ETS Statement on Beckwith’s Resignation

Andreas Köstenberger has the statement issued by the ETS executive committee in response to Francis Beckwith’s resignation and return to the Roman Catholic Church. What is interesting is that the executive committee seems to be in agreement that a Roman Catholic cannot affirm the ETS doctrinal statement:

Dr. Beckwith’s resignation as President and subsequent withdrawal from membership [is] appropriate in light of the purpose and doctrinal basis of the Evangelical Theological Society and in light of the requirements of wholehearted confessional agreement with the Roman Catholic Church.

The work of the Evangelical Theological Society as a scholarly forum proceeds on the basis that “the Bible alone and the Bible in its entirety, is the Word of God written and is therefore inerrant in the autographs.” This affirmation, together with the statement on the Trinity, forms the basis for membership in the ETS to which all members annually subscribe in writing. Confessional Catholicism, as defined by the Roman Catholic Church’s declarations from the Council of Trent to Vatican II, sets forth a more expansive view of verbal, infallible revelation.

Specifically, it posits a larger canon of Scripture than that recognized by evangelical Protestants, including in its canon several writings from the Apocrypha. It also extends the quality of infallibility to certain expressions of church dogma issued by the Magisterium (the teaching office of the Roman Catholic Church), as well as certain pronouncements of the pope, which are delivered ex cathedra, such as doctrines about the immaculate conception and assumption of Mary.

We recognize the right of Roman Catholic theologians to do their theological work on the basis of all the authorities they consider to be revelatory and infallible, even as we wholeheartedly affirm the distinctive contribution and convictional necessity of the work of the Evangelical Theological Society on the basis of the “Bible alone and the Bible in its entirety” as “the Word of God written and . . . inerrant.”

Without a doubt the wording of the statement is not as clear as it could be, but since meaning is determined by context and intent, the precise wording is not the final issue on the matter. I ran into this when pursuing church membership at the church where we attend. I felt that I could possibly affirm the wording of the statement of faith on eschatology (when I interpreted it according to my understanding), but I could not in good conscience affirm it in light of the clear intent of its authors.

Read the whole statement.

See our previous post: Francis Beckwith, President of ETS, Becomes Roman Catholic.

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