Truth or Tradition?

Today is Reformation Day, the day when Protestants remember Martin Luther posting his 95 arguments and thus starting a movement to reform the Catholic Church called the Reformation. On the surface the Reformation was about justification by faith. However, at its heart it was about authority. Protestants believe that Scripture alone is authoritative and Catholics believe that Scripture and Tradition are co-equally authoritative.
​
Fast forward some 500 years. In a culture that is so subjective and post-modern that it is adrift, people are looking for meaning. As such, there is a quiet revival happening in religious life. Whereas in the 90s and early 2000s religion was declining because of secularism, today it is on the rise. There are two areas where statistics, news articles and experience all reveal where growth is happening: in classically evangelical churches and in Catholic/Orthodox churches. In the former it is because eternal truth is proclaimed uncompromisingly, in the latter because of the emphasis on ancient tradition. Truth and tradition are drawing people back to visible Christianity.  

However, another interesting trend has been happening, a Reformation reversal of sorts. There have been news articles of Protestant pastors ‘swimming the Tiber’ and converting to Catholicism. Likewise, there are personal examples of those raised in Protestant homes and churches converting to Catholicism. This isn’t widespread and there are still many Catholics who convert to Christ. Still, what is driving this phenomenon?

I suggest three main reasons:

1. Worship: Much modern, mega-church, charismatic worship is about YOU and not GOD. Likewise, the setting and atmosphere is CONTEMPORARY. When you ‘go to church’ it feels like just another compartment of the world and not something different. Gone is the reverent simplicity of classic Protestantism and so people seek holy mystery in the Catholic/Orthodox church.
2. Truth/Theology: It is sad to say, but Protestants, who once knew their Bibles and theology so well, are often biblically illiterate and theologically ignorant. Do they really know what they believe and why they believe it? Can they defend it against (not only the world) but aggressive Catholic apologists? Despite various sects within the Catholic Church, it has a clear basic set of beliefs. Listen to mother church vs. all the many views of the Protestants. Protestants, who held much in common initially, have so fragmented because of poor interpretation of the Bible that where there was once a Protestant orthodoxy, now we might speak of that in the plural. While we want to know what the Bible says, no one can know everything they and so are left to depend on the Church. Catholics tell you to believe this and to believe that. Protestants used to hold out the truth to believe, all the while giving strong biblical reasoning, however, because of a culture of niceness, made worse by theological fragmentation and simplicity, many Protestants struggle to offer a cohesive vision.
3. Tradition: Truth is primary. Nevertheless tradition (meaning the living faith of the dead) has an important helping role. Many Protestant churches are so contemporary and their beliefs so diluted that they have lost touch with their Christian forebearers. Just as we are biblically illiterate and theologically ignorant we also have historic amnesia. Catholics come along and claim uninterrupted succession from Peter and that constancy and tradition appear very attractive (it is also flawed for their have been many schisms in church history). They point out that Protestantism is only 500 years old whereas Catholicism is 2000 years old. However, Protestants aren’t restorationists, we don’t believe the church ceased to exist during the middle ages (c.f. Mt 16- I will build my church) but rather that she had become corrupted and needing reform to bring her back into alignment with the truth of Scripture. This is what the Reformation did and it is a glorious heritage! And not only do we have the first 1500 years of church history to draw meaning from but our own deep roots: Protestant confessions of faith, the examples of noble men and women.

We have no need as Protestants to become this or that but have great reason to continue to praise God for the Reformation. In remaining classical Protestants (or perhaps returning to) we find everything we need on worship, truth and history to find meaning and purpose in our mission today and tomorrow.