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Magazine: Growing Trend--Evangelicals ‘Crossing the Tiber’ to Catholicism
TheSacredPage.com ^ | August 6, 2010 | Michael Barber

Posted on 08/07/2010 3:38:50 PM PDT by Salvation

Friday, August 06, 2010

Magazine: Growing Trend--Evangelicals ‘Crossing the Tiber’ to Catholicism

The magazine Religion Dispatches has a new piece up by Jonathan Fitzgerald, entitled, "Evangelicals ‘Crossing the Tiber’ to Catholicism: Under the radar of most observers a trend is emerging of evangelicals converting to Catholicism."


As he points out, there are an increasing number Evangelicals coming into the Catholic Church. In fact, while my wife and I were at Fuller we witnessed this phenomenon firsthand. Indeed, students would come up and ask us if they could follow us to daily Mass (which was celebrated at a Catholic Church down the street). I went to Mass with many fellow students who had never experienced a Eucharistic liturgy. . . and, for many of them, once they started attending they couldn't stop.

Here's the story as Fitzgerald reports it:
In the fall of 1999, I was a freshman at Gordon College, an evangelical liberal arts school in Massachusetts. There, fifteen years earlier, a professor named Thomas Howard resigned from the English department when he felt his beliefs were no longer in line with the college’s statement of faith. Despite all those intervening years, during my time at Gordon the specter of Thomas Howard loomed large on campus. The story of his resignation captured my imagination; it came about, ultimately, because he converted to Roman Catholicism.

Though his reasons for converting were unclear and perhaps unimaginable to me at the time (they are actually well-documented in his book Evangelical is Not Enough which, back then, I had not yet read), his reasons seemed less important than the knowledge that it could happen. I had never heard of such a thing. . .

. . . [M]y parents never spoke ill of the Catholic Church; though the pastors and congregants of our non-denominational, charismatic church-that-met-in-a-warehouse, often did. Despite my firsthand experience with the Church, between the legend of my parents’ conversion (anything that happens in a child’s life before he is born is the stuff of legends) and the portrait of the Catholic Church as an oppressive institution that took all the fun out of being “saved,” I understood Catholicism as a religion that a person leaves when she becomes serious about her faith.

And yet, Thomas Howard is only the tip of the iceberg of a hastening trend of evangelicals converting to Catholicism. North Park University professor of religious studies Scot McKnight documented some of the reasons behind this trend in his important 2002 essay entitled “From Wheaton to Rome: Why Evangelicals become Roman Catholic.” The essay was originally published in the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, and was later included in a collection of conversion stories he co-edited with Hauna Ondrey entitled Finding Faith, Losing Faith: Stories of Conversion and Apostasy.

Thomas Howard comes in at number five on McKnight’s list of significant conversions, behind former Presbyterian pastor and author of Rome Sweet Home, Scott Hahn, and Marcus Grodi founder of The Coming Home Network International, an organization that provides “fellowship, encouragement and support for Protestant pastors and laymen who are somewhere along the journey or have already been received into the Catholic Church,” according to their Web site. Other featured converts include singer-songwriter John Michael Talbot and Patrick Madrid, editor of the Surprised by Truth books, which showcase conversion stories.

Would Saint Augustine Go to a Southern Baptist Church in Houston?

McKnight first identified these converts eight years ago, and the trend has continued to grow in the intervening years. It shows up in a variety of places, in the musings of the late Michael Spencer (the “Internet Monk”) about his wife’s conversion and his decision not to follow, as well as at the Evangelical Theological Society where the former President and Baylor University professor Francis J. Beckwith made a well-documented “return to Rome.” Additionally, the conversion trend is once again picking up steam as the Millennial generation, the first to be born and raised in the contemporary brand of evangelicalism, comes of age. Though perhaps an unlikely setting, The King’s College, an evangelical Christian college in New York City, provides an excellent case study for the way this phenomenon is manifesting itself among young evangelicals.

The King’s College campus is comprised of two floors in the Empire State Building and some office space in a neighboring building on Fifth Avenue. The approximately 300 students who attend King’s are thoughtful, considerate and serious. They are also intellectually curious. This combination of traits, it turns out, makes the college a ripe breeding ground for interest in Roman Catholicism. Among the traits of the Catholic Church that attract TKC students—and indeed many young evangelicals at large—are its history, emphasis on liturgy, and tradition of intellectualism.

Lucas Croslow was one such student to whom these and other attributes of Catholicism appealed. This past spring, graduating from The King’s College was not the only major change in Croslow’s life, he was also confirmed into the Catholic Church.

