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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
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_NLydHsxn-mw/TFw-AnYOMVI/AAAAAAAABQ0/LfHW7UTRsYs/s400/st.+peter+basilica.jpg)
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 colleges 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 childs 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 McKnights 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 wifes 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 Kings 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 Kings 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 Kings 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 studentsand indeed many young evangelicals at largeare 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 Kings College was not the only major change in Croslows life, he was also confirmed into the Catholic Church.
Croslows interest in Catholicism began over six years ago when he was a sophomore in high school. At the time, Croslows 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 hed 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: Quix
I realize we have to work with realities . . . and unless and until it was super overwhelmingly clear that a 3rd party would swamp one and a half of the other parties . . . we must work with the GOP.
However, we must also realize that
the leaders of the GOP including the major stars in the GOP stable,
ARE ABOUT AS MUCH DYED-IN-THE-WOOL TRAITOROUS GLOBALISTS AS TEDDY KENNEDY AND TED TURNER. Correct, as always.
![](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2743/4175015880_cea9ebed9e_m.jpg)
Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.
221
posted on
08/07/2010 9:57:50 PM PDT
by
The Comedian
(Evil can only succeed if good men don't point at it and laugh.)
To: ansel12
You're quite welcome, dear ansel12!
To: Quix
Thank you for sharing your insights, dear brother in Christ!
To: The Comedian; Quix
Is this a Defcon 1 Black Helo Alert?
LOL, jk
224
posted on
08/07/2010 10:00:40 PM PDT
by
rbmillerjr
(A loud band of PaulBots, Isolationists, Protectionists, 911Inside Jobnuts, 3rdParty Loud Irrelevants)
To: Salvation
Yes, indeed. And you're quite welcome, of course, dear brother in Christ!
To: The Comedian
BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD.
BLESSED BE THE WORD OF THE LORD.
BLESSED BE ALL WHO LOVE THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB.
THANKS TONS for your kind affirmation.
Praise God.
226
posted on
08/07/2010 10:10:30 PM PDT
by
Quix
(THE PLAN of the Bosses: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2519352/posts?page=2#2)
To: ansel12; surroundedbyblue; boatbums; Iscool; RnMomof7; caww; presently no screen name; ...
Just how does the Vatican create it's numbers of claimed membership globally, and how does it clear people from the rolls? Great questions and I'll be waiting to see the answers, albeit not with bated breath.
My understanding is Catholicism teaches that once a Catholic, always a Catholic. It's irrelevant what you currant beliefs or practices are or where you go to church.
Apparently then, the Catholic church is always adding to it's numbers and never removing names, except in the case of death.
Now, some Catholics claim that those who vote liberal aren't really Catholics since they have denied themselves or ex-communicated themselves. What appears to be the case, however, is that the Catholics and the RCC , who are more than willing to distance themselves from those who claim Catholicism but vote liberal in politics, are more than willing to count them as members for their membership roles and bragging rights about being the biggest church or religion in the world, with one billion strong and counting.
It all depends on what you're trying to prove whether you count someone as Catholic. If it makes the church look bad by claiming them as members, then they aren't really Catholics. If it makes the church look good by claiming huge numbers of adherents, once a Catholic, always a Catholic. Count 'em based on being baptized or by conversion because of marriage, regardless of the sincerity of heart or follow through, or the integrity of the reason for joining.
227
posted on
08/07/2010 10:40:13 PM PDT
by
metmom
(Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
To: smvoice
“That concept seems to have blown right by you.”
Nope.
But rather than pick-n-choose, I accept ALL of His teachings.
228
posted on
08/07/2010 10:41:48 PM PDT
by
narses
( 'Prefer nothing to the love of Christ.')
To: LiteKeeper
I do not understand how anyone who truly understands the Reformation, and is a faithful student of the Bible, can convert (Cross the Tiber) to Roman Catholicism. I have been a minister for over 30 years, and have never been further aaway from that idea than I am now. It is mystifying!
How do you go from a system of salvation by Grace, to a system of salvation by works?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Catholics take their teachings from the direct source (Jesus) and from the early Church elders (His disciples...who were the first Catholics, and who were the authors of the Bible). Since then, sects and those of “intellectual vanity” have tried to convince others they have the true knowledge and understanding of the Bible. Jesus, knowing human nature, knew this would happen someday. In time, however, people would eventually yearn for the Eucharist.
Perhaps what mystifies you is that people have free will to choose and wish to “come home”.
229
posted on
08/07/2010 10:56:22 PM PDT
by
ak267
To: hinckley buzzard
Many Catholics are grotesquely ignorant about the history of their own church. Their reulting bigotries and stupidities do not go down well among the educated Christian community.
