一個福音派基督徒對教宗訪問的看法
http://thepope.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/why-the-pope-speaks-for-evangelicals-too/#more-59
I admire Pope Benedict, just as I admired his recent predecessors. As an
evangelical Protestant, I don’t believe in “papal authority.” But I do see
him as having an important pastoral role in the broader Christian community.
In many ways and on many subjects, he speaks for me. So I pray for the
success of this important visit to the United States.
I know that I am not alone as an evangelical admirer of the pope. We
evangelicals have a long history of anti-Catholicism. Many of us remember
days when we were told that the Catholic pope was “the anti-Christ.” But
our attitudes have been gradually changing since Vatican II — although we
still aren’t always clear about how to express those changed attitudes in
theological terms.
Some of us are working on that. At Fuller Seminary we established a
Catholic-evangelical dialogue in 1987, in cooperation with the Catholic
Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and that still continues. We worship together and
discuss our theological disagreements in friendly tones. And similar
discussions between Protestants and Catholics are taking place in many other
contexts. This visit can be an important shot in the arm for all of us.
We evangelicals have not always showed a strong interest in ecumenical or
interreligious dialogue. Indeed, we haven’t always showed much of an
interest in any sort of dialogue. Our pattern has often been one of simply
preaching at people whose views are different than our own. That’s why the
friendlier relations between Catholics and evangelicals in recent decades
have been an interesting phenomenon, especially since the impetus for that
friendliness has more often than not emerged at the grass roots level rather
than in officially sponsored exchanges.
This is what the theologian Timothy George has labeled “the ecumenism of the
trenches” — a coming together of very “ordinary” Catholics and
Protestants who have discovered common moral concerns and shared spiritual
goals. I pray that Pope Benedict will encourage that exciting kind of
dialogue and cooperation.
The pope’s call for a “moral revival” that will create a better world for
our youth is especially hopeful. We need words of reconciliation and hope
right now, not only for the estimated 70 million Catholics in the U.S., but
also for Presbyterians, Baptists, Episcopalians, Nazarenes, Pentecostals, and
other faith communities. Many of our fellow citizens — and even many of our
fellow church members — have lost faith and hope. They need to hear words of
spiritual encouragement from Pope Benedict. I need that kind of encouragement
myself.
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