Two Views of ECT
Protestant Assessments of 'Evangelicals & Catholics Together'
D.G. Hart and J. Daryl Charles
January 1, 1995
"Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium," a declaration issued on March 29, 1994 (and reproduced in the May 1994 issue of First Things), has occasioned significant controversy inside and outside the orthodox Christian community. The declaration argues that both evangelicals and Catholics rely on a common orthodox theological heritage, are members of the body of Christ (the universal church), and are brothers and sisters in Christ. It also contends that evangelicals and Catholics share common missiological and cultural objectives despite the significant, persisting theological divisions between them
"Evangelicals & Catholics Together" (henceforth ect) was drafted by such luminaries as Richard John Neuhaus and Charles Colson, and endorsed by, among others, Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Seminary, and John Cardinal O'Connor, archbishop of New York. Critics, especially strongly reformed Protestants like R. C. Sproul of Ligonier Ministries and Michael Horton of Christians United for Reformation, have charged that the document skates over crucial theological distinctives between Protestant and Catholic Christianity and suggests an illusory theological and ecclesial common ground for evangelicals and Catholics. These critics further contend that the document is one more sign that conservative Christians are elevating cultural concerns (fighting the culture war) over missiological concerns (saving souls).
RQ asked two reformed Protestants, D. G. Hart and J. Daryl Charles, to provide their assessment of the document.
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