For my wife...

I'm sure I'll get this look pretty quick here...

crazy...

How would you react?

Wheaton to Rome Pt. 3, History

A second possible reason an evangelical may journey to Rome is that he/she has a growing desire to "transcend the human limits of temporality to find connection to the entire history of the church." McKnight writes, "Many feel they are isolated in the faith, in a modern evangelical movement that has cut itself off from the history of the church."

I think this is probably true for many more than we realize...at least in the tradition in which I was brought up. We looked back to the reformation a bit - but that was about as far back as we could go. The stuff before that was off-limits. Where did the church go from the time of the apostles to the time of Luther's ninety-five theses. This "historical disenfranchisement," as McKnight calls it, leads not only to curiosity, but also to a need to discover how the church developed. I think the simple solution to this dilemma - would be for evangelical churches to take firm steps toward educating their members as to how and why their churches have come to their present state (emphasizing the importance of knowing the whole history). I really appreciate the fact that my professors at Moody did a pretty great job of this.

I was going to write a bit more on this, but my brain is starting to get foggy (almost time for bed). Anyways - I may have the opportunity to teach a church history sunday school class in the near future - and I think it will be a great opportunity for me to expand my horizons and an excellent way for our church to understand "why we are the way we are." I have been rereading Olson's "The Story of Christian Theology" as preparation. It is a very readable introduction - though way too large for use in a sunday school class. I just picked up Litfin's "Getting to Know the Church Fathers" to see how it would fare as a nice introduction to church history.

Wheaton to Rome Pt. 2, Certainty

As mentioned in the last post, the evangelical on the road to Rome, according to McKnight, possesses a desire for transcendence. The first manifestation of this is found in the evangelical's desire to transcend the human limits of knowledge to find certainty. At some point, the evangelical begins to ask such questions as, "How do I know what truth is...is my interpretation of Scripture the right one or not...how do I know what God's will is for my life or for the people in my church." McKnight cites Marcus Grodi, a former pastor of a Presbyterian congregation. Of Grodi he writes, “He came to the conclusion, after a series of encounters with the Catholic faith, especially with the writings of Clement of Rome (Ep. Cor. 42:1-5) and Irenaeus (Adv. Haer. 3.4.1), that ‘it is the mission of the Church to teach with infallible certitude.” Grodi came to conclude that Protestants have no way of knowing with any certitude if his or her interpretations are correct. The problem is solved for Catholics in that the magisterium decides such matters of interpretation.

I think I can relate to this thought process to an extent. It is easy to say that the bible alone is our authority in all things. But, in most protestant churches, interpretation usually lies with the individual. We “do” bible studies in which “I” decide what the text means (or if not “I” than someone else in my church tradition). When someone from my church disagrees withy my interpretation – they go elsewhere to a church with which they agree. At the church in which the Lord has graciously allowed me to serve, we often say that we don’t care about man’s opinions – but rather we care about what God says in His word. This is all well and good. But, we are kind of naïve in saying this. I think we do really want scripture to speak for itself. But often times – our understandings are just that – man’s opinions found using a commentary by an author we respect. We do not have as much certainty as we think we do.

All that being said, I’m not convinced that a person can really find the certainty he/she desires just by converting to Catholicism. Interpretation, just because it is decided with finality by a group of church leaders, still doesn’t make it the absolute correct interpretation. It would seem that the search for certainty could not stop there.

Wheaton to Rome, Pt 1

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.

something new...

Sometimes its good to get thoughts out onto paper (or some other medium). I try to do quite a bit of reading throughout the week - but I don't do much writing. So, I figured this might be a good way to process through thoughts on what I'm currently reading, studying, or just going through in life. Feel free to read through my posts, comment, or tell me what I've written is ridiculous. Learning is a life-long process - so I am humbly ready to be corrected/instructed. Hope to hear from you.