Croslow’s interest in Catholicism began over six years ago when he was a sophomore in high school. At the time, Croslow’s Midwestern evangelical church experienced a crisis that is all too common among evangelical churches: what he describes as “a crisis of spiritual authority.” As a result of experiencing disappointment in his pastor, Croslow began to question everything he had learned from him. This questioning led him to study the historical origins of scripture and then of the Christian church itself. Eventually he concluded that Catholicism in its current form is the closest iteration of the early church fathers’ intentions. He asks, “If Saint Augustine showed up today, could we seriously think that he’d attend a Southern Baptist church in Houston?” The answer, to Croslow, is a resounding “No.”
 
. . .

You can read the rest here.



TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; History; Theology
KEYWORDS: catholic; catholiclist; converts; evangelical; freformed
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To: hinckley buzzard
For the best part of two thousand years the Catholic Church deliberately kept the people ignorant of "Bible Doctrine." The reason was, the official position of the RC Church: that the scriptures be damned, Christianity is what the priests say it is. You don't need to know the Bible, WE will tell you what is important for you to know.
A flat out falsehood. Very sad.
101 posted on 08/07/2010 6:39:44 PM PDT by narses ( 'Prefer nothing to the love of Christ.')
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To: Tribune7

This is why we differ. Protestants believe that we are cleared of the penalty for sin, and the enslaving power of sin, but not from the presence of sin. And that the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer is sanctification, not justification. Justification was settled at the Cross, sanctification is an on going process until the Second Coming and the glorification of the believers


102 posted on 08/07/2010 6:40:07 PM PDT by LiteKeeper ("It's the peoples' seat!")
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To: vladimir998
I do not worship Christ in vain.

Matthew 15:9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'"

Don't tell me that - they are Jesus' Words.

ANY OTHER teachings - other than His Own/HIS WORD is man's! God makes the rules - NOT YOU! If HE says it's in vain - then that's what it is. Your choice to be instructed as HE says or not.
103 posted on 08/07/2010 6:40:57 PM PDT by presently no screen name
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To: RnMomof7
The Holy Spirit just visited me and told me your salvation is in question since you are truth challenged and Jesus is the Truth. The Scriptures and the false pride which you exhibit in attempting to make your flawed scriptural interpretation are pointing to the sin of Satan enveloping your heart. Catholics believe the cross of Jesus is sufficient while many protestant houses of heresy bask in the glow of divorce, female and homosexual ordinations and of course abortion. These protestant cults only take solace in their own prideful exegesis of sacred scripture.
104 posted on 08/07/2010 6:41:11 PM PDT by bronx2 (while Jesus is the Alpha /Omega He has given us rituals which you reject to obtain the graces as to)
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To: ansel12
I don't think that you know the voting data, the majority of Catholics CINOs are liberals, Obama just got 54% of their vote. I hope that those converts vote like Evangelists.

There fixed it for you

105 posted on 08/07/2010 6:55:47 PM PDT by verga (I am not an apologist, I just play one on Television)
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To: vladimir998
It seems you can’t counter the fact that MORE Protestants voted for Obama than Catholics.

That is silly, there is nothing to counter, a minority of Protestants are liberals and a majority of Catholics are liberal, why is that and how can we make Catholics less liberal.

As far as abortion
Image and video hosting by TinyPic

106 posted on 08/07/2010 6:56:17 PM PDT by ansel12 (Mitt: "I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I'm not trying to return to Reagan-Bush")
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To: presently no screen name

You wrote:

“Don’t tell me that - they are Jesus’ Words.”

Yes - I still do not worship Christ in vain.

“ANY OTHER teachings - other than His Own/HIS WORD is man’s!”

Protestantism is man made.

“God makes the rules - NOT YOU!”

I never claimed I made them. Protestants make them for themselves, however.

“If HE says it’s in vain - then that’s what it is.”

I do not worship Christ in vain - and Christ neved said I did either.

“Your choice to be instructed as HE says or not.”

I already was instructed by Him. That’s why I am not a Protestant.


107 posted on 08/07/2010 6:56:30 PM PDT by vladimir998 (Part of the Vast Catholic Conspiracy (hat tip to Kells))
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To: ansel12

Protestants put Obama in the White House. More Protestants voted for him than “Catholics”.

Protestants invented religious liberalism.

Protestants invented political liberalism.

Protestants put Obama in the White House.


108 posted on 08/07/2010 6:59:14 PM PDT by vladimir998 (Part of the Vast Catholic Conspiracy (hat tip to Kells))
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To: MamaB
That will never happen in the SBC I go to. It is the Catholics who will not kick someone out if they break God’s laws. Some do not even have the guts to kick someone out who votes for abortions. etc.

