Why Do Protestants Convert?

by Brad Littlejohn, Chris Castaldo

A strange phenomenon has gripped Protestantism in recent decades: many of its best and brightest thinkers have converted to Roman Catholicism. Likewise, many earnest, normal believers have found Protestantism shallow in doctrine, history, ethics, and worship, and made the leap to Rome.

How can Protestants make sense of this? In this short and penetrating book, originally published as a series of essays, Brad Littlejohn and Chris Castaldo insightfully diagnose the psychological, theological, and sociological factors behind Protestant conversions to Rome.

With refreshing honesty, they find many converts' criticisms of contemporary Protestantism to be warranted, but argue that historic magisterial Protestantism has within it the answers to these objections and the resources for a Protestant renewal.

Genres: Theology, Christian, Nonfiction, Christianity, Catholic, Faith, Church History

116 pages, Paperback

Published October 27, 2023

Reviews

[Haley Baumeister · Rating 4 out of 5]

To summarize:

The psychological pulls
- authority hunger
- holiness deficit disorder
- the inner ring

The theological factors
- quest for certainty (pushed by a chaotic biblicism and personal interpretation gone wild amidst the choice and relativism of modern life... yes, this is a personal beef of mine, why do you ask?)
- in touch with history
- tangible grace

The sociological dynamics
- tired of division
- tired of shallowness
- tired of irrelevance

I am at a breaking point where the only thing more frustrating than unfair treatments of Protestantism/evangelicalism (generally speaking) are the unfair caricatures of their own converts to Catholicism. So this was a balm and a “yes, that’s it, thank you for naming these different dynamics” which is far more satisfying that those who want to wave it all off as One Thing (with patronizing sparkles).

I appreciated the hope, honesty, and pastoral heart in the last sections "A Way Forward" and "Why Protestants Should Not Convert." In these, we are given some lasting pleas to look for what we seek in the riches of a truly historic Reformational Protestantism. I appreciate the way the reader does, indeed, feel seen. I also appreciate the candid approach to asking the reader to seek out best in Protestantism is equal measure to the best in Catholicism they are most likely seeing. That is only a fair fight, as Gavin Ortlund's "What It Means to Be Protestant" also emphasizes.

But the dynamics of the soul are, as the authors recognize, multifaceted. If I were to offer an anecdotal suggestion, it would be a further exploration of the psychological pull of the embodied anthropology and richness surrounding the theology of the body. Many years of listening and observation have proved this to be a strong gendered pull. It's worth sitting with the fact that countless women have been initially drawn into Rome's orbit--often to the point of accepting all the authority, theology, and dogma therein--through these embodied concerns. This speaks to my own story, though I remain a committed Protestant. There seems to be a spiritual Maslow's hierarchy of needs at play, where our baseline concerns as embodied women—including having bodily and sexual standards for our men to compliment and work with those—need to be met if we are to take the cerebral theology side seriously. The unwillingness of some Protestant men to see or recognize this is a massive oversight. There is something alarming (as a woman who has gone a bit down the theology of the body rabbit hole in the past few years) seeing an article she wrote on vasectomies go viral, with some disturbing revelations about our men and the mindsets our women have adopted. These are the types of visceral repulsions that are driving some women away, and toward a cohesive view of our life in this world. If we cannot get our own people to think teleologically more than technologically, anthropologically more than pragmatically... I don't see much of a way forward as modernity marches on. If we have lost the battle for the meaning and givenness of our very bodies with which we worship, much else preached about the Christian life will sounds like straw.

[Jeremy]

Read Carl Trueman's Foreword here. Video interview with Gavin Ortland here.

Gavin-related: video on why Protestants reject icon veneration.

Gavin has many more videos on Orthodoxy...

Here's an American Reformer article (responding to a New York Post article) on recent conversions to Orthodoxy.

[Alex Strohschein · Rating 4 out of 5]

This past week I met up with a friend from undergrad for beers (appropriately, at a pub called St. Augustine's) and he surprised me by telling me he felt like he was "90% Catholic." I was taken aback by this revelation and gave him some book and article recommendations that I thought provided the best "case" for Protestantism (and I hope he reads them!).

