Protestant Michael Horton, whom I know personally and have debated on two occasions, has done the Catholic Church and Pope Benedict XVI a great service. Dr. Horton has traced the theological history of Pope Benedict XVI as it was formulated by the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. In his attempt to show how distant Pope Benedict XVI is from Horton’s Calvinistic-Reformed theology, Horton shows us all the places in Ratzinger’s writings in which the Cardinal was adhering to the traditional beliefs of the Catholic Church, and at no time does Horton show any place where Ratzinger has departed from those beliefs. I, myself, did not realize how faithful the Cardinal has been to Catholic doctrine, and I thank Michael Horton for renewing my faith in the pope once again.[Hat tip to J.M.]
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Fundamentalist reinforces faith in Benedict's non-revisionism
A reader sent an email recently with a link to an article written by Michael Horton, a fundamentalist who has opposed Catholics in debate a number of times. The article, entitled "The Faithfulness of Pope Benedict XVI," is posted on the website of Catholic Apologetics International with the following deliberately ironic preface by Robert Sungenis:
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6 comments:
This may be the first time in Church history that a pope’s “[adherence] to the traditional beliefs of the Catholic Church“ has been affirmed by proving that he has not, after all, embraced Lutheranism.
I understand that viewed from a Catholic lens, many if not most Protestants can appear as Fundamentalists. But to be fair, it should be pointed out that Dr. Horton is a confessional Protestant who has been an open critic of Fundamentalism. Therefore to claim that he is a Fundamentalist is uncharitable at best and a straw man caricature at worst. Here's a recent essay by Dr. Horton relevant to the differences between Catholics and Protestants: http://tinyurl.com/48zmvyk
Ralph,
Ha-ha! That's good. By gum, you can't be more catholic than a non-Lutheran Pope!
Shane,
The problem with "fundamentalist" is semantic drift. Of course Horton is a fundamentalist by the standards of the original five fundamentals for which the term was coined. Now it's applied to Islamic terrorists, and PP never claimed Horton was one of those. But why should "fundamentalist" be a term of opprobrium at all. Pope Benedict is a "fundamentalist" in some sense: he believes in God, forsooth! Which makes him a 'fundy' among modernist protestants these days. Nothing uncharitable in this that I can see.
Why 'evangelicals' view 'fundamentalism' as pejorative has always mystified me. Ask Martin Marty if he's a fundamentalist, and he'll say, no, the folks at Calvin College are the fundies. Ask a Calvin grad if he's a fundy, and he'll reply, no, the folks at Wheaton are the fundies. Ask a Wheaton grad if he's one, and he'll reply, no, the folks at Moody are the fundies. Ask a Moody grad if he's a fundy, and he'll reply, no, the folks at CBN University are the fundies. Ask a CBN grad, and he'll reply, no, it's the folks at Oral Roberts, but they'll reply, no it's the folks at Liberty University that are the fundies. Half the folks at Liberty will reply, no it's the folks at Bob Jones, and they'll reply: "Yeah, we're fundamentalists." Gimme a break. You'd think someone called them a "papist"!
Interesting. Too bad Sungenis seems to be gearing up to condemn Benedict XVI as a heretic, just as he did to JPII.
http://eucharistandmission.blogspot.com/2011/02/report-is-expose-of-apostasy-at-highest.html
Evangelical, Fundamentalist, whatever. Growing up in a mainline Methodist home, my older brother was influenced by the writings of C.S. Lewis, and he subsequently influenced me. Happily oblivious to the concerns for nuance among the culturally savvy, he told me that some people essentially explained away the Bible while others really believed it. The latter were "Fundamentalists."
"That's what we are." First as a Methodist and now as a Catholic, I'll take the badge, defined that way, any day!
[Horton, btw, is a gentleman].
JM,
Greatly appreciate your remarks, and esp. the commend of your elder brother! Also, I have no doubt that Horton is a true gentleman. After all, he's a genuine fundamentalist, just as the Holy Father is; the operative difference being that he's a Protestant one. Cheers, PB.
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