Evangelical and Roman Catholic Dialogue

In the last twenty years, representatives of the Roman Catholic church and of the evangelical community have inaugurated new avenues of dialogue, after centuries of mutual distrust and ignorance. Some evangelicals have been strongly suspicious of this new phenomenon while others, at the opposite end of the spectrum, have championed a kind of cross-fertilisation of both traditions. One may not minimise the stakes involved. This seminar elucidates the meaning of "dialogue," digs for foundations, and searches for criteria; it sketches the historical relationship of Catholics and evangelicals, and also the changes and present diversity in Roman Catholicism (mainly: theological). This seminar also weighs elements of convergence (raising the problem of the degree of systematicity) and identifies problematic areas, both in "classical" and "modernised" versions.