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Journeys of Faith: Evangelicalism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and Anglicanism
Research indicates that on average, Americans change their religious affiliation at least once during their lives. Today, a number of evangelical Christians are converting to Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Anglicanism. Longtime Evangelicals often fail to understand the attraction of these non-Evangelical Christian traditions. Journeys of Faith examines the movement between these traditions from various angles. Four prominent converts to Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Evangelicalism and Anglicanism describe their new faith traditions and their spiritual journeys into them. Response chapters offer respectful critiques. Contributors include Wilbur Ellsworth (Eastern Orthodoxy), with a response by Craig Blaising; Francis J. Beckwith (Roman Catholicism), with Gregg Allison responding; Chris Castaldo (Evangelicalism) and Brad Gregory's Catholic response; and Lyle Dorsett (Anglicanism), with a response by Robert Peterson. This book will provide readers with first-hand accounts of thoughtful Christians changing religious affiliation or remaining true to the traditions they have always known. Pastors, counselors and students of theology will gain a wealth of insight into current faith migration within the church today.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 16, 2012
27 people are currently reading
226 people want to read
About the author
Robert L. Plummer
39 books55 followersRobert L. Plummer, Ph.D., is Professor of New Testament Interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky. Dr. Plummer is the author or editor of several books, including '40 Questions About Interpreting the Bible' (Kregel, 2010). Dr. Plummer is an elder at Sojourn Community Church (East Campus), Louisville, Ky. He has served on mission assignments in China, India, Malaysia, Ghana, Israel, Turkey, and Trinidad. He and his wife Chandi have three daughters. During his spare time, Dr. Plummer enjoys running mini-marathons and drinking hot tea.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
January 9, 2015
As I commenced this book, my expectations of it were fairly low and to be truthful I didn���t really believe that I would complete it. The last time I read a book that was structured like this (on the subject of Calvinism) the tone of the debate and total disrespect the panel of authors showed to one another made it impossible to enjoy the book or ���hear��� what the authors were trying to communicate. Thankfully, my expectations were vastly exceeded. I commend the General Editor, Robert Plummer, on an exemplary work. The tone of the book is very irenic and yet each essay was a substantive and robust work. I have read a few books of late on intra-faith ���conversions.��� Most could be described as one sided knock down the straw man affairs. I would say at this point that I have had my fill of this topic and have learned much of what I set out to learn. ���Journeys of Faith��� was an excellent final read on the topic as it is structured as a two-way conversation. The person who has ���converted��� tells his story and why he moved from where he was to Orthodoxy, Evangelism, Catholicism, or Anglicanism. There is then a savvy response from the losing sect, and the person who has ���converted��� gets the last word after reading the response. This format seemed to result in the key issues of agreement and disagreement being brought to the front and discussed.
My interest in this topic is threefold. First, I am by family inheritance an Evangelical. Because I have (sadly but unsurprisingly as a protestant) gone through or witnessed a number of NASTY Church splits or disputes, my ���prime directive��� as Christian is John 17 Church unity/love above all things other than core orthodoxy. Second, I am now an evangelical living in a country where over 90% of the people are Eastern Orthodox. This makes a simple thing like going to Church difficult and polemic. As an example, I remember driving through our town with a Baptist missionary friend. She pointed out a new Orthodox Church building that had just been constructed in her area of town and said: ���Look at the new pagan temple; you have to admit that idolaters construct beautiful buildings.��� The Orthodox in turn (working through the government) describe Evangelicals as ���cultist,��� and make it very difficult for Evangelical Churches to be established or legally operate. The last three countries I lived in were predominantly Catholic. In one of those countries the issue of intra-faith rivalry came to a head for me during baptismal services. What soon became obvious to me was that some of my missionary friends were baptizing Catholics. While I could celebrate a person���s rededication to Christian faith, re-baptism is an ugly practice that has been shunned throughout almost all of Church history. A rededication service would be much more civil. There was no choice but to stop attending baptismal services where re-baptism might scar an otherwise beautiful service. Finally, throughout my Christian life I have reached most of my theological conclusions through inductive bible reading along with input from preaching. I never really bothered to compare those conclusions to the long-term protestant schools of thought let alone to apostolic traditions. Recently, I focused most of my reading on Church history and the history of Christian theology to gain some level of insight and context into how we got into the mess of disunity that is the Evangelical Church of today. (according to this link there are 40 splinters of the Baptist sect alone. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_...). To my utter shock, as I worked through this reading project (nearly all these books were written by Evangelical authors), it soon became obvious to me that on core issues my thinking did not line up well with any of the protestant traditions and in fact lined up much better with Anglican, Catholic, and Orthodox traditions. Thus, I could not ignore the topic of this book anymore.
