In 1999, Pope John Paul II wrote an Encyclical which directed the Church into a new season of evangelism. This Encyclical, "Ecclesia in America", had wide reaching consequences, particularly for the Church in America. Called "The New Evangelization", this Encyclical directs the Church to a new effort of worldwide evangelism - an effort that is to begin in the Americas, be driven by Catholic laity, and spread around the globe. Most importantly, great lattitude was given to the Church in America in determining how this new evangelism should occur and be shaped.
This Encyclical was filled with John Paul's profound wisdom. He pointed to the failures of the Church in fulfilling its calling to evangelize and exhorted the laity to live to a higher spiritual calling. The gap between one's faith and daily living must be bridged, his Encyclical insisted. Spirituality is life in Christ, not life with Christ. Additionally, the Church is plagued by a lack of Biblical knowledge. John Paul encouraged the Church in America to teach the Bible, noting that ignorance of scriptures is ignorance of Christ. Finally, the "New Evangelism" is to be achieved in solidarity - the Church united on its front, with laity stepping forward and working arm in arm with the Priesthood. The "New Evangelism" should occur in nothing less than the context of a renewed and profoundly lived spiritual walk with Jesus Christ.
But somewhere along the line, something went terribly wrong. Early on, a subtle change was made that caused the organizers to view the harvest in America not as a matter of those who do not know Christ or have rejected Christ, but instead to a view that "Protestants" needed to be brought back into the fold of the Catholic Church. The focus on reaching those who genuinely do not know Christ became secondary to the new focus on converting errant "Protestants". The biggest names in Roman Catholic apologetics to "Protestants" were called upon to train a new wave of Roman Catholic laity to bring all into the Mother Church. The vision of John Paul for a transforming world evangelism was traded for the counterfeit change of helping "Protestants" become Catholic.
Many Evangelicals have been caught off-guard by the resurgence of Roman Catholic apologetics, unaware of the warnings of Evangelical apologists. Although the best estimates indicate that the number of converts from Roman Catholicism to the Evangelical church remains quite high, the apparent increase in Evangelical converts to Roman Catholicism is a trend which Evangelicals need to be aware of. Despite the lofty goals of "Evangelicals and Catholics Together", it seems clear that neither party is indeed ready to stop proselytizing the other.
Evangelicals much remain watchful and guard the essential doctrines given to us by Jesus Christ at great cost: the transforming grace of Jesus Christ, the sufficiency of the final authority of God's Own Word as recorded in scripture, and the spiritual significance of the celebration of the Lord's Table. At the same time, we must not lose sight of the greater need of the world to hear the transforming grace of Jesus Christ.
If you have comments, issues, or concerns, please email me directly: michaelh@ductape.net
Of all the works on Roman Catholicism from an Evangelical perspective, this is one is by far my favorite. This work is a very thoughtful book that begins by outlining the areas where Evangelicals are in agreement with the Roman Catholic Church. The second section then carefully analyzes the various disagreements between Evangelicals and the Roman Catholic Church, including the popular arguments of Roman Catholic Apologists, and demonstrates the fallacies latent in particular views. The last section of the book considers how Roman Catholics and Evangelicals can work together in the future.
Some Roman Catholic apologists have claimed that to be deep within Church History is to cease to be Protestant. I have found this claim to be exaggerated, based on a rather one-sided reading of church history.
Shelley's work is a readable introduction to Church History for the average reader. Typically this work is used as a textbook for Church History courses. Despite being 520 pages, the book moves very quickly from topic to topic; thus a more comprehensive treatment is necessary if one wishes to look more deeply.
Online HTML:
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http://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/history/About.htm ]
This book can be ordered through the NTRMin website:
[
http://www.ntrmin.org/bookstore.htm ]
This short 136 page book represents one of the most fascinating exchanges of the Reformation era.
Available online here:
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http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/ccc_toc.htm ]
Available online here:
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http://newadvent.org/cathen ]
Scott Hahn maintains a detailed bibliographical reference here. Note that many of the books on this list are marked "Protestant"; thus the list is not strictly Roman Catholic sources.
This is by no means a complete list of Roman Catholic apologetics works. Many more can be found online, or by visiting a Roman Catholic bookstore such as Sacred Heart.
Review by Kenneth R. Samples, Christian Research Journal "Book
Reviews" release A, April 15, 1994
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http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/cri/cri-jrnl/crj0059a.txt ]
"While Keating's defense of Catholicism offers something significant to Catholic and Protestant readers alike, it is not without some weaknesses. One weakness lies in his understanding of fundamentalism. He does not seem to recognize the broad theological diversity within conservative Protestantism. After asserting that fundamentalism is nothing if not Calvinistic, he then proceeds to place Calvinism, Dispensationalism, and Pentecostalism all under one heading (fundamentalism), seemingly without recognizing the critical distinctions between these three theological schools."
