In Essentials
In essentials unity,
In doubtful things, liberty,
But in all things love.
In necessaries unitas
In dubiis libertas,
In omnibus autem caritas.
This saying is attributed to St. Augustine. It may also have been coined by a German Lutheran shortly after the 30 years war, a man named Rupert Meiderlin.
It seems to me an excellent way for Christians to get along with one another. As I understand the spirit of this phrase, the essentials are what Jesus spoke about; the “doubtful things” what we have accumulated by cultural tradition that may-or may not-have any place in Jesus’ teaching. Using these criteria I would place same-sex marriage and sexual relationships in the category of “doubtful things.”
Josh Thomas, an Episcopalian, writes in “A gay spirit diary”: “The schismatics think that labeling Gay sex as sinful is an essential of the faith. We think that’s ridiculous. Since Jesus never mentioned Gay sex, our judgment about it cannot be an essential teaching. But they think it’s so important they want to write it into a new creed. The Apostles’ Creed isn’t good enough for them, the Nicene Creed isn’t good enough, so now they want to force the Episcopal Church to adopt a new creed written by a Gay-hating Nigerian. Our answer is simple: anti-Gay bigotry is immoral. Stop wasting the Church’s time with this Akinolan Creed when we have hungry people to feed.”
