Evangelicals and the Reception of the Second Vatican Council

Abstract The half-century since the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council has seen a marked reduction of mutual suspicion and a growing sense of cooperation between the Catholic Church and the various bodies collectively known as ‘evangelicalism’. This chapter seeks to articulate the role of the council in this growing and transforming relationship from the evangelical side. Contrary to appearances, the evidence suggests that the role the council played was minimal and indirect. At the time of the council, some evangelical theologians took notice. Their views, however, had little influence in the evangelical mainstream press or mindset because of the movement’s internal diversity and lack of magisterium. Subsequent growth in cooperative efforts can be more directly attributed to other factors, such as the charismatic renewal movement, the influence of Pope St John Paul II, and the American ‘culture wars’, which forged what one evangelical theologian has called an ‘ecumenism of the trenches’ between evangelicals and Catholics. Conversely, outside Anglo-America, the council has had little, if any, effect. This is in spite not only of the council, but also of more recent papal pronouncements on ecumenism and cooperation in mission.