Catholicity

This article is about the body of beliefs which are described as "catholic". For the uses and history of the term "catholic", see Catholic (term).
Not to be confused with Catholicism.

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Catholicity (from Ancient Greek: καθολικός, romanized: katholikós, lit. 'general', 'universal', via Latin: catholicus)[1] is a concept pertaining to beliefs and practices that are widely accepted by numerous Christian denominations, most notably by those Christian denominations that describe themselves as catholic in accordance with the Four Marks of the Church, as expressed in the Nicene Creed formulated at the First Council of Constantinople in 381: "[I believe] in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church." The English adjective catholic is derived from the Ancient Greek adjective καθολικός (romanized: katholikos), meaning "general", "universal".[2][3] Thus, "catholic" means that in the Church the wholeness of the Christian faith, full and complete, all-embracing, and with nothing lacking, is proclaimed to all people without excluding any part of the faith or any class or group of people.[4][5][6] An early definition for what is "catholic" was summarized in what is known as the Vincentian Canon in the 5th century Commonitory: "what has been believed everywhere, always, and by all."[7][8]

This is distinct from the capitalized word Catholic, referring specifically to the Catholic Church and often, further, the Roman Catholic Church, used especially in ecumenical contexts and in countries where other churches use the term catholic, to distinguish it from broader meanings of the term.[9][10] Though the community led by the pope in Rome is known as the Catholic Church, the traits of catholicity, and thus the term catholic, are also ascribed to denominations such as the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Church, and the Assyrian Church of the East.[citation needed] It also occurs in the language of churches that decisively split from the Roman Catholic Church, like Lutheranism and Anglicanism, as well as Independent Catholicism, Old Catholicism and other Christian denominations. While traits used to define catholicity, as well as recognition of these traits in other denominations, vary among these groups, such attributes include formal sacraments, an episcopal polity, apostolic succession, highly structured liturgical worship, and other shared Ecclesiology.[citation needed]

Among Protestant and related traditions, catholic is used in the sense of indicating a self-understanding of the universality of the confession and continuity of faith and practice from Early Christianity, encompassing the "whole company of God's redeemed people".[11] Specifically among Moravian,[12] Lutheran,[13] Anglican,[14] Methodist,[15] and Reformed denominations[16] the term "catholic" is used in claiming to be "heirs of the apostolic faith".[14][17] These denominations consider themselves to be part of the catholic (universal) church, teaching that the term "designates the historic, orthodox mainstream of Christianity whose doctrine was defined by the ecumenical councils and creeds" and as such, most Reformers "appealed to this catholic tradition and believed they were in continuity with it." As such, the universality, or catholicity, of the church pertains to the entire body (or assembly) of believers united to Christ.[13]

