More on Beckwith from Carl Trueman:

But to argue that the patristic authors are more Catholic than Protestant is arguably to impose anachronistic categories upon the first five centuries. Further, given the variegated nature even of the extant patristic writings, it is to beg questions of the kind: Which authors? Whose theology? The temptation for both Catholics and Protestants has always been to prioritise those writers most conformable with their own later traditions. ... Truth be told: we lack the context to make a definite judgment one way or the other.

But the key differences -- impartation versus imputation, and the instrumentality of faith – are mutually exclusive. One has got to be wrong, both may be wrong, but both cannot be right. Again, the issue seems ultimately to be one of the nature of church authority in making the final decision about something unclear in scripture.

Frankly, the NAPS is better value for money; and, believe it or not, patristic reading has persuaded me to stick with Geneva, rather than head to Rome.

So, between Open Theists and Catholics among the ranks, this may be the ETS's undoing.

How come the party always ends just as we arrive?

"I don't want to go in without knowing it's the right party," my six-year-old announced.

I listened but said nothing, silently navigating the route via visual clues: Mount's Corner Drive. "Around the Corner" Art Center. Parking for Art Center Only, All Others Will Be Towed.

And the building even matched their web site image.

At last, "we're here!" I cheered.

Still hesitant, he didn't even want to carry the present.

I spotted the father of a classmate dozing in the car next to ours and recognized some other vehicles as well. My confidence level rose because, well, I CAN READ.

They let us in and gushed over Ella. Kenny joined the group upstairs painting ceramics. He moved so independently that I lost track of him! I caught up with him, greeted everyone else and had a lovely time.

He might be onto something:

On April 24, the Keyport Borough Council passed an ordinance that would allow police to issue a $75 ticket to anyone stopped for a primary traffic offense who happens to be smoking with children in the car at the same time.

The sad fact is that we can moralize all we want about the evils of tobacco, pass all the punitive laws aimed at smokers we want, but at root we're a society of hypocrites.

We need smokers, we need their money, and the last thing anyone in state government - or national government, for that matter - wants is for smokers to quit en masse.

Good heavens!

"Millstone Township children hope for return of stolen bikes " - Examiner, 5/3/07:

Allison Mains' 8-year-old and 4-year-old sons, along with their 5-year-old neighbor, ride their bikes to the school bus stop at the intersection of Ivins Lane and Millstone Road in the Clarksburg section of town nearly every weekday morning.

Between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. April 24, someone stole two of the three bikes the children had chained to a sign post where the bus picks them up.

The kids are hoping that the bikes might be returned to the bus stop if whoever took them starts to feel a little guilty.

I read their Journal during my studies, but I don't now follow ETS enough to know the players. Therefore, I appreciate this story from Michael Barber at "Singing In the Reign".

And reading White's thoughts on it, stepping down would be a given in my book; an Evangelical-turned-Catholic doesn't suddenly abandon all Christian propriety, no matter what Dr. White believes. We may not see politicians resign their office when they switch parties or positions, but if the ETS desires to be exclusively Protestant, as White says (and Akin contests), then let 'em have it. Actually, I don't think a Catholic can hold to the ETS statement of belief, so I disagree with Akin.

Dr. Beckwith's education (excepting WUSTL) occurred at Catholic institutions, including Fordham. Reared Catholic or no, an influence upon his thought is almost certain. And White reports detecting Catholic ways of expression in Beckwith's written dialogue with fellow Christians.

Knowledge of philosophy tends to make Catholicism attractive. And, conversely, ignorance of philosophy renders Catholicism unintelligible. Those branches of Bible Christianity that reject philosophical categories hold at bay a significant bridge to Catholicism. Likewise, the general American public's lack of familiarity with philosophy has left most unable to see and appreciate and believe the Catholic faith in sharp contrast to previous decades when well-educated men and women were streaming into the Church.

But, I really wonder at White's words,

"the endless treadmill of Rome's sacramental system,"

because I have yet to hear similar language leveled against Eastern Orthodoxy.

Our respective theologies of the sacraments are not identical but we both view them as instituted by Christ and necessary. I am puzzled by the reception that EO receives among Evangelicals - and notables like Presbyteria Frederica Mathewes-Green and Bishop Ware (and now Rod Dreher - converts all ... from Anglicanism and her derivatives!) have done much to popularize the ancient Eastern faith among Westerners even though Orthodoxy has some key beliefs and practices that Evangelicalism would reject outright: think "icons" here.

My hunch is that EO gets a pass from Evangelicals and Catholicism doesn't because of one and only one distinctive: the pope.

UPDATE: a word from Dr. Beckwith's blog:

[I]n 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.

He plans to step down as president but wishes to remain a member, as he claims to affirm the statement of beliefs. He knows better than I.

tags technorati : beckwith james r. white jimmy akin

"UVF calls end to terror campaign" - BBC News, 5/3/07:

The paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force has declared that it is renouncing violence and will cease to exist as a terrorist organisation from midnight.

Ulster Volunteer Force - Wiki

God bless him:

"Report: McGreevey could be headed to seminary" - Asbury Park Press, 5/3/07