Over the past twenty years I have read countless theology books, the vast majority written by either Catholic or Orthodox scholars. But at times I have also read theological texts by Protestant believers, and although I obviously have some serious disagreements with their fundamental presuppositions, I have found a lot of fine, worthwhile work done by Protestants over the years. Below I have listed a number of Protestant theologians* I have particularly enjoyed.

* Technically, they are not all theologians; some are biblical scholars or historians. But you get the idea of the overall category.

My favorites:

N. T. Wright. Wright is an Anglican bishop who is probably the preeminent “orthodox” biblical scholar alive today. His work on the origins of Christianity is outstanding, and his study of Paul is phenomenal as well.

Jaroslav Pelikan. Originally a Lutheran, near the end of his life Pelikan converted to Eastern Orthodoxy, but his magnum opus – the five-volume The Christian Tradition series – was written while he was still Lutheran. Pelikan was more a historian than a theologian, and his study of the development of Christian doctrine in the aforementioned series is the standard for the subject today.

Larry Hurtado. A professor at the University of Edinburgh, Hurtado wrote the monumental work Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity, which gives detailed proofs regarding the early worship of Christ among the first Christians.

William Farmer. Farmer converted to Catholicism before he died, but the work he is most known for, The Synoptic Problem, which argues that Matthew was the first Gospel written, was written by him while he was a Methodist. He also co-wrote a number of books with Catholics on ecumenical issues (from the Protestant perspective).

I’m not as well read on the following scholars, but I have enjoyed what I have read nonetheless.

Stanley Hauerwas. Although I am not overly familiar with Hauerwas’ work, the little I have read (including the volume on Matthew in the Brazos Theological Commentary) has been impressive.

Peter Leithart. I’ve mostly just read Leithart’s work in First Things, but his commentary on 1 & 2 Kings for the Brazos Theological Commentary is also well-done. And besides, he has ten kids, so he must be alright.

F.F. Bruce. The late Bruce was one of the premier Evangelical Biblical scholars of the 20th century. He was also one of the best defenders of the reliability of the New Testament texts that have been handed on to us.

Bruce Metzger. Another biblical scholar, Metzger wrote a standard text on the development of the New Testament canon and was also involved in many biblical translations.

R.T. France. I own France’s commentary on the Gospel of Matthew for the New International Commentary on the New Testament, and while it definitely had a Protestant flavor, I found the work to be rigorous and well-argued (for example, he acknowledges that the “rock” in Matthew 16 can only be referring to Peter himself, and not simply his faith or his confession).

John Calvin. Not.

Feel free to add any of your own favorites to the comments.

Christianity Today has an interesting article by an Evangelical pastor about the Catholics Come Home program and other Catholic “New Evangelization” efforts. The author, Chris Castaldo (a former Catholic himself) shows a real appreciation for these programs and also gives some useful advice:

Are any Catholics listening? You’d better believe it. The number of organizations “answering the Pope’s call,” as it’s phrased, is impressive. Simply take note of the lawn signs outside of your neighborhood’s local parish advertising programs such as “Alpha” and “Theology on Tap,” or visit the Vatican’s YouTube channel, or tune into Relevant Radio or the EWTN Global Catholic Network, or now surf the web to CatholicsComeHome.org, and you’ll see it. Trenchantly conservative, devout, enterprising, organized, and above all committed to the Church, these Catholics are serious. In them, the spirit of Ignatius of Loyola lives.

I haven’t heard too many proponents of the New Evangelization compare their efforts to the legacy of Loyola and his Society of Jesus; but for me, an armchair church historian, the parallel is striking. Starting with a commitment to supporting and serving the papacy, both endeavor to promote dynamic faith among laypeople and to enrich the structures of public life. The parallel of theological substance, spirituality, innovation, and evangelistic zeal is remarkable. With this connection in mind, I would like to offer two words of caution: one for Catholics and the other for Protestants.

…my encouragement to Catholics pursuing the New Evangelization is to remain positive. While there will necessarily be moments of defining yourself over and against Protestants, don’t let this become your modus operandi.

Protestants must be equally vigilant. For many in our tradition the temptation will be to dismiss or perhaps mock the programs. After all, that’s what we’re supposed to do when we encounter error, right?

