There We Stood, Here We Stand: Eleven Lutherans Rediscover Their Catholic Roots

A few years back British Airways had an arresting ad slogan for travel to England: "Come home America, all is forgiven." Along with Pope John Paul II offering apologies on behalf of the Church, Rome has been echoing this slogan to the Reformation churches. In this book, eleven Lutherans tell why they took up the offer. This book differs somewhat from the general interest, dumbed-down sort of conversion story. Few of these writers would sum up with the line from "Amazing Grace," "I once was blind, but now I see." These stories are far more involved and candid than you would expect. They give interesting insights into the differences and commonalities in the various Lutheran bodies, and the book may be of interest to Catholics wondering how Protestants view their communion. Most of all, however, this book will be of interest to Protestants of various stripes who share a lively interest in spiritual things and will find echoes in these writers' accounts of their own life stories.

One of the cool things about being a canon lawyer is that I get to hang around with Catholic writers and apologists. I enjoy this blessing because I read a lot of their books, and so the opportunity to sit down with them and talk is always a wonderful experience. Now one of my favorite people is Tim Drake. He's really laid back and always has something interesting to say about his conversion to the Catholic Church. He's also one of the nicest people I've met in the Catholic apologetics movement, and so I was thrilled when he sent me an autographed copy of this book.Now the past decade has brought numerous collections of conversion stories. The typical story usually involves a former Protestant sharing with the reader how Our Lord awakened him to the fullness of Catholic Truth. These collections testify to the fact that, soul by soul, the Holy Spirit is working in the hearts of baptized Christians to restore unity to Christ's Church. In such a way, I am reminded ofCardinal Ratzinger's exhortation that the Catholic Church does not seek the dissolution of the Lutheran confession, but rather its fulfillment in returning to Catholic unity.This is what makes Tim Drake's collection so unique and compelling. It is the first collection of conversion stories devoted entirely to Catholic converts from the Lutheran tradition. As Tim Drake explains in his introduction, there is something different about being a Lutheran, in that Martin Luther is the father of the Protestant Reformation. This seems quite in keeping with Cardinal Ratzinger's view in the latter's work "The Principles of Catholi Theology" from which I previously paraphrased. Therefore, I find myself in agreement with Marcus Grodi that this book goes to the heart of the Protestant Reformation.The prospect of Lutherans rediscovering their Catholic heritage is of interest to both Catholics and Protestants alike. On the one hand, it challenges the Protestant to question and re-examine the fundamental tenets of the Protestant Reformation in light of apostolic Tradition. On the other hand, it forces Catholics to more seriously treasure the Church founded by Christ upon the rock of St. Peter. For these and other reasons, this book should be read alongside the Cardinal Ratzinger's aforementioned book.In the end, Tim Drake provides an important contribution to Catholic evangelism in the 21st Century, and I highly recommend this work for this reason.

In this book Timothy Drake, features correspondent of the National Catholic Register and and Associate Editor of Envoy magazine relates the stories of eleven people who journeyed from Lutheran backgrounds to full communion with the Catholic Church. This is no mere exercise in polemics but a collection of personal stories from people who went through a profound experience in their lives, accounts of people who have encountered truth and the changes that result from that encounter; changes that affects all aspects of human life. These testimonies contain conflict, pain, joy, anger and mysticism. As one reads these accounts one becomes engrossed in the experiences. This book is edifying on a number of levels. One learns a great deal about the Lutheran perspective and the nature of the split with the Catholic Church. Many of these stories outline the premises of Lutheranism and thus the roots of Protestantism in general. On another level it offers a glimpse into the nature of the spiritual journey and how unique each is. On yet another level it serves as a wake up call to those who in our day may be forgetting to take care of their own souls. Thus there is inspiration and reproof in these stories and it is easy to discover insights into how to deepen our own faith. (...) There is no triumphalism in the work but an honest look into the shortcomings of Lutheranism. We learn what the principles of sola scriptura and sola fide (Scripture alone and salvation by faith alone) mean in the Lutheran community and probe the weaknesses of these principles as the converts seek truth and look for an authority to establish that truth. Particularly interesting are the various accounts of how the different splits within the Lutheran community occured and how they led to problems concerning how to establish authority to define doctrine. (...) Todd Van Kampen, Patricia Ireland, and Jennifer Ferrara, illustrate the problems that arise when people and groups use private judgement and when there is no final and divinely constituted authority to define what Christians believe. Which brings up another point. In many of these stories people came into the Church because it affirmed truths that they already either intuited or believed. Abortion is one example. Jennifer Ferrara rejected the E.L.C.A. because it had a liberal attitude towards abortion, which she knew was against Christian teachings. Similarly with Anthony Gerring, who gives a devastating indictment of the position of the L.C.M.S. on abortion and gives an excellent expose on the issue of contraception and the teachings of Margaret Sanger (this alone is worth the price of the book). Others were dissatisfied with Lutheran teachings on the Eucharist. (...) In these cases they saw that the Lutheran foundation was inadequate while the authority of the Catholic Church stretched back all the way to the Apostolic community itself. Patricia Ireland states that "the Catholic Church alone offered the wisdom of two thousand y

