10-Year Study by Baptists, Catholics Finds Many Basic Beliefs Shared

Southern Baptists and Roman Catholics, the nation’s two largest denominations, generally have been regarded as doctrinally far apart, but their scholars find that they basically agree.

Despite varied terminology and some real differences, “we do share a basic understanding of what it means to be followers of Jesus Christ by the grace of God,” says their joint report.

After 10 years of periodic discussions, the Baptist-Catholic dialogue group, quoting Ephesians 4:5, concludes, “We not only confessed but experienced ‘One Lord, one faith and one baptism.’ ”

The 163-page report is seen as the most full-scale, mutual examination of respective positions of the two traditions. Both sides have admitted being unfair toward one another, with predominantly Roman Catholic countries discriminating against Southern Baptist missionaries and the missionaries laboring among Catholics without respecting their faith.

Competition a Barrier

Such “competition and conflict” in missionary work “can become a stumbling block to those who have not heard the gospel,” the dialogue team said.

The report was published recently in a special issue of “Theological Educator,” a journal of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and in a book called “To Understand Each Other.”

The Rev. Fisher Humphreys, a Southern Baptist theologian and participant in the dialogue, said it was a rare process for his denomination, which generally has shunned ecumenical efforts for Christian unity.

The talks, sponsored by the Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and the Southern Baptist Department of Interfaith Witness, involved 18 meetings between 1978 and 1988. There were 39 participants.

A new set of meetings is to begin next March.

Dealing with such topics as Scripture, salvation, spirituality, church and ministry, grace, missions and eschatology (end of time), the team agreed that “the ultimate authority and object of faith is the triune God”--Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Participants concurred that the “primary source of our knowledge of God” is the Bible, which is “the inspired Word of God, authoritative for faith and practice.”

But the report notes that Baptists, while valuing past tradition in understanding the Bible, say tradition must be tested by Scripture, while Catholics say interpretation of Scripture must be measured by tradition.

Salvation Prime Mission

“The Bible has always been the center of Southern Baptist life,” the report notes, adding that since the reforming Second Vatican Council of 1962-65, Catholicism “has also become strongly biblical.”

On the central Christian task, the report says: “We all agree that the proclamation of the offer of salvation to all peoples is the prime mission of the church.”

However, the report says Baptists “stress the experience of salvation when, in faith, a person accepts Jesus as . . . personal Savior,” while Catholics stress the redemptive “work of Christ” through faith and church sacraments.

“We both set the highest priority on seeking a conscious relationship with God in this life and on striving for the ultimate goal of living in glory with God in heaven,” the report says.

Love of Neighbor

“We affirm that our love for God is best achieved in a close relationship with Jesus, coupled with a Christ-like love of neighbor.”

Noting that Catholic devotion to Mary and the saints “has been a source of division and misunderstanding,” the report says:

“While Roman Catholics affirm with Baptists the sole mediatorship of Christ,” they also honor the Virgin Mary as “inseparably linked” with her son’s “saving work” and invoke her support in prayers.

Baptists “honor Mary as the mother of Jesus Christ” but consider the “communion of saints as primarily a present reality among Christians,” and don’t pray to Mary or “deceased Christians lest such infringe the sole mediatorship of Jesus Christ.”

View of Mary Changing

However, “great progress has been made in mutual understanding” on this matter, the report says, with Catholic devotion to Mary undergoing “significant change” since the Second Vatican Council, seeing her more in biblical terms.

“Both Southern Baptists and Roman Catholics agree that salvation is God’s free gift of grace, unmerited by any human works or righteousness,” the report says.

It also says both Baptists and Catholics regard the church as “the body of Christ,” but Baptists stress the individual congregation, while Catholics see the church in broader dimensions as the entire “People of God.”

Catholic and Baptist worship differs “in tone and style,” Catholic worship centering on liturgical prayers and Holy Communion, while Baptist worship centers on preaching, singing and prayer, the report says, adding:

“Both groups have a strong sense both of human sinfulness and of God’s love even amid our sins and failings; both stress strong family life and sexual morality; both stress active engagement in church life.”

‘We all agree that the proclamation of the offer of salvation to all peoples is the prime mission of the church.’