)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
That sounds very Christian of you. Prideful indeed.
230
posted on
08/07/2010 11:01:34 PM PDT
by
ak267
To: Salvation; ansel12; surroundedbyblue; boatbums; Iscool; caww; smvoice; RnMomof7; OLD REGGIE; ...
Then why is it that only Catholics are out praying in front of abortion clinics? That is patently not true.
There are non-Catholic people in my non-Catholic church who protest and pray outside abortion clinics.
There's an evangelical pastor in our area who spent a month in jail for being part of an Operation Rescue protest.
In our area, the only folks I know who have done abortion protesting are non-Catholics.
Catholics do vote pro-abortion and it's not just CINO's. Over the years I worked with many Catholics, many of whom were very dedicated, practicing Catholics, much like that Catholics in these threads claim to be, mass at least once a week and for almost all the special holy days, give stuff up for Lent, meatless Fridays, go to Catholic Bible studies, active in their local churches, one guy Knights of Columbus, etc.... and to a person, they voted liberal/Democratic.
Other non-Catholics (Baptist primarily) confronted them about this and they always had their excuses, the primary ones were that the poor needed to be helped and women had rights and nobody could infringe on them.
Western NY is a very heavily Catholic area (Ukrainian, Polish, Italian, and Hispanic) and is very liberal/Democratic in it's politics (and very corrupt politics at that).
Finding faithful and active Catholics who vote conservative is the exception, not the rule. I don't really care what a few Catholics say strong Catholics SHOULD vote like because I know what most of the DO vote like. I've seen it. Being a strong Catholic is no guarantee of voting conservative. On the contrary, if someone tells me they're Catholic and politics comes up, their political position never surprises me. It's liberal. Count on it.
231
posted on
08/07/2010 11:03:01 PM PDT
by
metmom
(Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
To: Iscool
Have you ever been baptized?
232
posted on
08/07/2010 11:09:11 PM PDT
by
bigoil
To: vladimir998; MamaB
MamaB:
1989; WHEREAS, the messengers to the annual meetings of the Southern Baptist Convention during the past decade have repeatedly reaffirmed their opposition to legalized abortion, except in cases where the mothers life is immediately threatened;v998: So, the SBs are all in favor of murdering innocent children if they think the mothers are in danger.
How disingenuous of you. Your not so subtle rewording of what she posted is dishonest.
The SB position is not that of merely *the mother's life is in danger*, but says, *immediately threatened*. There's a huge difference there.
If the mother's life was immediately threatened (and I can only think of one situation where a pregnancy could immediately threaten a mother's life and that's an ectopic pregnancy), does the Catholic church prefer that they both die?
233
posted on
08/07/2010 11:12:01 PM PDT
by
metmom
(Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
To: Iscool
Why would a real Christian want to become Catholic??? It wouldn’t make any sense.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“Real Christian”?????
I guess the next step is for Catholics to sew “golden fishes” on their coasts so the authorities can identify them in public.
I can sense the pride in your statments.
234
posted on
08/07/2010 11:15:13 PM PDT
by
ak267
To: Tribune7
Which is why work is still required, right?No, because the penalty for sin was paid. There's no sin left to pay for, for someone who has been forgiven. It's gone. That's what forgiveness is all about.
235
posted on
08/07/2010 11:23:34 PM PDT
by
metmom
(Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
To: Salvation; markomalley; Deo volente; dsc; narses; Jvette; Mad Dawg
Nice article. Before I get caught up in the usual ice-cold quixotic doctored stuff that will inevitable get game cooked when the usual suspects enter this thread, I'll put in my calmer two cents:
orthodoxy (the Apostolic Church) is where you can use your heart and head to read your way into the Church. If you get turned off by the speak in sham tongues etc. groups, you come to orthodoxy and learn the truth
However, there are many people who are not the reading types, many simple, yet devout people. The Church has always reached out to these and still does, but not in as visceral a way as the singing and dancing crews do. Sing yes!
We are the CATHOLIC Church -- we should allow for both these types of people to find their way to The Church. I think The Church does this to some extent in Asia and Africa, but is too dry in America.
That doesn't mean we should become poofy and all-show-no-content like the denominations but we need to have more community outreach, more SCC - Small Christian Communities initiatives, more Youth centered organisations run by the youth themselves.
The onus is on US, The Church to do this as we always have since the time of Christ.