  1. ^ "catholic, adj. and n.". Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved 16 May 2020., "catholicity, n.". Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  2. ^ "Catholic". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  3. ^ (cf. Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon)
  4. ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church, 830-856 Archived April 7, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ NULL (9 October 2013). "On the Catholicity of the Church". ZENIT - English. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  6. ^ Hopko, Thomas. "The Orthodox Faith". oca.org. Orthodox Church in America. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  7. ^ Bettenson, Henry (1963). Documents of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press. pp. 83–84. ISBN 978-0-19-501293-4.
  8. ^ Armentrout, Don S.; Slocum, Robert Boak (2000). An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church. Church Publishing.
  9. ^ e.g. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Galloway diocesan website
  10. ^ e.g. The Roman Catholic Church and the World Methodist Council, report from the Holy See website
  11. ^ George, Timothy (18 September 2008). "What do Protestant churches mean when they recite "I believe in the holy catholic church" and "the communion of saints" in the Apostles' Creed?". Christianity Today. Retrieved 16 June 2016. The Protestant reformers understood themselves to be a part of "the holy catholic church."Millions of Protestants still repeat these words every week as they stand in worship to recite the Apostles' Creed. The word catholic was first used in this sense in the early second century when Ignatius of Antioch declared, "Where Jesus Christ is, there is the catholic church." Jesus Christ is the head of the church, as well as its Lord. Protestant believers in the tradition of the Reformation understand the church to be the body of Christ extended throughout time as well as space, the whole company of God's redeemed people through the ages.
  12. ^ "Studying Moravian Doctrine: Ground of the Unity, Part II". Moravian Church. 2005. Archived from the original on 25 July 2016. Retrieved 16 June 2016. The Moravian Church does not have a different understanding of God than other churches, but stresses what we have in common with all of the world's Christians. "Christendom" here simply means Christianity. We see here not only the influence of the ecumenical movement on the Ground of the Unity but also our historical perspective that we are part of the one holy catholic and apostolic church.
  13. ^ a b Gassmann, Günther (1999). Fortress Introduction to the Lutheran Confessions. Fortress Press. p. 204. ISBN 9781451418194. Uncapitalized, it designates the historic, orthodox mainstream of Christianity whose doctrine was defined by the ecumenical councils and creeds. Most reformers, not just Lutherans, appealed to this catholic tradition and believed they were in continuity with it.
  14. ^ a b Byars, Ronald P. (27 March 2015). Finding Our Balance: Repositioning Mainstream Protestantism. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4982-0025-7. Some Christian communities may not care whether their worship is categorized one way of another, and certainly are not required to ask anyone's permission, but for those churches that can trace their origins from the Lutheran, Reformed (Genevan), or Anglican Reformations, it should matter, because a liturgy shaped by what Lathrop calls "bath, table, and word," and attentiveness to the poor is woven into their earliest self-definition as heirs of the apostolic faith. Worship in the Society of Friends (Quakers), the Salvation Army, bodies descended from the so-called Radical Reformation, and Pentecostal churches have different origins and standards. Those communities will make their own cases and speak for themselves, of course. But those churches that claim substantial continuity with the church catholic via one of the Reformations will do well to be attentive to the ordo that is both ancient and ecumenical, and measure whether they are realizing it in their own Lord's Day liturgy.
  15. ^ Abraham, William J.; Kirby, James E. (24 September 2009). The Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies. OUP Oxford. p. 401. ISBN 9780191607431. Acknowledging the considerable agreement between Anglicans and Methodists concerning faith and doctrine, and believing there to be sufficient convergence in understanding ministry and mission, Sharing in the Apostolic Communion (Anglican-Methodist Dialogue 1996) invited the WMC and the Lambeth Conference to recognize and affirm that: Both Anglicans and Methodists belong to the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church of Jesus Christ and participate in the apostolic mission of the whole people of God; in the churches of our two communions the word of God is authentically preached and the sacraments instituted of Christ are duly administered; Our churches share in common confession and heritage of the apostolic faith' (§95).
  16. ^ McKim, Donald K. (1 January 2001). The Westminster Handbook to Reformed Theology. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 35. ISBN 9780664224301.
  17. ^ Block, Matthew (24 June 2014). "Are Lutherans Catholic?". First Things. Retrieved 14 July 2015. The universality of the Church is, through God's grace, a reality despite doctrinal disagreements; but it is not a license for the downplaying of these doctrinal differences. The Church catholic is also the Church apostolic—which is to say, it is the Church which "stands firm and holds to the traditions" which have been taught through the words of the Apostles (2 Thessalonians 2:15). And this teaching—which is truly the Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:19–21)—has been passed on to us today in its fullness through the Scriptures. To be catholic, then, is to be heirs of the apostolic faith. It is to be rooted firmly in the Apostle's teaching as recorded for us in Scripture, the unchanging Word of God. But while this Word is unchanging, it does not follow that it is static. The history of the Church in the world is the history of Christians meditating upon Scripture. We must look to this history as our own guide in understanding Scripture. To be sure, the Church's tradition of interpretation has erred from time to time—we find, for example, that the Fathers and Councils sometimes disagree with one another—but it is dangerous to discount those interpretations of Scripture which have been held unanimously from the very beginning of the Church.