Speaking as an evangelical pastor, card-carrying Calvinist, want-to-stand-up-and-salute-when-I-hear-Luther’s-Mighty-Fortress kind of guy, I nonetheless feel secure enough in my Protestant convictions to express appreciation for elements of the Catholics Come Home programs and other New Evangelization efforts. Turning away from sin, commitment to reading Scripture, looking to the Savior, protecting the life of the unborn, serving the poor—these and other such themes are ones that Protestants can affirm, even though we disagree with the institutionalized structure of Catholic authority, the role of the sacraments, and requisite precepts surrounding them. This sort of measured response—consciously gracious while rooted in biblical principles—is more intellectually honest, more missionally compelling, and more genuinely Christian.

I can’t agree enough with Castaldo’s advice to Catholics. It is true that we must distinguish where we differ from Protestants, but that cannot be what defines us. The beauty and truth of the Catholic Faith is so much more than just “anti-Protestantism”. And it is this truth and beauty which will attract people to the Church, and we must proclaim that at every opportunity.

St. Ignatius Loyola, pray for us!

It seems like the past 25 years has produced a rash of conversions to the Catholic Faith. Everyone, apparently, is a convert or is married to a convert. What I find interesting is that, although all the conversion stories have certain similarities, they are all also very different. I never get tired of reading how others have found their way, through God’s grace, to the Catholic Church. What often happens is that God draws people through what they already love, or, as the scholastics would say, “grace perfects nature”.

Fellow blogger, professional pianist and reader of this blog Andy Lee is in the process of becoming Catholic, and he details his journey in three parts:

Returning to Catholicism – the Early Years

Returning to Catholicism – Part II

Returning to Catholicism – Part III

I was especially moved by how the Catholic tradition of beautiful music helped draw him to the Church. Here are some excerpts:

First, as a point of clarification, let me explain what I mean when I say “returning to Catholicism,” as this is both true and untrue.  I was actually baptized as an infant in the Catholic church, though, to my memory, we never attended mass regularly growing up.  So technically speaking, I am returning to the faith into which I was baptized (but never confirmed), but for the most part am seriously coming to Catholicism for the first time.  And yet, despite this, it really does feel to me as though I am returning to Catholicism, even if I was never really there in the first place.

…I had a friend say once that Catholicism is the default faith for music graduates, and I could hardly agree more.  After learning about early music (which is largely the music of the Church), and brushing up on it for doctoral comprehensive exams, I felt like I knew about as most Catholics about what was going on in Mass.  This ties into my appreciation of contemporary Christian music because the more I was exposed to these traditions and the stunning music behind them, the less satisfying the music at our church became.  Again, this was just laying the groundwork for my eventual move to Catholicism, because at the time it simply felt like something that wasn’t clicking right.

…That summer, I also traveled with the Avila choir to Italy, which included a stay in Rome and tours of Vatican City.  I experienced somewhat conflicting feelings concerning Catholicism while I was there.  On one hand, it was hard not to have a strong sense of spirituality entering these beautiful churches, but at the same time I was turned off by the display of wealth and power that I also saw.  We attended several Masses, including a Latin mass in St. Peter’s and a small, intimate Mass at St. Mark’s in Venice (I should add that I studied Latin in college, translating sections of St. Augustine’s and St. Patrick’s writings at different times, so that Latin mass was very moving).  These were amazing experiences, and I once again found myself being drawn to the beauty of the Mass.  Then again, I also found all the statues and veneration of relics to be a little disconcerting.

Immediately after the trip, I probably would have said that I felt a stronger conviction that certain aspects of the Catholic faith were wrong, and that I could never be Catholic.  In hindsight, though, being further exposed to the profound beauty of the Mass in such houses of worship sparked in me an almost irresistible desire to be a part of it on a regular basis.  It was hard participate in the Mass (even if I could not do so fully) and then return to a church were contemporary music and video screens were the norm.

Try to find some time to read all three parts today.

The 2007 return of Francis Beckwith, President of the Evangelical Theology Society, to the Catholic Church of his youth caused quite a stir in Evangelical circles. On the Internet, copious amounts of ASCII were spilled either lionizing or vilifying Dr. Beckwith’s decision. Many Evangelicals found themselves on the defensive, as they had to justify their continued “protest” against Rome in the face of many conversions and reversions such as Dr. Beckwith’s.

