Apparently, you’ve never heard of John Henry Newman - the famous Anglican convert to the Catholic faith from the 19th century who brought thousands of Anglicans with him to the Catholic Church.
Of course I’ve heard of him. He’s the most over-quoted Catholic convert of all time, and this news is over a century old.
It was HE who, after studying the ECFs extensivly, coined the phrase, "To be steeped in history is to cease being Protestant".
There’s the quote! He’s not the best counter-example, though, because he started Anglican and had to work through the reasons behind his church’s departure from Rome. My examples have to do with Evangelicals who grew up in Christian traditions that didn’t break directly from Rome. (I would say “or Orthodoxy,” except there are no relevant examples on that side). Consequently, these are people who grow up as Christians, yet the degree to which they’re influenced by either Orthodoxy or Catholicism is close to zero until they start getting into the ECF’s. Being raised as an Anglican (particularly in the 19th century) hardly qualifies.
Now, there are a few prominent examples of converts from Evangelicalism to Catholicism that are a lot more recent. But many of those- Francis Beckwith comes to mind- are examples of people who were raised in Catholicism, drifted away, and eventually returned to the religion of their childhood.
**Personally - I have known dozens **of people who have converted to the Church from various Protestant denominations that never even considered Orthodoxy. Your statements are extremely general and broad. Unfortunately, they’re simply not true.
I’m sure you know a lot of people who converted to Catholicism. I probably know three times as many who converted from Catholicism, but that’s beside the point. If they never considered Orthodoxy, it’s probably because they wound up talking to Catholics who made them believe the only two choices are Catholic or Protestant. That seems pretty typical, even around these forums. Additionally, what I said of my experience has a lot more to do with what the OP is looking for than yours does.
The OP wanted to know what Protestant/Evangelical scholars tend to think of the ECF’s, and the implication is that “somewhat current” information is preferred. I’ve had the pleasure of knowing some of these scholars and the way it works with them and their students on campus and in their classes, and what I said about them is true. You counter with a former Anglican from the 19th century as if that’s supposed to negate my personal experience of what Evangelical scholars are doing
right now? Really? Okay, that’s how it was with some Anglicans in the 19th century. Why don’t you pick up some material from, I don’t know, this lifetime and get a look at what’s happening right now. I’ve had the chance to meet some of these people, take their classes, hear their lectures, and maybe grab something to eat with them. Maybe you can take the opportunity to read some of the things they’ve written.
Let me remind you of who we’re talking about: Protestant scholars who do in-depth studies pertaining to the ECF’s. Not your buddies from home who use them for proof-texting and barely know what Orthodoxy is, and not your favorite convert from the 19th century- I’m talking about people in academia right now. These are people whose research of the ECF’s is done for the purpose of getting a doctorate, publishing their work, and making meaningful contributions to the Protestant body of work on this topic. I’m talking about scholars- people you can rightly call “experts in the field.”
These are my people. I know them. You will defer to me on this one.
