Evangelical Exodus: Evangelical Seminarians and Their Paths to Rome

by Douglas M Beaumont

Over the course a single decade, dozens of students, alumni, and professors from a conservative, Evangelical seminary in North Carolina (Southern Evangelical Seminary) converted to Catholicism. These conversions were notable as they occurred among people with varied backgrounds and motivations-many of whom did not share their thoughts with one another until this book was produced. Even more striking is that the seminary's founder, long-time president, and popular professor, Dr. Norman Geisler, had written two full-length books and several scholarly articles criticizing Catholicism from an Evangelical point of view.

What could have led these seminary students, and even some of their professors, to walk away from their Evangelical education and risk losing their jobs, ministries, and even family and friends, to embrace the teachings they once rejected as false or even heretical? Speculation over this phenomenon has been rampant and often dismissive and misguided-leading to more confusion than understanding. The stories of these converts are now being told by those who know them best-the converts themselves.

They discuss the primary issues they had to the nature of the biblical canon, the identification of Christian orthodoxy, and the problems with the Protestant doctrines of sola scriptura (""scripture alone"") and sola fide (""faith alone"").

Genres: Catholic, Theology, Nonfiction

362 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 6, 2016

Reviews

[Doc]

I expected something different from Oliphint's review (http://themelios.thegospelcoalition.o...). It was not as helpful as I had hoped at understanding why some people—the contributors to this book—went from Evangelicalism (a flabby term anymore) to Catholicism (or more aptly, to the Catholic Church). The personal essays were subjective conversion stories, not closely argued apologiæ. If that’s what you want, then okay. But they were not persuasive for me.

The four appendices are more apologetic, except they mainly bring up problems with Protestantism, many of which are true, but so what? The RCC's supposed authority (and it is more supposed than argued for) is said to solve the problems of Protestantism, but for a true Evangelical who didn't just inherit his faith from his upbringing, the apologiæ are not persuasive.

One argument in particular was that the Bible needs to be interpreted, and it does. The solution was to appeal to the RCC's authoritative interpretation of the Bible. But does not that authoritative interpretation need to be interpreted, as well?

Obviously, the editor and contributors were in the tank for RCism, just as I am in a different tank for Evangelicalism. Just know what you're getting into before starting.

Interestingly, there was no imprimatur in the book. I wonder whether it could have received one if it tried.

[Alisha Roach]

I enjoyed this book. The appendices were particularly helpful.

[Hank Pharis]

Of the thousands of books I have read this is one of the most distressing. The practical implication of this book is that it doesn't matter what the Bible says. It only matters what the Roman Catholic Church says. The "Church" is idolized and the Bible is made virtually irrelevant. This is a compelling case for Protestantism.

[Keith Little]

One of the best collections of conversion stories I've read. As the authors are seminarians there's a special emphasis on theological, historical, and philosophical reasons for conversions.

[Bradley Barrett]

Hanging Onto Protestantism by a Thread

Evangelical Exodus offers a easily readable excursion through the conversation stories of 9 seminary students who all ultimately came to discover the Roman Catholic church to be the one, consistent, real, representative Church that Christ Jesus established through His apostles. Each testimony offers a unique perspective and takes the reader through the reasoning process each went through related to a major theological difference between Catholicism and Protestantism. The appendix alone is worth the cost of the book. As a protestant, I had never read the Catholic explanation of justification and salvation. Eye opening.

[Derek Barber]

Overall this is a great book of conversion stories from Evangelicalism to the Catholic Church. As a convert myself I can relate deeply with many of these accounts and it brought me back to the years of personal struggle that I went through as I navigated similar waters across the tiber. This book also gave me renewed appreciation and gratitude for my conversion, which was almost 10 years ago now. These accounts are very moving and for me personally they are also very convincing. I hope many read this book and I hope it helps to foster deeper Christian unity between Catholics and Protestants.

[John Swaringen]

Great Minds find the Truth

This book was very moving to me. It wasn’t just philosophical argument for The Church but a road map left behind by individuals who’ve made the journey. Definitely recommended.

[Leslie Moellering]

The conversion stories were enjoyable and the explanations in the appendices (Facing the Issue of: the Biblical Canon, Christian Orthodoxy, Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide) were clear. Being seminarians and intellectuals, the conversions stories will mostly likely appeal to those with the same bent.

[Candace Simar]

interesting.