Sorry this post has been so long in coming. I haven’t had much time to put together a long post that meaningfully addresses complex and abstract issues, and on top of that, I sunk into a period of total spiritual apathy that I might just now be coming out of.
As I indicated in the introductory post to this series, I feel like I am standing at a spiritual crossroads of sorts. Two of the paths that I have been honestly considering in my journey towards Christ are Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.
One of my concerns with Protestantism in general, and with Evangelical Protestantism in specific, is that I see a lack of authoritative-ness, both institutional and personal. Particularly in the emergent conversation, clergymen don’t come across as trustworthy guides or wise counselors because they come across as regular people just trying to figure things out. I’m not saying that I think clergy should have all the answers and not be on spiritual journeys of their own, but there’s a sense in which I want clergy to be something more than just another person at church, who happens to be able to give a good sermon.
So I think I am looking for a church with an ordained clergy, and a church with institutional weight. At the very least, “having been around a long time” means having, as an institution, weathered all kinds of turmoil and change without being destroyed by it. To me, an older church feels generally more trustworthy and reliable simply by virtue of its age, and the collected wisdom of generations that goes along with it.
What churches have that more than Catholicism and Orthodoxy?
Furthermore, I’m looking for a church that is genuinely sacramental, one that includes outward expressions of faith and repentance to accompany the inward changes that seem so elusive and ephemeral. I also want sacraments that are something more than a clever symbol that can be changed at will. Although I believe that sacraments are largely symbolic, I think that too much emphasis on their symbolic nature renders them weightless and inconsequential.
So far, Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy seem to fit the bill most perfectly.
I’m also looking for a church where there’s a real sense of community, more than “hanging around for donuts and lemonade after church and chatting with the peopel you’re friends with.” What impressed me so much the one time I went to an Eastern Orthodox (OCA) was that they actually all sat down together for a meal when liturgy was finished. In both Catholicism and Orthodoxy, I think there is a sense of identity that is fundamental to community that I haven’t seen in most Protestantism.
Finally, perhaps because of tradition and institutional age and wisdom, it seems to me that Catholicism and Orthodoxy have been able to escape the twin evils of fundamentalism and theological liberalism that plague Protestantism so doggedly.
So why don’t I just become Catholic or Orthodox? I have a couple of reasons. First, my understanding of and belief in Jesus Christ is actually fairly Protestant. Becoming Catholic or Orthodox would essentially involve rethinking and re-imagining everything I already believe, and I’m not sure I want to do that. It’s not that I’m complacent or scared to re-think, but that my Protestant understanding of Jesus is intimately tied up in my decision to believe in Jesus in the first place. adopting a totally new view of atonement and salvation would mean a complete rethinking of Christianity, and I’m not sure I want to do that.
Second, both churches have doctrines that are often troubling and in my opinion wrong: Catholicism has it worst here, with things like the ban on contraception, the celibate priesthood, and transubstantiation. But Orthodoxy doesn’t necessarily escape doctrinal scrutiny either. Their beliefs and doctrines may be verifiably the oldest traditional Christian beliefs, but that doesn’t mean I agree with them.
At the same time, I have been wondering lately if submission isn’t actually an important component of Christian faith. While there are unreasonable extremes, I wonder if it might actually be spiritually healthy to submit to authority and be teachable, and allow your opinions to conform to something greater.
If I’m just looking for the church that teaches exatctly what I believe, I might never be challenged and forced to grow. I’m not sure.
My other problem, more one with Orthodoxy than Catholicism, is that they are in many ways very alien. AI grew up Mormon, which claims all kinds of unique distinctiveness but in reality it has deep (and to me, obvious) roots in the frontier Protestantism of the early 19th century, so Protestantism is more culturally consonant for me. Becoming Catholic or Orthodox would be almost as jarring as becoming Hindu.
Again, maybe that’s actually good- maybe encountering Christ shouldn’t be about being comfortable but instead should be about following him, even if it means following him into strange places.
I have a lot to think about.
Oh, and on a practical note- Orthodox liturgy is long, and you have to stand up the whole time. I guess you get to sit down in Greek Orthodoxy, but it seems so much more of an ethnically rooted church, and, well, I’m not Greek.
Sailing to Byzantium 