Unity catholic manual#

It never appears in the Bible, nor does the Bible give explicit formulas for the nature of the Trinity as commonly used today, such as “one God in three persons,” or “three persons, one nature.” Yet the word Trinity, as developed within the Catholic Church, is an essential belief for nearly every Protestant denomination. To illustrate doctrinal development, let’s look at the word Trinity. As an Evangelical, I was naïve enough to think I could reinvent the theological wheel for myself. It takes the authority of a universal Church and the successors of the apostles to formulate the doctrines of the faith properly. Countless competing Protestant denominations make this fact apparent as they fail to agree on what the Bible says. The Bible’s meaning is not always clear, as Peter tells us (cf.

Unity catholic manual#

The Bible is not a theological textbook or a detailed church manual such as, say, a catechism or study guide. As Christians ponder the revelation passed on by the apostles and deposited in the Church, the Church mulls over God’s word, thinking deeper and deeper.ĭevelopment of doctrine defines, sharpens, and interprets the deposit of faith. Over time, theological words develop to help explain the deeper understanding of the faith. It occurs also among Protestants and all religions or theological traditions.

The development of doctrine is not just a Catholic phenomenon. Then let’s “interview” the very first Christians to see what they thought of the Church and the word catholic.

Let’s start with an understanding of doctrinal development and the definition of catholic. I should have asked myself, “Where did the word catholic come from, and what does it mean?” Was I right to assume that Roman Catholics invented the word to set themselves apart from biblical Christianity?Ī short investigation will turn up some valuable information. It was a biased word loaded with negative baggage, so we removed it from the Creed. Since we Evangelicals were supposedly the ones faithful to the Bible, we had no interest in the word catholic, since it was found nowhere between the covers of the Bible. I assumed that Catholics deviated early on from “biblical Christianity,” so they simply invented a new word to describe their new society. There was certainly no evil intent but just a loathing of the Catholic Church and a desire to distance ourselves from its heresy and manmade traditions. Instead of the “holy, catholic Church,” we were the “holy, Christian Church.” At the time, I thought nothing of it. As a Protestant, I went to an Evangelical church that changed an important and historic word in the Apostle’s Creed.