To Understand Each Other
.
From 1978 until 1988, 21 Roman Catholic and 18 Southern Baptist
scholars participated in a theological conversation, and together they
wrote three books. To Understand Each Other is the third of
these, and the authors wrote it in an effort to provide Catholic
lay-persons and Baptist lay-persons with an introduction to each
other’s faith and practices. It was published in 1989 as an issue of
The Theological Educator, the journal of the
faculty of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary; that journal has
since ceased publication. It appears here just as it was published in
1989. In 2008 the editors of To Understand Each Other were
discussing their sense of regret that, though they think the book
might be helpful for many Baptists and Catholics today, it is no
longer available in print. They wondered if it might be possible to
make the book available again, this time on the internet. They
requested and were given permission to re-issue the book by Dr. Steve
Lemke, the provost of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, whose
faculty holds the copyright for the book. We want here to express our
gratitude to Dr. Lemke and to the faculty of the seminary for giving
us permission to publish the book online. We also thank Mary Spurrier,
who prepared the materials for publication. After 1989 efforts were made to reorganize and re-launch the
theological conversation between the two communions. Some sessions
were held, but the conversation has now been discontinued. In part the
discontinuation is a byproduct of extensive changes that took place in
the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention in the 1990s. Most
of what is said in this book about Southern Baptists fits the new
leaders of the Convention just as it did their predecessors, but some
of what is written here does not. As a consequence, while some of the
Baptist scholars continue to participate in the life of the Southern
Baptist Convention, others find themselves more at home in the
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship which was organized in 1991. Readers of
this book can benefit from asking themselves if, in their experience,
what is written here about Baptists applies to the Baptists they know
or if it needs to be altered, and, if so, in what ways; doing this
should be a meaningful learning experience for members of both
communions. The book contains information about the members who contributed to
this book, and we want now to update that information. Three of the
Baptists have died: J. William Angell, C. Brownlow Hastings, and Alan
Neely. Five other Baptists are retired. Eljee Bentley lives in
Birmingham, Alabama. James Leo Garrett lives in Fort Worth,
Texas. Fisher Humphreys lives in Birmingham. Donald Kammerdiener lives
in Richmond, Virginia. E. Glenn Hinson is a professor at the Baptist
Seminary of Kentucky. Three Roman Catholic colleagues have gone ahead in the faith:
Bishop James Niedergeses, Frederick M. Jelly, OP., and Thaddeus
Daniel Horgan, SA. Three are retired: John R. Donahue, SJ, lives at
Loyola University in Baltimore, Maryland; Rita Forbes, MM, is at the
motherhouse in Ossining, New York; Thomas F. Stransky, CSP, resides at
Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem. Gerald Austin, OP, is on
the faculty of the Rice School for Pastoral Ministry in Arcadia,
Florida. Robert Dalton of the Glenmary Home Missioners ministers in
Houston, Mississippi. Mary Aquin O’Neill, RSM, is on the faculty of
Mount Saint Agnes Theological Center for Women in Baltimore,
Maryland. Donald Senior, CP, continues as President of the Catholic
Theological Union in Chicago, where he is also Professor of New
Testament. Joseph W. Witmer serves as the Ecumenical Officer of the
Diocese of Youngstown, and pastors a church in Aurora, Ohio. We do not
have information on Jude Wiesenbeck, SDS. On the 20th anniversary of its publication, we send this book
forth once again in the hope that, in a small way, it may contribute
to the great work that we are all called to do in order that Jesus’
prayer for the unity of his followers (John 17:20-21) will be
realized. Fisher Humphreys, fisherhumphreys@gmail.com
Introduction by Fisher Humphreys and MaryAquin O’Neill, RSM Chapter 1& 2 Chapter 3&4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 & 8 Chapter 9 and 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 & 13 Chapter 14 & 15 Chapter 16 An Introduction to the Online Edition
To Understand Each Other
Mary Aquin O’Neill, RSM, maoneill@mountsaintagnes.org