What’s the Difference? A Comparison of the Faiths Men Live By by Louis Cassels

During the past few years, peace seems to have broken out in the cold war among Christians. In spite of a dramatic improvement in relations, however, there is still a widespread tendency for Protestants to think of Roman Catholicism as an entirely different religion. And many Catholics speak of Protestantism as though it were as alien to their own faith as Shintoisrn.

There are differences between Catholics and Protestants — real, stubborn, important differences that do not result from mere misunderstandings or semantic confusion. But ecumenical theologians who are wrestling with those differences have been impressed with another fact which deserves prior emphasis. They have discovered, in the words of Father Hans Kung, that "what unites Catholics and Protestants as Christians is incomparably more vast than what separates them."

The great bond between Catholics and Protestants, which no amount of disagreement can sever, is that both acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. They also share the basic theological affirmations of Christianity that are spelled out in the New Testament and the ancient creeds. These affirmations were outlined in the preceding chapter. They include belief in the Incarnation, the Atonement, and the Resurrection.1

Catholics and Protestants have other doctrines that are derived from, or related to, their common faith in Jesus Christ. For example, both acknowledge the continuing presence of the Holy Spirit in the Christian community. Both look upon the Bible as a divinely inspired book through whose pages the authentic Word of God can be heard afresh by every generation. Both believe in the forgiveness of sins, the efficacy of baptism, the power of prayer, and the promise of everlasting life to those who place their trust in Christ. The list might be extended indefinitely, but the longer it got, the greater would become the necessity of using vague, general language. When we begin to get specific, we find that Catholics and Protestants often mean different things even when they use the same words.

Take, for instance, the word grace, which is sometimes called the most important single word in the Christian vocabulary. Catholics think of grace as a supernatural power which God dispenses, primarily through the Church and its sacraments, to purify the souls of naturally sinful human beings, and render them capable of holiness. Father John Walsh, S.J., has succinctly expressed the crucial importance that Catholics attach to grace thus understood. "If a man dies with it in his soul, he is infallibly saved," says Father Walsh. "If he lacks it, he is infallibly lost."

When Protestants speak of grace, they usually have an entirely different concept in mind. In the words of the noted Lutheran theologian Dr. Jaroslav Pelikan, grace is "not something in man which wins God’s good will, but something in God which makes man pleasing to Him." To put it differently, Protestants think of grace as an attribute of God rather than a gift from God. It is a shorthand term signifying God’s determination to love, forgive, and save His human children, however little they deserve it.

Another key word in the Christian lexicon which has sharply different meanings for Catholics and Protestants is faith. In Catholic usage, faith means giving full and unreserved assent to doctrines that have been defined by the Church as divinely revealed truth. It is almost, if not quite, a synonym for belief. But to Protestants, faith is, in Martin Luther’s phrase, a "reckless confidence" in the goodness of God. It is more a matter of placing your trust in God than of believing certain propositions about God.

Much more than semantics is involved here. It would be no exaggeration to say that the whole Protestant Reformation grew out of the differing definitions of grace and faith outlined above.

Luther and other Protestant reformers believed that medieval Catholicism had degraded grace by treating it as a sort of magical commodity on which the Church enjoyed a monopoly of distribution. Through control over the "channels of grace" — that is, the rites and sacraments of the Church — a corrupt and often immoral hierarchy could blackmail the rest of the human race, from kings to peasants, by saying, in effect: "If you don’t do as I say, I’ll cut off your supply of grace and you’ll be eternally damned."

Louis Cassels was for many years the religion editor of United Press International. His column "Religion in America" appeared in over four hundred newspapers during the mid-nineteenth century.

The book was published in 1965

Posted in the interest of and hope for a courteous and reasonable discussion based on the actual content of the article. I have no idea of the writer's own beliefs but the article seems even handed.

I am not Roman Catholic. I am married to one. I am Eastern Orthodox. I will not enter discussions of those divisions. I am a convert from a fundamentalist, sola tradition. My family are all still of that tradition. I have great respect for that belief. I have great respect for humility and civility, also. Here's hoping.

“Posted in the interest of and hope for a courteous and reasonable discussion based on the actual content of the article”

Ah yes we live in hope and God bless you for it. I, for one, was brought up a Catholic and hold dear to many of the things I learnt there. I attended a Protestant Church for about 10 years and have read many Protestant preachers and theologians and hold dear to some things I have learnt there.