Journeys, more than almost any other book I have read lately (other than Roger Olson���s, ���The Mosaic of Christian Belief: Twenty Centuries of Unity & Diversity���) helped me clarify much of my thinking on my ���three interests,��� and perhaps begin to see a way forward. ���Conversion��� for now does not seem to be an open door. I believe that God wants me to work from where I am for the time being. My particular way forward is outside the scope of this review, but I see it including the example set by this book, and thus I will be looking for ways to bring people into conversation. Hopefully, we can see FIRST that we are all Christians. Then when we have the necessary conversations about how we might differ perhaps we can find ourselves edified by loving exchanges that transcend the community level hurts that some would demand that we remember.
My interest in this topic is threefold. First, I am by family inheritance an Evangelical. Because I have (sadly but unsurprisingly as a protestant) gone through or witnessed a number of NASTY Church splits or disputes, my ���prime directive��� as Christian is John 17 Church unity/love above all things other than core orthodoxy. Second, I am now an evangelical living in a country where over 90% of the people are Eastern Orthodox. This makes a simple thing like going to Church difficult and polemic. As an example, I remember driving through our town with a Baptist missionary friend. She pointed out a new Orthodox Church building that had just been constructed in her area of town and said: ���Look at the new pagan temple; you have to admit that idolaters construct beautiful buildings.��� The Orthodox in turn (working through the government) describe Evangelicals as ���cultist,��� and make it very difficult for Evangelical Churches to be established or legally operate. The last three countries I lived in were predominantly Catholic. In one of those countries the issue of intra-faith rivalry came to a head for me during baptismal services. What soon became obvious to me was that some of my missionary friends were baptizing Catholics. While I could celebrate a person���s rededication to Christian faith, re-baptism is an ugly practice that has been shunned throughout almost all of Church history. A rededication service would be much more civil. There was no choice but to stop attending baptismal services where re-baptism might scar an otherwise beautiful service. Finally, throughout my Christian life I have reached most of my theological conclusions through inductive bible reading along with input from preaching. I never really bothered to compare those conclusions to the long-term protestant schools of thought let alone to apostolic traditions. Recently, I focused most of my reading on Church history and the history of Christian theology to gain some level of insight and context into how we got into the mess of disunity that is the Evangelical Church of today. (according to this link there are 40 splinters of the Baptist sect alone. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_...). To my utter shock, as I worked through this reading project (nearly all these books were written by Evangelical authors), it soon became obvious to me that on core issues my thinking did not line up well with any of the protestant traditions and in fact lined up much better with Anglican, Catholic, and Orthodox traditions. Thus, I could not ignore the topic of this book anymore.
Journeys, more than almost any other book I have read lately (other than Roger Olson���s, ���The Mosaic of Christian Belief: Twenty Centuries of Unity & Diversity���) helped me clarify much of my thinking on my ���three interests,��� and perhaps begin to see a way forward. ���Conversion��� for now does not seem to be an open door. I believe that God wants me to work from where I am for the time being. My particular way forward is outside the scope of this review, but I see it including the example set by this book, and thus I will be looking for ways to bring people into conversation. Hopefully, we can see FIRST that we are all Christians. Then when we have the necessary conversations about how we might differ perhaps we can find ourselves edified by loving exchanges that transcend the community level hurts that some would demand that we remember.
April 19, 2014
Many Christians, particularly scholarly types, are investigating and converting to the liturgical churches. The case in point is Scot McKnight, who wrote the forward to this 2012 book as an Anabaptist evangelical but who is about to be ordained as an Anglican deacon. Noteworthy converts to Orthodoxy include Jaroslav Pelikan and David Bentley Hart while converts to Rome include Ricahrd John Neuhaus and J. Budziszewski. "Journeys of Faith" offers accounts of personal conversions.
