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Catholicism made me Protestant
First Things ^ | 9/11/2019 | Onsi A. Kamel

Posted on 09/11/2019 10:52:15 AM PDT by Gamecock

Like all accounts of God’s faithfulness, mine begins with a genealogy. In the late seventeenth century, my mother’s Congregationalist ancestors journeyed to the New World to escape what they saw as England’s deadly compromise with Romanism. Centuries later, ­American Presbyterians converted my father’s great-­grandmother from Coptic ­Orthodoxy to ­Protestantism. Her son became a Presbyterian minister in the Evangelical Coptic Church. By the time my parents were ­living in ­twenty-first-century Illinois, their families’ historic Reformed commitments had been replaced by non-denominational, ­Baptistic ­evangelicalism.

This form of Christianity dominated my Midwestern hometown. My parents taught me to love God, revere the Scriptures, and seek truth through reason. In middle school, my father introduced me to theology, and as a present for my sixteenth birthday he arranged a meeting between me and a Catholic philosopher, Dr. B—. From high school into college, Dr. B— introduced me to Catholic thought and graciously helped me work through my doubts about Christianity. How could a just and loving God not reveal himself equally to everyone? What are we to make of the Bible’s creation stories and flood narrative? Did Calvinism make God the author of evil? My acquaintance with Dr. B— set my intellectual trajectory for several years.

The causes of any conversion (or near conversion) are many and confused. Should I foreground psychological and social factors or my theological reasoning? Certain elements of my attraction to Catholicism were adolescent, like a sixties radical’s attraction to Marx or a contemporary activist’s to intersectionality: I aimed to preserve the core beliefs of my upbringing while fleeing their bourgeois expressions. When I arrived at the University of Chicago, I knew just enough about Calvinism to hold it in ­contempt—which is to say, I knew very little. Reacting against the middle-aged leaders of the inaptly named “Young, Restless, and Reformed Movement,” I sought refuge in that other great ­Western ­theological tradition: ­Roman ­Catholicism.

During my first year of college, I became involved in campus Catholic life. Through the influence of the Catholic student group and the Lumen Christi Institute, which hosts lectures by Catholic intellectuals, my theologically inclined college friends began converting to Catholicism, one after another. These friends were devout, intelligent, and schooled in Christian history. I met faithful and holy Catholic priests—one of whom has valiantly defended the faith for years, drawing punitive opposition from his own religious superiors, as well as the ire of Chicago’s archbishop. This priest was and is to me the very model of a holy, righteous, and courageous man.

I loved Catholicism because Catholics taught me to love the Church. At Lumen Christi events, I heard about saints and mystics, stylites and monastics, desert fathers and late-antique theologians. I was captivated by the holy martyrs, relics, Mary, and the Mass. I found in the Church a spiritual mother and the mother of all the faithful. Through Catholicism, I came into an inheritance: a past of saints and redeemed sinners from all corners of the earth, theologians who illuminated the deep things of God, music and art that summon men to worship God “in the beauty of holiness,” and a tradition to ground me in a world of flux.

Catholicism, which I took to be the Christianity of history, was a world waiting to be discovered. I set about exploring, and I tried to bring others along. I debated tradition with my mother, sola Scriptura with my then fiancée (now wife), and the meaning of the Eucharist with my father. On one occasion, a Reformed professor dispensed with my arguments for transubstantiation in a matter of minutes.

Not long after this, I began to notice discrepancies between Catholic apologists’ map of the tradition and the terrain I encountered in the tradition itself. St. Ambrose’s doctrine of justification sounded a great deal more like Luther’s sola fide than like Trent. St. John Chrysostom’s teaching on repentance and absolution—“Mourn and you annul the sin”—would have been more at home in Geneva than Paris. St. Thomas’s doctrine of predestination, much to my horror, was nearly identical to the Synod of Dordt’s. The Anglican divine Richard Hooker quoted Irenaeus, ­Chrysostom, ­Augustine, and Pope Leo I as he rejected doctrines and practices because they were not grounded in Scripture. He cited Pope Gregory the Great on the “­ungodly” title of universal bishop. The Council of ­Nicaea assumed that Alexandria was on a par with Rome, and Chalcedon declared that the Roman patriarchate was privileged only “because [Rome] was the royal city.” In short, I began to wonder whether the Reformers had a legitimate claim to the Fathers. The Church of Rome could not be straightforwardly identified as catholic.

