Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Cordial Catholic

Home
Catholic
The Reformation is Over So Why Aren’t You Catholic?

The Reformation is Over So Why Aren’t You Catholic?

Last updated on: February 2, 2017 at 12:26 pm by K. Albert Little

The Reformation is Over So Why Aren’t You Catholic? 2017-02-02T12:26:30-04:00 K. Albert Little

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Photo Credit: Mark Stober.

There’s a quotation buried near the end of a rather obscure book review by Protestant theologian Carl Trueman that I’ve hung on to for quite some time now.

It’s a good one, and I’ll share it in a second.

But I share it, only now, because I’ve just come across it again in the foreword to a book of Catholic conversion stories. The quote was proffered by Francis Beckwith a rather famous Catholic convert in his own right as the then President of the Evangelical Theological Society (an impressive academic network of Evangelical theologians).

Beckwith, writing about the ultimate catalyst for his own conversion to Catholicism, records this exact same quotation from Carl Trueman that I came across, and set aside, earlier in my own journey into the Catholic Church.

As I first dipped my toes into the Tiber River—the famous and metaphorical Roman river which has come to signify Protestant converts to Catholicism—Trueman’s cutting words played a role of some significance in whetting my appetite for further study.

And, like Beckwith, I soon found myself up to my knees.

It is, ultimately, a remarkably obscure quotation and to find it again seemed serendipitous.

So I had to share.

The quote is in a review of a book called Is the Reformation Over? by another Protestant theologian, Mark Noll. In his review Trueman muses over his own understanding of the Reformation and, importantly, our position towards it today.

Beckwith quotes him at length and so will I.

Trueman writes this,

Every year I tell my Reformation history class that Roman Catholicism is, at least in the West, the default position. Rome has a better claim to historical continuity and institutional unity than any Protestant denomination, let alone the strange hybrid that is evangelicalism; in the light of these facts, therefore, we need good, solid reasons for not being Catholic; not being a Catholic should, in others words, be a positive act of will and commitment, something we need to get out of bed determined to do each and every day. It would seem, however, that … many who call themselves evangelical really lack any good reason for such an act of will; and the obvious conclusion, therefore, should be that they do the decent thing and rejoin the Roman Catholic Church. I cannot go down that path myself, primarily because of my view of justification by faith and because of my ecclesiology; but those who reject the former and lack the latter have no real basis upon which to perpetuate what is, in effect, an act of schism on their part. For such, the Reformation is over; for me, the fat lady has yet to sing; in fact, I am not sure at this time that she has even left her dressing room.

In other words: If the Reformation is over, why aren’t you Catholic?

It’s a pointed question.

Catholicism, says Trueman, has the market cornered on historical continuity and institutional unity. Elements which should be of vital importance to any Christian given the fact that Jesus said He would establish a Church which nothing would overcome (Matthew 16:18) and prayed, in His final recorded prayer on Earth, for Christian unity (John 17:20-23).

The Catholic Church has the best claim to be the historically continuous Church that Christ founded and of being the most united, and the most unifying, Christian source on Earth.

So, says Trueman, to not be Catholic requires “good, solid reasons.”

Not being Catholic, he continues, “should, in other words, be a positive act of will and commitment, something we need to get out of bed determined to do each and every day.”

And, as an Evangelical cum Catholic, I agree.

But, such robust and intentional theological commitments are often disconnected from reality.

Because, in reality, I was an Evangelical Christian because that’s the brand of Christianity I was first introduced to.

And then that’s what I was.

And then that’s what I stayed for a long time until the difficulties with what I believed, and squaring those beliefs with history, mounted up to a breaking point.

And that’s when theology met reality and, as Trueman says, I had “no real basis upon which to perpetuate… an act of schism.”

The Reformation was over so I became a Catholic.

But sadly for most of us, and especially the Evangelical tradition I left, the Reformation rages on. But a Reformation of a worst sort than Luther’s: a silent, unheeded, and unimportant kind of Reformation.

A Reformation more akin to apathy.

Because for many years I hadn’t read any of the writings of the Early Church, the Desert Fathers, or the great theologians and saints of the Middle Ages. I hadn’t thought it important or given credence to learning about the History of Christianity from sources outside of my limited theological purview. I hadn’t considered digging into the ancient Church Creeds or the official teachings of the Church down through the ages.

And when I did read theology, apologetics, or Christian psychology it was from a very particular worldview even if I couldn’t recognize it at the time.

I gave not a second or single thought to the schism I was in.

And, I would’ve thought, what the heck is a schism?

Truly it was when I began to read about the Early Church; when I began to dig into the history of the Bible, Christianity, and the historic Church; and when I, then, finally dipped my toe into the Tiber and began to read the stories, and the convictions, which led so many converts before me to wade into the water that I began to understand the position in which I found myself.

Smack dab in the middle of a protest I had absolutely no desire to be in.

(And, after all, didn’t really believe in anymore.)

I wasn’t waking up every day, as Trueman suggested I should be, intentionally resolving not to become a Catholic.

I didn’t vehemently or even knowingly object to what the Catholic Church taught and, as it turned out, the more I read about Catholicism the more I actually liked (and believed to be true, good, and historically sensible).

And then, as I read and prayed, I came across a quote by a Protestant Theologian named Carl Trueman.

And you kind of know the rest.

But the point is, I think, that Trueman is exactly right—nail on the head—even if he gets a bit of it wrong. We Evangelicals don’t wake up every morning decidedly rejecting the only church that’s most inline with what Jesus says it should be. But we ought to.

Trueman, admittedly, makes a conscious decision not to be Catholic and, at least, that’s better than most of us do.

Because the Reformation is over, if you want it, and for the sake of Christian unity (on which Jesus places an incredibly high importance) we kind of need to figure this out.

Do we reject Catholicism for good, solid reasons? Do we get out of bed every day determined not to become Catholic?

Have we even thought about it before?

Maybe, like Trueman, our position is clear. Or maybe, like me, it was rapidly begin to slip away.

And maybe, just maybe, we’ve just been waiting for that distinctive nudge.

A push from the edge of the bank, headlong into the flow.

Previous Post

January 31, 2017

Dear Catholics: Unsolicited Advice from an Evangelical Convert

Next Post

February 6, 2017 If the Bible Is Infallible Then So Is the Church

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Appearances Christian Living Explaining the Faith Podcast Tough Questions Uncategorized Why I'm Catholic

Select a Month January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 October 2017 September 2017 July 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

And my God will meet all your ____ according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

Select your answer to see how you score.

Needs Prayers Hopes Dreams

Support this
Column