Tim Drake presents us with the conversion testimony of eleven former Lutherans who found their way home to Rome. I found the stories extremely interesting, having made the same move myself in 1989. Since most of the conversion stories published in recent years seem to be by former Evangelicals and Calvinists, it was very meaningful to hear others coming from Lutheranism, which has a theology distinct from those groups. I was especially impressed with the former female pastors who had to give up their ministries to enter the Church. Talk about commitment to finding the truth at any cost! The orthodoxy of the writers is generally very high. There were one or two places where I partially disagreed with certain assertions made, generally concerning (can you guess?) faith vs. works. Stylistically, the individual stories were pretty well written; they kept my attention and were related in language understandable to non-clergy. I highly recommend this book to Lutherans considering conversion, to Catholics who have converted from Lutheranism, and to anyone interested in apologetics and conversion stories.

Here are chronicled the conversion stories of 11 former Lutherans to the Catholic faith, as told by the converts themselves. This new compilation adds to the growing collection of conversion stories that have increased in popularity in the past several years. This collection is unique, however, in that it focuses on Lutheran converts, a population that is surprisingly not well documented in other conversion collections. This volume's contribution lies in what some of its writers reveal so clearly--that modern Lutheranism is so radically departed from even basic Christian teachings, not to mention its departure from what Luther taught or intended. It is this that comes through most clearly in these stories. Many of the converts' eyes were opened when they looked at what has become of the Protestant Reformation-a myriad of splinter groups, even among professed Lutherans, that in many cases resemble little of their namesake's own beliefs or ideals. The book explodes the conventional myth that says there is very little difference between contemporary Lutheranism and Catholicism. Were that true, conversion would have been either far easier for these men and women or simply not necessary at all. The stories reveal that it is precisely because of these differences that the Holy Spirit led these people where He has.The book includes the stories of six former Lutheran pastors, one of whom is now a Catholic priest, and four of whom are women. The female pastors had the additional task of crossing the divide of modern feminism to embrace a faith that, in radical feminist circles, is often criticized as oppressive to women. Their tales are eye-opening and revealing of the power of truth. The converts explore the depth of many of the theological issues that sparked the Reformation and that divide Lutherans and Catholics today. The Lutheran reader will gain a fresh sense of contemporary Lutheran thought; a non-Lutheran will learn much about the development of Lutheran theology and the history of the American Lutheran Church in the past several decades. In particular one learns of the variety of Lutheran synods and the critical divisions caused by the Seminex crisis in the mid-1970's. Catholic readers cannot help but gain a new appreciation for their faith. The reader will also delight in seeing among the influences on these converts' lives such notable personages as G.K. Chesterton, John Paul II, Al Kresta, Mother Angelica, and Rev. Neuhaus, himself a convert from Lutheranism. In a final helpful offering, Drake includes several appendices containing the 1999 Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification and several related statements and responses. This valuable addition proves the book to be an important resource for students and practitioners of true ecumenical dialogue between Lutherans and Catholics.