236
posted on
08/07/2010 11:30:46 PM PDT
by
Cronos
(Omnia mutantur, nihil interit. "Allah": Satan's current status)
To: ak267; Iscool
I can sense the pride in your statments.Likewise, I'm sure. And that goes for the vast majority of your Catholic compatriots on this thread.
The sense of spiritual superiority that oozes from most every post Catholic post about the RCC being established by Christ Himself as the *real true* church and salvation by and through it alone, far out shines anything non-Catholics can be accused of.
There isn't a thing that Catholics can accuse non-Catholic of that they don't engage in themselves to a greater or equal degree.
237
posted on
08/07/2010 11:32:03 PM PDT
by
metmom
(Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
To: metmom
perhaps you need to remove the beam in your eye before you can complain of the splinter in others.
238
posted on
08/07/2010 11:42:54 PM PDT
by
ak267
To: fish hawk
On reading Scot McKnight's From Wheaton to Rome: Why Evangelicals Become Roman Catholic." as referenced in this article, he points out trends and patterns among those who have converted from Evangelicalism to Catholicism.
This is a pretty impartial book in the sense that McKnight does not evaluate the validity or give his own opinion on which is better, he just notes down the reasons given, with none of his own opinion added, so it is interesting as a statistician's question WHY?
McKnight points out that the typical convert to The Church goes through an "institutional transition" where they usually do not view themselves as converting to faith in Christ when they become Catholic; rather, they see themselves as
transitioning to the fullness of the Christian faith. "In nearly every case, the convert believes that he or she has 'come home' or 'entered the fullness of the faith' or has experienced conversion to the 'truth of the Catholic faith.'"
One of the converts David Currie says
"I see my decision [to convert to RC] as a natural outgrowth of my Evangelical commitment."
or Stephen K Ray, most
"read' my way back to the Catholic Church. When I started reading books about what the church actually taught, I was forced to give up many mischaracterizations of her teachings. Indeed, I was struck by the sheer depths of the historical, and biblical arguments in favor of the Catholic faith.
Most converts from Evangelicalism, according to this book experience "a desire for transcendance"
This desire for transcendence usually takes four forms:
(1) a desire for certainty;
(2) a desire for history;
(3) a desire for unity; and
(4) a desire for authority.
(1) Certainty This desire for full knowledge of truth spurs many converts to The Church to reject what they consider to be the "doctrinal mayhem" and "choose-your-own-church syndrome". They have a desire for knowledge that they believe is possible within Catholicism but not within Protestantism.
(2) History McKnight observes that many feel a "historical disenfranchisement" with Protestantism and want to be connected to the entire history of the Christian church and not just the period since the Reformation.
(3) Unity Most converts are disturbed by the divisions and countless denominations within Protestantism. McKnight quotes Peter Cram who
describes Protestantism as "one long, continuous line of protesters protesting against their fellow protesters, generating thousands of denominations, para-churches, and 'free churches,' which are simply one-church denominations."
Converts instead look to the unity of the Roman Catholic Church.
(4)Authority
Converts are disturbed by either 1. the lack of authority in the denominations or authority vested in a pastor with no real credentials (see David Koresh) besides charisma. And in both these cases there is no tie back, the group of the pastor dies with the pastor. They prefer the authority of Christ as vested by Him in His apostles.
Finally, do note that this article is specifically about Evangelicals getting baptised into Church, not about Lutherans, Anglicans, Methodists etc.
239
posted on
08/07/2010 11:47:55 PM PDT
by
Cronos
(Omnia mutantur, nihil interit. "Allah": Satan's current status)
To: Steelfish; Salvation
The various denominations I see as (computer terminology here), 1st generation, 2nd gen etc. And, like all heresies, they at the most last for 500 odd years (like Arianism died out within 500 years and so too the rest).
The 1st generation Protestant groups --> Anglicans, original Lutherans, Calvinists, Zwingli-boys, Unitarians etc. are dead or dying. Modern day Lutherans are not in tune with the same beliefs that Luther had -- they do expand on them (with no comments on why or the validity or the "trueness to Luther" on this), mixing it with Reformed thinking or otherwise. Ditto for Anglicans and the original Calvinists (Switzerland)
What we see in the Baptists and then the Evangelicals is generation 4 and 5/6 respectively. And the half-life of these is shorter than those of the original break-away denominations: if you look up the history of Presbyterianism in the USA it is crazy and looks like this
And that's just Presbyterians in the US. If you look at the original Presbyterians in Scotland it looks like
Here is it for the Pentecostals:
Ditto for the SBC
240
posted on
08/08/2010 12:10:56 AM PDT
by
Cronos
(Omnia mutantur, nihil interit. "Allah": Satan's current status)
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