Yesterday, I talked about Scot McKnight’s essay From Wheaton to Rome: Why Evangelicals become Roman Catholic, in which he explores reasons people leave Evangelicalism for Catholicism. It’s written from the perspective of a Protestant (McKnight’s an Anabaptist), but one more interested in finding out the real reasons people become Catholic, than on belittling those reasons. Because… Continue reading An Evangelical Disproves Evangelicalism
Tag: Evangelicalism
Milk and Meat: What We Can Learn from Evangelicalism (and Vice Versa)
You can learn a lot from comparing Catholic converts to Protestantism with Protestant converts to Catholicism. Catholics tend to leave because their basic needs aren’t being met. Protestants tend to leave because only their basic needs are being met. I think that the best evidence shows that Catholics need to be better at presenting and living… Continue reading Milk and Meat: What We Can Learn from Evangelicalism (and Vice Versa)
How Did Evangelicals End Up on the Wrong End of the Contraception Debate?
On issues of the Liturgy — what public Christian worship should look like — Catholics often find themselves lined up, more or less, with the “mainline” Protestant churches. We use a Lectionary, have structured worship, a liturgical cycle (with Advent, Lent, and the like), and so forth. On these issues, we tend to disagree with… Continue reading How Did Evangelicals End Up on the Wrong End of the Contraception Debate?
Learning the Bible Through Sunday Mass
One major difference in liturgical style between Catholics and Evangelicals is the Lectionary. Both of us rely on “expository preaching,” which means that we base our sermons/homilies off of Scripture. Evangelical pastors typically choose the passage they want to preach on — this is called “the Individual Choice Method.” Catholics, and many Protestant denominations, follow… Continue reading Learning the Bible Through Sunday Mass
Jesus Plus the Church: The “Total Christ” (Christus Totus)
On Saturday, I was reading in the Catechism about how Jesus, when united with the Church, forms the “whole Christ” or “total Christ” (Christus totus). The phrase comes from the writings of St. Augustine. Here’s what the Catechism says on it: 795 Christ and his Church thus together make up the “whole Christ” (Christus totus).… Continue reading Jesus Plus the Church: The “Total Christ” (Christus Totus)
Rob Bell and the Need for a Magisterium
Rob Bell’s written a book called Love Wins. I haven’t read it, but it’s been clear — both from the video he made promoting the book, and from the reaction of those who have read it (h/t Phil Naessens), it sounds like Bell’s promoting universalism – the notion that everyone is saved and goes to Heaven,… Continue reading Rob Bell and the Need for a Magisterium
John MacArthur on Lent, Easter, and Christmas
John MacArthur has given a lot of pretty great Christian sermons, and he really does edify the Body of Christ at times. But when it comes to Catholicism, he’s embarrassingly ignorant, and gets a lot of even basic things wrong. I wish this was a minor thing, but it’s got pretty far-reaching implications. For example, he’s… Continue reading John MacArthur on Lent, Easter, and Christmas
Are Catholics “Born Again”?
Long before Evangelicals were calling themselves “Born Again Christians” in the twentieth century, Catholics were referring to themselves that way. For example, the Latin name “Renatus” (the root of names like Renée) means “Born Again” – that is, the notion of being born again was significant enough that parents wanted to name their kids after it. Interestingly,… Continue reading Are Catholics “Born Again”?
The All-American Church of Me
A couple disturbing revelations I’ve run into of late, suggesting a grave misunderstanding of what “Church” is: Many of America’s Protestant megachurches don’t have Christmas services. This means that, when Christmas falls on a Sunday (like it will next year), this second-holiest of Sundays of the year is one these churches don’t celebrate. In place… Continue reading The All-American Church of Me
Was Authority in the Early Church Global or Local?
I’ve heard it claimed quite frequently that the organized structural Church is a post-Apostolic invention, and that in the early Church, things were much more disorganized. For a long time, I believed this myself, but it turns out, it’s a pretty warrantless assumption. I was reminded of this recently, when I was reading T.S. Eliot’s… Continue reading Was Authority in the Early Church Global or Local?