One enduring feature of Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity, which distinguishes these branches from Protestantism in all its forms, is the veneration of Christian saints. This practice, which is extremely well documented in late antiquity and beyond, seemed to unite Mediterranean Christians of nearly all persuasions in the pre-modern world.
After the Protestant Reformation in the 16th and 17th centuries, however, this practice (among others) became one of the most distinctive features marking Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity over against Protestantism.
Jonah Bissell
It doesn’t take much digging to find sermons, tractates and treatises written by Protestant figures through the centuries inveighing against the practice of saint veneration. In print sources and in popular rhetoric (even still today), Protestant Christians oppose Christian saint veneration as a practice superfluous at best or idolatrous at worst.
“Protestants do not venerate saints. Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians do.” Or so the story goes.
However, in late September this year, I attended a gathering that may suggest otherwise.
From Thursday, Sept. 18, to Saturday, Sept. 20, the regional body known as the American Baptist Churches of Maine (a subsidiary of the American Baptist Churches USA and hereafter designated ABCOM) gathered for its 221st annual convention. This was a particularly important gathering in that this year marks the 200th anniversary of the ordination of George Dana Boardman in Yarmouth, Maine.
Boardman, along with the famous Adoniram and Ann Judson, were among the first American Christians to travel overseas for the purpose of international, cross-cultural mission. Boardman and his wife, Sarah Hall, ministered chiefly to the Karen tribe in the country of Burma (now also known as Myanmar). And where was Boardman educated and ordained for such international ministry? In the modest New England state of Maine.
During this year’s ABCOM annual meeting, images of Boardman were printed on bulletins and projected on screens; a wooden plaque (commemorating Boardman) was presented to First Baptist Church of Yarmouth; various invocations, prayers, vignettes and sermons were delivered (many of which related to Boardman’s ministry); and several Burmese nationals — who proudly identified themselves as “our spiritual children” — performed musical specials and delivered heartfelt sermons.
George Dana Boardman
The entire gathering thus centered on the legacy and impact of a particular Christian figure. If that doesn’t qualify as “saint veneration,” I don’t know what does.
As mentioned above: “Protestants do not venerate saints. Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians do.” Well, what I saw taking place from Thursday to Saturday in late September in mid-coastal Maine suggests otherwise.
For Baptists, the most Protestant of all Protestants (who didn’t think Anglican “Protestants” were Protestant enough) to gather and commemorate Boardman — the patron saint of Burmese Christians — suggests Catholic and Orthodox Christians aren’t the only ones who venerate Christian saints.
While Baptists have proved at times to be the loudest opponents of saint veneration, what I saw in that meeting complicated that picture. Despite Baptist rhetoric in sermons, theological treatises and popular media, I contend Baptists, like their Catholic and Orthodox counterparts, do in fact venerate Christian saints.
Not only did the meeting feature widespread adulation of the ministry of George Dana Boardman, it also provided space for the commemoration and celebration of local saints.
A roll of recently deceased pastors in our region was read aloud by a prominent committee representative. Before she read the list of names, she encouraged attendees to stand if the person named had an impact on them and their ministry.
“We Baptists are not as different from the Catholics and Orthodox as we might think.”
As she went through the list, clusters of attendees began rising from their seats left and right, and when she finished, she thanked God for these “saints” and for their lives of faithful ministry in Maine. In addition to our “canonized” saint, George Dana Boardman, Baptists seem also to venerate local “folk” saints as well.
All this can be seen as a parade example in which lived reality and popular rhetoric do not match up. While Baptist literature and rhetoric resist the practice of Christian saint veneration, Baptist experience, as exhibited in this meeting and others, paints a rather different picture.
To distinguish themselves from their Catholic and Orthodox forebears, early Baptists resorted to strong separatist rhetoric and ideology (some of which still characterizes Baptists today). Thus, strong resistance toward distinctively Catholic and Orthodox practices served to differentiate early Baptists as an ecclesial entity in their own right.
However, now that the Baptists are well established as a key branch within global Christianity, such rhetoric of distinction — which is not always representative of reality (as this article hopefully shows) — may no longer be necessary.
In other words: My experience at this gathering revealed that despite such rhetoric of distinction, we Baptists are not as different from the Catholics and Orthodox as we might think.
To sum up, while Protestant and particularly Baptist rhetoric long has separated us from Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians, religious experience and ritual practice provide a different index by which to measure our shared reality.
At moments like this, I’m reminded of Curtis Freeman’s noble call toward Baptist catholicity, recognizing our oneness with the global and historical catholic church. Despite strong language to the contrary, lived experience reveals a different picture, attesting to the unity all Christians share, whether we like to admit it or not.
Jonah Bissell serves as teaching pastor at First Baptist Church of Freeport, Maine (ABC-USA). He also is a Ph.D. student in religion at Boston University, specializing in religions of the ancient Mediterranean world.
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I’m adopting a patron sinner for All Saints Day | Opinion by Justin Cox
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