As this recent example from my own life showed, numerous evangelicals are feeling the pull to cross the Tiber (or Bosporus). Brad Littlejohn and Chris Castaldo's (the latter being a Catholic-turned-Calvinist himself) 'Why Do Protestants Convert' is a breezy examination of the psychological, theological, and sociological reasons that Protestants turn towards Rome (there are a further three reasons given for each of the psychological, theological, and sociological reasons). These range from the usual suspects of (purported) doctrinal certainty thanks to the papacy and Magisterium compared to Protestantism's "pervasive interpretive pluralism" and the (apparent) shallowness and triteness of trendy low-church evangelicalism compared to Rome's high aesthetic sensibilities to more provocative claims such as the Roman Catholicism helps fulfill a kind of "father hunger" among men who deeply long for paternal connection (which initially struck me as more outlandish a claim but then I considered how John Eldredge is one of the few widely-read evangelical authors among Catholics) and that Catholicism can be the "inner ring" that C.S. Lewis speaks of due to Rome's rich and magnificent intellectual tradition. Because of the brevity of this book unfortunately not all of these reasons are given adequate attention but then, at just over 100 pages long this isn't a book designed to solve papal infallibility, transubstantiation, Marian dogmas, indulgences, and the like.

The authors express empathy with prospective converts who feel unfulfilled in their Protestant churches but rather than despair entirely and swim the Tiber, Littlejohn and Castaldo exhort these restless Protestants with looking back particularly to the magisterial Reformation. Not only do the magisterial Reformation movements (Lutheranism, Anglicanism, and the Reformed Churches) have their own venerable traditions (Luther, Melanchthon, Cranmer, Hooker, Andrewes, Calvin, Beza, Vermigli, Bucer) but these Reformers were also thoroughly acquainted with the church fathers and copiously cited them and the great ecumenical councils in their own theological works even as they were breaking from Rome. Included in this are Reformation principles such as a reverence for the sacraments and for a right sense of awe and veneration when the church comes together for worship.

A few critiques and comments I would make. It's no secret that much of popular evangelicalism is replete with cringe and Littlejohn and Castaldo regularly excoriate the megachurch spirit that is "more concerned with trying to find the right balance of Coffee Hour and Praise Band Hour" (p. 84) and that is ignorant of the Christian past. I agree with the authors and wince at worship that seems far too often to be about a rock star's performance rather than reverent worship for the Lord but I want to be cautious about how a "magisterial Reformation mindset" can cultivate an "inner ring" scorn for megachurches and low-church evangelicalism. Most of us don't graduate from Sunday School to reading Richard Hooker's 'The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity.' I get that this book is targeted to Protestants considering conversion to Catholicism but most evangelicals won't feel the pull towards Rome and might not that Coffee Hour actually help to foster those male friendships that many men in the church are desperately yearning for and lacking?

Naturally, Littlejohn and Castaldo see the magisterial Reformers as the most exemplary expression of Protestantism but I'd posit that some later streams of Protestantism also offer resources and testaments to the appeal of Protestantism. For instance, John Wesley's "class meetings" help revolutionize discipleship; indeed, these class meetings are one way modern Protestants can cultivate more meaningful, deeper relationships between fellow Christians of accountability, encouragement, and prayer. I'd add that pentecostalism and the charismatic movement have also brought renewed attention to the Holy Spirit's dynamic power in our lives.

Though acknowledging the genius of C.S. Lewis, the authors lament the lack of Protestant creativity compared to Roman Catholic literature. Chesterton, Waugh, Tolkien, Greene, O'Connor, and Percy are only a few of the distinguished Catholic novelists have the twentieth century (I would add my favourite living novelist, Alice McDermott, to the mix). But it's astoundingly obvious to me that in fact the late five-or-so decades have featured plenty of Protestant literary talent (or varying degrees of orthodoxy to be sure) - Madeleine L'Engle, John Updike, Frederick Buechner, Luci Shaw, Marilynne Robinson, and Wendell Berry are all Protestants of one stripe or another.

