A Review of Peter
Kreeft's Ecumenical Jihad
A Review of Peter
Kreeft's Ecumenical Jihad (Ignatius Press
©1996)
Peter Kreeft is
listed on the cover of his own book as, "a popular
philosopher, author and speaker." We do not doubt
this characterization. Chuck Colson calls him "a
valiant intellectual warrior." J.I. Packer asks
this question after extolling the significance of
this "racy little book" with the "far
reaching theme," "What if he is right?"
Right about what? This is a good
way to start our review of Ecumenical Jihad. For Mr.
Kreeft has a lot to say about the way things were,
are and ought to be in the world of theology and ecumenism.
The main thrust of Kreeft is a familiar
theme to all who have been keeping up with ecumenism.
Kreeft defines for us his view of the real battle
field and then seeks to set into motion an ecumenical
army to ward off the real enemy. We are finding this
motif to be more and more common among evangelicals
and Roman Catholics who are intent on saving the culture
from a parade of real and imaginary horribles. Kreeft
pulls out all stops to blend Romanism and Christianity
into one huge vat of solution to be poured out on
what ails society.
To get back to Packer's question,
"what if he is right?" Let us first try
to answer, "right about what?"
If we were to ask if Kreeft is right
about his assessment of the rapid decay of American
culture, due to the moral decay of her people, we
would have to say that, "he is right." There
are no ifs, ands or buts about it. America
is decaying briskly. Kreeft offers reams of proof
and cites example after example of Americanized evil.
From aborted babies to zealous terrorists, America
seems to be coming undone. Kreeft is accurate in his
appraisal of the public educational system, the Entertainment
industry and the American media. The institution of
family is held up to ridicule as well as hard work,
honesty, integrity, fidelity and all forms of conservatism.
Kreeft strikes a chord of affirmation within all who
view the current moral collapse of America with horror.
He gets his point across very well:
"I think modern man is becoming
reptilian. Three distinctive features of reptiles
are: (1) they devour their young; (2) they are cold
blooded; and (3) they conform their body temperature
to their environment. Three features of modern secularists
are: (1) they kill their unborn children; (2) they
judge the warm-blooded to be "fanatics"
(for 98.6 seems like a high fever to the cold-blooded);
and (3) they have nothing but their ever-changing
society to conform to; they are social relativists
with no transcendent absolutes."[1]
America is in trouble. The family
is attacked by both divorce and the courts. The gay
and lesbian community continues to fight for a redefinition
of family. Abortion, drugs, homicides, and immorality
of every imaginable kind pervade the very fabric of
main street America. The government seems bent on
rewriting the Constitution and writing out morality.
These and similar slashes have left deeps gashes and
ugly sores on the American moral landscape.
However, if we were to ask, "is
Kreeft right about his remedy?," the answer is
"no." With remarkable finesse, Kreeft ascends
to the high moral ground and calls all Christians
to join him.
The tip off that something is askew
comes early when Kreeft announces that the only solution
to the problems facing our culture is to keep in mind
two principles. The first is that the foundation of
social order is morality. The second is that the foundation
of morality is religion. Exactly which religion, and
exactly which morality, ultimately becomes an ecumenical
mush of God talk, Jesus talk and Mary talk, with the
Qur'an thrown in for good measure.
The main problem is that Peter Kreeft
is a Roman Catholic who assumes that Roman Catholicism
is not only "Christian," but the leader
of the Christian band. He does not say this. He assumes
it throughout his entire book and leaves no room for
doubt that Roman Catholicism is "in." So,
"come on" says he, "get up here with
us Christians and fight from the high moral ground
for the high moral ground." So sweeping is his
indictment against the oozing slime of a decadent
culture that to not "get on up there with him"
is tantamount to blasphemy. Surely no non-Christian
could see society's problems with such clarity. Surely
this is of the Lord. Not quite.
In typical ecumenical fashion, Kreeft
minimizes any meaningful definition of the gospel
of Christ and overwhelms any theological objections
to Rome with a bombardment of manipulative scare tactics.
We hear in effect, "there is a war to be fought,
no time now to look too closely at who is in the foxhole
with you." "The culture is going to hell
in a hand basket and you are arguing whether or not
there is a Purgatory?" "We Christians need
to stand together; there is a whole herd of secular
fanatics trying to run us out of town." "It
is time for all God-fearing Christians to join hands
regardless of what you believe." And so it goes.
The big bad wolf is the world system. This is loosely
defined as the dreaded secularist who wants his kids
hooked on porn and taught by a lesbian before it is
too late. Ring the alarm and circle the wagons. Come
to the safety of Fort Rome. Not unlike Chicken Little's
frantic call, "the sky is falling, the sky is
falling!," we hear over and over, "the secularists
are coming, the secularists are coming." Quick,
abandon all doctrine. Quick, dump the gospel fuel
or this baby is going to crash and burn. Or, so we
are told.
Let us counter with our own two principles.
The first, Romanism is not Christianity, never was
and never will be. The second, running to Rome to
escape secularism is tantamount to Chicken Little
running to the foxes' house to escape the farmer.
