Hank Hanegraaff's Conversion

I'm a little bit (3 years) late to the party on this news. I've known of Hank Hanegraaff and that he has been well respected amongst evangelicals; even some of the conservative Pentecostal kind. But before a couple of weeks ago, I'd never actually read anything of his or even watched a video on his channel. But, I have to say, this has just confirmed to me that there is a stirring amongst Evangelicals as more and more of them realize that their beliefs are based solely on the doctrines of the Reformation, and there needs to be a renewed appreciation of the Church Fathers and Councils. 

Since I found out, I've been listening to quite a few of Hank's talks on particular issues, and also reading his book: "Truth Matters, Life Matters More." I'm almost done with the book now and although he's come out on the side of Eastern Orthodoxy, I have to say that his experience has been similar to mine. All the other doctrinal issues are peripheral. For him, and for me, the biggest, glaring thing missing from Evangelical worship is the Eucharist. To be honest, I don't quite understand why. I know that there are some denominations who have a higher view - take historical Methodism for instance - but most of those denominations have other issues that cannot be overlooked. In Methodism, for example, a large group of them have become so liberal that their churches barely resemble historical Christianity. And then there's their views on the deity of Christ, ordaining of female pastors and elders etc. 

So getting back to the Eucharist, I don't understand why it's not only no longer prominent, but in some cases it's almost seen as an optional extra that's not really important at all. When confronting this issue with Evangelicals that I know, they will deny that and affirm its centrality, but in practice, the opposite is true. Ulrich Zwingli's view of the Eucharist has become the de facto standard and the consequence of it is that the Communion table has lost nearly all of its meaning. I read a Tim Challies blog a while back where he commented on how you can tell the difference between an Anglican and Catholic Church, namely that an Anglican Church has the pulpit in the center, and a Catholic Church has the altar. He comments on this as a virtue of the Anglican church and is a glorious outcome of the Reformation. Sounds good except that that's not how the early church saw it at all. Teaching was and is important, but God's greatest means of grace to us is the Eucharist. 

I'll have more to say once I'm finished the book, but for now it's clear that there are 2 main ideas that have captivated Hank's mind and led to his conversion: the Eucharist and Theosis. Theosis is an interesting that I have been looking into myself. It's something that clearly was taught by the Church Fathers, and comes up in many different traditions. Luther and Calvin both wrote about it and saw it as a central concept to the Faith. Sadly, it has become something which is now foreign to most Evangelical and Catholic minds. I believe that the renewed interest is good for the Church. I think that the main reason it has been forgotten is because Orthodoxy sees it as central to our understanding of Justification, and this doesn't gel with the forensic view held by most Evangelicals. As to why Catholicism doesn't actively teach and emphasize it, I'm not sure, but this is definitely changing. 

I'm encouraged by Hank's boldness to leave Evangelicalism and embrace a more historically consistent Christianity that sees the value of Tradition and Liturgy. As to whether I think Orthodoxy is purer than Catholicism, I'll keep researching before making up my mind. For now, I see the value of a Pope, despite all the historical abuses. And aside from that, the differences between Catholicism and Orthodoxy are not huge. The differences are mostly in how they define things, and I tend to lean more in favor of Catholicism when it comes to that. The early Church placed a high value on Reason, and wasn't scared to define things down to the finest detail. Take the Trinity for example. You can't get more intricate than how it was defined by the Nicaean Council. So the fact that this was then applied to the Eucharist and Marian dogmas doesn't scare me.