Argument from the Catechism: A Bigger Christianity
Another Unorganized Argument
This argument is similar in content to the argument from literature, but do not conflate the two. This argument says that if Christianity is really true, the whole world should fit in it. If Christ is really the heart of reality, the One in whom all things hold together, then nothing should be left unchanged by Him. There should be Christian doctrine about everything. Discipleship is simply the process of learning to see how every speck of dirt must come under the rule of Christ, beginning with ourselves.
But what is the Baptist view on the nature of beauty? Or the Lutheran approach to war? The Presbyterian medical ethics? Today more than ever, we face a dizzying number of moral decisions with global consequences. Our culture hurtles towards transhumanism, our nation towards late-stage capitalism, and our world towards heightened international tensions with a gun in every waving fist. We Christians are faced with a different version of a dilemma I present in the main essay. We must either A) clearly and calmly articulate a coherent, systematic account of reality that can reliably guide us to human true peace and justice, or B) preach the barebones Gospel and try to force the immediate issues into the background. Only the Catholic Church has a claim to (A). Protestant theologians may well do the actual theology with just as much diligence and faith as Catholic theologians, but their efforts will always suffer a double frustration.
First, any reasonable reader will always keep in mind that, just by dint of what Protestantism is, there will be many Protestants who disagree with the one they’re reading. How then can she claim to speak for Christians? There have been Protestant pacifists and Protestant agitators. How is the world to judge which is more authentically Christian? In fact, the world will either (inconsistently, and as convenience dictates) cite the compromisers as evidence that Christianity is compatible with worldly agendas, or cite the reactionaries as evidence that Christianity is out of touch and outdated. It doesn’t matter how good your favorite Protestant theologian is, their ability to be taken by the world as authoritative communicators of the Faith has been undercut by rival Protestants, even if the dissenters came generations later.
Second, the radio, and then the internet, has given a chilling hyper-reality to Paul’s prediction: “the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” There is no idea so insane that someone with a Ph.D. does not defend it. Even for a good-faith Protestant (which I take to be most of them), personal judgment is the final authority. The individual holds the final veto on any argument presented to them. Surprisingly, this leaves the individual extremely vulnerable. In a cultural moment maddened by a flood of voices, we are all susceptible to the temptation to find teachers that confirm our own dispositions. I can promise you that there are a great number of teachers at Princeton Theologian Seminary ready to say what the liberal itching ears want to hear. The conservative itching ears need search no further than Liberty University, or perhaps Dallas Theological Seminary. Forget the world’s ability to pick out true Christianity. We need it just as badly!
What Catholicism alone can do is put a copy of the Catechism in our hands. The Catechism is a book summarizing the gambit of official Church teachings, complete with references to Scripture, theologians, councils, and more. It exhibits what is, to my knowledge, the most complete, most consistent philosophical system in the world. More importantly, it is about Jesus through-and-through. If you want to know the definitive Christian stance on abortion, or sexuality, or immigration, you can simply check. You still have the option of rejecting what you find, but you cannot do so and still claim to represent the Church. You are forced to admit that you are a renegade and not a Catholic. We need something exactly like the Catholic Church in order to stop the edges of our doctrine from slipping into fragmentation, a condition sure to eventually reach the center.
If you are tempted to simply concede the argument and opt for preaching the barebones Gospel, allow me to point out that you will be, first, declining to help bring all things under Christ’s headship and, second, failing to follow the example of Christ by taking seriously the concerns that bring people to Him and, third, giving up the chance to show the world what it means to see a given issue with Christian eyes. It is better than doing nothing, of course, but alas, I cannot make myself believe that we may settle for a Christianity that cannot fit the whole world inside it.
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