This is a fabulous collection of essays by four notable converts to different streams of Christianity (one to Eastern Orthodoxy, one to Roman Catholicism, one to Evangelicalism and one to Anglicanism). Two (Beckwith and Castaldo) began as Catholics while Ellsworth and Dorsett began as Protestants. The best essays were the narratives given by Beckwith of his return to Roman Catholicism and Castaldo's of his journey to Evangelicalism Protestantism. The weakest (and briefest!) essay was Dorsett's as he chronicled his move towards Anglicanism although his probably represents the smallest departure from his previous tradition. Every contributor brings to the fore the personal and intellectual reasons they departed one branch for the other and the questions and concerns they raise are addressed in a rejoinder (of the rejoinders, Brad Gregory, a Catholic, is the only non-Protestant). The contributors then get to offer concluding remarks.
One of the major shortcomings of this collection of conversion essays is the lack of the Pentecostal/charismatic voice. Charismatic Christianity is the fastest-growing stream of the faith and with approximately 500 million adherents, I find it odd that there is no essay about a conversion to charismatic Christianity. Another difficulty was Gregg Allison's rejoinder to Beckwith's essay on Catholicism; I believe Allison presented more of a Calvinist perspective, one that would be argued against by some Arminians (Thomas Oden's excellent book "The Transforming Power of Grace" offers an extensive presentation of how God's grace cooperates with humans who have been enabled by that grace).
This is an excellent and compelling book to read for those interested in the phenomena of inter-Christian conversion.
This is a fabulous collection of essays by four notable converts to different streams of Christianity (one to Eastern Orthodoxy, one to Roman Catholicism, one to Evangelicalism and one to Anglicanism). Two (Beckwith and Castaldo) began as Catholics while Ellsworth and Dorsett began as Protestants. The best essays were the narratives given by Beckwith of his return to Roman Catholicism and Castaldo's of his journey to Evangelicalism Protestantism. The weakest (and briefest!) essay was Dorsett's as he chronicled his move towards Anglicanism although his probably represents the smallest departure from his previous tradition. Every contributor brings to the fore the personal and intellectual reasons they departed one branch for the other and the questions and concerns they raise are addressed in a rejoinder (of the rejoinders, Brad Gregory, a Catholic, is the only non-Protestant). The contributors then get to offer concluding remarks.
One of the major shortcomings of this collection of conversion essays is the lack of the Pentecostal/charismatic voice. Charismatic Christianity is the fastest-growing stream of the faith and with approximately 500 million adherents, I find it odd that there is no essay about a conversion to charismatic Christianity. Another difficulty was Gregg Allison's rejoinder to Beckwith's essay on Catholicism; I believe Allison presented more of a Calvinist perspective, one that would be argued against by some Arminians (Thomas Oden's excellent book "The Transforming Power of Grace" offers an extensive presentation of how God's grace cooperates with humans who have been enabled by that grace).
This is an excellent and compelling book to read for those interested in the phenomena of inter-Christian conversion.
June 13, 2012
I'm really appreciative of Robert Plummer for carrying out this project, which is sure to generate some much-needed ecumenical dialogue. This is especially true today, as political issues have given Evangelicals and Catholics/Orthodox common ground in the United States like never before.
I did feel, however, that the book's vision was a tad bit off. It probably would have been helpful to have had more communication between the two authors who treated each section of the book, so that it would be clear that they had understood each other and were responding directly to the issues raised. Marcus Borg and N. T. Wright did this very effectively in "The Meaning of Jesus." In the end, it was a good first step toward what I hope to be more dialogue between American Christians of different stripes. I especially appreciated the testimonies provided by Francis Beckwith and Wilbur Ellsworth because their journeys are very similar to my own.
I very much recommend this book for all Christians who have faced some measure of "denominational turbulence" or know someone who has. At the same time, the dialogue was not as substantial as it perhaps could have been.