Also in the public square, the authors note that during the 1990s conservative Protestantism did not produce a respectable public intellectual such as Richard John Neuhaus; sure, he might not be as conservative as I am but I would proffer Stanley Hauerwas as a comparable figure. Additionally, although I used to read First Things with relish, lately it has veered far to the right and I would only read particular contributors these days; Comment and Plough may not be as big, but they are doing a fine job of being the "Protestant equivalent."

This short book could have used a bit more editing. It's a co-authored book but for one section they use "I" without identifying who is writing. They also list Christian Smith's 'How to Go from Being a Good Evangelical to a Committed Catholic in Ninety-Five Difficult Steps' as a 2001 release - twice - when it was published in 2011. But these are quibbles on an otherwise perceptive book.

At times Catholic-Protestant debates can seem like one of those "very online" phenomena. Every case is very complex, very different. Autobiographically, there have been times when I have felt the appeal of Catholicism but I am glad to be Protestant. I think this little book is a good exploration of why many Protestants consider converting to Rome - and a good exhortation to remain Protestant.

[Mark Jr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very poorly copy-edited and, at least in the Kindle edition, formatted (blockquote style needed!). Also, the book reads like a series of blog posts.

Now that's not so bad. The writing is skillful and engaging and moves at a good clip. I was primed to agree with the authors' case, and the insights I came for were mostly present—though (back to critique) one of the big reasons the book feels like a series of blog posts is that the author(s) don't tell or engage with many evangelical-to-Catholic conversion stories. There is a Monday-morning-punditry feel to the book(let). This is a serious topic, and books with forewords by real scholars like Carl Trueman ought to be a little more intense. I paid actual money for this. ;)

Also, I found it unprofessional and off-putting that no preface explained which of the authors wrote what. I checked twice. Thought for sure I must have missed it.

Oh, and several of the comments about pop evangelicalism were simply too acid.

Davenant Press, do you need a book designer? And a dev editor? I take freelance work.

[Gailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

"In the majority of cases, I want to say, "I see why you want that. I want that too, and I think I can and do have it from within the magisterial Protestant tradition.' So often, converts are so intent on running away from the Protestantism they grew up in that they don't pause to ask whether it was authentically Protestant at all."

"If we respond with truth to this crisis,  we must also respond with love. The emotional needs of people in a world adrift are no less important than their intellectual needs".

"Just as we are increasingly hungry for an authority that is not of our own making, we are increasingly hungry to experience a reality that is truly other - before, beyond, and above us: in short, an experience of the holy."

[S. Paterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent and brief. Good companion alongside Schaff’s The Principle of Protestantism, Ortlund’s What It Means to Be Protestant, and Vanhoozer’s Biblical Authority After Babel.

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have so many thoughts about this little volume that I hardly know where to begin.

Foremost among my reactions to this book is the feeling that this could have been written as an exposition of my own personal faith journey. Almost every single one of the nine reasons he gives why Protestants convert has been a reason I have felt the pull of Rome and a reason I have landed in the Anglican tradition. So many of the shortcomings of modern Protestantism are shortcomings I have experienced in my own church and at my own Protestant university during my most formative years.

I was relived to find that the authors acknowledge that many of the reasons people swim the Tiber are founded in legitimate critiques of modern Evangelical Protestantism. There were times when I wondered whether their critiques of the Roman church were fair or simply caricatures of a late Medieval church that has since reformed itself (though I had enough respect for the scholarly integrity of at least one of the authors to feel certain that this was not quite the case). So I was pleased to find that in the afterword, they acknowledge that the Roman Catholic Church has reformed many of the practices of which the Magisterial Reformers were critical and that we can count among those in the Church of Rome many faithful brothers and sisters in Christ.

By the time I finished reading the book (aloud to my wife), I felt confirmed in my Protestantism and a sense of urgency to join in the work of ressourcement that the authors enjoin.

[Drake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charitable while also insightful and uncompromising.

