Protestantism, Orthodoxy, and Tradition

Earlier this year I was teetering on the edge of conversion to Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

Because of my appreciation for patristics - or, the study of the writings and theology of the early Christian fathers - I am constantly thinking about how I can adequately and helpfully appropriate the insights of the earliest Christian priests and theologians to my life and the lives of others in my life. Following a deep study into the early Christian soteriological focus of theosis - that salvation should firstly be thought of in terms of participation in the Trinity - I began to feel eery discomforts with what was preached in some of the pulpits I was regularly exposed to. Whereas the early Christians were thinking about salvation in terms of union and communion, the contemporary preachers I had been following were framing salvation in terms of judgment, condemnation, and divine-human antagonism. I had doubts that the tradition in which I was participating was where I was being led spiritually and intellectually. My interest in Eastern Orthodoxy then began.

What I found in my research is that this conversion process is a trend right now in the West. Young evangelicals (particularly men) are converting to high-church traditions more and more as time goes on. Something about our cultural and philosophical moment is causing young people to reach for Christian Tradition as espoused by these higher churches like Orthodoxy and Catholicism. Orthodox and Catholic apologists have been working particularly hard, too, at drawing young people away from the evangelical fold and into their institutional pastures.

And, honestly, I don't think it is a markedly bad thing.

After coming out of Neo-Calvinism, I continued (and continue) to harbor a deep need for orthodox (as in, correct) theology, a structured church, and a Tradition in which to implant myself. I thought that Orthodoxy was that Tradition. Yet, as my studies and knowledge expanded, I realized that although these traditions like Orthodoxy have their merits - a historically-traceable episcopal structure, a Eucharistic centrality, and a helpful theosis-centered theology - they have significant, glaring problems too. Although I may be irked by some of the obviously ahistorical and ignorant preaching of some of the evangelicals around me, I find that, at root, I am still more in line with their Christian vision than with those in the Orthodox and Catholic camps. Where these fault lines most glaringly come into focus is on issues like institutional exclusivity: whereas a Baptist or an Anglican might insist that the true Church is a tenet of faith (something you cannot visibly see but nevertheless exists), a Catholic or an Orthodox is required to insist that their respective institutional structures are THE True Church, and if you are visibly outside of it you are damned.

Institutional Exclusivity

After learning about this exclusivity, I made a full stop in my research process. While I am not at all uncomfortable affirming that salvation cannot be found outside of Christ, to posit a visible institution as the sole harbinger of the unadulterated message of Christ seems to be sectarian and beyond what Christ affirms. Whereas exclusivity is by no means a uniquely bad thing, when that exclusivity is espoused outside of what the Lord prescribes (such as tertiary doctrinal disputes) it becomes unhelpful. Historically, too, Orthodoxy and Catholicism have clearly demarcated the boundaries of salvation, insisting that to transcend their institutional limits is to leave the Ark and forsake Christ himself. You can see how this makes things more complicated for those young men like myself who are trying to consider the differing traditions over their own. To be told that if you do not choose the correct institutional church (all of which are within the overall Christian tradition!) you are headed for damnation places a certain pressure and anxiety on the potential convert.

Contrast this picture, then, with what historic, orthodox Protestantism espouses. The convert to Christ should not feel burdened one way or another whether they are going to hell once they have converted and are surveying the possible Christian expressions. If they have faith in the biblical Christ, then the choice of tradition is not indicative of their final spiritual state. Protestants, then, can even affirm that there are Christians among all those who profess faith in Christ, EVEN among the Orthodox and Catholics! Though Protestants themselves disagree and argue amongst themselves, almost none of the historically-supported, orthodox Protestant traditions claim that any of the others are outside of Christ! Yet, to temper this doctrinal freedom Protestants genuinely hold, they also affirm that although these differing traditions are not condemned simply because they do not belong to a specified institution doesn't mean that every individual believer in their congregations are automatically saved, either. In other words, Protestants recognize that both believers and those far from God sit in their pews, but the fact that they are Protestant doesn't automatically throw them from true Union with Christ, a claim an Orthodox or a Catholic cannot affirm.

A Deeper Protestantism

Earlier I said that I thought this movement from evangelicalism wasn't a "markedly bad thing." Although my wife and I never made the jump to Constantinople (and most definitely not to Rome!), we have both agreed on expanding our openness to changing traditions to one more liturgically and historically rooted. As Baptists, there is much to enjoy and appreciate in our tradition. The (Baptist) church we attend now is our home for the foreseeable future, and we wouldn't have it any other way. Yet, we are drawn to the more structured liturgy, to a trinitarian-focus in worship, and to other aspects which are found in traditions like Anglicanism and Lutheranism. Though we don't think we could stop being Protestant (by conviction), one way Protestants can combat those Orthodox/Catholic claims of Protestant a-historicism (which in some ways can be quite accurate) is to liturgize their own less liturgical traditions or to continue being Protestant, while expressing it in a different way. By switching to a more liturgical tradition (again, like Anglicanism or Lutheranism) or by bolstering their own Protestant traditions, Protestants can speak to these issues and provide a rich alternative to the surface level craziness of contemporary life.

Although not the primary guide, Gavin Ortlund (son of famed Presbyterian pastor Ray Ortlund) is ministering to the needs of young people like me. His ministry, Truth Unites, is an ecumenical-Protestant-apologetics YouTube ministry aimed at both defending historic Protestantism and combatting some of the claims of Catholic/Orthodox apologists. His interview with Joshua Schooping, an ex-Orthodox priest turned evangelical pastor, was particularly illuminating as I was navigating the claims of the Orthodox Church in particular. Schooping's book Disillusioned (which has a hideous cover photo) helped me, further, to make my eventual decision to cease my investigation into Eastern Orthodoxy and dig my roots further down into Protestantism (albeit with a few modifications to contemporary evangelical belief and practice). I recommend both of these men's works to anyone who got this far in this blog post!