I did feel, however, that the book's vision was a tad bit off. It probably would have been helpful to have had more communication between the two authors who treated each section of the book, so that it would be clear that they had understood each other and were responding directly to the issues raised. Marcus Borg and N. T. Wright did this very effectively in "The Meaning of Jesus." In the end, it was a good first step toward what I hope to be more dialogue between American Christians of different stripes. I especially appreciated the testimonies provided by Francis Beckwith and Wilbur Ellsworth because their journeys are very similar to my own.
I very much recommend this book for all Christians who have faced some measure of "denominational turbulence" or know someone who has. At the same time, the dialogue was not as substantial as it perhaps could have been.
December 19, 2013
This is more a response than a review.
As a post evangelical looking at the Eastern Orthodox Church, I found this book too be to short for my desires. That is I would have loved to hear more for and against the Orthodox perspective. The Evangelical and Catholic view gets a lot of coverage, and for the purpose of Ecumenical dialog I would have liked to see the Orthodox give a response to the Catholic and Evangelical/Anglican conversions. I feel this would have made a deeper conversation. Although the Reformation threw out some of, or all of (depending on denomination), the Traditions of Eastern Orthodoxy, none of the theological issues such as Papal Authority, Purgatory and Indulgences that sparked the Reformation exist in the Orthodox Church, all of which along with Papal Infallibility and Mary's Immaculate Conception were developed after the Great Schism of 1054.
I am not Orthodox yet, and willing to concede that it is not the right move, but I haven't heard a better argument, whether Biblical or Historical, against the Eastern Orthodox claim to be the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and this book does not answer that argument. Wilbur Ellsworth's motives for converting were related to seeking authentic worship, so it was interesting to hear a story of being led the same way which was unrelated to my own motives, and I think he comes out on top of his dialog, yet I feel personally unsatisfied for my own seeking.
As a post evangelical looking at the Eastern Orthodox Church, I found this book too be to short for my desires. That is I would have loved to hear more for and against the Orthodox perspective. The Evangelical and Catholic view gets a lot of coverage, and for the purpose of Ecumenical dialog I would have liked to see the Orthodox give a response to the Catholic and Evangelical/Anglican conversions. I feel this would have made a deeper conversation. Although the Reformation threw out some of, or all of (depending on denomination), the Traditions of Eastern Orthodoxy, none of the theological issues such as Papal Authority, Purgatory and Indulgences that sparked the Reformation exist in the Orthodox Church, all of which along with Papal Infallibility and Mary's Immaculate Conception were developed after the Great Schism of 1054.
I am not Orthodox yet, and willing to concede that it is not the right move, but I haven't heard a better argument, whether Biblical or Historical, against the Eastern Orthodox claim to be the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and this book does not answer that argument. Wilbur Ellsworth's motives for converting were related to seeking authentic worship, so it was interesting to hear a story of being led the same way which was unrelated to my own motives, and I think he comes out on top of his dialog, yet I feel personally unsatisfied for my own seeking.
December 8, 2012
An interesting book, though at points it seemed to miss the mark of facilitating conversation and instead saw authors and respondents making opposing cases on completely different terms. That being said, each essay and response is valuable in its own right. I found that I resonated most strongly with Wilbur Ellsworth's longing for a "place to stand" in the Church's great Tradition (resulting in his conversion to the Antiochian Orthodox Church), and I think his essay did the best job of combining a coherent and engaging story with a substantive discussion of the theological issues at play in the process. Brad S. Gregory's response Chris Castaldo's essay contained the most interesting and well supported thesis. As a piece of engaging scholarship, Gregory's response really stood out.
August 15, 2013
This book was good. I appreciated how kind the reviewers were to one another. It did a good job of seeing individual reasons why someone left a church or not. Particularly fascinating were the chapters on Anglicanism and Francis Beckwith's journey.
February 17, 2015
Very interesting sharing and testimony of the journeys of faith of different people and how they came to believe what they do. Helps to see what we have in common as well as what we differ in.
January 27, 2021
I'm torn on how to rate and review this book. It was both exactly what I was expecting, but also not at the same time. I think the biggest issue is that I am not the target audience. While not explicitly stated, it seems like the target audience is evangelical leaders who are either losing members to other denominations, or worried that they might be. At the very least, this book is geared toward evangelicals trying to understand the allure of other denominations. As someone who is not an evangelical, I didn't need that explained to me because I already understood it.
