in the service of evangelization. Where our witness is fractured, our message is unpersuasive, if not inaudible. Baptists and Catholics differ on important ecclesial and theological issues and these must be faced with candor and honesty. We are committed to seeking greater mutual understanding through a process of loving dialogue and respectful listening. One example of this approach is the five-year conversation between the Baptist World Alliance and the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity between 2006 and 2010, resulting in the report, The Word of God in the Life of the Church, to be published in the near future.


places religious freedom is undermined in more subtle ways, through government intrusion and discrimination. Our advocacy for religious freedom in civil society is undercut if we do not practice it in our own churches and among our several Christian communities. Today, as never before, all Christians who take seriously Jesus’s call to evangelize must also stand and work together for the protection and flourishing of universal religious freedom, both for individuals and institutions of faith. In his encyclical, Ut Unum Sint, John Paul II emphasized the


memory of the martyrs as a living part of our Christian witness today. One of the highlights of my time at the Synod was a visit to the Basilica of St. Bartholomew, located on an island in the Tiber River. There I was shown a beautiful icon of 20th century


and Christian It is good to remember


that the Protestant Reformation began with a Catholic monk, Martin Luther, pouring over the text of the Bible in order to find salvation for his soul. The Bible was given a prominent place in the work of the Synod. Lamar Vest of the American Bible Society made a special Bible presentation to Pope Benedict who opened the Synod each day with Scripture reading, prayer, and Bible exposition. I was encouraged to hear of many Bible-based streams of renewal within the Catholic world, including a lay couple who lead the evangelical Alpha course network in France. In my remarks to the Synod, I pointed out that Baptists have been ardent champions of religious freedom, not only for ourselves, but for all


persons everywhere. Today, in


many places, religious freedom is under assault in many ways. On two occasions during the Synod we received reports of violence against Christians, a terrorist church bombing in Nigeria, and increasing bloodshed in Syria. In other


of two Baptist Christians, one a humble believer


martyrs, from East and West, North and South. Within this global mosaic of Christian martyrs, I was most moved to see the likeness imprisoned


and then killed by the Communists in Romania, the other, a Baptist pastor from my own country, the US, Martin Luther King, Jr. Jesus prayed to the heavenly Father that his disciples would be one so that the world might believe. As of old, the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church, so now the blood of today’s


martyrs is the seed of the church’s unity.


21st


TIMOTHY GEORGE IS DEAN


OF BEESON DIVINITY


SCHOOL OF SAMFORD


UNIVERSITY IN THE US.


HE CHAIRS THE BWA


COMMISSION ON DOCTRINE


AND CHRISTIAN UNITY.


Timothy George being greeted by


Pope Benedict XVI at the Synod of Bishops in Rome


Today, as never before, all Christians who take seriously Jesus’s call to evangelize must also stand and work together for the protection and flourishing of UNIVERSAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, both for individuals and institutions of faith.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32