Allison provides another positively excellent contribution
to the multi-faceted Christian world. I imagine that all three major branches
of Christianity will greatly benefit from his careful and gracious work in Roman Catholic Theology and Practice: An Evangelical Assessment. How can I review in only a few paragraphs this much
needed book weighing in at 496 pages?
Book thesis:
[This book] seeks to accomplish two things: first, to
note with fascination and appreciation the commonalities between Catholic and
evangelical theology… and second, to examine the differences between the two,
demonstrating how Catholic theology and practice at these points of divergence
do not conform properly to Scripture.
Allison elaborates further upon his methodology:
[he] will propose for
the purpose of understanding and assessment an approach that considers Catholic
theology as a coherent, all-encompassing system with two major features: the
nature-grace interdependence, that is, a strong continuity between nature and
grace; and the Christ-Church interconnection, that is, an ecclesiology (a
doctrine of the church) that views the Catholic Church as the ongoing
incarnation of Jesus Christ. These axioms will also be assessed.
Indeed this holistic view of the Catholic faith is
desperately needed for those who wish to think honestly and truthfully about
their estranged heritage. Allison posits a two-fold axiom upon which the rest
of the Catholic faith depends. Quoting one thinker he states that this [or
these] is “perhaps the only theological topic in which Catholic and Protestant
thought have gone their own ways, passing like ships in the night, with no
sense of common problems and standards of judgment.” We must consider the
Catholic faith as a unity, not as series of unconnected statements that can be
argue tit-for-tat as if we are already operating on the same basis. Indeed,
much of Catholic theology makes sense within
its system, and to argue from a Protestant theological system against minor
points does no good when the Catholic system necessitates those very points. The army of Sparta is strong
because they hold together, and even if one is removed, he is replaced by another—the whole system holds itself
together. Allison offers a valued critique to the two-fold axiom of Catholic
systematic theology as the start to the book; only then can he rightly wade
into the maelstrom to point out flaws in the particulars.
Allison opens each section/chapter with the Roman Catholic
view, highly substantiated with footnotes from the catechism itself, and then
follows it with an evangelical assessment of the views in question—first through
notes of “intrigue” (areas of agreement) and then through notes of “critique.”
Each critique section includes reference to one or both of the axioms which
Allison has dealt with separately in a presuppositional critique, as well as
following detailed logical and biblical criticisms. I must say that Catholic
theology and practice has never before made as much sense to me as it does now.
There is hardly room for improvement throughout, which is
quite a statement considering its length, breadth, and nature! And yet I
believe it holds true. I think there is a slight misunderstanding of thought in
two places, but which does not bear much upon anything else. For example
Allison critiques the re-presentation of the sacrifice of Christ in the mass
(which he is at pains to explain the Catholics do not view as re-sacrifice),
and argues against their understanding of the eternal nature of the sacrifice—because
the sacrifice was unbound by time it can be presented again in a different
time. In the course of his argument he cites the institution of the Lord’s
Supper as evidence: it could not be the re-presentation then when Christ had not yet been presented at all—meanwhile forgetting
that timelessness works in both directions (or perhaps better, no directions
because it is without time). However this slight flaw in argument is by no
means the lynch pin of an adequate critique, and Allison’s case by and large
remains sound.
His thesis is supported in every chapter. His tone is
cordial and serious—noting that the issues at stake are quite serious and not
at all inconsequential. After spending so much time invested in this book, it
feels abrupt to end the review without further comment, though I believe it
necessary. So I will leave you with a few concluding personal reflections:
The areas of divergence are really quite significant; not
something small to be glossed over.
But there is also much insight to be found in the Catholic
faith which can be affirmed (even as it is/not found in prominent evangelical
theology).
I want a similar assessment of the Orthodox faith and the
Pentecostal faith.
Where do we go from here in work with Catholics? Do we
primarily work for them or alongside them?
I received an electronic copy of Roman Catholic Theology and Practice: An Evangelical Assessment
from the publisher as part of Crossway’s Beyond
the Page program. My thoughts are my own.