The format of the book is a series four of "conversion" stories, primarily of Evangelical to another denomination (Orthodox, Catholic, and Anglican), though there is one story of a Catholic becoming Evangelical. Each section contains three essays. The first is the convert's story. The second is a response from a member of the denomination they left, essentially saying why the convert made the wrong choice. The third is the convert's response to the critique. With the exception of the response to the person who converted to Catholicism, the essays all live up to the books goal of showing "a model of peaceable ecumenical dialogue." In the end, although disagreements remained (some of them significant), almost all the essayists seemed to still clearly regard each other as brothers in Christ that they could discuss the issues respectfully with. This is what I had expected.
What I had not expected (and this is my own fault), was the focus on Evangelicalism. Since every conversion story was either to or from Evangelicalism, this is the perspective that got the most airtime. Even the people who ultimately left Evangelicalism still came from that background and spent their essays justifying their decision to other Evangelicals. For someone who isn't an Evangelical, that meant that there wasn't a lot in this book that resonated with me. That being said, if Evangelical pastors are reading this book to find out why people are (or might) leaving their church, I don't think this book will give them the fullest picture. It seemed like the essayists who left Evangelicalism for another denomination frequently chose (or planted) churches that were still quite similar to their Evangelical background and also wanted their decisions to seem ok to the Evangelicals they left behind. These essayists look with fondness on the Evangelical church even as they leave. This means that this book does nothing to capture those who leave Evangelicalism and look back only with trauma and regret, or to burn the bridge behind them. Given the rise of the Ex-vangelicals, it feels that this book missed a big opportunity.
The format of the book is a series four of "conversion" stories, primarily of Evangelical to another denomination (Orthodox, Catholic, and Anglican), though there is one story of a Catholic becoming Evangelical. Each section contains three essays. The first is the convert's story. The second is a response from a member of the denomination they left, essentially saying why the convert made the wrong choice. The third is the convert's response to the critique. With the exception of the response to the person who converted to Catholicism, the essays all live up to the books goal of showing "a model of peaceable ecumenical dialogue." In the end, although disagreements remained (some of them significant), almost all the essayists seemed to still clearly regard each other as brothers in Christ that they could discuss the issues respectfully with. This is what I had expected.
What I had not expected (and this is my own fault), was the focus on Evangelicalism. Since every conversion story was either to or from Evangelicalism, this is the perspective that got the most airtime. Even the people who ultimately left Evangelicalism still came from that background and spent their essays justifying their decision to other Evangelicals. For someone who isn't an Evangelical, that meant that there wasn't a lot in this book that resonated with me. That being said, if Evangelical pastors are reading this book to find out why people are (or might) leaving their church, I don't think this book will give them the fullest picture. It seemed like the essayists who left Evangelicalism for another denomination frequently chose (or planted) churches that were still quite similar to their Evangelical background and also wanted their decisions to seem ok to the Evangelicals they left behind. These essayists look with fondness on the Evangelical church even as they leave. This means that this book does nothing to capture those who leave Evangelicalism and look back only with trauma and regret, or to burn the bridge behind them. Given the rise of the Ex-vangelicals, it feels that this book missed a big opportunity.
December 27, 2022
An encouraging read!
This has been an enlightening process of learning about several expressions of Christianity that I have close to no interaction with (aside from reading books by those who are, for example, Presbyterian, Anglican, Catholic, or Orthodox). The spirit of charity and ecumenism is more than evident and is ammunition against the claims that Christians are those individuals who are incessantly bickering amongst themselves. We have much work to do, but much more in common as these authors highlight.
As a side note, this is one of a few books I have read where I have also read the endnotes through, this is most definitely a compliment to the authors.
This has been an enlightening process of learning about several expressions of Christianity that I have close to no interaction with (aside from reading books by those who are, for example, Presbyterian, Anglican, Catholic, or Orthodox). The spirit of charity and ecumenism is more than evident and is ammunition against the claims that Christians are those individuals who are incessantly bickering amongst themselves. We have much work to do, but much more in common as these authors highlight.
