BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ABP) — American Baptists and representatives of the Baptist World Alliance are participating in the latest installment of a Baptist-Catholic dialogue that began in 1990.
The latest meeting began with a Dec. 11 convocation at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala. — hosted by Southern Baptist theologian Timothy George, dean of Samford's Beeson Divinity School.
Many Southern Baptists have objected to previous dialogues with Roman Catholics because of sharp differences over theology and doctrine.
Baptist World Alliance General Secretary Denton Lotz and Paul Fiddes, who chairs the BWA Commission on Doctrine and Inter-Church Cooperation, are leading the Baptist delegation. The group also includes Baptist pastors, institutional heads and denominational executives from Ghana, Jamaica, Argentina, Singapore, Poland and the Czech Republic.
According to a BWA press release, the dialogue is “a continuation of previous talks with the Vatican Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in 1990 and a follow-up visit by the BWA to the Vatican in March of this year.”
Delegates to the BWA General Council, which met in July in Mexico City, endorsed the Birmingham dialogue.
The release said the topics for discussion included “the authority of Christ in Scripture and tradition, baptism and the Lord's Supper, and hearing the word of God in the contemporary context.”
Lotz, in the statement, said he wanted “to assure our Baptist brothers and sisters worldwide that our delegation is composed of committed Baptist men and women who seek biblical answers to serious questions. Theological conversations are not for the purpose of compromise but for clarification and mutual edification.”
BWA representatives had similar conversations with other international Christian traditions, most recently with Anglicans. The BWA has also held dialogues with representatives of the Lutheran, Mennonite, Reformed and Eastern Orthodox traditions.
The statement said the talks may result in “further action together on ethical issues, including justice, peace and the sanctity of life, in accord with God's purpose and to the praise of God's glory.”
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