Another One Bites the Dust

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"…and another one gone, and another one gone; another one bites the dust. Hey, its gonna get you too; another one bites the dust." - Queen
You should have noticed a changed lyric here. Instead of “I’m gonna get you too,” I’ve written, “its gonna get you too.” What is ‘it’? The Roman Catholic church.

Another protestant theologian has succumb to her siren song. Francis Beckwith, a professor specializing in religion and applied ethics who teaches at Baylor University (his personal web-page), is returning to the Roman church (he was born into it), and his wife, a Presbyterian, is undergoing the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA). What makes this all news is that Francis is currently the president of the Evangelical Theological Society. I find myself wondering how much longer that will last, although I have not found anything official about what (if any) steps ETS is going to take in response. Francis himself talks about some of this business in his own short explanation of why he is returning to Rome.

I can understand why intelligent Protestants, even intelligent evangelical Protestants, would be open to and follow through on seeking communion with Rome. A number of years ago I was tempted by this very thing. But, since then I have lost all desire to do so. While I am firmly committed to the ecumenical task, and while I think that there is a lot of promise in terms of restoring eucharistic sharing between Protestants and Rome in the near future, there is simply too much that still separates the reformational theological tradition from the Roman tradition. Great strides were made in Vatican II (although, some of those strides have been retarded since then), but there is still a long way to go – in my humble opinion.

Side Note: It becomes clear in Francis’ short explanation that news of his plans was leaked by bloggers. Such blogging activity is, as far as I am concerned, way beyond the pale of acceptability. There has never appeared here at DET, nor will there ever appear, personal information about private individuals that has not already been firmly established as public record.

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