[Brad Bevers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really good little book. It can be read in a couple of hours or less, but it is definitely worth your time. There have always been conversions from Orthodoxy and Catholicism to Protestantism and vice versa, but the movement in both directions seems to have grown in recent years. This book tackles the problem from a Protestant point of view and, in my opinion, is spot on in its assessment.

Here are a few insights that really stood out to me.

First, the movement from Protestant to Catholic is likely smaller than the other way around. However, it is having a large effect because many Protestants who are converting are considered the most learned or academic Protestants. Specifically, it is growing among Christians involved in classical Christian education.

The authors give nine reasons for this, which are psychological, sociological, and theological. The two that stood out the most to me are how much of the evangelical church has become anti-sacramental and how much the importance of holiness has shrunk over the recent decades.

I am a Protestant, but it's sad to read about how far many churches have drifted from some important tenets of Christianity. It's worth reading this to diagnose some of what is happening in the modern church in America and to try to find a path forward to recover some key elements in our churches today.

[Stephen Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, multi-faceted look at an important phenomenon. One factor that was overlooked is the importance in technology driving this trend. The Internet has radically changed our information diet. The various apologetic points Protestants have used against Rome for decades often fail the test of scrutiny, which is now more apparent with so many resources at our fingertips. Lay members can easily find resources across two millennia in a way that simply was not nearly as accessible in previous generations. While the confusion and dislocation caused by awareness of so many debates is lamentable, perhaps the blessing is that it will, as this book suggests, force evangelicals to do some introspection and to be more self-conscious about their traditions. I'm hopeful that books like these point us in the right direction—we need new institutions and existing churches to be more aware of these dynamics and how they will increase in scope. To be a conservative is to be highly respectful of the longstanding traditions and beliefs of our ancestors. Only by recovering a genuine catholicity rooted in the historic traditions of the church will evangelicals improve their prospects in the remainder of this century.

[Hadlai · Rating 4 out of 5]

At risk of sounding petty, I’m trying incredibly hard not to give this 5 stars, because I DO have notes, but I’m riding such a high right now. It’s 5 stars in my heart, 4 in my brain. Review to come.

[Zak Mellgren · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay exploration of the alarming increase in Protestants jumping ship for Roman Catholicism (and explored to a lesser extent, the Orthodox Church). There's some good stuff here on the longings many converts to Catholicism feel - for beauty, for authority, for certainty, etc. - and why the Catholic church doesn't actually satiate those longings as deeply as potential converts might imagine. Not only that, but much of what they long for is actually to be found already within the Reformed tradition if they would take an honest look. These arguments are the book at its strongest.

Unfortunately, I find their solution (the "way forward") to be somewhat uncompelling and incomplete. Put bluntly, that solution is: evangelicals should be smarter, make better art, and be more liturgical. The paragraph below is a good summary of their thinking:

"The church's ministry, the Reformers recognized, is a teaching ministry, and thus it must be a learned ministry. Through the sixteenth century, one encounters long laments about the ignorance of parish priests and dedicated efforts at educational renewal. These efforts bore rich fruit in the century that followed, so that by the 1620s, for instance, it was said..."the clergy of England are the wonder of the world," on account of the depth and breadth of their learning. Most of the Enlightenment was not the result of the intellectual rebellion of atheistic philosophies; it was the intellectual fruition of Protestant universities and seminaries, which created a culture of learning and discovery, law, and liberty. This is our heritage; it is time that we reclaim it" ( 89).

A crass summary: we used to be the intellectual wonder of the world. Then we got away from it. It's time to be intellectually and culturally impressive again.

I'm not arguing for evangelical anti-intellectualism, which is absolutely a problem. We evangelicals have an issue with biblical and historical illiteracy that needs to continue to be combated. But I don't think the situation is as dire as they present here, nor do I think that reclaiming some kind of intellectual and artistic cultural heritage is the primary way forward. I think evangelicalism broadly has, as Ray Ortlund would put it, a gospel culture problem.

Can we do better in our theological and historical teaching? Yes, and we should. But if more Christians, myself included, were living out a gospel love for one another in a gospel community, I believe fewer Christians would be considering a jump across the Tiber.

