Dreaming Together: A proposal for the whole church

Warning! Ecumenical nerding out ahead!

Not long ago, I was riding shotgun with a dear friend who has different views from me on immigration. I gave him a “what if.” What if you were willing to trade this for that, if I was willing to trade that for this? He thought he could, and so did I. Then we agreed to go to Popeye’s for chicken sandwiches, which confirmed our good will and good judgment. Too bad we’re not in charge. Driver/shotgun bipartisanship.

I have another idea—this one theological and moral. Here’s my proposal: the Roman Catholic Church recognizes the Augsburg Confession (Confessio Augustana—CA) as a faithful confession and confessing evangelicals recognize Catholic Social Teaching (CST) as a faithful public expression of the moral and ethical life.

Augsburg Confession as Catholic

First, the Catholic Church already recognized the first three articles of CA right after it was presented in 1530. Much later, Avery Dulles SJ writes: “In a statement that attracted much attention, Joseph Ratzinger, now Cardinal-Archbishop of Munich [and later Pope Benedict XVI], declared in January 1976:

The researches of the past few years converge in understanding that the CA [Confessio Augustana] as the basic Lutheran confessional document was drawn up as it was not only for diplomatic reasons, that it might be possible to interpret it under the laws of the empire as a catholic confession; it was also drafted with inner conviction as a searching for evangelical catholicity — as a painstaking effort to filter the bubbling cauldron of the early Reformation movement in such a way that it might give it the shape of a catholic reform. Accordingly, efforts are under way to achieve a Catholic recognition of the CA or, more correctly, a recognition of the CA as catholic, and thereby to establish the catholicity of the churches of the CA, which makes possible a corporate union while the differences remain.'"¹

Hmmm. “Corporate union while the differences remain.” Sign me up. The Augsburg Confession has served us well for nearly 500 years in shaping an evangelical catholic theology grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is such good news, it is meant to be shared.

Catholic Social Teaching as Evangelical

Secondly, could confessing evangelicals embrace Catholic Social Teaching? What a comprehensive, consistent, and coalescing gift this would be to us. Social teaching in the evangelical, protestant churches is like our coffee—watered down Folgers. There is a something there, not quite sure what. You have to doctor it to make it better, add a little of this or that, and then it ends up not being much better. Evangelical Social Teaching—Protestant Social Teaching—Lukewarm weak Folgers.

Photo by Mark Fletcher-Brown on Unsplash

In our churches we can speak with a common voice on justification, good works, the office of ministry, and absolution. But, we stammer and privatize and individualize when asked about the poor, the dignity of the human, labor and laborers, family, solidarity, care for creation, and even matters of life and death. Church of England bishops just recently bore witness to the church’s opposition to legalizing assisted suicide and liberalizing late-term abortion laws. A few years ago The Anglican Church in Canada’s leader encouraged churches not to speak out about Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD), but, of course, to show up when people decided to use it. Does the church have anything to say about assisted suicide, besides holding their hand while they go? That depends, I guess.

Confessing Christians share a common theological touchstone, but have little in common in clear moral and ethical teaching and formation. Then we are left to boutique emphasis in one area and total silence in others.

Evangelicals, we lack social teaching that is:
Comprehensive: It speaks to more than just the latest culture war issue, but to societal, family, and personal issues. A social teaching that is whole, not niche.
Consistent: A whole life ethic that doesn’t pick and choose where to recognize the dignity of human life, but believes there to be ramifications for all because humans are made in the image of God.
Coalescing: We need a social teaching that gathers us, and challenges us, and harmonizes our public witness to the God of life.

Such a social teaching exists, and we could embrace it.

Catholics sing JS Bach and Evangelicals sing Matt Maher. Maybe we could expand our repertoire to sing Confessio Augustana and Catholic Social Teaching—with one voice (Romans 15.6) to the glory of God and for the good of the whole earth.

1. J. Ratzinger, "Prognosen für die Zukunft des Okumenismus," Bausteine 17, no. 65 (1977): 6-14, esp. 10; reprinted in J. Ratzinger, Theologische Prinzipienlehr (Munich: Wewel, 1982), p 212. The quotation in my text follows the translation of F. Kramer in J. A. Burgess, ed., The Role of the Augsburg Confession: Catholic and Lutheran Views (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980), p. 49.