John Henry Newman became my crucial interlocutor: More than in Ratzinger, Wojtyła, or Congar, in Newman I found a kindred spirit. Here was a man obsessed with the same questions that ate at me, questions of tradition and authority. With Newman, I agonized over conversion. I devoured his Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine and his Apologia pro Vita Sua. Two of his ideas were pivotal for me: his theory of doctrinal development and his articulation of the problem of private judgment. On these two ideas hung all the claims of Rome.

In retrospect, I see that Newman’s need to construct a theory of doctrinal development tells against Rome’s claims of continuity with the ancient Church. And at the time, though I wished to accept Newman’s proposal that “the early condition, and the evidence, of each doctrine . . . ought consistently to be interpreted by means of that development which was ultimately attained,” I could not. One could only justify such assumptions if one were already committed to Roman Catholic doctrine and Rome’s meaningful continuity with what came before. Without either of these commitments, I simply could not find a plausible reason to speak of “development” rather than “disjuncture,” especially because what came before so often contradicted what followed.

The issue of ecclesiastical authority was trickier for me. I recognized the absurdity of a twenty-year-old presuming to adjudicate claims about the Scriptures and two thousand years of history. Newman’s arguments against private judgment therefore had a prima facie plausibility for me. In his Apologia, Newman argues that man’s rebellion against God introduced an “anarchical condition of things,” leading human thought toward “suicidal excesses.” Hence, the fittingness of a divinely established living voice infallibly proclaiming supernatural truths. In his discourse on “Faith and Private Judgment,” Newman castigates Protestants for refusing to “surrender” reason in matters religious. The implication is that reason is unreliable in matters of revelation. Faith is assent to the incontestable, self-evident truth of God’s revelation, and reasoning becomes an excuse to refuse to bend the knee.

The more I internalized ­Newman’s claims about private judgment, however, the more I descended into skepticism. I could not reliably interpret the Scriptures, history, or God’s Word preached and given in the sacraments. But if I could not do these things, if my reason was unfit in matters religious, how was I to assess Newman’s arguments for Roman Catholicism? Newman himself had once recognized this dilemma, writing in a pre-conversion letter, “We have too great a horror of the principle of private judgment to trust it in so immense a matter as that of changing from one communion to another.” Did he expect me to forfeit the faculty by which I adjudicate truth claims, because that faculty is fallible? My ­conversion would have to be rooted in my private ­judgment—but, because of Rome’s claim of infallibility, conversion would forbid me from exercising that faculty ever again on doctrinal questions.

Finally, the infighting among traditionalist, conservative, and liberal Catholics made plain that Catholics did not gain by their magisterium a clear, living voice of divine authority. They received from the past a set of magisterial documents that had to be weighed and interpreted, often over against living prelates. The ­magisterium of prior ages only multiplied the texts one had to interpret for oneself, for living bishops, it turns out, are as bad at reading as the rest of us.

But I did not remain a Protestant merely because I could not become a Catholic. While I was discovering that Roman Catholicism could not be straightforwardly identified with the catholicism of the first six centuries (nor, in certain respects, with that of the seventh century through the twelfth), and as I was wrestling with Newman, I finally began reading the Reformers. What I found shocked me. Catholicism had, by this time, reoriented my theological concerns around the concerns of the Church catholic. My assumptions, and the issues that animated me, were those of the Church of history. My evangelical upbringing had led me to believe that Protestantism entailed the rejection of these concerns. But this notion exploded upon contact with the Protestantism of history.

Martin Luther, John Calvin, Richard Hooker, Herman Bavinck, Karl Barth—they wrestled with the concerns of the Church catholic and provided answers to the questions Catholicism had taught me to pose. Richard Hooker interpreted the Church’s traditions; Calvin followed Luther’s Augustinianism, proclaimed the visible Church the mother of the faithful, and claimed for the Reformation the Church’s exegetical tradition; Barth convinced me that God’s Word could speak, certainly and surely, from beyond all created realities, to me.

Catholicism had taught me to think like a Protestant, because, as it turned out, the Reformers had thought like catholics. Like their pope-aligned opponents, they had asked questions about justification, the authority of tradition, the mode of Christ’s self-gift in the Eucharist, the nature of apostolic succession, and the Church’s wielding of the keys. Like their opponents, Protestants had appealed to Scripture and tradition. In time, I came to find their answers not only plausible, but more faithful to Scripture than the Catholic answers, and at least as well-represented in the traditions of the Church.

