jhpb@garage.att.com (05/29/90)
Jedidiah wrote:
and the belief in Illuminism. So it seems to me that there is a lot
of personal beliefs not held in common in the Catholic Church as
well, and there is a certain lack of unity in both sects of
Christianity. Has anyone else heard of these instances of Catholic
diversity?
A major difference between Catholicism and Protestantism in doctrinal
matters is that there's an authority in Catholicism that has final say
in matters doctrinal and moral.
Protestant theologians can, in general, discuss as much as they want for
as long as they want. This is only true to a limited extent with
Catholic theologians. They are only free in matters that have not been
decided by the doctrinal authority.
St. Thomas Aquinas, a 13th century theologian, and perhaps the greatest
of all Catholic theologians to this very day, did not believe in the
Immaculate Conception. This was all perfectly fine in his day, because
there was no decision by the Pope yet. Some theologians argued for the
doctrine, some against it, but everyone involved was a Catholic in good
standing. The key is that there was no final decision by the doctrinal
authority yet.
Martin Luther was free to combat all the vice that he wanted to. That
is the way that the Church is truly reformed. The clergy of his time
had many problems, including ignorance and immorality. Unfortunately,
Luther didn't stay within the bounds that a Catholic reformer has to.
He decided to overturn things that had already been decided by the
competent doctrinal authority.
The rest is history; the competent doctrinal authority eventually met
(in this case, the council of Trent, confirmed by the Popes it was held
under) and decided whatever needed to be decided. And that was the end of
all the controversy as far as Catholics were concerned.
There are lots of doctrinal questions that have not been decided. Some
of them there is no particular need to decide; others appear to be too
difficult to ever decide; they are not part of what God has revealed.
Take the case of grace and free will. Some things were decided by the
council of Trent. On the rest, there have been huge controversies on
grace and free will among Catholic theologians. Nobody has ever decided
them. The theologians are still free to discuss -- as long as they stay
within what has already been decided.
I think this aspect of Catholic theology is one of its strongest points
-- the Church takes a definitive stand on things. And the stands taken
preserve sound faith and morals.
You can read the decrees of Trent on the Eucharist; they state that
their contents is Catholic dogma until the end of time. This has an
incredibly fortifying effect on the Catholics who know this, and a
stabilizing effect on society in general.
And it is really all because of the concept of definitive doctrinal
authority. Once the Pope (perhaps with the help of a general council)
makes a doctrinal decision, it gets passed on from generation to
generation to the end of time. The issues can never more cause any
friction or trouble, because no more argument is possible on them.
So, there are indeed differences of opinion inside the Catholic Church,
but only on things for which a difference is appropriate. It isn't like
Protestantism, where's there's not a definitive doctrinal authority to
settle big arguments.
Joe Buehler