Francis Beckwith, President of ETS, Becomes Roman Catholic

Francis J. Beckwith (Wikipedia | Theopedia), Associate Professor of Church-State Studies (tenured) at Baylor University and (now former) President of the Evangelical Theological Society, has recently announced his reconciliation to and acceptance back into the Roman Catholic Church.

On Saturday, April 28, 2007, I received the sacrament of Confession. The next day I was publicly received back into the Catholic Church at 11 am Mass at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Waco, Texas. My wife, standing beside me, was accepted as a catechumen.

Dr. Beckwith has since resigned as President of ETS.

Because I can in good conscience, as a Catholic, affirm the ETS doctrinal statement, I do not intend to resign as a member of ETS. [Update: Dr. Beckwith has now also resigned from being a member of ETS.]

. . .

I intended to remain as ETS president until my term expires in November, but not to accept a nomination for a four-year at-large appointment to the executive committee after the end of my term.

. . .

As I have already stated, my decision was based on a cluster of goods that I thought would be best protected by my completing my tenure and then permanently moving off the executive committee. However, given the immense public attention and commentary that my reception into the Church has provoked, 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. I now believe that my continued presence as president of ETS will serve the very harms that I had originally thought that my retention would avoid. 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 explains his reasons for returning to Rome in this paragraph:

I would have never predicted that I would return to the Church, for there seemed to me too many theological and ecclesiastical issues that appeared insurmountable. However, 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. Even though I also believe that the Reformed view is biblically and historically defensible, I think the Catholic view has more explanatory power to account for both all the biblical texts on justification as well as the church’s historical understanding of salvation prior to the Reformation all the way back to the ancient church of the first few centuries. Moreover, much of what I have taken for granted as a Protestant—e.g., the catholic creeds, the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation, the Christian understanding of man, and the canon of Scripture—is the result of a Church that made judgments about these matters and on which non-Catholics, including Evangelicals, have declared and grounded their Christian orthodoxy in a world hostile to it. Given these considerations, I thought it wise for me to err on the side of the Church with historical and theological continuity with the first generations of Christians that followed Christ’s Apostles.

You can find out more about Dr. Beckwith at his website, FrancisBeckwith.com, such as a bio, published articles, online essays, books, and speaking engagements.

For reactions from both Protestants and Roman Catholics, see the following:

• Jimmy Akin at JimmyAkin.org:
  • Dr. Francis Beckwith Returns To Full Communion With The Church
• Thabiti Anyabwile at Pure Church:
  • So, Again, What Is An “Evangelical”?
• Frank Beckwith at Right Reason:
  • My Return to the Catholic Church
  • My Resignation from the Evangelical Theological Society
• Jamey Bennett at Reformed Catholicism:
  • C. S. Lewis on Roman Catholic Converts
• Michael F. Bird at Euangelion:
  • ETS President (reportedly) becomes Catholic
• R. Scott Clark at The Heidelblog:
  • ETS President Converts to Rome
  • Of “Evangelical” and “Catholic”
  • Roman Catholic Scholar Converts to the Evangelical Cause
• Jason Engwer at Triablogue:
  • Francis Beckwith’s Reversion To Roman Catholicism
• James H. Grant at In Light of the Gospel:
  • “Washington Post” on Beckwith
• Douglas Groothuis at Constructive Curmudgeon:
  • The Reversion of Francis Beckwith
• Collin Hansen and Christianity Today:
  • ETS Resignation Triggers Tradition Discussion
• Steve Hays at Triablogue:
  • Francis Beckwith
• David M. Howard Jr. at Opinion Journal:
  • Rome-ward Bound
• Jesse Johnson at Pulpit Magazine:
  • Mother Church?
• Greg Koukl and Melinda Penner at Stand to Reason:
  • Beckwith Returns to Roman Catholicism
• Andreas Köstenberger at Biblical Foundations:
  • Statement of the ETS Executive Committee regarding Dr. Frank Beckwith’s Resignation as ETS President
  • Evangelicals and Catholics Together?
• Michael Liccione at Sacramentum Vitae:
  • Why Beckwith matters
• Paul W. Martin at kerux noemata:
  • Evangelical Leader Returns To Catholicism
• Scot McKnight at Jesus Creed:
  • ETS, Beckwith, and Evangelical
• Al Mohler at AlMohler.com:
  • The Problem of Evangelical Identity
• David Neff at Christianity Today:
  • Q&A: Francis Beckwith
• Dr. Van Neste:
  • Does the ETS Doctrinal Statement Say Enough?
• Paul Owen at Reformed Catholicism:
  • On Frank Beckwith’s Return to Rome
• Rick Phillips at Reformation21:
  • Beckwith, Trueman, and the Holy Spirit
• Peter Pike at Triablogue:
  • Thoughts on Modern Evangelicalism
• Kim Riddlebarger at the Riddleblog:
  • The Sorry State of American Evangelicalism
• Todd Rhoades at MondayMorningInsight:
  • Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) President Steps Down, Converts to Catholicism
• Kacy Sandidge at Meandering Home:
  • James White annoys me to no end (recounts the service where Dr. Beckwith was restored to fellowship with the RCC)
• Michael Spencer at Internet Monk:
  • Thoughts on Beckwith
• John Stackhouse Prof. John Stackhouse’s Weblog:
  • There’s No Such Thing as a Catholic Evangelical
• Sam Storms at Enjoying God Ministries:
  • Roman Catholicism, Evangelical Protestantism, and the Beckwith Controversy
  • Roman Catholicism, Evangelical Protestantism, and the Beckwith Controversy (2)
• Carl Trueman at Reformation21:
  • Thoughts on the Return to Rome of Professor Beckwith
• Gene Edward Veith at Cranach:
  • Top Evangelical goes over to Rome
• Washington Post:
  • Evangelical Leader Returns To Catholicism
• James White at Pros Apologian:
  • Head of the Evangelical Theological Society Swims the Tiber
  • Dr. Beckwith Explains His Conversion and Does the Right Thing Regarding ETS
  • To All Consistent Children of the Reformation: SHUT UP!
  • Some First of the Week Notes: More on the Beckwith Situation

See also our follow-up posts:

• Francis Beckwith Resigns from ETS
• ETS Statement on Beckwith’s Resignation

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