The Protestants did more than out-catholic the Catholics. They also spoke to the deepest needs of sinful souls. I will never forget the moment when, like Luther five hundred years earlier, I discovered justification by faith alone through union with Christ. I was sitting in my dorm room by myself. I had been assigned Luther’s Explanations of the Ninety-Five ­Theses, and I expected to find it facile. A year or two prior, I had decided that Trent was right about justification: It was entirely a gift of grace consisting of the gradual perfecting of the soul by faith and works—God instigating and me cooperating. For years, I had attempted to live out this model of justification. I had gone to Mass regularly, prayed the rosary with friends, fasted frequently, read the Scriptures daily, prayed earnestly, and sought advice from spiritual directors. I had begun this arduous cooperation with God’s grace full of hope; by the time I sat in that dorm room alone, I was distraught and demoralized. I had learned just how wretched a sinner I was: No good work was unsullied by pride, no repentance unaccompanied by expectations of future sin, no love free from selfishness.

In this state, I picked up my copy of that arch-heretic Luther and read his explanation of Thesis 37: “Any true Christian, whether living or dead, participates in all the blessings of Christ and the church; and this is granted him by God, even without indulgence letters.” With these words, Luther transformed my understanding of justification: Every Christian possesses Christ, and to possess Christ is to possess all of Christ’s righteousness, life, and merits. Christ had joined me to himself.

I had “put on Christ” in baptism and, by faith through the work of the Spirit, all things were mine, and I was Christ’s, and Christ was God’s (Gal. 3:27; 1 Cor. 3:21–23). His was not an uncertain mercy; his was not a grace of parts, which one hoped would become a whole; his was not a salvation to be attained, as though it were not already also a present possession. At that moment, the joy of my salvation poured into my soul. I wept and showed forth God’s praise. I had finally discovered the true ground and power of Protestantism: “My beloved is mine, and I am his” (Song 2:16).

Rome had brought me to ­Reformation.


TOPICS: Catholic; Evangelical Christian; General Discusssion; Mainline Protestant
KEYWORDS: catholic; charismatic; conversion; evangelical; kamel; onsiakamel; protestantism; romancatholic; romancatholicism; tiber
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To: Faith Presses On
You offered: "Catholic no more believe in by works alone than they do by faith alone. They both must be present."

Um, no. Faith must be present and given time WILL evidence behavior becoming of the Family the faither has been born from above into. 'Works' are not even mentioned as a requirement to be born again, born from above. HOWEVER, given time the new man will exhibit the family in his/her behavior patterns. Without being born again, he/she will exhibit the family of fallen Adam. [The heart of man is desperately wicked, Who can know it?]

421 posted on 09/13/2019 2:13:18 PM PDT by MHGinTN (A dispensation perspective is a powerful tool for discernment)
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To: Elsie

Really?


422 posted on 09/13/2019 2:16:16 PM PDT by MHGinTN (A dispensation perspective is a powerful tool for discernment)
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To: HarleyD

I never thought of that!


423 posted on 09/13/2019 3:52:59 PM PDT by Gamecock (Time is short Eternity is long It is reasonable that this short life be lived in light of eternity)
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To: Gamecock

X


424 posted on 09/13/2019 4:07:19 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: MHGinTN; Faith Presses On; HarleyD; ealgeone; aMorePerfectUnion; metmom; boatbums; Mrs. Don-o; ...
"A Syllabus of Studies in Hermeneutics " (click here) by Rollin T. Chafer, brother of Lewis Sperry Chafer who was a founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, had this observation on page 3 of this 44-page paper:
It was a favorite classroom saying of the late Dr. B. B. Warfield that “all theologies divide at one point - does God save men or do they save themselves?” As truly it may be said that all systems of Bible interpretation divide at one point-is the Bible a self- interpreting book or does it require a humanly contrived system of interpretation in order to be understood? In other words, does the Bible contain its own hermeneutical laws which are sufficient, and capable, when rightly understood and followed, of guiding the student to a correct interpretation of its own disclosures: or is it deficient in such interpretational provisions, and therefore dependent upon the resources of human reason to supply that lack?
In this paper Chafer notes that the socalled "Church Fathers" quickly departed from the scriptural hermeneutic used by Jesus and His Apostles, with the Gentile scholars interweaving Greek philosophical leanings into their uninspired methodlogy, and thus led the main bodies of Christendom far down the wrong path, until it was stopped by the Reformers.

