Richard Mouw on Carl Henry and social ethics:
In the months immediately preceding my telephone conversation with Henry, he had taken up this theme at some length in Christianity Today’s pages. In a feature article, along with an accompanying editorial in the September 15, 1967, issue, Henry praised Princeton University ethicist Paul Ramsey for the way he had criticized ecumenical Protestantism in his recent book, Who Speaks for the Church? In particular, Henry praised Ramsey’s critique of ecumenical Protestantism’s way of issuing what Henry describes (paraphrasing Ramsey) as “a staggering number of resolutions that support particular positions.” And the issue for Ramsey was not just the sheer number of pronouncements, but also a methodology that flowed from a defective theology. Henry quotes Ramsey’s harsh verdict: “Identification of Christian social ethics with specific partisan proposals that clearly are not the only ones that may be characterized as Christian and as morally acceptable comes close to the original New Testament meaning of heresy.”
Ouch. The whole essay merits reading.
Ramsey is great. Does this mean that the uncritical excitement over health care reform on the part of the mainline churches is heresy?
Yeah… tough thing. The goal of better health care is certainly good. It’s the assumption that only one particular path toward that goal that’s the problem. Or rather… one Christian path toward the goal.
I cannot our to Ramsey’s criticism, but can speak to my two terms as a deputy to our national conventions held every three years. We considered hundreds of resolutions with all the deadly seriousness of ones who were about to legislate operating instructions for the rest of the world. They were all well intentioned, and most were really good ideas, but the preposterousness of it all wore on me.
P.S. Don’t let my bishop know.
What happened to my comment? It was supposed to start: I cannot comment on Ramsey’s….
That’s weird. Occasionally WordPress puts a legitimate comment in spam, but I’ve never seen it edit a sentence like that. I won’t let your bishop know, Steven. Your secret is safe.