Here We Stand.

by Frank G. Ramirez

In my own historical-theological studies over the past 11 years as a catholic, I have discerned four kinds of catholicism in the West. There is papal catholicism, which is the most widely known (a.k.a., Roman Catholicism). There is a “catholicism without a pope,” which is manifested by certain Anglo-Catholics (or Anglo-papists, as my bishop once described them to me) and the Anglo-Lutheran Church. There is also anti-catholicism or ”no catholicism.” Granted this last one isn’t actually a form of catholicism, but I include it because its anti-catholicism is so strong and passionate that it actually is a part of its identity. The fourth kind of Western catholicism is that of reformed catholicism, which is manifested in the Catholic Reformation of the 16th century and its descendents.  

These different kinds of catholicism in the West are illustrative of the battle over what catholic Christianity was, is, and/or ought to be. It is not my intention here to enter into this long-standing battle. I do, however, want to share a quote that I’ve come across in preparation for a paper I’m writing on the relationship between the sacrifice of Jesus and the Sacraments of baptism and holy communion. It is a great argument for the continuance of this battle over catholic identity. It is as follows:

“In the course of the second century the church drew firm and indeed narrow lines as the boundaries of church fellowship. Could they have not been more charitable, more liberal, more tolerant? Nowadays the advice would certainly be given that the unity of the church is established and the foundation for the practice of church fellowship provided by the common recognition of ‘Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.’ Nothing more would be asked. Thus advised, the early church would have been able to regard as unexceptionable Marcion’s denial of the authority of the Old Testament, Valentinus’ unevangelical aeon Christology, and the Montanists’ claim to represent the Paraclete. It would then have not been necessary to insist that the God and Father of Jesus Christ, and not another god, is the Creator of the world, as the Apostles’ Creed declares. Nothing would then have stood in the way of intercommunion with Marcion, Valentinus, and Montanus. Thus confessional isolation would have been avoided. The church would not have insisted upon binding all members to baptismal creeds which were narrowed by the addition of more and more formulas, and so it would have avoided developing into a confessional church, that is, a church with a clear and loyally held confession. (Werner Elert, Eucharist and Church Fellowship in the First Four Centuries, p. 52)

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