Why do a few intellectual evangelicals become Catholics?

Many reasons are given. It is an older, deeper, richer, more intellectual tradition. . . .

It is clear that none of these are a test for the truth of a religion, and by the same logic one could argue for becoming a Hindu, Buddhist, or even an atheist.

—Norman Geisler

Faith is a gift of God; do not believe that we said it was a gift of reasoning.

Other religions do not say this of their faith.

They only gave reasoning in order to arrive at it, and yet it does not bring them to it. The knowledge of God is very far from the love of Him.

We know the truth not only by the reason, but also by the heart.

—Blaise Pascal, Of the Means of Belief

The Gates of Conversion

The foregoing conversion stories have involved many theological, philosophical, biblical, and historical arguments. That is to say, they all have had a large intellectual component. Although this is precisely what one would expect from a group of former seminarians, it is important to point out that other types of reasons—ancient tradition, beauty, family, and intellectual tradition—were operative and should be operative in a conversion.Although I am not happy with the distinction between intellectual and nonintellectual reasons, I think it is clear enough for the purposes of this text. As the Thomistic philosopher Gerald B. Phelan has said:

Like a medieval city, Thomistic thought has several gates. Some persons prefer to enter by the portal of Being. Others choose the brilliant gate of Truth. Still others find their way best through the door of the Good or through that over which the name Unity is written. . . . Of late there has been loud knocking at the gate of Beauty. . . . Must he despair of integrating his urgent and persistent impulses and purposes in one consistent, rational whole?Gerald B. Phelan, “The Concept of Beauty in St. Thomas Aquinas”, in Aspects of the New Scholastic Philosophy, ed. Charles A. Hart (New York: Benzinger, 1932), 121-22.

After considering conversion accounts and rejecting the intellectual reasons, some have concluded that the conversions really happen because of these other reasons and that the conversions are therefore not rational.Eg., Normal Geisler and Joshua Betancourt, Is Rome the True Church? (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2008), 196. In this conclusion, we want to reply briefly to such a charge by defending the rationality of conversions involving these other types of reasons.

Reason

First, it must be emphasized that the nine conversions in this book all involved many intellectual reasons. If you have read them, you noticed the reliance on biblical, philosophical, historical, and theological arguments that convinced us of many Catholic truths. These types of reasons differ from the others in that they have a more direct connection with the truth. Although conversions come in all shapes, every conversion should involve some such reasons, as all conversions should be aimed at the truth. Yet, as a matter of fact, conversions also must involve other types of reasons, as all of ours did.

Testimony

One might worry that relying on reasons that are less directly connected with the truth—or are less intellectual—makes one’s belief irrational. But this is just not the case. Instead, we cannot help but rely on many other types of reasons for our beliefs. For example, one relies on the testimony of those they trust for many important beliefs. Yet, people of other religions can also appeal to testimony. Does this mean it is irrational to rely on it? Philosopher Jennifer Lackey is clearly right when she claims:

Our dependence on testimony is as deep as it is ubiquitous. We rely on the reports of others for our beliefs about the food we eat, the medicine we ingest, the products we buy, the geography of the world, discoveries in science, historical information, and many other areas that play crucial roles in both our practical and intellectual lives. Even many of our most important beliefs about ourselves were learned at an earlier time from our parents and caretakers, such as the date of our birth, the identity of our parents, our ethnic backgrounds, and so on. Were we to refrain from accepting the testimony of others, our lives would be impoverished in startling and debilitating ways.Jennifer Lackey, introduction to The Epistemology of Testimony, eds. Jennifer Lackey and Ernest Sosa (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), 1.

We must rely on testimony when forming beliefs. Similarly, we must rely on other types of reasons that do not guarantee truth. (Many epistemologists today think most of our reasons are like this.Trent Dougherty, “Fallibism”, Routledge Companion to Epistemology, eds. Sven Bernecker and Duncan Pritchard (2001).) To deny that beliefs based on testimony are rational undermines the rationality of most beliefs of most people. But this is not yet the heart of the matter.

Implicit in such a criticism is an overly rationalistic account of human belief and conversion. Very few of our beliefs are attained through rigorous enough argumentation to be “rational” on this assumed standard. Now, I want to argue that very few of our beliefs are attained purely intellectually. And this is just as it should be. Although we have an intellect, we are not only intellects. Instead, we are embodied social creatures who love, feel, sense, desire, fear, grow up in a particular community at a particular time, et cetera. We are complicated knowers, and when it comes to making the biggest decisions that structure our entire lives, we do not, and should not, remove ourselves from all of this and run syllogisms limited to the “rational” reasons. In other words, a conversion story that included only such reasons would not be a human story. Surely the testimony of others, the beauty and history of a tradition, certain dazzling intellectual and spiritual thinkers, what our family believes, those things that satisfy an existential worry, the practical fruits of a tradition or belief, and the experience of God in worship and prayer should be a part of a conversion story. It is utterly reasonable for things such as these to play a role in conversion, even though they might not be adequate as isolated tests for truth.

