Monday, October 31, 2005

Highlights from the 2005 Aquinas-Luther Conference

A couple of remarks might have made Luther turn over in his grave, and little of the conference made any reference to Aquinas, but all-in-all, it was a lively ecumenical discussion of the topic of the year: "The Holy Scripture, Hermeneutic, Magisterium."

Here are some brief and very partial highlights. Dr. Mark Powell led off with a well-crafted exegetical study of several Matthean texts relevant to the discussion, such as Mt. 16:18 ("Thou art Peter and on this rock I will build my Church") and Mt. 16:19 (about the power of the "keys of the kingdom" and the power of "binding and loosing"). Powell conceded that the nearly unanimous consensus of conservative biblical scholarship today is that the Greek term petra (rock) can refer only to Peter, and it takes jiggery pokery to make the text say anything about the "rock" refering to Peter's "faith" or his "confession." Powell even allowed that Peter was granted a unique charism of primacy among the apostles, but stopped short of the Roman Catholic position however, insisting that this was granted to the person of Peter alone, and that the text supports no extension of any succession of this charism to successors.

Dr. Jane Haemig defended a traditionally Lutheran ("Word alone") confessionalist position, lamenting the crisis of uncatechised youth in the ELCA Lutheran churches today and insisting that the prescription was for someone -- anyone, whether bishops, pastors, or laity -- to take up the slack and begin re-catechizing the youth. She side-stepped the hermeneutical issues as to whether an implicit magisterium isn't involved in the act of writing a confession or catechism, or interpreting it, however, insisting that catechisms and confessions are subject to the Word of God alone. When asked how she would respond to a Calvinist who insisted also that his confession, though different from the Lutheran, was subject to the Word alone, she replied (to much laughter) that she would simply declare: "We're right and they're wrong."

Dr. Frank C. Senn gave a talk focused on the problem of lack of a magisterial authority among ELCA Lutherans. Most memorable were his closing remarks in which he said that he was asked at a synodical meeting (by a bishop?) how he would respond when ELCA bishops contradict one another, and he said that he replied: "Appeal to Rome"! In fact, in the panel discussion that followed, it became quite clear that Senn's sentiments leaned strongly in this direction.

Father Jay Scott Newman spoke to the issue citing primarily the documents of the Second Vatican Council. Short of Senn's proposal of appealing to Rome or "swiming the Tiber," he suggested two alternative means of dealing with controversial issues that have arisen within the ELCA churches: (1) John Henry Cardinal Newman's seven "notes" or criteria for judging whether a development was in organic continuity with the apostolic tradition of the past or a heretical deformation, and (2) examining the ancient liturgical traditions of the Church to see if there are any that contenance such things as blessings of homosexual unions, ordination of women priests, and other such novelties.

Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon offered a Greek Orthodox perspective in conclusion, and, neglecting his frequent habit of focusing on East-West differences and needling Rome, he focused primarily on what the ancient unified Church had in common by way of resources to offer their self-confessedly foundering brethren.

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