As a side note, this is one of a few books I have read where I have also read the endnotes through, this is most definitely a compliment to the authors.
February 18, 2018
I found the books approach very engaging. The book takes four streams of Christian tradition (Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Evangelicalism and Anglicanism) and presents them from the standpoint of people who have moved toward them, followed by someone critiquing that move for the personal and doctrinal reasons that caused the move, with a final rebuttal from the person who made the move. While cordial in their writing and response, it was not always an easy read.
January 14, 2019
This book is a collection of essays by authors who have converted from evangelical churches to Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and Anglicanism. The author also includes a Catholic who converted to Evangelicalism. Each essay is followed by a response from a member of the author's former denomination. All of the authors are respectful, but I didn't find any of them particularly enlightening. It is mostly arguments that I have heard multiple times before, without a lot of new insight.
May 19, 2017
Four men share why they switched Christian traditions. Helpful in understanding the differences between Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Anglicanism, and Evangelicalism. The format in each 4 sections aids this understanding:
--"conversion" story (why I switched from tradition A to tradition B)
--response from someone still in tradition A
--final word from the convert
--"conversion" story (why I switched from tradition A to tradition B)
--response from someone still in tradition A
--final word from the convert
March 13, 2025
I very much enjoyed the formatting (essays regarding conversions to the 4 different faith groups, a response from someone in an opposing faith group, and then a rejoinder from the original essay writer). I focused mainly on the Anglican and Catholic sections, as that is my current interest, but I did skim over the other sections and could see myself coming back in the future to go more in depth.
March 4, 2020
Absolutely phenomenal. This is perhaps the most well done book that I have read when it comes to Christian ecumenism/dialogue between different Christians. I read this during my journey into the Catholic Church and am very grateful to Francis Beckwith.
April 20, 2023
Again, an incredibly helpful tool for my current context. The format of the book led me to think critically through my own beliefs as well as understand better the beliefs of other Christian traditions. I also enjoyed reading different authors stories and arguments.
March 4, 2018
Thoughtful, theologically serious, and highly respectful.
October 15, 2016
I'm more in the middle on this one...it tells the stories of four people who converted from one Christian tradition to another. Most are Evangelical converts to a liturgical tradition (Orthodox, Catholic, or Anglican), though there is also a story of a Catholic convert to Evangelicalism as well. The stories themselves are really wonderful to read. The focus is more organic than just reading a series of points on the theological differences, and I think that works well. It's more about lived theology as opposed to a dry series of propositions. Each of the converts clearly shows respect for their tradition of origin as well as expressive their love for their new tradition.
The two criticisms I have come from the format. After each convert's story, there's a sort of "rebuttal" (called a response) from an Evangelical addressing that tradition (a Catholic responds to the Evangelical convert). Then the convert gets a few pages to respond again.
First, it's mentioned in the beginning that the responses were formed BEFORE they read the main convert's piece. Then they were supposed to tailor it a little to the convert's story. Some responses did this more effectively than others, but all of them felt a little awkward. I presume this was an issue of time constraints, but it really was a flaw for this type of format. Second, it seems like the reason that they included the responses [this is coming from the editor's foreward and recap] was because they sort of wanted to discuss the trend of Evangelicals moving to liturgical traditions, but the editor + publisher really did not want to actually encourage anybody to consider converting themselves. So these responses end up with a tone sort of like, "Okay, so you converted to this tradition, BUT DID YOU CONSIDER WHY ITS WRONG?" They were [mostly] more tactfully written than that [the response to the Catholic convert was pretty brash, imo], but it sort of left that feeling, which didn't match the tone of the converts' stories.
As a convert myself, especially a convert raised in an Evangelical background [I'm now Orthodox, in case you didn't know that], it's not a journey that one undertakes lightly. Certainly it's obvious from these author's stories that they didn't just wake up one day and convert, it was a long process, sometimes one that they fought, and certainly a decision that they wrestled with for a long time. It feels a little offensive sometimes when people's first response is one of dismay and sermonizing--presuming that if only you thought rationally about things or had all the information, you would know better than to convert. Thankfully, in real life that's not often been the 'first' response that I encounter [on occasion it most certainly has], but in a book format, since there is that sort of tone to the rebuttal, that's the response that's presented to the reader. I think the book could have done without the responses at all...I think it would have been more effective to just include other converts stories TO Evangelicalism from these other traditions if they wanted to provide a more Evangelical balance. And if they were going to keep this format, than the goal of the rebuttal should have been first and foremost to respond to the convert's story, not to raising problems with the new tradition.
