Neuhaus meets Neuendorf

Today we had as our luncheon speaker, Richard J. Neuhaus, a former "Lutheran" pastor who is now a Catholic Priest and "Intellectual." This of course depends on your definitions of what a "Lutheran" really is. He said to me that he had given being a Lutheran a fair chance because he was one for 30 years.

But being an ELCA pastor hardly qualifies being a Lutheran, as ELCA has directly rejected several of the main doctrines of Luther and Christianity. ELCA's own website suggests that the virgin birth did not take place, which is not remotely a "Lutheran" position. This among other things disqualifies the statement that he ever really was a Lutheran. It is true that he went to St. Louis Seminary, but he did so in the era of the Seminex walkout, a time when the Lutheran Church was probably the least Lutheran since before Luther.

He seems enamored with the "rich" history of the Catholic church, the beautiful contributions that it made in intellectual thought, but largely ignores the horrors and abuses which Luther was fighting against. Luther didn't want to shed the rich architectural and artistic history of the Catholic church, nor its liturgical tradition, he wanted to shed the unbiblical papacy, the sale of indulgences, crusading violence and political issues in the name of the church, and the obviously corrupt periods of Catholic history.

The main focus for this "intellectual" is not surprisingly, the role of reason in determining the faith. He talked about the intellectual elite reaching decisions, placing an emphasis on a few people who are very smart, instead of the Lutheran understanding that our faith is not below our reason, our reason stands upon our faith.

It saddened me to see someone who has been trained in the clear truth of the scripture, abandon it because of his love for his own brain. He said that he saw no conflict anymore between Catholicism and Lutherans because of the "resolution" of the issue of salvation by faith alone. This of course ignores the power and primacy of the pope, the sale of indulgences, praying to the saints, the role and details of communion, and many many other issues. I agree that if there were no longer any differences or reasons to remain seperate from Catholicism, it would be wonderful to reconnect to our Catholic brothers. But there are thousands of reasons not to, millions of points that we are not in agreement about, many of them regarding the very issue of salvation by faith and by grace alone.

Mr. Neuhaus lives in a direct contradiction to his own name. He has lived briefly in the new house, brought up in it no doubt. But he has moved instead to a very old and creaky house with alot of problems in its core. Not because of the Bible, but because of intellectual nostalga.

I am grateful that I instead have a Neuendorf. A new village, whereby I can be encouraged and supported in pursuing the razor thin line which shows the truth of scripture in purity.