catholicsphere

This past week, the Evangelical community nearly exploded (as the comboxes at the following links at Right Reasonblog attest) at the news that Francis Beckwith had resigned his position as president of the Evangelical Theological Society after returning to the Catholic Church.

The Christianity Today Q&A with Dr. Beckwith was necessary in order to provide Evangelicals a clearer set of answers about his decision. I hope and pray that people — Protestants and Catholics alike — will read, contemplate and investigate the reasons given for his return.

It is unfortunate, but one can see in the reaction in the blogosphere something of a “any home but Rome” attitude. Had Beckwith become anything but Catholic, this would hardly be news, let alone the firestorm that its become. What has emerged is disturbing, but not surprising. Yet, of interest is some of the arguments made as to convince Dr Beckwith of his “error”.

John Henry Cardinal Newman, a famous convert to Catholicism from Anglicanism, wrote “To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant”. Newman converted to Catholicism while in the midst of researching and writing a treatise to show that the Catholic Church had strayed from the Gospel. What he found was exactly the opposite. He traced doctrines of his present day back through history in order to show that these could not be linked with the doctrines in the early centuries of the Church. It formed the basis for his conversion. It would seem that Dr. Beckwith found something similar.

Still, I’ve witnessed — through discussion and debate, as well as my own attendance at a local Evangelical church — what, at times, seems to be a struggle to hang on to the Reformation at all costs. I’ve seen and heard (and I mean this will all due respect, and with the love of Christ for my separated brethren) some preach right up to the edge of the Tiber, only to quickly make an about face and retreat back to the tradition of the Reformation.

For this reason I keep my celebration of Dr. Beckwith’s return reserved because of the divisions still in the Church and the inability [of both sides] to look honestly at what separates us. I also pray that this reversion will open doors of dialogue, and his past influence on the Evangelical Community will provide future opportunities for explanation to those still holding the scroll of the “95 theses” firmly in their grip saying “any home but Rome”.

[tags]frank beckwith, roman catholicism, protestant, christian, catholic, catholicsphere, evangelical, conversion, church, evangelical theological society, reformation, newman[/tags]