Is the Reformation Over?: An Evangelical Assessment of Contemporary Roman Catholicism

by Mark A. Noll, Carolyn Nystrom

Overview

For the last few decades, Catholics and Protestants have been working to heal the wounds caused by centuries of mistrust. This book, a Christianity Today 2006 Book Award winner, provides an evaluation of contemporary Roman Catholicism and the changing relationship between Catholics and evangelicals.

The authors examine past tensions, post-Vatican II ecumenical dialogues, and social/political issues that have brought Catholics and evangelicals together. While not ignoring significant differences that remain, the authors call evangelicals to gain a new appreciation for the current character of the Catholic Church.

Written by Mark Noll, one of the premier church historians of our day, and Carolyn Nystrom, this book will appeal to those interested in the relationship between evangelicals and the Catholic Church.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801035753
Publisher:	Baker Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/01/2008
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.58(d)

About the Author

Mark A. Noll (PhD,Vanderbilt University) is the Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of many books, including A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, and Turning Points.

Carolyn Nystrom, a freelance writer, is based in St. Charles, Illinois.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Things Are Not the Way They Used to Be
2. Historic Standoff
3. Why Did Things Change?
4. Ecumenical Dialogues
5. The Catholic Catechism
6. Evangelicals and Catholics Together
7. Reactions from Antagonism to Conversion
8. An American Assessment
9. Is the Reformation Over?
Further Reading

Editorial Reviews

The eminent evangelical historian Noll and journalist Nystrom offer a lucid and charitable account of the current state of evangelical-Catholic relations. Only scant decades ago, they point out, Protestants inveighed against "the formalism, the anthropocentric worship, the power mongering, and the egotism" of Rome. But now, they wryly observe, all those qualities "flourish on every hand within Protestant evangelicalism." This willingness to see the proverbial beam in one's own eye is one of the great strengths of this book, which has as much to say about the authors' own Christian tradition as about Rome. Surveying the changes in Catholicism since Vatican II, and documenting the numerous encounters that have ensued between Catholics and Protestants, Noll and Nystrom find "a dramatically altered terrain" that offers hope for further rapprochement. Catholics will appreciate the authors' focus on official teaching, especially their appreciative, though not uncritical, survey of the Church's Catechism. Not all readers will agree that on the crucial Reformation-era topic of justification, "Catholics and evangelicals now believe approximately the same thing," and Noll and Nystrom barely mention popular practices, like the cult of Guadalupe and the late Pope John Paul II's reinstatement of indulgences, that trouble evangelicals. Still, even if they never quite answer the question posed in their title, Noll and Nystrom certainly make the case that that question's time has come. (July) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Noll (religion, Wheaton Coll.) and freelance writer Nystrom propose examining modern-day Roman Catholicism from the perspective of Evangelical history and theology. Though they acknowledge that this task is made easier by some of the ecumenical successes between Catholics and Evangelicals over the last 40 years, they are also quick to point out that religious indifferentism masquerading as genuine ecumenism makes it all that more difficult. They focus on the spirit and ecclesial insights of Vatican Council II, claiming that the Council has provided the theoretical basis for such serious ecumenical discussion. While largely positive in evaluating contemporary Catholicism, this work is not sanguine in considering the Catholic church or the future of Evangelical-Catholic unity. The authors identify failures and scandals within each church and address a number of theological issues (e.g., ecclesiology, sacraments, the role of Mary) that require serious conversation. Timely and instructive, this book is suitable for university and community libraries with strong religion circulation.-David I. Fulton, Coll. of St. Elizabeth Convent Station, NJ Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

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