Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

To: sitetest
Here is the reality, there is ONLY ONE ISSUE on which Orthodox and Protestants agree on that Catholics disagree on and that is the issue of papal primacy (and even on this the Orthodox and Protestands are not in full agreement).

If a Protestant thinks that Protestants and Orthodox are in substantial agreement in other major areas they need to address these:

1. The Real Presence in the Eucharist.
2. The Theotokos and the Dormition.
3. Rejection of sola scriptura.
4. Iconography.
5. The Deuterocanonical Books.

89 posted on 07/23/2010 6:16:13 AM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 87 | View Replies ]


To: wagglebee
Dear wagglebee,

As I pointed out, a caucus doesn't necessarily have to focus on common agreement between two groups. It COULD focus on the differences between two groups.

After all, the points of agreement between Protestantism, generally speaking, and Orthodoxy amount to little more than a bit of shared Trinitarianism (even the Orthodox understanding of the papacy is far closer to the Catholic understanding than the general Protestant rejection of it). It'd be a short conversation. And the rationale for excluding other Trinitarians (e.g. - Catholics) would be little more than spite.

Thus, perhaps, a caucus thread could be established between Pentecostals who believe in UFOs and Pentecostals who don't. Or between Anglicans who accept the ordination of women and those who don't. Or between some Protestant group that generally believes that women should and can be ministers, and another Protestant group that doesn't.

And these two groups could have at it with each other, without interference from others.

I mean, heck, we Catholics don't believe that any Protestants have any sort of valid Holy Orders, so we should be indifferent to the question of whether women can be Protestant ministers. We don't have a dog in that fight.

Even with regard to the question of the Real Presence, since no Protestants whatsoever have the True Sacrament, as long as the caucus participants were careful not to directly disparage Catholicism, what would we care if the OPCers went after the Lutherans on the question?

The difficulty with a “Protestant/Orthodox (exclusive of Catholic) caucus” is that there is an identity between most of our theology and most of Orthodox theology. It isn't even that we agree with the Orthodox on most things, it's that we share nearly all the same theology. Both of our spiritual ancestors sat together at the Councils to affirm Christ's two natures, the Trinity, the Theotokos, the rejection of iconoclasm, etc.

It's not that there is an Orthodox theology of the two natures of Christ and a Catholic theology of them, and ours is like theirs. It's that there is a theology of the two natures of Christ of the Undivided Church, to which both Orthodox and Catholic are the legitimate heirs.

Thus, to attack the “Orthodox” teaching of this theology is to attack the Faith of the Undivided Church, in which the Catholic Church shares as well.

And to try to hold a caucus that would be meant to discuss differences between Protestants and Orthodox while excluding Catholics from the discussion would be a little difficult, since little of what the Orthodox believe is not what Catholics believe, too.


sitetest

95 posted on 07/23/2010 6:40:00 AM PDT by sitetest ( If Roe is not overturned, no unborn child will ever be protected in law.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 89 | View Replies ]

To: wagglebee
For Lutherans.
1. The Real Presence is part of our theology. In fact, our view on the Real Presence is closer to the Orthodox than it is the Catholics.
2. Theotokos (Mother of God), yes, the Dormition or the like, not since the 1800’s.
3. No, Sola Scriptora is part of the deal.
4. Icons, not the same way as the Orthodox, but then most of the Catholic church doesn't view Icons that way.
5. In Europe, most Lutheran Bibles have those books. Many Orthodox have a different canon than the Western churches.
333 posted on 07/24/2010 7:42:10 AM PDT by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 89 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson