Evangelicals and the Catholic Mind: From Repulsion to Attraction
Abstract
Given the deep currents of Anti-Catholicism in American-Protestant history, it is an odd phenomenon that more and more educated evangelicals are finding an intellectual, if not an ecclesial, home in the Catholic intellectual tradition. Why are these changes afoot? To what in particular are evangelicals attracted and why? Drawing from聽The Future of Christian Learning: an Evangelical-Catholic Dialogue聽(Brazos Press, 2008), a book he has recently edited,聽Professor Howard discusses some of the historical and theological factors behind these changes.
Speaker Bio
Thomas Albert (Tal) Howard聽is an associate professor of history at Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Virginia in 1996, concentrating in early modern and modern European intellectual and religious history. His recent work includes聽Religion and the Rise of Historicism聽(Cambridge, 2000) and聽Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University聽(Oxford, 2006), winner of the Lilly Fellows Program Annual Book Award for 2007. He is also the editor of聽The Future of Christian Learning: An Evangelical and Catholic Dialogue聽(Brazos, 2008) written by Mark Noll and James Turner.聽 Currently, he is working on two research projects:聽God and the Atlantic: America, Europe, and the Religious Divide聽(under contract with Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2010 or 2011) and聽Knowing the Past, Doing the Good: Virtue Ethics and Historical Understanding.
Event Photos
Tal Howard at the Boisi Center
Photos by Kerry Burke, Boston College MTS Photography
Event Recap
In a recent visit to the Boisi Center, Thomas Albert (Tal) Howard, associate professor of history at Gordon College, spoke with authority and conviction on increasing cooperation between Catholics and evangelicals, and its implication for the future of Christian education.
Historic examples of hostility between the two groups can be traced to early American history, but today there is a thawing in these relations. This rapprochement Howard attributed to several factors: Vatican II and Pope John XXIII鈥檚 work were watershed moments. Furthermore, the general social issues and trends of the 1960s led to an 鈥渆cumenism of the trenches.鈥� The election of Catholic President John F. Kennedy and the open-armed papacy of John Paul II also augmented Protestants鈥� esteem of Catholics. The 鈥淓vangelical and Catholics Together鈥� initiative of the early 1990s and philanthropic endowments by the Lilly and Pew foundations are also responsible for 鈥渃ross-pollination鈥� between the two communities.
Howard noted that evangelicals are increasingly open to learning from aspects of the Catholic tradition that can enrich their own faith. Catholicism鈥檚 long intellectual and spiritual heritage, for example, provides evangelicals resources for theological reflection on important contemporary issues, just as Catholics can learn from evangelical traditions.
He pointed out that divisions within traditions are becoming more pronounced than those between them. Politics are also uniting different groups to form coalitions on important social issues. Howard ended on a note of hope, indicating that his book, The Future of Christian Learning, seems to form part of an increasing dialogue between Catholic and evangelicals which is bringing both communities closer in understanding and cooperation.
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Further Reading
"Catholics and Evangelicals: Understanding Each Other" by聽Jeffrey Gros
"Changing American Evangelical Attitudes towards Roman Catholics: 1960-2000" by聽Don Sweeting
"The Alignment of New Evangelicals with Catholicism" by Richard Bennett