A few years ago I was recommended a few books for reading from a mentor of mine ("Ask Me Anything," and "How to Stay Christian in College"). These books by J. Budziszewski are geared towards young Christian college students facing the various myths and worldviews they may find at a university. Recently, I had also been reading some of the author's conversations he had with his students on the boundless.org webzine.
I was surprised when I later learned that in 2004 he was received into the Catholic church. Over the last few years I have seen a few acquaintances follow the same path in "converting" (is that the right word?) to Catholicism. Anyways, I was searching around the net and found an interesting article by Scot McKnight (a NT scholar) on "why evangelicals have made the trip to Rome." McKnight cites a number of reasons why this may occur - and I'd like to comment on just a few over the next few days. The main characteristic of the evangelical on his way to catholicism is his/her desire for transcendence. McKnight explains, "A desire for transcendence is a crisis about the limitations of the human condition and a desire to go beyond the human experience." There are four manifestations of this. One: the evangelical wants to transcend the human limits of knowledge to find certainty. Two: the evangelical wants to transcend the human limits of temporality to find connection to the entire history of the Church. Three: the evangelical wants to transcend the human limits of division among churches to find unity and universality in the faith and Church. Four: the evangelical wants to transcend the human limits of interpretive diversity to find an interpretive authority.
Tomorrow, I will comment a bit on the first of the "manifestations." I'd love to hear your thoughts. You can find the article here.
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