So gummed up is the mind of this
ecumenicalist that he even takes us one step beyond
all known territory in his enlistment of help to stem
the tide of corruption and scum. Kreeft not only wants
us to believe Rome is Christian but also that the
horrid pagan monsters (the Godless ones) can only
be fully dethroned if Jewish-Christian ecumenism and
Christian-Muslim ecumenism is successful. What next?
Should not sincere atheists and agnostics be called
in as well? We kid you not. After calling all Muslims...
"Nothing in the Jewish Scriptures
contradicts Christianity, but some things in the
Qur'an do. Yet even here, an 'ecumenical jihad'
is possible and is called for, for the simple and
strong reason that Muslims and Christians preach
and practice the same First Commandment; Islam,
total surrender submission of the human will to
the divine will. We fight side by side not only
because we face a common enemy but above all because
we serve and worship the same divine Commander."[2]
...Kreeft has the audacity to call
all pagans as well. Only these are no longer pagans--they're
anonymous Christians!
"Finally, even atheists and
agnostics, if they are of good will and intellectual
honesty and still believe in objective truth and objective
morality, are on our side in the war against the powers
of darkness. Perhaps they can be called 'anonymous
Christians.'"[3]
Hold onto your Bibles, folks. Nothing
other than a total spiritual blindness sent by the
hand of God could possibly explain how any one in
their right mind could read and approve the utter
nonsense espoused by this author. And yet, this very
"racy little book" has the endorsement of
both Packer and Colson.
Weaving in and out of history, theology
and philosophy, including an imaginary conversation
between Luther, Aquinas and C.S. Lewis, Kreeft presses,
pushes, postures and poses an unrelenting case for
"two plus two equals five." He assumes Rome
is Christian and never lets go of it. He assumes that
Luther and Aquinas can be harmonized for the "mereness"
of Christianity. He defends Romanism and subtly mocks
evangelicals who are stubborn in their resistance
to Rome's outstretched hand. He applauds Muslims and
any other sincere religion because they have morals
and values. He thinks Jesus is hidden in the Muslim
religion much like Jesus is hidden in the transubstantiated
bread of the Roman Mass. He thinks Protestants and
Catholics have the same religion but different theologies.
He thinks Christians need to learn from great non-Christians.
He thinks God is Socratic. He thinks Christians have
a lot to learn from Confucius and Buddha. He thinks
Romanism is Christianity, as well as any number of
other religions which deny our Lord Jesus Christ.
He has lowered the standard so far as to make the
gospel absolutely meaningless.
Perhaps the chief danger of this
awful little book is found in the "What Can I
Do?" chapter, which is saved for last. Here Rome
is as Rome as Rome can be. Here we are given a timely,
if not intentional, reminder of why we must as Christians
fight the culture war wearing different uniforms than
Rome and answering to our very own Commander in Chief.
If we were now to accept Kreeft's invitation and join
in the mad dash across the Tiber, we would find that
there is nothing but loss in all that is sacred to
the gospel of Christ when once we landed on the opposite
bank. Kreeft leaves to us these two gruesome suggestions,
among many, for victory in the cultural wars. As you
can see, there are some things worse than secularism:
"Consecrate your life to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary. She is the one who will
win this war. She is the one (as the Bible says)
who triumphs over Satan."
"Eucharistic adoration, when
persevered in, has incredibly revitalized parishes
and individuals."[4]
Packer asks, "What if he is
right?" We answer, "if Kreeft is right then
we, and everyone resisting Rome for the past 1500
years, are wrong and most to be pitied. We are yet
in our sins and have trusted in a lie."
The good news is that Mr. Kreeft
is wrong. In essence, Kreeft is a Roman Catholic moralist
who has decided to declare Romanism a Christian religion
and include a few of his friends as well, i.e., Muslims,
Buddhists and any other card carrying, gum chewing
pro-lifer, pro-family religionist. None of his meanderings
have anything to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ,
the depravity of mankind, the salvation of God and
the true Christianity found in the Bible.
Roman Catholic moralism is nothing
new. They have been at it for a long time. So swift
is the Romanist transition from "good morality"
being the result of the gospel to "good morality"
being the gospel, that one hardly notices that the
gospel was ever anything else. Equally as swift is
the transition from "the gospel" being the
message of the Church, to the Roman Catholic religion
being "the gospel." Kreeft is facile,
fluent, slick and smooth; but he is not Christian.
Mr Spurgeon has captured the essence
of our sentiment:
"In these times, when liberality
is the only popular virtue, and zeal for truth the
cardinal sin, it is worth much to let the public
know assuredly that Popery is not the angel of light
it professes to be. 'Distance lends enchantment
to the view;' but, to the right-minded, to see Romanism
is to abhor it."[5]
[1] Ecumenical
Jihad, page 57
[2] Ecumenical Jihad, page 30
[3] Ecumenical Jihad, page 31
[4] Ecumenical Jihad, page 169
[5] Taken from Geese in their Hoods, Selected
Writings on Roman Catholicism, by Charles Haddon Spurgeon,
compiled and edited by Timothy F. Kauffman, (Huntsville,
AL: White Horse Publications, ©1997), pg. 110 |