John W. Robbins, "The Lost Soul of Scott Hahn"
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http://www.trinityfoundation.org/reviews/journal.asp?ID=109a.html ]
"The Lost Mind of John W. Robbins"
[
http://members.aol.com/dpinstitut/John_Robbins_on_Scott_Hahn.html ]
Scott Hahn maintains a detailed bibliographical reference on Roman Catholic apologetics here.
This book, written from a distinctly Roman Catholic perspective, draws heavily upon readily available research to paint a portrait of global Christianity few Americans are aware of.
The following is not a comprehensive listing of resources related to Biblical interpretation, but a few introdoctory resources are listed here.
Eric Svendsen
James R. White
William Webster
Jason Engwer
Tim Enloe
Kerry Gilliard
Steven Luker
Reformed Resources and Real Audio Debates, teaching sermons and lectures
Rolaant L. McKenzie
Julie Staples
Website of former nun Mary Ann Collins.
Website of former Roman Catholic Joe Mizzi, dedicated to reaching Catholics with the Gospel.
Compendium of Lexicons, concordances, commentaries, patristic writings, etc.
Searchable Database of Patristic Writings
Search ancient Greek and Latin writings - help determine how words were used in common literature of the day
Focus on ancient and Hellenistic Greek writings
Home of the New English Translation
A Dallas-based organization focused on "stimulat[ing] renewal and conversion, to make people proud to be Catholic again".
A non-comprehensive collection of Papal Encyclicals maintained by a Roman Catholic layman.
"Issues between Evangelicals and Catholics - what divides us? For too long, rhetoric, suspicion and misinformation have been promoted on both sides about each other. What theological problems exist within Roman Catholicism? What is Sola Scriptura? What purpose does tradition play within the historic Christian faith? In the view of Evangelicalism, can Roman Catholics be considered 'Christians'? Did the Reformers hold some views similar to Roman Catholicism? These issues and more divide Roman Catholics and Protestants."
The "Fullness of Truth" Conference is a regularly held regional conference, made up largely of Evangelical Roman Catholics. The conferences are usually spread out across several days and include a varitable who's who of popular Roman Catholic apologists.
"From its inception in January 2001 (known then as "Journeys of Faith"); "Fullness of Truth" has offered the Houston Catholic community an additional forum for evangelization and catechesis. Continued efforts toward this aim shall include regional evangelistic conferences which explore family, youth and moral/social issues, supplemented by parish-based speaker engagements, missions and workshops. The focus thus far has been bringing leading theologians to the Houston area to help address a growing and widespread longing for greater knowledge of Christian truth as taught by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church and the universal Catechism. Conversion stories by those who found the fullness of truth in the Catholic faith have proved to be one popular method, and the outpouring of support has been overwhelming.
"Other specific goals include the pursuit of Catholic radio in Houston, TX, the offering of accredited follow-up coursework in evangelization, scripture study and apologetics, as well as organized in-home study programs and spiritual pilgrimages. "Fullness Of Truth" pledges complete assent and faithful obedience in all matters of faith and morals to our local ordinary, and the entire Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church, and is under the spiritual guidance of Msgr. Paul Procella, V. F., Fr. Ed Wade, and others.
"Fullness Of Truth", therefore, ultimately exists to help bring wayward Catholics back home to the Church Jesus founded and to offer good Catholics another means to become better ones."
Although the Catholic Club has been historically a small organization uninvolved with campus life, this is slowly changing. At the time of this writing (Fall 2003), the Catholic Club at UTD has grown significantly to where it has a visible presence on the campus and is slowly becoming more organized.
As Evangelicals at UTD, we should be willing to consider Roman Catholics as brothers, but with an awareness of their drive to proselytize "Protestants" and bring them back into "the fullness of truth". When engaged in dialogue with Roman Catholics at UTD, we must remain courteous and engaged with them, while continuing to affirm the transforming grace of Jesus Christ, the sufficiency of the final authority of scripture, and the spiritual significance of the celebration of the Lord's Table. Few are as "anti-Protestant" as the professional Roman Catholic apologists; thus we have an incredible opportunity for bridge-building and future dialogue.
"You are therefore urged to read with good will and attention, and to be indulgent in cases where, in spite of our diligent labor in translating, we may appear to have rendered some phrases imperfectly."
Quoted from Ecclesiasticus, a book of the Old Testament Apocrypha
"I'll always be younger than this society. What do you expect
me to do, keep silent all my life?"
Oleg Kostoglotov, from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's Cancer Ward
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