A Review Article by Matthew Vogan
1A review of Catholicism East of Eden: Insights into Catholicism for the 21st Century, by Richard Bennett, published by the Banner of Truth Trust, paperback, 336 pages, £8.50. All books reviewed in this issue are available from the Free Presbyterian Bookroom.
This book is of vital importance. It draws the clearest distinction between the way of salvation revealed in Scripture and that defined by the Roman Church. Many Evangelicals today have no clear understanding of the gospel itself, let alone the errors of Rome and how they may be refuted. This book is not only clear, accurate, up to date and highly readable in covering these matters; it also positively exalts the free and sovereign grace of God.
The author is thoroughly versed in his subject. The book is written out of deep personal experience by a man who spent almost 50 years in the Church of Rome. Mr Bennett outlines this story of transformation, revealing how he ultimately resolved his dilemma between the authority of the Bible and that of the Roman Church. Ironically, it was only months after Pope John Paul II’s visit to Trinidad in 1985 that Mr Bennett left Rome, having spent 20 years there as a priest. He was pained by the total veneration encouraged by a mere man in complete contradiction of the attitude of the apostles (Acts 10:25-26). We ought to pray that those who witnessed such scenes in Britain recently would be brought to a similar experience.
The question of whether salvation comes through Christ alone or through the Roman Church alone is examined in the light of Scripture. Mr Bennett shows how Church tradition is set above Scripture in that Romanists are forbidden from interpreting the Scriptures outside the traditions of the Church. Belief “in the traditions of men requires a superstitious naivety of spirit and irrational gullibility” since it cannot be demonstrated that these traditions are apostolic (p 20). Given the love that the true believer must have for the Word of God, an equal love for tradition would be adulterous.
Mr Bennett moves on to note the way in which the priesthood occupies a central place in the Romish idea of salvation. The priest’s “most cherished object”, says the Second Vatican Council, is “to make clear” the “excellence and necessity of the priesthood”. His “principal function” is the mass, by which “the work our redemption is continually carried out” (Vatican II). Christ’s “unchangeable priesthood” (Heb 7:24) is literally untransferable, however; no one else may participate in it. The opportunity for clerical abuse of power is immense when the priest is taught that he acts “in the power and place of the person of Christ Himself” (Vatican II) and that priestly sin cannot impede the efficacy of his functions.
The author refers to the dominant culture of homosexuality among priests and seminarians in the USA. Vatican II considered it “unthinkable” that the law of priestly celibacy could be wrong, despite the fact that it is plainly contrary to Scripture. With an eye on the recent abuse scandals, Mr Bennett asserts that what is really “unthinkable” is the consequences of this law. He also notes the psychological effects of the monastic lifestyle of nuns and refers to the fact that 40% of nuns in the USA are reckoned to have suffered some kind of sexual trauma.
Mr Bennett describes the awful experience of hearing confession as like being “in a garbage pit” “where garbage had been thrown over me until I was nearly succumbing under the sheer weight of the knowledge of sin that had fallen on me” (p 124). “A confession box is an engineered artefact with two sinners inside, one claiming to be the overlord of conscience” (p 132) and to have unlimited power to forgive sin. There is significant scope for abuse of power in the horrifying intimacy of this situation.
There follow historical chapters on the rise of the papacy’s power, particularly the degradation of those controlling it in the eighth and ninth centuries. Papal claims to absolute power “in the care of souls” are also examined, together with the blasphemous usurpation of the titles of the Godhead. It would not be safe to mince words on this matter and Mr Bennett declares unflinchingly that it “is a soul-damning error to mistake the work of the Holy Spirit as Vicar of Christ for the position or work of any man” (p 98). The papacy works with national governments in order to ensure power and control for itself. One such area is in relation to marriage and divorce, where it retains an inflexible control through 110 laws of its own that would undermine the ability of any government to regulate this area effectively. Shockingly, one out of two Roman Catholic marriages in the USA end in divorce, with one out of five officially annulled by the Church (decreeing that the marriage was never valid).
According to Romanism, grace is automatically conferred through all of its sacraments. The new birth is effected by the priest in baptism, the Holy Spirit given by the bishop in confirmation, and the dying made to participate in the saving work of Christ by extreme unction. In the mass the priest is said to have power to command Christ to repeat His incarnation and the propitiation that Scripture calls “one sacrifice for sins for ever” (Heb 10: 11-12). In accordance with the spirit of Antichrist, which denies that Christ is come in the flesh, Rome presents a bread-and-wine saviour which is to be worshipped, yet is also in danger of decomposition and profanation. It is no surprise that some Romanists believe that they can sin as they please after receiving Saturday evening mass, since they are taught that it preserves them from all future mortal sins.
The author shows clearly how, entirely contrary to Scripture, Rome exalts Mary to the place of Christ in calling her “the All-Holy One” who was bodily assumed into heaven, is sinless, able to bestow grace and salvation, to mediate and intercede. We are thankful that the author opposes all idolatrous images of Christ, whether they are used for the purpose of teaching or of veneration. The book also provides a helpful overview of the mysticism that prevails within Romanism, whose character is identical to that of eastern religions. It contains several useful appendices, particularly a table that contrasts the teaching of the Roman Catechism with that of Scripture. The Authorised Version is the only English translation quoted in the book.
This excellent book might, however, be improved. A set of chapters on salvation in Christ alone, bestowed by grace alone, and received through the instrument of faith alone would help to establish the biblical gospel that Rome perverts, particularly in the area of justification, which is not covered by the book. The idea of “East of Eden”, which we take to be a reference to Cain’s man-centred approach to religion, could be expanded since it is not really explained in the book. While there is some allusion to the papacy as the Man of Sin, we think that a chapter on this matter would have been beneficial.
While the book is more up to date and fuller in its references than Lorraine Boettner’s Roman Catholicism (1962), it does not, however, equal Boettner’s achievement of covering every area of Romanism; it omits such matters as forbidding the cup to the laity, purgatory, indulgences, saints, relics, pilgrimages, prayers for the dead and rosaries. The author may well have felt the need to restrict the length of the book in order to create wider appeal, but it leaves unfulfilled the requirement for a book that will provide an up-to-date examination of the full spectrum of Romanist dogma and practice.
The author is not a Presbyterian, and there are one or two areas where we would disagree. These are his denial of infant baptism, his claim that the power of the keys belongs to congregations rather than the presbyters of the Church, and his denial of the unity of the universal visible Church. While the term Roman Catholic Church may be a contradiction in terms, it would be better if the author made use of something similar rather than referring to the Catholic Church or Catholicism, which is to concede to Rome the title of the true universal Church, to which it emphatically has no right.
The book is of tremendous value as a source of information for believers. It may also be placed in the hands of Romanists searching for the truth, in the hope that their precious souls may be delivered out of this great snare of the devil. The author makes abundantly clear the soul-murdering character of “Papal Rome, [which] professes to impart Christ by masses, and the Holy Spirit by sacraments. It claims to fortify the faithful with crucifixes, rosaries, statues, holy water and saints. It alleges that they can shorten the sufferings of souls in purgatory by indulgences. It professes to mediate between God and man; to hold the keys of heaven and hell; to forbid the marriage of priests, and to control lust and sexual scandals by the rule of celibacy . . . . In a word she has set up a system of unrighteousness and taken to herself the imaginary status of ‘our holy mother, the Church'” (p 290).
“What makes the papacy’s method of salvation so horrific is that it is a rejection of the manifest love of God given in the gospel. The evident truth, however, remains untarnished. God’s gratuitous love is made effective in accordance with His supreme purposes (1 Jn 4:9-10)” (p 297).