Responding to a great lossI have always thought that it is important for Catholicism and Protestantism to reconcile. Afterall, we serve the one true Reconciler. In light of this, a friend of mine gave me this article and I hope to make some comments about it.
Coping with conversion --------------------
David C. Steinmetz Special to the Sentinel
February 8, 2006
Joshua
Hochschild taught medieval philosophy at Wheaton College, an elite
evangelical institution 35 miles west of the Chicago Loop. Wheaton is a
school whose average student SAT scores compare favorably with SAT
scores at Bryn Mawr and the University of Virginia.
Hochschild
was a graduate of Yale and Notre Dame, and an adult convert to
evangelical Christianity. By all accounts, he was a popular teacher and
was widely regarded as a shoo-in for tenure.
However,
his decision to become a Roman Catholic forced the college to choose
between its genuine desire to keep him as a faculty member and its
long-established policy of hiring and promoting only evangelical
Protestants. In the end, the traditional policy won and Hochschild was
terminated. He now teaches philosophy at the less prestigious Roman
Catholic college, Mount St. Mary's, in Emmitsburg, Md.
Conversion
from Protestantism to Catholicism is nothing new. Probably the most
famous convert of all time was John Henry Cardinal Newman, who
converted to Catholicism in 1845 and chronicled his slow pilgrimage
from Canterbury to Rome in his classic autobiography, Apologia pro vita
sua.
But
there have been other converts since Newman, including in recent years
a string of former evangelicals. Probably the best-known conversion
among evangelical Protestants was the conversion of Tom Howard, himself
a graduate of Wheaton ('57) and the son of a prominent evangelical
family.
Evangelicals
who convert to Roman Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy are often looking
for a richer sacramental life or a greater sense of connection with
ancient Christian tradition than they can find in evangelical
Protestantism. Sometimes, as in the case of Hochschild, they admire the
long and self-confident intellectual tradition they see embodied in
medieval philosophy and theology. Potential converts who read Thomas
Aquinas or Duns Scotus discover a complex and nuanced intellectual
tradition that makes the intellectual tradition of some Evangelicals
look particularly thin.
Conversion
provides no ecumenical solution to the problems created by the
divisions in Christendom. Conversion is a personal decision to leave
one Christian community, now judged by the convert to be unsatisfactory
(for whatever reasons), in order to unite with a new and different
Christian community, perceived by the convert to be much more
satisfactory. Converts have decided to change ecclesiastical teams, but
the teams themselves remain largely unchanged by their conversion.
Converts
usually see their conversion as an opportunity to gain something they
lack, something they desperately want. But conversion is almost always
a matter of both gains and losses. Some losses are inevitable. Converts
to Catholicism or Orthodoxy may gain what they regard as a richer
sacramental life, but they also lose the right to receive communion
with their Protestant family and friends.
All
of which complicated the case of Joshua Hochschild. If Hochschild had
been a cradle Catholic, his Catholicism would have been less of a
threat to the identity of evangelicals at Wheaton. But Hochschild had
been an evangelical Protestant, had participated in its intellectual
and religious life, and found them wanting.
What
Wheaton intended to do by terminating Hochschild was preserve its
religious identity. To the extent it restored the status quo, it
succeeded. But it also succeeded in creating the impression that its
religious identity was exceedingly fragile, so fragile that it could be
undermined by the retention of one untenured Roman Catholic convert.
Ironically,
in April 2002, Wheaton College hosted a conference in which
Evangelicals and Roman Catholics celebrated their growing cooperation
at the grass-roots level and their increasing appreciation for what
they shared in common. One of the two keynote addresses of the dialogue
was given by Francis Cardinal George, the archbishop of Chicago. The
way forward to greater cooperation and deeper understanding seemed
clear, perhaps even unproblematic.
Which
is why the firing of Hochschild was such an unanticipated and unwelcome
surprise. Catholics understandably feel betrayed by the actions of
people they thought they knew and were coming to trust, and wonder how
firmly entrenched and immovable the old evangelical attitudes still are.
It's
a question evangelicals can answer only by actions. If evangelicals
still want -- as I think they do -- improved relations with Roman
Catholics, they must be willing to put their old identity at risk. They
must learn to trust people they have never trusted before. There is no
special exemption from this rule for evangelicals or Roman Catholics.
But if the identity is worth saving, it is worth the risk.
David
C. Steinmetz is the Amos Ragan Kearns Professor of the History of
Christianity at the Divinity School of Duke University in Durham, N.C.
Copyright (c) 2006, Orlando Sentinel | Get home delivery - up to 50% off
To no one's surprise (that is if you read anything i write) I have great trouble with any definition that comes before our identity in Christ Jesus our Lord. We should primarily be about the Gospel and bring it to every corner of this world. We should be about the Lord's Prayer, where we pray that his will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. We should be about loving our enemies, our neighbors, our poor, our hungry, our lost, our homeless, our people. But for whatever reason, we are not. We are more concerned about being comfortable, safe, and stable.
Wheaton has demonstrated that. Instead of leading evangelicalism to be an institution that defines the life of the Christian Mind, it has become suspect on whether or not Wheaton knows what it means to love your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. We have lost so many that have defined this for us as students of Wheaton: Dr. Hochschild, Dr. Noll, Dr. Lisa McMinn, Dr. Mark McMinn, and countless others during my time here. Who will be next? Are we witnessing an exodus out of the heart of Evangelicalism? Who knows? But my hope is that i will never be ashamed in investing so much of my time and energy here.
Lord, make us uncomfortable, unsafe, unstable. make us more like you: humble, meek, loving. Make us more like you: passionate, joyful, honest. Make us be in the business of bring forth your kingdom here and now.
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