsome Pirate last seen Cruising Down the Coast of the High Barbaree has written a thoughtful post “Against Sectarianism.”

Dessert

And finally, we conclude our feast with a treat. Last month, Mark Olson asked those of us who do not pray to saints (as do Catholic and Orthdox Christians) to explain why not. Weekend Fisher responded with “Why Not Pray to Saints?” and I tried to explain “Why I Don’t Pray to Saints.”

This exchange brought two treats to me. The first was the comments on my post from two Orthodox Christians, in which they endeavored to explain their practice in their own words—and in terms simple enough even a Baptist could understand them.

The second treat was that everyone behaved themselves so well in discussing what could be a rather contentious issue. Both Weekend Fisher and I considered the practice adiaphora—a non-essential matter—and no one submitted an answer that condemned Mark or others for whom this is a regular part of their spirituality. (Nor did I perceive any condemnation in Mark’s question.) I don’t know if that says something about the folks involved in this Carnival or not, but it is perhaps worth pondering.

I hope you enjoy this banquet as much as I have enjoyed setting the table. If you would like to host a future Carnival, check out the hosting information here.

So long for now. If you need me, I’ll be in the kitchen washing dishes.