tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post6258209961931675629..comments2024-03-24T15:19:06.377-04:00Comments on The Continuum: UpdatedFr. Robert Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892141425033196616noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post-40658339805940174222011-03-04T15:10:45.298-05:002011-03-04T15:10:45.298-05:00Good article and good discussion!
Doubting Thomas...Good article and good discussion!<br /><br />Doubting ThomasAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post-9056805514292385872011-03-04T01:01:54.579-05:002011-03-04T01:01:54.579-05:00The word "Calvinism" is often invoked wi...The word "Calvinism" is often invoked with little or no appreciation for any true definition. A brief summary of debatable points that are associated with Calvin himself would be 1) a very pronounced Thomist/ Dominican take on Predestination that goes beyond anything the Anglican Article affirms to what is called "Double Predestination"--that God wills the damnation of those who are lost. And, 2) the Geneva Discipline.<br /><br />What the English Reformers did believe, quite correctly, was Augustine's understanding of St. Paul, that we have no power to save ourselves. Freewill, which does exist in every human being, is severely limited. We do not have the power to will ourselves into a state of righteousness or holiness. Without faith even the best of good works, even the same action that is pleasing to God if done with faith, has no grace but only the nature of sin. Predestination is "unspeakable comfort" to true believers, etc.<br /><br />None of these were new doctrines. None of them are creatures of the 16th century. All of them are acceptable catholic doctrine by any definition. But, the average modern person calls them "Calvinism," and then proceeds to pronounce them heresy.<br /><br />By what standard?Fr. Robert Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05892141425033196616noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post-47305017485270037422011-03-04T00:18:52.944-05:002011-03-04T00:18:52.944-05:00Hello Fr. Hart,
Your points against Calvinism ar...Hello Fr. Hart, <br /><br />Your points against Calvinism are well taken. In retrieving "Protestantism" one thing I've been trying to press is early Protestantism was really the "northern catholic" church(es) splitting from the southern or Italian one. But what is Protestantism, and are Anglicans the only church worthy to be called northern catholic? <br /><br />A better definition of Protestantism has been argued before, e.g, speyer 1529, the Wittenberg Articles, Henrician Settlement, et al. And, each is an attempt to harness 16th century humanist methods for the better restoration of ancient and orthodox doctrine, usually following a marker like "five centuries" for reliable fathers and councils...<br /><br /> But one problem was the very fractured nature of Reformation in the continent. What was Lutheranism, for instance, before 1577? For one thing, it wasn't very coherent, there being many kinds of church orders. Nor was there a single interpretation of the Augsburg and many variatas circulated. <br /><br />But the period 1535-1560 is worth checking out as northern catholicism did try to articulate itself. Amongst all those articulations, probably the 39 articles took center place, and unlike the Reformed and Lutheran churches, really remained comparatively stable and unchanged. While Lutherans were expelling Philipists and Reformed were finding new doctrines to excommunicate each other over, the 39 needed no additional forms or substandards for definition. By 1517 it was largely finished, and, in fact, it would remain the oldest Articles of Faith to survive the 16th century. So, I would say the 39 articles turns out to be pretty representative of a northern catholic opinion, preserving the restoration that was accomplished in the 1530's-60's before confessionalism itself hardened. <br /><br />BTW. Let's not forget the Swedish Lutheran church. They kept their bishops and king, rejected RPW, and held fast to Augustine w/ out speculations on predestination. I would contend, until their engagement with modernism, the Swedes were closer to England than the East, i.e., 'northern catholic' or true-protestant.charleshttp://www.anglicanrose.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com