[Tyler C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great. I think Littlejohn is right that many of the reasons Protestants convert to Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy have more to do with rootedness, liturgy, and psychology than with theological inquiry alone. What the book does well is show that much of what these converts seek in Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy can actually be found within the Protestant tradition. Not all of it, of course—but a lot.

Littlejohn doesn’t make this point explicitly, but it’s increasingly clear to me that many of the men who convert don’t actually know the Protestant tradition as well as they think they do. Or they misunderstand key concepts like Sola Scriptura. (This became especially evident to me when I read Josiah Trenham and Scott Hahn). Many convert off of a false pretense.

Protestantism is good. It has roots. It has liturgy. There’s certainly been a drift in recent decades, but Protestants certainly don’t have a monopoly on drifting or nominal living. As a friend who was in the Eastern Orthodox church for years only to come back to Protestantism told me, "Many of the same problems you find in Protestantism you find in Eastern Orthodoxy (and Roman Catholicism)."

Definitely recommend this one.

[Clayton McFarland · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt that the rationale behind this book, and even the start of it had a strong basis.

The second chapter, and especially its point of Catholicism being equally a religion of the mind, body, and soul; while the Protestant emphasis on scripture gives the impression that it is a religion primarily of the mind, was very compelling, and will likely stick with me for some time.

However, in my opinion, the quality of the arguments went downhill in chapter 4. The sociological effects that the author describes, point more to individuals who leave the Christian Faith outright. And while this fact is acknowledged within this chapter, I think the percentage of people in these categories moving to the Roman tradition vs abandoning the religion entirely is vastly overestimated. And I found the author’s mentioning of ethics, or the degradation of the “moral order of reality” to be wholly unrelated to the thesis of this volume.

[Simon Eriksen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reformerte protestantiske forfattere med et åpent sinn prøver å forklare hvorfor mange protestanter, spesielt i akademia- kjente teologer, konverterer til Den Katolske Kirke, og delvis også til ortodoks kristendom.

Her er ikke prosjektet å forklare argumenter for eller mot, men å sette ord på hva de apostoliske kirkene tilbyr. Hvilke behov kan DKK møte som kontemporær protestantisk teologi, åndelighet og kirkepraksis på en eller annen måte neglisjerer?

Og hva har blitt mistet på veien siden reformasjonen. Forstår egentlig protestanter i dag hensikten med reformasjonen: å ta kirken tilbake til ortodoksien hos kirkefedrene og den tidlige tradisjonen, men med Skriften som rettesnor? Ikke modernisering og fremmedgjøring av tradisjonen og bibelen i et vakum.

En veldig interessant, kort bok. Jeg opplever ikke at den går helt i dybden på ting, men kjenner meg igjeb i en god del. 2 timer på audible.

[Carol Castillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short but thoughtful discussion of why Protestants, especially young intellectuals, consider converting to Roman Catholicism. “the idiom of the rock concert with added TED talk is scarcely adequate to convey the holiness of God, the beauty of worship, and the seriousness of the Christian faith.” I found this to be extremely helpful in starting to understand the desire to convert. The author insists it is also true that the things desired in conversion can and should reside in true Protestant practice.

[Richard Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for what it is, a brief self-critical reflection on the flaws of modern protestantism coupled with arguments that the answer is to fix protestantism (by drawing on historic protestant resources) rather than converting to Romanism (which actually has all the same problems people see in protestantism...)

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short and helpful primer on (checks the title) why protestants convert.

This book is short on theological polemics. It doesn't spend space arguing against prayers to saints or transubstantiation.

It doesn't ignore theological convictions leading people to Rome, but it looks at some of the other factors that contribute to the phenomenon.

Overall, I found it to be a helpful resource!

[Jane Gregga · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book for faithful Protestants who feel like something is missing. An excellent book for those concerned about the lack of commitment among the young people in their church. The issues discussed and diagnosed are also worth reading by my Roman Catholic brothers and sisters. It is a book that respects both traditions and spiritual roots.