Antiquity

Similar to testimonial evidence is the draw of antiquity. In Newman’s introduction to An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, he considers some Protestant theologians’ attempts to connect their tradition further back in history than the Reformation, as Protestant theologians do today. He notes that history is not always clear but then explains that whatever history does say, it is at least clear that the “Christianity of history is not Protestantism.”John Henry Newman, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, introduction, sect. 5. In the next paragraph he famously claims that “to be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant.”Ibid. This deep history and unbroken connection to the early Church is something that draws many converts to Catholicism.

Of course, being old does not guarantee something is true. But it is natural and healthy for people to want a traceable connection to things they care deeply about. In some circles, people are traced by their degree of separation from luminaries in the field. Mathematicians, for example, have an Erdos number, which indicates the degrees of separation by collaborative distance between mathematician Paul Erdos and another mathematician. To think this is irrelevant to truth is silly.

Tradition

Would you rather hear from the students of your favorite thinkers from the past or someone who has only read their biographies? Of course, being a student of a student does not guarantee that one gets everything right, but the personal connection counts for something. It is similar with Christianity. One thing all Christians should want is to have a connection like this to Christ. The continuous visible Church is at least some evidence of Catholicism’s truth. Being able to trace a line, as it were, all the way back beats having a 1,400-plus-year gap.

Tradition can also mean continuity of practice. Of course, such continuity does not guarantee truth, but a practice that was established in the early Church and continues to this day offers a strong motive to believe. I remember being utterly surprised to discover that we have some fairly detailed records of what Church services in the early Church looked like. In the seminary, in addition to trying to develop biblical reasons for what Christians should do during a service, we could have considered early-Church practice. But we never did this in class, and that is because the descriptions are so Catholic (or Orthodox). For example, in his First Apology, Justin Martyr describes the early Church’s practice, and the Eucharist is featured.Justin Martyr, First Apology 65-67. Then there is the Didache, which describes how the early Christians worshipped. If you have been to Catholic Mass, you will recognize the description. It is obviously rational for such considerations to play a part in a conversion.

Intellectual tradition also draws people to Catholicism. The intellectual lights of the Catholic Church are unrivaled by any other tradition. To name just a few: Augustine, Boethius, Anselm, Bonaventure, Aquinas, Scotus, Newman, and John Paul II. Of course, being a good scholar or being really smart does not guarantee that a person is correct. These thinkers draw converts not because they have scholarly credentials, though, but because they offer profound, systematic, and unique answers to our deepest questions and problems. The deep truths articulated and defended by Catholic thinkers are what bring people into the Catholic Church. Obviously this is reasonable.

Family

It is not just ancient tradition and great minds that influence conversions. For most of us, our families also play an important role in what we believe about many important things. We have to start our search for the truth somewhere, and most of us start with whatever our family believed. If not family, then we rely on other people we respect. Of course, the fact that someone in our family or someone we respect believes something does not make that belief true. Yet, as pointed out above, we cannot help but rely on the testimony of others. It is only reasonable that the people one loves deeply and respects would have a special role in a conversion.

Beauty

Beauty is another reason many are drawn to Catholicism. There are different ways to think of beauty as a reason for conversion. On the one hand, someone could think, “This is pretty and fun. I’ll become this.” Of course, if that is the depth of his reason for conversion, something is wrong. But there is another way for beauty to be a reason. From the time of the Greeks, many have thought that beauty and truth are deeply connected. This does not mean that every view in which anyone finds beauty is true. Instead, it is a reason to think that a view that has profound and abiding beauty that satisfies our longing for beauty while simultaneously drawing us in deeper is true. Catholicism has this. Unfortunately, this kind of beauty is not something that can be explained in a few—or even many!—sentences. It is found by pursuing a deeper friendship with Christ in the sacraments, spending time with him in adoration, participating in his life in the liturgical calendar, and being devoted to those who were deeply devoted to him. There is a superficial beauty to the liturgy and architecture of many Catholic churches. But this is just the beginning; it is the apparent, exterior beauty of a deeper and more hidden beauty that one must get to know like a person. How sad it would be to miss out on the profound inner beauty of a person just because she is also pretty.

Conclusion

In short, very few of people’s deepest beliefs are held for only “rational” reasons. But why would we want to rely only on intellectual reasons? We are not separated intellects, but social animals. Although the reasons considered above should not be taken as self-sufficient guarantors of truth, they should be a part of a human conversion story. To argue otherwise is to misunderstand the nature of conversion. Converting to a religion affects every aspect of one’s life, and every aspect of a person should enter into his conversion.