Posted on 05/09/2007 5:44:02 PM PDT by adiaireton8
Former ETS president speaks about what he takes from evangelicalism back to the Roman Catholic Church. Interview by David Neff | posted 5/09/2007 02:07PM
Francis Beckwith resigned on May 5 as president of the Evangelical Theological Society. One week earlier the Baylor University philosophy professor rejoined the Roman Catholic Church, his home until age 14. He spoke with Christianity Today editor David Neff about reaction to his decision, theological misconceptions, and evangelical strengths and weaknesses.
(Excerpt) Read more at christianitytoday.com ...
-A8
I was interested in the interview!!!
Thanks for posting the link. I found the interview very interesting. I wish Beckwith had mentioned the works he said were so worthwhile to read about justification!
I wish that he had talked about the Blessed Virgin Mary in the interview!
He did.
FWIW, I suspect that Beckwith's present sojourn with the Catholic Church may be short lived. In reviewing the writings of Beckwith both in my own library and on the Internet, I find that Dr. Beckwith is not so much a theologian than he is a philosopher. In that sense I suspect that his theological grounding is much like quicksand.
For the life of me, I can't seem to find that he had any church affiliation or membership prior to his return to Rome. therefore, I suspect that while he was sojourning as a Protestant, he remained a Catholic. I suspect that he was not re baptized and may not have been confirmed in any other Christian sect.
Originally I accused Beckwith of being duplicitous in abandoning the principles of the Reformation. I believe I may have erred. After reviewing many of his articles and books, I now suspect that he never really subscribed to them. His books are almost exclusively apologetic not towards a Protestant or evangelical theology, but towards a generalized religious philosophy, neither Roman Catholic, nor Protestant nor Jewish. Therefore, I would not have been surprised if he had joined the Romans or the Jehovah's witnesses. I found no evidence of any deep theological rock upon which he was grounded. Instead he appeared to be grounded more on the sandy soil of humanistic/religious philosophy.
Don't expect him to become a rabid apologist for Catholic Theology. He was apparently never an apologist for Protestantism. His theology appeared to be a mile wide and a molecule deep.
Maybe 2 molecules? :>)
All I know about Beckwith is that I’ve never heard of him.
That’s all I really need to know. Someone else makes great hay out of some non-catholic becoming catholic. Crowing.
This is an excellent interview that should be posted in its entirety. Perhaps you can do that on a separate thread.
It is the Protestants who have been making hay out of this. The Catholics never heard of him before.
Thanks for the assist. I mentioned to a Protestant recently that I was just waiting for Protestants to start claiming that Beckwith was always really just a Catholic. My gosh, the way you guys act is so predictable.
Can anyone tell me what his church affiliation was after he supposedly left Catholicism? Was he a member of any specific church body? Or was he just a generic evangelical? I can't seem to find any reference to any church he has ever belonged to other than the Roman Catholic Church.
My gosh, the way you guys act is so predictable.
That goes for you too.
You wrote:
“Can anyone tell me what his church affiliation was after he supposedly left Catholicism?”
Does it matter? If so, exactly how? Also, I think I read he was non-denominational.
“Was he a member of any specific church body?”
Maybe yes, maybe no. How does it matter exactly?
“Or was he just a generic evangelical?”
What does that even mean?
“I can’t seem to find any reference to any church he has ever belonged to other than the Roman Catholic Church.”
Okay. So what? No one cared until he became Catholic. That was the no-no. His wife was a baptized Presbyterian and he said he previously held Reformed viewed so I would be surprised if he was a member of a Calvinist group, but I don’t know.
“That goes for you too.”
Apparently not.
Apparently so.
Could not have said it better myself. I would recommend Dr. James White’s response to all this at www.aomin.org.
Well, I have been in an evangelical church for about 55 years, and I subscribe to 2 well-known evangelical publications, and I never heard of Francis Beckwith nor the ETS.
I’m a Catholic and I KNOW there are a lot of prominent Catholics out there that I’ve never heard of.
Speaking of theologically shallow waters?
Baloney.
ALL of the threads on Francis Beckwith have been started by Catholics.
BEFORE.
Did you even notice the word BEFORE?
BEFORE he reconciled with the Church few Catholics had ever even heard of the guy. Once he reconciled, the anti-Catholic backlash was so intense that there was no way the story was not going to become bigger in Catholic circles.
"He Could No Longer Explain Why He Wasn't Catholic" with Tim Drake at the National Catholic Register.
The other is:
"Answering the Call to Full Communion" by Carl Olson at Ignatius Insight.
If you (or anyone) wants to post these on separate threads, please feel free.
-A8
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