No you folks just have disfellowship and church splits, that's real christian /sarc

109 posted on 08/07/2010 6:59:30 PM PDT by verga (I am not an apologist, I just play one on Television)
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To: verga

I get it, you don’t like Catholics that don’t vote like you do and you deny them the Catholic faith, but I think that the Vatican still counts them as Catholic in spite of your presumptions.


110 posted on 08/07/2010 6:59:38 PM PDT by ansel12 (Mitt: "I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I'm not trying to return to Reagan-Bush")
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To: presently no screen name
presently no screen name wrote:
God makes the rules - NOT YOU! If HE says it's in vain - then that's what it is. Your choice to be instructed as HE says or not.
God wrote:
And I say to you: That you are Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.
We in the Catholic (Universal) Church given us by Jesus Christ follow His words, why don't you?
111 posted on 08/07/2010 7:04:34 PM PDT by narses ( 'Prefer nothing to the love of Christ.')
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To: ansel12
If we can get Catholics to vote like Protestants then we could stop abortion.

In 1929 the COE voted to accept Birth Control/ artifical contraception and every prot church fell in line right after that. Say what you will about he Catholics in name only, The Catholic Chrch is the only one taht has never officially wavered from their official position.

The Pill annd other ABC's are indeed abortifactients.

112 posted on 08/07/2010 7:05:38 PM PDT by verga (I am not an apologist, I just play one on Television)
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To: vladimir998

I hear the bigotry, but I don’t hear the conservative activism.

The majority of Protestants vote conservative and pro-life, but what is it about Catholicism that leads the majority of Catholics to vote liberal and pro-abortion?

We need to examine that question if we are to defeat abortion and liberalism, especially in light of the Kennedy 1965 immigration act that is flooding us with more Catholics, this is urgent stuff for the future of the pro-life and the conservative movement in America.


113 posted on 08/07/2010 7:08:32 PM PDT by ansel12 (Mitt: "I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I'm not trying to return to Reagan-Bush")
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To: verga

You wrote:

“The Pill annd other ABC’s are indeed abortifactients.”

That’s why I say - and it’s irrefutable - very, very few Protestants are really pro-life. If you support contraceptives, you support abortion and the culture of death.


114 posted on 08/07/2010 7:09:45 PM PDT by vladimir998 (Part of the Vast Catholic Conspiracy (hat tip to Kells))
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To: ansel12; ought-six
You mean Protestants like the Clintons?

Doesn't obozo claim to be a Prot, He wouldn't support the Born alive bill

115 posted on 08/07/2010 7:10:40 PM PDT by verga (I am not an apologist, I just play one on Television)
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To: narses; presently no screen name
God wrote:

"...I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister both of these things which thou has seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee." (Acts 26:16).

Jesus Christ. To Paul. After He spoke to Peter.

116 posted on 08/07/2010 7:12:47 PM PDT by smvoice (smvoice- formally known as small voice in the wilderness. Easier on the typing!)
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To: verga

My concern is the Catholic voter and his Democratic party in America, not the Vatican over in Europe.


117 posted on 08/07/2010 7:12:56 PM PDT by ansel12 (Mitt: "I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I'm not trying to return to Reagan-Bush")
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To: ansel12

You wrote:

“I hear the bigotry, but I don’t hear the conservative activism.”

Maybe your hearing would be better in the “News/Activism” forum. This is teh religion forum.

“The majority of Protestants vote conservative and pro-life, but what is it about Catholicism that leads the majority of Catholics to vote liberal and pro-abortion?”

Clearly tens of millions of Protestants voted for Obama - millions more than Catholics - and very, very few Protestants are pro-life. Most Protestant sects support abortion in one way or another.

“We need to examine that question if we are to defeat abortion and liberalism, especially in light of the Kennedy 1965 immigration act that is flooding us with more Catholics, this is urgent stuff for the future of the pro-life and the conservative movement in America.”

To defeat abortion once and for all protestantism must be defeated. Protestantism gave us liberalism. Liberalism gave us abortion on demand and contraception. Protestant ideology leads to abortion.


118 posted on 08/07/2010 7:14:35 PM PDT by vladimir998 (Part of the Vast Catholic Conspiracy (hat tip to Kells))
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To: Tribune7; LiteKeeper

What was finished was Christ’s redemptive work on the cross.

The penalty for sin was paid but that doesn’t mean that sin was eliminated. That’s coming yet.

I can’t believe that Catholics can miss something so basic.


119 posted on 08/07/2010 7:15:04 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: Salvation

The return home of any who has been lost and deceived is a welcome grace.


120 posted on 08/07/2010 7:16:09 PM PDT by big'ol_freeper ("Anyone pushing Romney must love socialism...Piss on Romney and his enablers!!" ~ Jim Robinson)
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