Two prominent Evangelicals, Norman Giesler and Joshua Betancourt, even wrote a book in response to this phenomenon of Evangelicals becoming Catholic entitled Is Rome the True Church?, describing it as “a major critical analysis of the Roman Catholic Church’s exclusive claim of infallibility.” In the book the authors go into substantial detail explaining why Rome is NOT the true church.

But, in a case of irony that could only originate with God, it appears that co-author Joshua Betancourt has now decided to answer “yes” to the eponymous question; shortly after the book was published, he converted to the Catholic Church.

The general rule in Internet writing is “short is sweet”. Because most people are reading these articles on their computer screen (or even their cell phone screen) it is a good idea to keep articles relatively brief or else you will lose most readers.

I’ve mentioned before that when I started blogging I decided to try to keep my blogs to less than 400 words if possible. I often break that barrier, but I still try to keep all posts under 1,000 words unless I just really can’t shut up. The Internet, generally, isn’t a very conducive medium for long, drawn-out arguments; most people aren’t going to stay that long at one site. Conventional wisdom says that the longer an article is, the less likely it is to be read or commented on.

So what if I told you someone wrote an Internet article that was over 18,000 words and included almost 100 footnotes? And that it had generated, at last count, almost 700 comments? Sounds interesting, even if a bit insane, does it not?

Bryan Cross over at Called to Communion is the author of such audacity and the topic of the article is Solo Scriptura vs. Sola Scriptura. Over the past decade or so, Catholic apologists have been very successful showing the weaknesses of a “Bible Alone” approach to authority as it is practiced by Protestants today; common sense alone shows that having the Bible as the only authority is simply illogical. In response, Keith Mathison has crafted a Protestant reply: he has distinguished between Solo Scriptura and Sola Scriptura. The former, which is practiced by most Protestants over the past 150 years, takes the Bible as the only authority. The latter, on the other hand, accepts the Bible as the only infallible authority. True followers of Sola Scriptura, according to Mathison, accept other authorities, such as church councils and creeds, but they accept only Scripture as infallible. Mathison’s argument is a strong one, and it is good to see Protestants recognizing the faults in how their conferees have practiced their faith in the past two centuries.

However, Cross in his article details (in great detail!) why ultimately both Solo Scriptura and Sola Scriptura end up with the same interpretive authority: oneself. It is only through apostolic succession, argues Cross, that one can escape this conundrum and have a truly independent authority.

I recommend the article highly. I printed it out (25 pages in 10-point type!) and read it at my leisure rather than burn out my eyeballs staring at the computer screen. This article and the ensuing discussion gives me hope that the Internet hasn’t completely made us stupid yet!

A common lament in many churches today is the lack of young people. It seems that many youth today can’t leave faith of their parents fast enough once they are on their own. This is true in Catholic churches and it is especially true in evangelical churches, at least according to this interesting article in the Broken Arrow Ledger entitled “Where have the Young People Gone?” Some excerpts (emphasis added):

“Nationwide polls and denominational reports are showing that the next generation is calling it quits on the traditional church. And it’s not just happening on the nominal fringe; it’s happening at the core of the faith.”

That’s the opening paragraph in a press release promoting a new book, “Already Gone,” by Ken Ham and Britt Beemer, with Todd Hillard…

Two-thirds of young adults who have grown up in evangelical churches are leaving, according to Ham and Beemer.

Nancy Mabry, youth director at St. Stephen’s United Methodist Church, agrees that evangelical churches are losing twenty-somethings, but she credits a reluctance to make any sort of commitment as the underlying cause.

If young people can’t commit to a skating party on Sunday evening until Sunday morning, they’re going to have difficulty making long-term commitments to anything else, Mabry said.

When she was in her 20s, she said “If you didn’t have a fever, you went to church. Some people say they don’t come to church because Sunday is the only day they have to spend with family. Why don’t they spend it with their family in church? Now, church is an option,” Mabry said.

What is the solution? There is a hint of it found later in the article:

There is an exception, however, according to Mabry. Traditional churches that are liturgical churches and smaller evangelical churches seem to be retaining their twenty-something members in greater numbers than larger and mega-churches.

The Rev. John Wilke, senior pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church, has read the book and said he found it to be a fascinating study.

He cited one of Luther’s writings as something for church leaders to consider: “A faith that costs nothing and demands nothing is worth nothing.”

