across the great divide

Frank Beckwith has resigned as president from the Evangelical Theological Society, and has chosen instead to join the Catholic Church. The Baptist Blogger has taken on the task of looking at the ways current Southern Baptist Convention leadership is similar in structure (and in what he sees as pre-Vatican II as well as Reformation-era abuses of power). Here is the project, as the Baptist Blogger put it:

A rich and rewarding ecumenism is available for Baptists wishing to escape the provincialism that has polluted our denominational stream. We may embrace the dialogue and profit thereby, that is, if certain men are powerless to restrict our freedom with fear of ostracism or even excommunication. It is possible to retain our Baptist identity without acquiescing to the oxymoronic fundamentalist intelligentsia or impeding the confessional potency of our distinct heritage.

Quite simply, there is a way to be Baptist that requires neither a lobotomy nor a vasectomy.

I want to examine ten ways that the current Southern Baptist Convention is dangerously reminiscent of the earlier Roman Catholic Church so as to necessitate an urgent reforming alliance among us monks doing theology in the hinterlands of denominational life. These striking similarities differ in the strength of their comparison, though all of them, I believe, are worthy of consideration. Some of these comparisons will anger, and some will provoke. Others will resonate and convince. Some Southern Baptist leaders will object to any comparison. Still others will think I’ve not gone far enough.

Whatever your predisposition, I ask you to keep an open and fair mind, reflecting on these ideas and interacting as you see fit. My thesis is not fully formed or exhaustively argued. These are rather the mere ruminations of a traveling Baptist, offered for you to masticate and/or expectorate as needed.

Thanks, Texas In Africa. I'd like to point out an excellent comment by Coleman Fanning to TexasInAfrica's post concerning all of this. If you go to her entry, there are also links to Frank Beckwith's explanation for his decision, as well as a Christian Century article about 6 evangelicals who have converted. Both are worth reading, as is the Roman Catholic doctrine of justification, just FYI.

There are several comments under the Beckwith blog, ranging from anti-Protestant to anti-Catholic, and covering just about every position in between. Two things annoyed me: 1) being referred to as "separated brethren," and 2) the condescending notion that because I do not believe in transsubstantiation it is therefore not possible for me to experience the presence of Christ in communion. For those of us in the Baptist tradition who believe that the eucharist is a symbol of Christ's sacrifice for our sins, taking communion is a powerful experience of His presence both with us and in us. The words spoken over the bread are, "This is my body, broken for you". And we remember, and we commune with Christ in Spirit.

The Church of Our Lady, Upper Parish, Bamberg, Germany.