Sorry, that was a super long review.
The two criticisms I have come from the format. After each convert's story, there's a sort of "rebuttal" (called a response) from an Evangelical addressing that tradition (a Catholic responds to the Evangelical convert). Then the convert gets a few pages to respond again.
First, it's mentioned in the beginning that the responses were formed BEFORE they read the main convert's piece. Then they were supposed to tailor it a little to the convert's story. Some responses did this more effectively than others, but all of them felt a little awkward. I presume this was an issue of time constraints, but it really was a flaw for this type of format. Second, it seems like the reason that they included the responses [this is coming from the editor's foreward and recap] was because they sort of wanted to discuss the trend of Evangelicals moving to liturgical traditions, but the editor + publisher really did not want to actually encourage anybody to consider converting themselves. So these responses end up with a tone sort of like, "Okay, so you converted to this tradition, BUT DID YOU CONSIDER WHY ITS WRONG?" They were [mostly] more tactfully written than that [the response to the Catholic convert was pretty brash, imo], but it sort of left that feeling, which didn't match the tone of the converts' stories.
As a convert myself, especially a convert raised in an Evangelical background [I'm now Orthodox, in case you didn't know that], it's not a journey that one undertakes lightly. Certainly it's obvious from these author's stories that they didn't just wake up one day and convert, it was a long process, sometimes one that they fought, and certainly a decision that they wrestled with for a long time. It feels a little offensive sometimes when people's first response is one of dismay and sermonizing--presuming that if only you thought rationally about things or had all the information, you would know better than to convert. Thankfully, in real life that's not often been the 'first' response that I encounter [on occasion it most certainly has], but in a book format, since there is that sort of tone to the rebuttal, that's the response that's presented to the reader. I think the book could have done without the responses at all...I think it would have been more effective to just include other converts stories TO Evangelicalism from these other traditions if they wanted to provide a more Evangelical balance. And if they were going to keep this format, than the goal of the rebuttal should have been first and foremost to respond to the convert's story, not to raising problems with the new tradition.
Sorry, that was a super long review.
February 16, 2017
Всички автори са достатъчно богословски грамотни и това прави четенето на текст, който не прибягва често към карикатури доста приятно. По този начин, макар самият аз да не научих много от есетата и дори да смятам всички критики за сравнително слаби, текста вероятно би бил доста полезен за мнозина.
В същото време книгата има две много силни страни - честността, с която авторите разказват своите лични пътешествия и изключително културния и доброжелателния диалог между всички участници. Особено следното се среща толкова рядко в наше време, че единствено заради това напълно си струва четенето.
В същото време книгата има две много силни страни - честността, с която авторите разказват своите лични пътешествия и изключително културния и доброжелателния диалог между всички участници. Особено следното се среща толкова рядко в наше време, че единствено заради това напълно си струва четенето.
January 11, 2016
I thoroughly enjoyed this civil discussion on the religious pilgramages of four Christians (and answering responders) into another persuasion of the Christian faith: from Evangelicalism to Eastern Orthodoxy, from Evangelicalism to Catholicism, from Catholicism to Evangelicalism, and from Evangelicalism to Anglicanism.
I thought quite apt the suggestion that the different persuasions of the Christian faith are different "rooms" in the Lord's house or different "regiments" in the same army.
It also stimulated thinking on the relationship between the Bible and tradition, perhaps with the conclusion that we need both. Some will prefer more emphasis on the Bible. Others will see a need for the traditioin that has been tested for centuries.
I did enjoy the intelligent and respectful discussions. I finished the book more enlightened as to all the persuasions and with a warm feeling toward all the participants in the discussion.
I thought quite apt the suggestion that the different persuasions of the Christian faith are different "rooms" in the Lord's house or different "regiments" in the same army.
