On Richard John Neuhaus

The First Things website announced the death today (Jan. 8, 2009) of Richard John Neuhaus, a Roman Catholic priest who had converted from a Lutheran pastorate, and also one of our nation's last public intellectuals. As a reactionary old presbyterian who still thinks the pope is the antichrist (as 25.6 of the Westminster Confession originally stated), I can't countenance any move from protestantism to Romanism. Still, in reading Neuhaus over the years, it seems to me his conversion was driven by a school of Lutheranism which sees itself as separated from Rome, a true but erring Church; in time, he could no longer find sufficient reason to maintain that separation. Thus, his ecclesiology may have been what enabled him to make the doctrinal hurdles necessary to renounce protestantism (and doctrinally, he was a fully committed Roman Catholic).

That ecclesiology is likely why I appreciate much of what he had to say in the pages of First Things. Consider this excerpt from the December 2008 issue, in which Neuhaus is reflecting on comments made by James Turner in the book The Future of Christian Learning: An Evangelical and Catholic Dialogue. "Evangelicalism accents the doctrinal ('core beliefs'), the affective, and, usually, the moral. Catholicism accents the the communal (ecclesial) and sacramental, joined to a mix of the moral and aesthetic. ...Catholics are ecclesial Christians. By contrast, one identifies oneself as an evangelical if one adheres to the core beliefs, has had a conversion experience, and is not a Catholic or a liberal Protestant. Evangelicals are, in the sociological jargon, elective Christians."

In my opinion, one could substitute "presbyterian" for "Catholic" in the above quote without doing much damage. I don't think Neuhaus ever quite understood there are protestants who have as robust an ecclesiology as Rome does, yet deny that Rome is owed any obligation. This may be why it was relatively easy for him to find common ground with evangelicals (particularly through the efforts of "Evangelicals and Catholics Together"): evangelicals have no ecclesiology which might conflict with Rome's.

Neuhaus observed the public square with wit and a great deal of Christianized common sense. I'll miss his pen.