c. 1999 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ Roman Catholic and Southern Baptist leaders and theologians say they’ve reached a new level of understanding of where they agree and disagree about Scripture following a five-year conversation on the topic.

The first report of the annual meetings of the 16 representatives was released last month (September). The report sites areas of agreement and disagreement on Scripture between the two faith traditions.”While fully cognizant of our serious differences, our goal has been truth and clarity in charity,”the statement reads.”Our common and ongoing quest for the truth of Christ has deepened our appreciation for one another and strengthened our love for the Holy Scriptures.” The statement’s focus is a list of terms defining how the two denominations view key aspects of Scripture, including what makes up the Bible. It notes while both groups recognize the same New Testament, the Catholic Old Testament contains seven Jewish books that were”found in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures used by the early church.” Among the areas addressed are inerrancy, infallibility and biblical interpretation.”For Southern Baptists, inerrancy means that the original biblical text was composed precisely as God inspired it and intended it to be because of God’s superintendence,”the statement reads.”For Roman Catholics, inerrancy is understood as a consequence of biblical inspiration; it has to do more with the truth of the Bible as a whole than with any theory of verbal inerrancy.” The two groups also have different understandings of what”infallibility”means.”For Catholics, infallibility is a charism or gift of the Spirit which belongs to the Church for faithfully expounding the deposit of faith,”it says.”Traditionally, Southern Baptists have understood `infallibility’ to be equivalent to `inerrancy.'” The two groups agree up to a point on the Bible’s relation to actual history.”For example, both affirm the historicity of the gospel tradition but they differ about the extent to which each gospel story can be affirmed as historical,”the statement reads.”Southern Baptists interpret as historical all biblical events which are clearly intended by the sacred authors to be taken as such. Catholics believe that not all biblical narratives should be understood as historical, since the sacred writers also use narratives in a symbolic way to teach religious truths.” Participants in the discussion praised its results for further defining the perspectives of the two faiths about central aspects of their beliefs.”We are not, in a sense, reluctant to say that we have very different approaches to Scripture, but we do share Jesus Christ, we do share the Scripture and we share its authority,”said Brother Jeff Gros, associate director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Phil Roberts, vice president for strategic cities strategies for the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board, said the two groups are still far apart on many issues.”Better understanding, yes, but better understanding does not necessarily mean we’re in any form of closer agreement,”he said.”We’re absolutely happy that we’re just in these meetings and reaching some clear understanding and able to define a little more closely where we agree and we disagree.” He said Baptists are in the meetings to”bear witness to our faith and to the gospel as we understand it”rather than to find some specific ecumenical agreement.”We have no illusion … about the pope going to First Baptist Dallas tomorrow,”he said, referring to a prominent Southern Baptist church in Texas.”Nor is (SBC President) Paige Patterson going to enter a convent.” Salvation is the second topic under discussion by the Catholic and Southern Baptist leaders. They meet once a year, at either Roman Catholic or Southern Baptist institutions, and have shared prayers and Scripture readings together.

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