“I think that is where the church is today. I get too many things in the mail from churches that say, ‘Come just the way you are, you don’t have to change,’” Wilke said.

“While God loves you where you are, he expects you to change. We don’t put the fear of God in our churches, we don’t have that respect. We’ve made Jesus our homeboy. He’s not our homeboy, he’s our Saviour.”

Wilke said the only church he knows of that is experiencing growth in the 20-to-29-year old age group is the Greek Orthodox Church.

“The Greek Orthodox Church is a liturgical church. Kids want to return to something different from what they get from the world. If we want to reach these kids again, we are going to have to return to what the early church was doing. We need to raise the bar,” he said.

Read that last part again: a demanding, liturgical Church is actually attracting youth!

Over the past forty years, the goal of many Catholic parishes has been to make it as easy as possible to be a Catholic so that everyone, but especially the youth, would be willing to come. There has been very little preaching about sin and repentance or about the demands the Faith puts upon you. Furthermore, the underlying assumption for many has been to make the celebration of the Mass more “relevant” to the younger generations, so that they will be more attracted to coming. However, this study shows the exact opposite has occurred: kids have rejected the easy way and instead favor churches that are more demanding and more traditionally liturgical.

Youth want to be inspired; they want to be called to something above themselves. A demanding, liturgical church naturally does this and as a result attracts youth without even explicitly trying.

James Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, is stepping down from his radio show at the end of February after over 30 years of broadcasting.

I have always enjoyed listening to Dobson’s broadcasts. They are full of practical advice for strengthening families and fill a desperate need in our society. In the past decade or so, Dobson has been vilified by the media and lumped in with figures such as Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell for his pro-life and pro-family beliefs. However, Dobson has never been primarily a political figure; he has always been a Christian psychologist trying to help families live a Christian life in the modern world.

As a Catholic, there are some things I disagree with in Dobson’s teachings and in some ways his advice is lacking (especially regarding the value of a sacramental life for strengthening a family), but all in all he has done much good over the years. Dobson himself always showed respect for Catholicism, and he once noted that though he has theological differences with Roman Catholicism, “when it comes to the family, there is far more agreement than disagreement, and with regard to moral issues from abortion to premarital sex, safe-sex ideology and homosexuality, I find more in common with Catholics than with some of my evangelical brothers and sisters.” (source).

Hopefully Focus on the Family will find someone to follow him who is just as helpful to families.

One of my favorite Protestant theologians is Stanley Hauerwas (whom I was only recently introduced to). Read this sermon for an example why.

First the Anglican church allowed women to celebrate Holy Communion as priests, going against 2,000 years of Christian tradition. Next, it granted openly-homosexual persons the ability to celebrate the sacrament. Now, you don’t even have to be a priest to celebrate the eucharist in an Anglican diocese in Australia.

What’s next? Atheists celebrating the sacraments?

Really, it’s time for the traditional wing of the Anglican church to either reform that church or leave it for another (here’s my suggestion).

I don’t usually post on Saturdays, but I thought I’d make an exception today. On this day twelve years ago, Rich Mullins died in a car accident. One of my all-time favorite musicians, Mullins was a contemporary Christian artist who was cut from a different mold than most modern Christian musicians. He is mostly known for his (overplayed) “Awesome God” but that song does not really reflect his musical tastes.

Mullins had a deep faith and an earnestness that came through in his music. And he most definitely practiced what he preached – he gave away almost all his money to various causes and only lived on a working man’s salary.

Here are a few of his songs on YouTube, but Rich was always best live (I was fortunate enough to see him twice in concert):

Take a moment today to pray for the repose of the soul of this deeply Christian man.

It has been interesting to see the reaction in the blogosphere to the “Wedding Dance” video. It seems that when people see it, they have one of two reactions:

1. A smile at the infectious joy the video displays, even while noting that they would not choose to have such a dance in a Catholic church.
2. Condemnation at such irreverence being displayed in a church. For example, I’ve seen people categorically state that this was “wrong” and a few people who are already predicting the upcoming divorce of this “sacrilegious” couple.

My own reaction was a smile, and to be honest, I think those who have been quick to condemn the couple are dangerously close to the pharisaical attitudes our Lord condemned so often. I realize that accusations of “Pharisee!” are all too common these days and often are used to condone egregiously sacrilegious actions. Yet the Gospels make clear that our Lord does not look kindly on those who are searching for people to condemn who “break the rules.”

