Protestants and Catholics may use much the same vocabulary to express their respective beliefs and practices, but behind this common language lie different ways of thinking. Becoming aware of and paying attention to these differences is essential for fruitful ecumenical dialogue.
Bridgefolk board member Darrin Snyder Belousek calls our attention to a recent article in Books & Culture that explores those background assumptions in an especially succinct and helpful way. The full article is not available online, except to the magazine’s subscribers, but Darrin shares his summary below:
In his essay “As Different As We Think: Catholics and Protestants” (Books & Culture, March/April 2010), Andrew T. Le Peau writes: “So often the division between Catholics and Protestants is cast in doctrinal or ecclesiastical terms. And those are significant and real. But more than that, here were two different ways of thinking, two different mental maps, two different ways of understanding the world and living in it.”
Regarding faith, he observes, the primary reality and referent for Protestants is a doctrinal statement, a set of propositions. For Catholics, by contrast, the primary reality and referent of faith is the church itself, a community of people. This difference matters: whereas the Protestant tendency has been to “keep the faith” by dividing the church in defense of doctrines, Catholics have demonstrated a commitment to “keep the faith” by living with contradictions to maintain the unity of the church.
Regarding the spiritual life, the paradigm for Protestants is the Road to Damascus, “a dramatic, decisive crisis encounter with Christ…Spiritual growth happens in crisis events where we are suddenly thrust to a higher or deeper level of intimacy and commitment to Christ.” By contrast, “The Road to Emmaus is a paradigm of Catholic spirituality…Spiritual growth is a journey that we go on. And Christ travels with us on this journey that we go on even though we may not know he is there.” This difference also matters: whereas Protestants expect “conversion” to be manifest by a sudden event of radical change in the life of the individual believer, Catholics seek “conversion” through a long road of gradual change of life within the faith community.
The article “As Different as We Think We” is available in whole (for subscribers) or in part by clicking here.