Note that the RCC in its traditions is still stuck there, but its members who have started to use the Bible correctly are now coming away from it.

Please keep on helping them to interpret the Word as the Spirit intends us to, using a proper hermeneutic.

425 posted on 09/13/2019 4:21:04 PM PDT by imardmd1 (Fiat Lux)
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To: Gamecock

ping to Post #425. Sorry for leaving you off the list!


426 posted on 09/13/2019 4:23:46 PM PDT by imardmd1 (Fiat Lux)
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To: imardmd1

That’s a good read. Keeping that.


427 posted on 09/13/2019 4:56:21 PM PDT by ealgeone
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To: HarleyD

Wow. You are so right!


428 posted on 09/13/2019 4:58:07 PM PDT by boatbums (semper reformanda secundum verbum dei)
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To: metmom

Amen

Thanks for the scriptural backup.


429 posted on 09/13/2019 5:14:00 PM PDT by Syncro (Facts is Facts)
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To: Luircin; MHGinTN
You think you can achieve that level of perfection?

When I was a catholic, that is about what I was taught, that if I led a good enough life, it was possible I could earn my way into heaven, but I wouldn’t know till the moment I died. I hope no one comes along, and tries to tell me that’s not what the Catholic Church teaches. Hogwash. It is what I was taught.
Deep in my heart, I knew I didn’t measure up, so I gave up, and ate, drank, and was merry. Then I met some guys associated with the Navs. Now, I know I still don’t measure up, but now I sing, “There He stands the mighty conquerer, since He rent the veil in two.” There is no way, the rending of the veil was accidental. No way. See you in the clouds bros. 👍😁

430 posted on 09/13/2019 5:18:35 PM PDT by Mark17 (Once saved, always saved. I do not care if some do not like that. It will NEVER be my problem)
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To: metmom
You all need to quit fooling yourselves into thinking that you are not as bad as others and recognize that you all are not as great as you think yourselves to be.

Ouch.

431 posted on 09/13/2019 5:22:03 PM PDT by Mark17 (Once saved, always saved. I do not care if some do not like that. It will NEVER be my problem)
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To: Elsie
I guess we get a pass on the NON-serious ones; the ones that are NOT in the 'list'; right?

I will tell you what frustrated me, when I was a normal clueless Catholic, so MANY decades ago. I asked NUMEROUS priests for a “list” of mortal sins and venial sins. I wanted to sin, but I didn’t want to mess with the big M (mortal sin) and none of these dudes could tell me the difference between the two. As a result, I just figured I would go and sin till I was blue in the face. 😁

432 posted on 09/13/2019 5:55:05 PM PDT by Mark17 (Once saved, always saved. I do not care if some do not like that. It will NEVER be my problem)
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Placemarker


433 posted on 09/13/2019 6:55:34 PM PDT by 2nd amendment mama (Self Defense is a Basic Human Right!)
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To: MHGinTN

Yup; really...


434 posted on 09/14/2019 5:06:20 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Mark17

So; you became a Smurf.


435 posted on 09/14/2019 5:08:20 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Elsie
So; you became a Smurf.

No doubt. I had a sin meter, that could have been used as a fan. 😁

436 posted on 09/14/2019 5:45:06 AM PDT by Mark17 (Once saved, always saved. I do not care if some do not like that. It will NEVER be my problem)
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To: Mark17

X


437 posted on 09/14/2019 6:47:05 AM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: metmom

I really can’t decide whether the FRomans can’t understand or refuse to understand what we mean by saved by grace through faith for the purpose of works.

The way they talk you’d think we’re encouraging people to go have orgies in the pews.


438 posted on 09/14/2019 8:20:43 AM PDT by Luircin
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To: metmom

Ephesians 2:8-9
..................................
Your interpretation of it cannot be reconciled with the much more unambiguous teaching of James 2. Sorry.


439 posted on 09/14/2019 8:21:47 AM PDT by fortes fortuna juvat (Bad guys will enslave or exterminate good guys who acquiesce.)
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To: fortes fortuna juvat

Your interpretation of it cannot be reconciled with the much more unambiguous teaching of James 2. Sorry.

***

How on earth is it ambiguous to say that we’re NOT saved on account of works?

What a massive steaming load.

But sure, let’s go with your claims and see where they lead. Tell me, what kind of works are enough to earn your way into eternal life?


440 posted on 09/14/2019 8:47:19 AM PDT by Luircin
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