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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
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: AnneM62
What happened to the error of "Once saved, always saved"?They were never saved.. I would reference Matt 13:1-24 to you for understanding ....Also Matt 7:21-23
To: Cvengr
And how so? Have you read the traditions of the early Church handed down by the Apostles?
To: Mr. Lucky
To: RnMomof7
To: RnMomof7
Since you seem to claim the ability to judge, you tell me - I am a practicing Catholic. Am I saved?
345
posted on
08/08/2010 9:02:27 AM PDT
by
narses
( 'Prefer nothing to the love of Christ.')
To: narses
I asked that because I know what the church teaches on this ...it is hypocritical to criticize me for saying they were not saved when the church they joined tells them they can not know until they die ..in the Catholic church there is no eternal security ...so what difference does it make if they are unsaved.. as far as the church is concerned everyone is
To: Quix
The Vatican CERTAINLY exhibits GREAT PRODUCTIONS OF PRANCING PONTIFICAL POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE AUTHORITY just like the religious leaders in Jerusalem 2000 years ago.
And then there is Jesus who came as a Servant.
Matt 20:28"just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
The RCC is not spiritual but WORLDLY and demonstrates the world's perception of what greatness is. In direct contrast to what Jesus showed us what His Kingdom calls greatness.
The RCC - subjects bound by rules - legalism.
Jesus, Our Savior - who the Son sets free, is free indeed.
John 8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
Galatians 5:1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
John 1:17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
To: ansel12
Part of the reason for that is... McCain was a useless, lousy, incompetent campaigner.
That’s why millions of Christians voted of all strains of the faith voted for Obama... and millions more stayed home.
It’s hard to work for a campaign (McCain’s) when the basics like signs and phones weren’t provided to campaign workers in one of the biggest swing counties in the nation (Tampa/Hillsborough) where I live.
To: bigoil
Have you ever been baptized?Twice...
When I accepted Jesus as my Savior I was baptized into the Holy Spirit...
Some time after, I was immersed in a lake, with Christians standing around me, in and out of the water, singing hymns...
How about you???
349
posted on
08/08/2010 9:48:00 AM PDT
by
Iscool
(I don't understand all that I know...)
To: Cvengr; Quix
Why does the Pope wear that Roman headgear and fancy dress? How great thou art?
What part of Jesus does that represent? Jesus was given a crown of thorns by the Romans and torn His garments off. How great Thou art!!
To: ak267
I can sense the pride in your statments.Maybe your senses are broken...
351
posted on
08/08/2010 9:53:45 AM PDT
by
Iscool
(I don't understand all that I know...)
To: metmom
As I understand it... the Catholic Church recognizes ANY Christian Baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We believe in one baptism for the forgiveness of sin... and there are a number of ways to get that baptism.
To: RnMomof7
Very true on both counts... I would guess the dominant denomination in a particular area is often very well represented in each area’s pro-life movement.
To: Iscool
To: Cronos
well, no, the primary decision is the acceptance of Christ as your saviour.You guys are like watching comedy central...
What happened to the UNITY, the ONE MIND, the NO ERRORS???
You criticize Protestants for having minor disagreements...And now we have two Catholics disagreeing on what it takes to get to heaven...
355
posted on
08/08/2010 10:16:41 AM PDT
by
Iscool
(I don't understand all that I know...)
Comment #356 Removed by Moderator
To: verga
This has been explained a dozen times CATHOLICS Don't vote proabortion, but Prots and CINO's do. When the majority of Catholics usually vote proabortion, and the majority of Protestants always vote anti-abortion, it is just bizarre to keep saying the reverse.
How do you expect to improve the vote or deal with this new flood of Catholic Democrats from Mexico if you can't even discuss voting in America?
Something important is going on for conservatives in the vote of Catholics, we have ignored it for generations but we cannot keep refusing to see it, unless this wall of denial itself by Catholics, explains why Catholicism and liberalism are such a natural fit.
There are political questions here that need to be answered if conservatism is to survive and hopefully thrive, how do we make a majority of people that are Catholic a part of the consistent, conservative, pro-life, anti-gay agenda, religious vote, how do we break the bond between Catholics and liberalism.
357
posted on
08/08/2010 10:31:41 AM PDT
by
ansel12
(Mitt: "I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I'm not trying to return to Reagan-Bush")
To: ansel12
When the majority of Catholics usually vote proabortionDid a larger number of Catholics or prots votre for Obozo.
The Fact is that it is Prots that put him into the white house, tyou keep tossing percentages around, only because the truth does not prove your point.
358
posted on
08/08/2010 10:34:29 AM PDT
by
verga
(I am not an apologist, I just play one on Television)
To: rwilson99
Part of the reason for that is... McCain was a useless, lousy, incompetent campaigner. Why try to make excuses, it was normal for a pro abortion Democrat to win the Catholic vote against a Republican.
The 2008 vote was typical, Protestants voting Republican like the always do, and Catholics voting Democrat like they usually do, (until recently you could have said "always do").
359
posted on
08/08/2010 10:38:18 AM PDT
by
ansel12
(Mitt: "I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I'm not trying to return to Reagan-Bush")
To: rwilson99
Part of the reason for that is... McCain was a useless, lousy, incompetent campaigner. Why try to make excuses, it was normal for a pro abortion Democrat to win the Catholic vote against a Republican.
The 2008 vote was typical, Protestants voting Republican like the always do, and Catholics voting Democrat like they usually do, (until recently you could have said "always do").
360
posted on
08/08/2010 10:38:33 AM 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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