The Nature and Origin of Granite

Abstract

The famous Sohm-Harnack debate concerning the nature and origin of Catholicism was prejudiced by the post-Vatican I era. The post-Vatican II era encourages reopening the issue giving more attention to the early Church's understanding of the term "Catholic". the writer has redefined "Catholicism" as "primitive Christianity which understood itself to be the messianic covenant People Israel, moving out of its original setting and adapting its thought and its forms, consciously or subconsciously, to the Graeco-Roman milieu while striving to conserve its essential identity through its corporate constitution". when the nature of Catholicism is thus redefined, neither Sohm's nor Harnack's answer to the question of origins suffices to explain the phenomenon; rather Catholicism arose out of missionary concerns from the very beginning, as soon as the Church began moving into the Hellenistic milieu. The problem of Catholicism is not whether but how far this process will go. To avoid excessive accommodation and institutionalization, the Church must always apply the tests of eschatology, of the Spirit's independence, and of the primitive witness. (Edited).