Evangelical Theological Society president converts [Excerpts]
Monday, May 07, 2007
By CNA
Dr. Francis Beckwith, the president of the Evangelical Theological Society, tendered his resignation yesterday as a result of his coming back into communion with the Catholic Church. The potential for a backlash within the Society led him to his decision to resign from his post as president.
According to Beckwith's blog, "I no longer think that it is possible for ETS to conduct its business and its meetings in a fashion that advances the Gospel of Christ as long as I remain as its president.” “For this reason, effective May 5, 2007, I resign as both President of the Evangelical Theological Society and a member of its executive committee."
Dr. Beckwith's journey back to the Church (Beckwith was raised Catholic) was sparked by his reading of some the bishops and theologians of the early Church. "In January, at the suggestion of a dear friend, I began reading the Early Church Fathers as well as some of the more sophisticated works on justification by Catholic authors. I became convinced that the Early Church is more Catholic than Protestant and that the Catholic view of justification, correctly understood, is biblically and historically defensible."
http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idarticle=9260
[TBC: Beckwith's journey back to Rome parallels others. First, it begins not with the Scriptures, but with the writings of those referred to as the "Church Fathers."
