More on Evangelicals and Catholics

Note: links are fixed now

Doug Phillips (not the one from Vision Forum) has a great interview with Chris Castaldo.  Chris, as you may remember, has a new book Holy Ground: Walking With Jesus as a Former Catholic.  I blogged about the book here.

Doug asks Chris two questions.

1. How do people like Francis Beckwith, who seem to affirm the compatibility of at least the core of Protestant/evangelical belief with Catholic teaching, view matters like Catholic beliefs regarding Mary (immaculate conception, assumption into heaven, etc.)?

2. In light of the Decrees of Trent, wouldn’t we still have to say that official Catholic doctrine on the matter of justification rises to the level of error so serious that it amounts to ‘another gospel’ – thus warranting an apostolic anathema (Gal.1:6-9)?

I benefited from Chris’ responses, though I’m still trying to figure out how Pope Benedict doesn’t have to understand justification in the light of Trent.  I’m not saying Chris is wrong, I just don’t quite get how a binding decree doesn’t have to be binding.

I commend Chris’s book, Doug’s interview, and Doug’s blog By Every Word.  Both Chris and Doug are solid pastors, good thinkers, and friends of mine.