Who (or What) is a Catholic (or a catholic)? - Part 8

In my other post, I asked whether there are Evangelical Catholics, and affirmed, yes there are.  I proceeded to explore Protestants who call themselves Evangelical Catholics.  In this post, I want to explore Catholics who call themselves Evangelical (or evangelical) Catholics.

In general, in Catholicism, the term "evangelical Catholicism" refers to Catholics who identify with the four historical characteristics of evangelicalism, similar to some of the evangelical characteristics I mentioned in a previous post.

Four of these characteristics are:

1. A strong theological and devotional emphasis on Scripture (as understood through tradition).
2. A stress on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the both the cause and opportunity for salvation for all mankind.
3. A personal need for interior conversion.
4. A deep commitment to evangelization.

They tend to identify evangelicals within Catholic tradition such as Saint Dominic (founder of the Dominican order).  They also tend to emphasize the root meaning of the word, evangelical, which I described in an another previous post.

They also tend to emphasize some recent evangelical witness of some Popes, especially John Paul II in his Encyclical, The Mission of the Redeemer (Redemptoris Missio).

There is much more about all this at the website for the evangelical Catholic.  http://www.evangelicalcatholic.org/

George Weigel, a Catholic theologian, author of a best-selling biography on Pope John Paul II, The End and the Beginning: Pope John Paul II–The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy, wrote a book this year (2013), Evangelical Catholicism: Deep Reform in the 21st Century (a book I have not read, so I am not endorsing in any way at this point).

The point is, that Catholics are more and more referring to themselves as Evangelicals (or evangelicals), without giving up their Catholic distinctiveness.  I view this as a positive development, and encourage my Catholic friends and brothers to embrace this development and stretch themselves to see how they can embrace an evangelicalism which seems to be deeply embraced in Catholic tradition in whatever way they feel God is leading them to do so in a manner that develops their personal growing faith in Jesus Christ.

Back to Part 7
Back to Intro
Over to Who (or What) is an Evangelical Part 1

Who (or What) is an Evangelical? - Part 10

Are there Evangelical Catholics?  Though many would deny such a meshing of terms, the short answer is yes, there are Evangelical Catholics.  What may surprise many is that Protestants choose to describe themselves as such.

Most prominent are some Lutherans who expressly describe themselves as Evangelical Catholics.  This has both historical roots, as well as more recent developments.

Historically, the Gnesio (from a Greek word meaning authentic) Lutherans defended Luther's early views, and emphasized the Catholic roots of Lutheranism.  They tended to emphasize the following statements from the Augsburg Confession (a central early document in the Lutheran tradition).

Presentation of the Augsburg Confession

This is about the Sum of our Doctrine, in which, as can be seen, there is nothing that varies from the Scriptures, or from the Church Catholic, or from the Church of Rome as known from its writers, . . .
And:
Inasmuch, then, as our churches dissent in not article of the faith from the Church Catholic, . . .

As well as:
Only those things have been recounted whereof we thought that it was necessary to speak, in order that it might be understood that in doctrine and ceremonies nothing has been received on our part against Scripture or the Church Catholic.

The Genesio-Lutherans took great pains to show that Lutheranism was a continuation of the Catholic Church.  They emphasized Evangelical as a continuation of the gospel tradition.

More recently, many Lutherans prefer the term Evangelical Catholic in preference to the term, High Church Lutheranism, especially since, as I mentioned in a previous post, Lutherans early on tended to describe themselves as Evangelicals.

However, not only Lutherans, but other Protestants describe themselves as Evangelical Catholics.  In recent years, this includes Methodists, Reformed (Presbyterians), as well as Episcopalians/Anglicans.  As far back as 1851, an Episcopal published a periodical called, "The Evangelical Catholic."  Others use the term to emphasize they are Evangelical, but maintain their Catholicity.

Yet, there are also Catholics who use the term, "Evangelical Catholics" - something I will explore in the next part of my parallel series, "Who (or What) is a Catholic (or a catholic)?"

Back to Part 9
Over to Who (or What) is a Catholic (or a catholic)? - Intro