Those who know me know that I prefer more traditional forms of worship, as well as more traditional music to be sung during the Mass. Yet I also recognize that the exact music sung is not as important as the intention behind it. And when I see the Wedding Dance video I cannot help but see a couple that wants to celebrate their union in the best way they know how – through (modern) song and dance. This is not automatically irreverent, and nothing in that video shows a irreverence towards marriage or church in general. It might not be the standard way that middle-class American conservative Catholics would celebrate their own weddings, but frankly, middle-class American conservatism is not a divine standard to which we all must follow.

Too often we are so involved in our own culture wars that we cannot see outside of them – everything is judged according to our current battles. So those who are battling to restore more reverent music to the Mass (a worthy cause and one I support) see anything other than pre-Vatican II music as an attack on their cause. Yet this couple most likely knows nothing of our intramural battles and they simply wanted to express their joy at their nuptials. And it is joy that so often seems to be the main ingredient lacking in many who are fighting to restore our (legitimate) traditions. And thus many are quick to condemn any who do not follow our own man-made traditions, which is quite different than sacred Tradition. We must be careful that in our desire for more reverent worship in our own Church that we are not killjoys towards anyone who is outside of our own community.

Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, Rejoice!

Today is the 500th birthday of John Calvin, one of the great Protestant Reformers. I have to admit, even as a Protestant, I was never attracted to Calvin’s teachings – although appearing imminently “logical,” they seemed too detached from reality for my taste. Yet there is no question that Calvin is one of the greatest and most influential religious thinkers in Christian history.

One of the best little books which compares Calvinism with Catholicism is Jimmy Akin’s The Salvation Controversy. One of the things that might be surprising to many Catholics is that the Church has not defined exactly many aspects of her soteriology (i.e. how we are saved by Christ), and thus, many parts of Calvinism are within the bounds of Church teaching. Also, one might also be surprised to find how close St. Thomas Aquinas’ teachings on predestination are to Calvin’s.

For those interested, a great site to explore is Called to Communion, which is authored by a number of former Calvinists who are now Catholic.

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
You may have been a heretic,
But we’ll still pray for you!

This is huge news: A.N. Wilson has returned to the practice of the Christian faith. For those not familiar with Wilson, he has been a prominent English skeptic who wrote critical biographies of both Jesus and C.S. Lewis. However, he is now a practicing Christian:

For ten or 15 of my middle years, I, too, was one of the mockers. But, as time passed, I found myself going back to church, although at first only as a fellow traveller with the believers, not as one who shared the faith that Jesus had truly risen from the grave. Some time over the past five or six years – I could not tell you exactly when – I found that I had changed.

When I took part in the procession last Sunday and heard the Gospel being chanted, I assented to it with complete simplicity.

I love the fact that he can’t even say when he had “changed.” Too often we think that God only works as He did with St. Paul: with a flash of illumination which leads to immediate and total conversion. However, I think it is true that more often He works as He did with Wilson: slowly over time. Sometimes we don’t even realize that we are changing, but when we look back over a period of years, we recognize that we are no longer the same person we used to be. God will never stop working on us and will continue to pour His grace on us until we reach our earthly end. I don’t know about you, but that gives me a great deal of hope.

Speaking of public figures, James Dobson stepped down as the head of Focus on the Family. Although he is not Catholic and therefore holds some beliefs that I don’t endorse, I have always admired Dobson’s work. The family is the main focus of attack in our age, and I believe more people have been estranged from the Lord through a broken family than any other cause over the past 50 years. Whenever I think of Dobson, however, I can’t help but think of the story of his father.

Dobson’s dad was a popular traveling evangelist, and was quite successful at it. However, his job also meant that he was away from home a decent amount of the time. When young James Dobson was a teenager, he got into a bit of trouble. Finally, it got quite bad and Dobson’s mom called his father and told him he had to do something about his son. Dobson senior immediately came home from his preaching tour, talked to Dobson’s mom, then decided on the spot to quit his ministry, move to a small town in Texas and take a job as the pastor of a small church. This meant the end of his success, but allowed him more time with his son, and young James Dobson turned around his life.

I am awed by this story of Dobson’s father. As a father myself, I know how important my children are to me, yet I wonder if I would have the wisdom and strength to give up success so readily for their sake.