Ecumenical Bonhomie

In recent days I have deleted a number of blog articles and comments with a view towards ratcheting down the polemics  that I've directed toward the Orthodox and Anglo-Catholics.  I certainly haven't relented in my views about where I think they miss the mark, but these days we trad Christians need to hang together.  While there are certainly substantial differences, there are also very crucial common beliefs and attitudes. 

Commenting on the mission of the Fellowship of St. James, which publishes Touchstone magazine, its editor David Mills writes that the project: 

is ecumenical in the sense that we try to draw together the best soldiers from all the allied armies to fight a common enemy and advance a common cause, without denying the radical differences between the armies.  Exactly what that cause is may be hard to define in final detail, but it is something the various soldiers recognize and can articulate to varying degrees.  The enemy is much easier to identify, in part because he lumps us all together as dangerous "fundamentalists."  We assume that what unity the soldiers find will be found in the common task and that this unity will be deeper than any created trying to create it.

We Protestants and Catholics are akin to Gimli and Legolas, writes Mills, who "express deep differences of character, temperament and values" and who "meet as allies only because they have to."  However,

they begin to be friends when one, Gimli, comes to see the beauty of something (Galadriel) the other already saw and loved. And their friendship grows as they sacrifice themselves to defend the weak and vulnerable (the four hobbits) and face the enemies (Sauron and Saruman and their minions) of all they both love, and as they follow a king who does not yet have a kingdom.

So, as I repent of the acerbic commentary I've set forth here recently, I want to say that I view all those as my own who love and serve the King of a kingdom that is "already, but not yet,"  irrespective of the fact that I find them (as they find us Protestants) "the people in the yard," to quote Mills. 

I have left a few of the critical posts, which, for now anyway, I have reasons for keeping.  And I still intend to argue here why classical Anglicanism is a better choice than Rome or Orthodoxy.  Regardless, going forward my task will be to build up and not to tear down.  To those I have offended unnecessarily, I ask your forgiveness.

Comments

[An Awkward Aardvark]

Very humble posting, a rarity on the Internet. I must say Amen a thousand times to this quote:
"but these days we trad Christians need to hang together."

[Embryo Parson]

God keep me so, Aardvark.

[Jesse]

Bravo! It's difficult to take an honest look at how some traditions fail, while being just as honest about what they get right. I love this post, part of my reason for becoming an Anglican was because (as I often tell a close friend) it seemed to me the best way to be a "Touchstone Magazine" Christian. Thanks for sharing.