[sch · Rating 2 out of 5]

June 2024. Think I wanted more out of this book than it was intended to give.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thought-provoking summary of the motivations behind conversion. Well worth the read.

[Josiah · Rating 5 out of 5]

why do evangelicals leave the church? what is drawing them to Catholicism, eastern orthodoxy, and new age mysticism? the author's diagnosis in on-point

[Alex Burlingame · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sincere if not exhaustive exploration into a complex phenomenon

[Misael]

Thoughtful but never grapples with the historical and theological claims that compel converts to Catholicism.

[Jordan Embree · Rating 4 out of 5]

This little book by Littlejohn was more than a little helpful. I’d particularly recommend this to any Protestant who may have people in their sphere dipping their toe in the waters of Roman Catholicism. This would be a resource to you to help get in their minds and be able to reason with some of their objections.

[Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fantastic little book. The authors, both scholars, and one a former Roman Catholic himself, present common reasons why many convert to Roman Catholicism. However, they argue that what most are looking for in Catholicism can actually be found by recovering the riches of classical Protestantism. The problem is not with Protestants--it's that most Protestants have abandoned their heritage.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

More or less just points to consider. Not a full treatise on swimming the Tiber, but helpful.

Largely felt like a 100 page pamphlet, promoting the work of Davenant Institute! Yet, at the end of it, I agree. Protestants need to remember their ancient and Reformational heritage.

[eden · Rating 1 out of 5]

“[Converts] are not wrong to sense that something is wrong: that the gospel that they're getting is missing moral seriousness and a call to Christian virtue; that the proof-texts they're hearing are deaf to context and lacking in Christian wisdom; that the story they're being told to inhabit began with the founding of their own congregation three decades ago, and has no deeper connection to two millennia of Christian history. Most sacramental theology and practice is abysmal in American Protestantism. Most catechesis and moral formation is extremely thin. In most churches, historical awareness is rare, and philosophical rigor non-existent. Effective shepherding and discipline that knows how to wield real spiritual authority with paternal care and patience is certainly the exception rather than the rule. The list could go on and on.”

You don’t have to convince me, Mr. Littlejohn — I’ve already left Protestantism!

The lack of self-awareness in this book is astounding. The author literally attributes conversions from Protestantism to daddy issues, intellectual embarrassment, and/or the allure of “smells and bells”. He acknowledges actual theological issues with a hand wave without actually addressing them. But the funniest thing is that, as in the passage above, he perfectly describes the impoverishment of Protestantism, but his response is basically the No True Scotsman fallacy: “Yes, yes, that’s all terrible but it’s not *real* Protestantism.”Eventually you discover that he’s really only advocating for his own little corner of Anglicanism as The Answer.

[Xavier Tan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book overall. I appreciate that the authors did not restrict themselves to abstract theoretical/theological reasons behind conversion, but also touched on the more grounded psychological and sociological factors. I found the chapter on sociological reasons for conversion especially interesting, particularly the part where the authors question why, despite the fact that Protestants do have plenty of intellectuals, Roman Catholic ones "loom so large", and they answer: "The answer, surely, lies in institutions." A great explanation for how sociological factors influence conversion, and the work Protestants have cut out for them.

I personally would prefer more citations of why ex-Protestants have converted (eg. From Rome Sweet Home) to minimise the risk/accusations of strawmanning, though I also don't think many people would disagree that conversion is not a purely intellectual endeavour.

I do wonder why the last substantive chapter (A Way Forward) was so brief, though. Specifically, I wonder to what extent catechesis is able to plug the gap that gives rise to sociological reasons for conversion. I think holding up examples and models of interdenominational unity (both locally in the US and internationally) can address the unity issue, and if US Protestant institutions are really weak and there are none to hold up (which I highly doubt), Protestant institutions and intellectuals from other places can be held up to demonstrate the wealth of intellectualism. For example, there is a wealth of evangelical scholarly content in the UK (which gave us NT Wright). All in all, I think the chapter suggesting ways forward could have been more substantive.

[Jonathan Asbun · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brief yet insightful book