Truth or Tribalism?

One Body Through the Cross, the Princeton Proposal for Christianity Unity, criticizes the ecumenical movement for “liberal indifference” to orthodoxy, which has sometimes provoked a reaction of “divisive sectarianism.”

For some, the solution is to stress traditional doctrinal formulations, but this cure is part of the disease. As Margaret O’Gara explains in her contribution to Receptive Ecumenism: “Wanting to avoid an indifferent relativism, some churches focus on older formulations to define their identity over against other churches. But, in fact, the Princeton Proposal argues, both liberal indifference and divisive sectarianism are often marked by a shift away from the question of truth and towards the question of identity: ‘The question Is it true?, that is, faithful to the divine revelation, was implicitly equated with Is it authentically Catholic?, Is it Evangelical?, Does it express the mind of Orthodoxy?, Is it congruent with the dynamics of the Reformation? ’ (§ 41). The Proposal continues, ‘This shift from truth to identity reflects a kind of tribalization of Christian communities’ which can play into the hands of secular nationalism, ethnic conflict, or consumerist dynamics (§ 42).”

Liberalism and sectarianism are, in short, two versions of tribalism.