God is neither Catholic or Protestant yet I can understand people wanting to be on His side and wanting Him on their’s and it is good to have a solid foundation for your faith. What I do have problems with is people arguing over some things that don’t amount to a hill of beans in the scheme of things and the finger pointing that goes on. Thank God I know I’m not smart enough to get overly involved in those things. I just hold on strongly to the fact that God said He loves me and sent his only Son to die for me.

Blessings

Mel

In spite of a dramatic improvement in relations, however, there is still a widespread tendency for Protestants to think of Roman Catholicism as an entirely different religion. And many Catholics speak of Protestantism as though it were as alien to their own faith as Shintoisrn.

I think there is less of that now than before as people begin to realize they are on the same sides of many moral battles. Conservative evangelicals and conservative catholics wind up side by side on so many issues while liberal protestants and liberal catholics also wind up on the other, wrong, side together. So at some point the important split seems to be not whether you are catholic or evangelical so much as whether or not you are a believing Christian or a poser.

I came to the conclusion a while ago that a believing, committed catholic and a committed believing evangelical are brothers, know it or not, like it or not. Unity isn't going to come some happy day when we all agree with one another on every point of doctrine (I think we'll still be enjoying some really wonderful arguments when we get to heaven... over pie and coffee I'm pretty sure) but as we allow God to move in our lives and direct the orchestra.

I have to think there are many who can identify with your sentiments. I found the article at least attempts to show the differences in factual and dispassionate language.

Thank you for your comment. As the scripture says, love covers a multitude of sins.

I came to the conclusion a while ago that a believing, committed catholic and a committed believing evangelical are brothers, know it or not, like it or not.

That very apt comment took my mind back to the 1988 Operation Rescue "Seige of Atlanta" and the night busloads of charismatic Cajuns came into one of the nightly rallies, singing, shouting and praising the Lord.

Next day, they went to jail alongside non-charismatics, Catholics, and maybe even a Jew or two.

Catholics were pro-life before pro-life was even on Protestants' (me at the time) radar. Theological wrangling has a place. Credit where due does as well.

Good piece, well informed. There are certainly doctrinal differences, but they pale compared to the main points.

I have run across anti-Catholic bigotry in Protestants and have seen the opposite. One of the big issues seems to be “works” vs “faith,” usually by people who want to tell the other side what that side believes. And usually incorrectly.

At its root, it’s usually a sign of someone who is weak in their faith trying to bolster it by attacking others (as is most bigotry). That’s why I usually just shake my head and leave when I run into that type of bickering.

Catholics were pro-life before pro-life was even on Protestants' (me at the time) radar. Theological wrangling has a place. Credit where due does as well.

For believers of all Christian faiths this has always been on their "radar". As a previous poster mentioned, their are liberal Catholics and liberal Protestants and they believe that murdering babies is just fine. All and I do mean all will answer before Almighty God for that stance.

Nancy Pelosi calls herself Catholic, Fred Phelps calls himself Baptist - neither one is correct.

“Posted in the interest of and hope for a courteous and reasonable discussion based on the actual content of the article.”

I’d say this article is as good a concise summary as many. The only caveat is that many Protestants, usually outside the main Reformation traditions (i.e. anabaptists) define faith and grace somewhat differently than those of the main Reformation traditions.

Grace for these Protestants is like a supernatural power dispensed not by the Church per se but by the reading of Scripture.

Faith for these churches is also an assent to propositions and usually expressed as the “sinners prayer”. If one is convicted by his/her sins then one usually will re-assent to the proposition to overcome those sins.

Take, for instance, the word grace

Take, for instance, the word church.

I think it's worth pointing out that the excerpt that appears here is only a small part of a much larger work. It's also from 1965 and spends a lot of time talking about the Second Vatican Council.

For that reason alone it's worth reading. Conservative-Catholicism has spent a lot of effort refuting something called "The Spirit of Vatican II" as a false interpretation of the intent of the Council Fathers. The article reveals that spirit was alive and well and considered definitive already in 1965.

A word of warning to conservatives, the second paragraph of the original article cites Hans Kung. Strap yourself in and resist the urge to punch your monitor.

We would be well to remember that far more unites Christians than divides us.

Satan's minions have a divide and conquer plan that has worked quite well.

All Christians are under assault by “Powers and principalities” as they act through secular culture.

To paraphrase a quote of a patriot..We must hang together or we will surely hang separately.

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