Changing Churches
Journeys of Faith: Evangelicalism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and Anglicanism
edited by Robert L. Plummer
Zondervan, 2012
(256 pages, $18.99, paperback)
reviewed by Louis Markos
I spent most of the 1980s as a college student and as an active member of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Though IVCF was, and is, a non-denominational, para-church organization whose members hail from all branches of the "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church," it was almost a given that those students who were most committed to Christ, most serious about sharing their faith, and most earnest about studying the Scriptures were either Evangelical Protestants or (like myself) in the process of becoming one. Again and again, I met students who had grown up as nominal Catholics or Orthodox or liturgical ("high-church") Protestants, but who now felt convicted and called by the Spirit to convert to Evangelicalism.
That was then. Today, as a professor at an Evangelical university, I have witnessed among the current generation of students an unexpected shift in the other direction. Increasingly, young (and not-so-young) people who yearn for an intimate relationship with Christ in the midst of a superficial society, who desire a fuller spiritual vision that will counter the hedonism, scientism, and utilitarianism of our modern campuses, and who hunger for a revival of the sacred in the midst of an often militantly secular culture are eagerly crossing the Tiber, the Bosporus, or the English Channel. It is to Rome (Catholicism), Constantinople (Orthodoxy), or Canterbury (Anglicanism) that they are looking for an answer, for a champion, and for a home.
To help Christians, particularly Evangelicals, navigate these crisscrossing journeys, Robert Plummer, Associate Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has compiled testimonies from three former Evangelicals who have traversed one of the three liturgical bodies of water listed above. To balance out these journeys, he also includes a fourth testimony from a cradle Catholic who, in the manner of the young men I attended university with in the 1980s, found that he could not come alive spiritually and work out his divine calling until he swam downstream into the harbor of low-church Protestantism. In addition, to provide a genial format for irenic debate between the various branches of the Church, Plummer follows each testimony with a response from a fellow believer who chose to remain in the denomination from which the testifier chose to depart. The testifier is then given the opportunity to respond to the responder.
Through this simple but effective format—one that balances heart-felt confession with rational critique, spiritual discernment with theological discourse, and a love for sacred tradition with a passion for doctrinal purity—Plummer succeeds in moderating a much-needed dialogue. In the spirit of Evangelicals and Catholics Together, the eight writers who contribute their testimonies and responses remain consistently conscious of the fact that true, orthodox believers in each denomination have more in common with each other than they do with theological liberals in their own denominations who deny key teachings of the Bible and the Creeds.
Still, within that framework, they feel free to debate, vigorously and unapologetically, the real differences that exist and persist between the branches. These differences tend to revolve around four general areas: the relationship between the Bible and Tradition, church hierarchy and the nature of apostolic succession, the exact means by which a believer is justified before God, and the role of the seven Sacraments and of Mary in the life of the Church and of the believer.
Sailing the Bosporus
Plummer wisely begins with a journey to a faith tradition that will seem the most exotic and least familiar to most of his Evangelical readers: Eastern Orthodoxy. Wilbur Ellsworth, president of the Society for the Study of Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism, shares a moving testimony of his multi-stage pilgrimage from pastor of First Baptist Church in Wheaton, Illinois, to priest at the Holy Transfiguration Antiochian Orthodox Church in nearby Warrenville. Along the way, Ellsworth served as a pastor for an experimental, start-up church whose members were hungry for greater reverence—a hunger that led them "to explore the ancient worship practices of the Church" and to yearn for "the beauty of holiness." Together with Ellsworth, a number of his parishioners found themselves drawn to the liturgy, theology, ecclesiology, and spiritual disciplines of Orthodoxy. In the end, the congregation agreed to split into two groups, with Ellsworth's group being received, by chrismation, into the Orthodox Church.
Though Ellsworth discusses a number of factors that led to his decision to embrace Orthodoxy, the one that resonates most powerfully concerns his frustration with Evangelical worship. Too often, Ellsworth argues, Evangelical churches scramble to keep up with the latest fads in music, choosing songs and styles that will attract unchurched people rather than ones that will honor God's holiness and promote a sense of reverence in the congregation. Though Ellsworth (who serves on the board of the publisher of Touchstone) expresses deep concern for the lost, he reminds his Evangelical readers that the Church's first duty is to praise God and edify the believers who make up the Body of Christ. Whereas Evangelicals have changed their forms of worship again and again over the centuries (even hymn singing, seen today as highly traditional, was once viewed as a new-fangled innovation), Orthodoxy has preserved the same liturgy for well over 1,500 years. And yet, despite its static, unchanging nature, that liturgy embodies a type of awe, wonder, and mystery that is sorely lacking in the high-concept, ever-evolving worship of seeker-sensitive mega-churches.
Ellsworth's testimony is followed by a well-researched response from Craig Blaising, provost and professor of theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. While conceding that all denominations have their traditions, Blaising argues that the Orthodox Church has allowed extra-biblical elements to seep into its worship; he highlights the veneration of icons, Mariology, and the Orthodox understanding of the Eucharist and baptism. "Developing Tradition," writes Blaising, "is not a problem in itself unless it is found to act as a hindrance to a fully formed biblical faith and wholehearted obedience to God's Word." In response, Ellsworth not only defends these elements of Orthodoxy but also appeals to a strong sense among many Evangelicals that something is missing from their own worship and practice. That "something more," Ellsworth confesses, is what drove him to Orthodoxy.
Louis Markos , Professor in English and Scholar in Residence at Houston Baptist University, holds the Robert H. Ray Chair in Humanities. His 19 books include Lewis Agonistes; Restoring Beauty: The Good, the True, and the Beautiful in the Writings of C. S. Lewis; On the Shoulders of Hobbits: The Road to Virtue with Tolkien and Lewis; and From A to Z to Narnia with C. S. Lewis.
A Journal of Mere Christianity—Delivered to Your Door
- Essays on theology, culture, and the Church
- Contributors from across the Christian traditions
Six print issues (one year) of Touchstone, plus full online access and PDF downloads for only $39.95.
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95.
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more on Catholic from the online archives
24.5—Sept/Oct 2011
A Critical Memoir of Thomas Merton at Gethsemani Abbey by Patrick Henry Reardon
27.5—Sept/Oct 2014
The Culture of Death's Campaign Against the Catholic Church by Brantly Millegan
31.6—November/December 2018
The Slow Vindication of Leon Podles by S. M. Hutchens
more from the online archives
27.6—Nov/Dec 2014
Tales of Forbidden Stereotypes
Real-Life Men & Women & the Tragic Loss of Human Comedy by Anthony Esolen
30.3—May/June 2017
on the Misuse of Property Rights to Justify Slavery & Abortion by Robert Hart
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