It also stimulated thinking on the relationship between the Bible and tradition, perhaps with the conclusion that we need both. Some will prefer more emphasis on the Bible. Others will see a need for the traditioin that has been tested for centuries.
I did enjoy the intelligent and respectful discussions. I finished the book more enlightened as to all the persuasions and with a warm feeling toward all the participants in the discussion.
January 9, 2016
The narratives and responses were all pretty interesting. My favorite set was the first, between the Baptist who became Eastern Orthodox and a Baptist seminary professor. Brad Gregory's response to the Catholic convert to evangelicalism was quite challenging and used a lot of examples from the Reformation period, but he was more successful in pointing out the challenges that disunity poses to Protestants' claims than in making a compelling case for Catholicism.
I would have liked to see the rejoinders go into more depth in responding to the responses. Overall, it was an informative and readable book.
I would have liked to see the rejoinders go into more depth in responding to the responses. Overall, it was an informative and readable book.
December 22, 2012
My Thoughts: I read this book primarily for the chapter on Catholicism but was a little disappointed since it was written someone by who was baptized Catholic as an infant, left as a young teen and then returned in his 40s. I was really looking to read a great conversion story by someone raised Evangelical. The book was not a difficult read, I learned new things about the Orthodox faith and enjoyed seeing the perspectives from both sides of the conversion stories.
I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy of Journeys of Faith available via NetGalley.
I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy of Journeys of Faith available via NetGalley.
February 28, 2012
Short Review: This is a book about converting from one branch of Christianity to another. There are four stories, along with responses by a third party. Overall the book sets up too much controversy, but it is still well worth reading. All of the conversion stories were good. Most of the responses were also good. Got to real theological issues without minimizing the story. It is interesting that 3 of the 4 stories revolve around Wheaton in the 1990s/2000s.
My longer review is posted on my blog at http://bookwi.se/journeys/
My longer review is posted on my blog at http://bookwi.se/journeys/
April 13, 2014
An eye-opening, unique ecumenical work! This book gives you a rare opportunity to hear the first-hand experiences of experts in theology who chose to move from one major Christian tradition to another, and to examine the relative merits of each alternative through the unbiased presentation of open and respectful debate between authorities on both sides. Christian readers will gain an appreciation for the complexities of the theological issues that define the different denominations, which is critical to the hope of restoring unity within the Body of Christ.
April 12, 2016
If you wonder why someone moves from an evangelical to a liturgical church tradition (or the reverse), or if you are considering such a move yourself, this is the perfect book! It is a collection of essays by those who made the switch, each followed by a counter-argument from someone who fully understands the positions in both traditions and disagrees, and closing with a short rejoinder from the convert. Courteous, but with candor and clarity. I cannot imagine the subject could be better handled.
December 30, 2013
I really liked this for what it was: a narratival exploration, not a hard-hitting theological treatise or a "five views" book. I came away more persuaded that my tradition is the most faithful to Scripture =), but I do think I gained some appreciation for true value in other traditions. No one is completely wrong. Also, the evangelical responses to other traditions had some real value—I think I'll mine them in the future.
April 7, 2016
The book presents a great format to hear the testimonies of well known scholars who changed faith traditions. I give the book three stars for how much I enjoyed it and four stars for how well it accomplished what it sought to do. I'm the end, it is a worthy read for someone interested in knowing why some people change faith traditions.
August 29, 2012
As a catholic born and rised I found this book helpful for the insights it gave me on Evangelicalism, Anglicanism and Eastern Orthodoxy; but in the end, as usual, I keep on thinking that God is to big to fit only in one religion.
THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND ZONDERVAN FOR THE PREVIEW
THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND ZONDERVAN FOR THE PREVIEW
September 21, 2015
I thought they stories seemed very self absorbed and even though I share most of the views of most of the authors, I did not find these to be on any importance to me.
I thought the time I spent reading these to be wasted but kept thinking the next would be better. It did not happen.
I thought the time I spent reading these to be wasted but kept thinking the next would be better. It did not happen.
September 2, 2012
Wonderful and thought provoking. This is great book for those of us on the journey of faith to discover our personal heart of worship.
January 7, 2013
An interesting and helpful read.
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