Im a baptized lutheran interested in becomming Catholic ive kind of always leaned in this direction any thoughts?
My suggestion is to read the writings of the Early Church Fathers.
That is what convinced me.
Hello Jupiter,
I don’t know if this has been properly addressed yet ( I cannot remember seeing it), but the
early church fathers were typically bishops and priestmonks who left us writings from the first centuries. Sometimes they were sermons, some were epistles. Eventually philosophers began to accept the Way of Christ and were able to defend the Faith on parwith Pagan philosopher critics (Justin Martyr and Origin come to mind immediately).
The first writings were from the Apostolic Age, very few surviving things are included (about seven, I think). Paul’s letters could be included in that but we regard them as scripture and when people refer to the ECF they are actually referring to a substantial body of literature beyond what has been canonised as scripture. Another name for this is Patristics.
The first stage of Patristics (including the Apostolic writings) was the ante-Nicene Age, very interesting to read. It gives us a glimpse of orthodox Christianity as it struggled with various challenges, including new Pagan cults, gnostic movements claiming a Christian connection and government persecution. Included would be Irenaeous “Against Heresies” in five books, and the long lost and anonymous “
Didache” which is an instruction for converts preparing for Chrismation! This was completely forgotten in the west by the time of the Protestant Reformation. (Well worth a look, print and read!)
Then came the Nicene and post-Nicene fathers. The two giants being Augustine in the west and John Chrysostom in the east, followed by many many more.
http://saints.oca.org/IconDirectory/XSM/january/0130hierarchs.jpg
By reading these one can get a sense for the continuity in Christian thinking going right back to the earliest days of the church, with no breaks. The fathers overlap each other all the way back to the Apostolic Age.
Many of these were not saints, and were not completely orthodox in everything they wrote (Tertullian comes to mind, as well as Origin), but they shed a great deal of light on the church of the day, and confirm such central concepts as the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist.
The eastern and western fathers began to express themselves differently rather early (a consequence of the difference between Greek and Latin modes of expression), yet they are very complimentary studies and should be studied together. The ECF era came to an end in about the eight century in the west, and lasted a bit longer in the east.
The church in the west began to grow in the Scholastic tradition later (about 11th century), which involved new applications of Greek Philosophy in theology (think: Thomas Aquinas, Anselm, Duns Scotus). That era bypassed the east as it continued to adhere to the Patristic mode of theological study and expression.
Here is a good, free and reputable online source for Patristic literature:
CCEL
and another site (although I don’t know much about them):
ECW
In addition to the very first link I gave (a great inexpensive source but older translations) one can also obtain many of these works from
Paulist Press, but a substantial collection will set you back some serious money. Just reading the descriptions of these works given on the Paulist website is enough to make me seriously excited all over again!
As you and others gingerly and carefully make your way back to connect with the Apostolic Faith of our Fathers, you have my prayers.
God Bless you all,
(Just watch out for breakaway sites that claim to be Catholic, but aren’t - I’ve stumbled on a few during my long search).