My class with the catechists the other evening turned out to be more interesting than I had anticipated. In fact, it turned out to be a lot more heated than I could have imagined.
I was talking about the history of theology and, when I came to mention the Protestant Reform, I spoke about Luther. Now, one of the things about Luther is that a great many of his famous 95 theses are not in any way objectionable to Roman Catholic theologians, or, for that matter, to the teaching office of the church, even in its most famous incarnation as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (as the newspapers like to remind us - formerly known as the Inquisition). The truth of the matter is that Luther's theses were a call to church reform, a call to rein in some of the abuses that had crept in to Catholic practice, and a call for more openness, especially in relation to the Bible.
However, Luther's challenge to papal authority at a time when that authority was considered to be absolute, was judged to be unforgiveable. This, together with his allegiance with a number of German princes who wanted to shake off the shackles of the Holy Roman Emperor, meant that, after the first skirmishes, there was no going back for Luther.
The proof of this can be seen in recent talks between the Lutheran Church and the Roman Catholic Church, at the highest levels, to more towards uniting the two groups. While this union is unlikely to happen in the next year or two, it is very likely that it will happen probably sooner than many had expected.
In Panama (and, indeed, throughout Central and South America), however, Luther is considerably less palatable. The experience here of so many evangelical sects (in the village of Sabanitas, with a population of about 2,000, I counted 54 different Protestant churches, meeting rooms, temples, and various places of worship), many of whom are very aggressively anti-Catholic, means that ecumenism is not looked on favourably by many Catholics. Their view is that Luther started a process that has led, in our own time, to a whole array of people who are anti them, what they hold dear, and what they stand for as catechists and community leaders. Evangelical apologists will often trot out well-rehearsed arguments quoting Luther, Calvin, and other reformers, to attack such things as the veneration of Mary, the viriginity of Mary, the authority of the Pope, and many other things - the catechists, in their communities often feel assailed by these people and unable to cope with them. They also see their families being broken up along religious lines and the relationships breaking down in whole communities.
This, understandably, has created an attitude towards these historical figures that is far from welcoming. I found it interesting to see how exercised some of the people got when they heard me saying that some of Luther's ideas were good, and very reasonable, considering the context in which he was living. There is one lady in particular who, I think, will have difficulty forgiving me. Hopefully, we will be back to business as usual on Wednesday next (Tuesday is a public holiday) when we will be leaving the reformers behind and going on to talk of other matters.
It is, however, very interesting that people have more of an investment in theological ideas than they might at first think.
No comments:
Post a Comment