For Catholics, who do you personally consider to be Christians?

[Confiteor_Deo]

I believe that anyone that has been validly baptized is considered to be Christian. If you aren’t baptized, then you aren’t Christian even if you believe in the teachings of Our Lord.

 

[dmar198]

I have wondered about the Council of Trent declaring anathemas to many including those who do not believe in transubstantiation.

The reason they did that is because they were very serious about transubstantiation being a fundamental part of Catholic faith. We won’t budge on that issue. Just like Jesus allowed His disciples to leave Him over that point, and even asked the Apostles if they would leave too, the Council of Trent wanted to make it clear that you are either with us or against us on this point. That’s why they used an anathema.

Note this though: anathemas are a form of excommunication, and they only apply to people who are in the Church. Most modern protestants have never been in the Church, and so the anathemas of Trent don’t apply to them. You can only “kick someone out” if they are currently “in.”

Can someone who is anathematized according to the Council of Trent be separated brethren?

Short answer: yes. Long answer: An anathema cuts people off from full communion with the Church, but people in that state can still be connected in a partial way, for example through their baptism. (Actually it is sometimes better to say an anathema Lets Someone Know that they have cut Themselves off from the Church.) Since the Council still acknowledged protestants to be Christians and “sons of [the Church’s] womb,” the Council seems to mean that the early protestants were brothers in a partial but real way. They were cut off from full communion with the Church, but still our brothers by their baptism.

Do the later councils make the other councils ruling invalid? Or are they combined somehow?

Later councils can change disciplinary rulings but not doctrinal ones. Vatican 2 explicitly reaffirmed the dogmatic teachings of the Church’s prior councils: “This Sacred Council accepts with great devotion [the] venerable faith of our ancestors regarding [the communion of saints]; and it proposes again the decrees of the Second Council of Nicea, the Council of Florence and the Council of Trent.” (Lumen Gentium 51) And: “The dogmatic principles which were laid down by the Council of Trent remaining intact.” (Sacrosanctum Concilium 55)

Disciplinary decisions can and have changed. Either a pope or an ecumenical council can change those. Doctrinal decisions cannot change because we believe the ecumenical councils were/are infallible.

 

[Little_Sheep]

It may not surprise you to learn that if someone tells me they are a Christian, then I believe them. Much like, “My name is X and I’m an alcoholic,” self identity is key.

That said, if someone tells me they are a Christian and then they tell me that they believe that Jesus was a Martian sent to Earth by a special intergalactic alliance to shake things up (or other such obvious nonsense), I will suspect that they do not understand much about Christianity.

My personal experience is that even those Christians whose personal orthodoxy is different from mine tend to organically accept the Trinity, the sacrificial nature of the Death and Resurrection and the 10 Commandments. Not all, of course, but most.

 

[Wesrock]

I haven’t sat down and considered all the odds and ends, but Trinitarianism is a must. I hadn’t formally considered this before, but I do “confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins,” so I suppose I must make the further distinction of a person having a Trinitarian baptism.

 

[Wesrock]

I have wondered about the Council of Trent declaring anathemas to many including those who do not believe in transubstantiation. Can someone who is anathematized according to the Council of Trent be separated brethren? Do the later councils make the other councils ruling invalid? Or are they combined somehow?

I’ve seen it argued that such declarations were specific to the time, when baptized and confirmed Catholics were themselves denying such truths and splintering from the church. Such declarations would not apply then in the same way to those who were never Catholic.