Crossing the Tiber: Evangelical Protestants Discover the Historical Church by Stephen K. Ray
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Book Reviews of Crossing the Tiber: Evangelical Protestants Discover the Historical Church
Book Review: A good case is made for that old time historic Christianity
Summary: 4 Stars
Steve Ray has made a strong case for the doctrines of baptismal regeneration and the real presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. It is recommended reading for Protestants of churches that teach that these sacraments are merely symbolic. It doesn't seem to promote only the Roman Catholic views, but it seems to me that his book can also be used to promote the doctrines of other old time denominations such as Eastern Orthodox, and even the historic views found in some Lutheran and Anglican churches. The heavy use of foot notes makes the reading clumsy. I think it would have been better if Steve had included much of the footnoted material into the text.Book Review: A Commanding Presence
Summary: 4 Stars
Anyone who's read Mr. Ray before knows what I mean. He argues convincingly, and provides copious source notes. You can't go wrong. By the way, before I get into the review "proper," I would recommend that you also purchase Mr. Ray's *Upon This Rock*, a phenomenal defense of the Papacy.This book, *Crossing the Tiber*, is really two books in one. It is divided into a conversion story (which is one really long chapter, consisting of somewhere around 100 pages), and a defense of two doctrines: the Eucharist and Baptism. As is his custom, Mr. Ray builds his defenses by citing all relevant Scripture, along with plenty of foot-note commentary, and then citing all relevant Patristic sources, again, with much foot-note commentary.
This book packs a powerful one-two punch in this way, and is highly recommended for anyone who needs a good reason to join the Catholic Church. Mr. Ray's conversion story plows the field, by raising in the reader's mind all the questions that were raised in Mr. Ray's mind during the course of his journey. His defense of the Eucharist and Baptism at the end of the book plant the seeds in this newly plowed field, by giving plenteous arguments from Scripture, supplemented with evidence of how the entire Church had always understood these Scriptures from the beginning.
If you're not a theologian, that's ok. This work isn't overly heavy on technicality, just on solid reasoning. It's easily followed by anyone, and you may just find yourself becoming a theologian by the end of the book.
Book Review: Too much misinformation to be credible
Summary: 2 Stars
On the positive side,the story of Mr. Ray's journey is reasonably well told. However, there is a fundamental error in logic he makes by imputing his experiences within the Baptist church to all Protestant churches. For example, he states that baptims and communion are "no longer called sacraments by Evangelicals and Fundamentalists. (p27). I've attended 4 different churches in 4 different states over the past 20 years and never experienced this (or many of the other assertions made, such as "cavalier" treatment of the Bible, p48). His citation of the Westminster Confession is incorrect. He misses the point of "solo scriptura." If you have changed from Protestant to Catholic and wish to justify your decision, this book is for you.Book Review: May many Evangelical Protestants read this book...
Summary: 4 Stars
...And realize the cold hard truth that like in the movie 'The Truman Show', what seems to be real (Evangelicalism as authentic early Christianity) really is not. There are five ways this can be dealt with and three of them are paths I would never recommend:1.) Simply bury your head in the sand and ignore the evidences. Continue to delude yourself that you truly do believe what Christians have always believed. Regardless of what God has revealed in His Word to millions of others over the centuries, only you have a Hotline to the Almighty and TRULY understand the Scriptures. This of course also encompasses being your own 'pope' of sorts and generally involves refusing to even consider the viability of any position that you do not personally like or understand. (This is of course coupled with an apathetic attitude towards wanting to actually understand alternative viewpoints also). In short, become a fideist (not an option for a true Christian truth-seeker).
2.) Seek to poke holes in the evidences Mr. Ray presents using arguments that (if applied consistently) refute your positions also. From there declare that Christianity is a fraud and sulk off into either agnosticism or atheism. (An unnecessary and very damaging path that will have serious eternal repercussions. Besides, these positions can have serious holes pocked in them too, etc. etc. etc.)
3.) Proclaim that you have 'seen the light'. From there you vigorously embrace the truth and then turn around and denounce the pathway you once traveled as wholly in error. (Or at least lacking any redeemable qualities: the antithesis of option 1 in essence and highly unbecoming of a true Christian truth-seeker).
4.) Proclaim that you have 'seen the fullness of light'. From there, you (potentially) struggle to embrace the ramifications of accepting the fullness of truth. In doing this you recognize that it is not necessary in embracing a greater good to abandon a lessor good, and use those good elements in service of the greater good (very much recommended).
5.) Even if not fully unconvinced with Mr. Ray's arguments and evidences, you look further into the sources he presents with an attitude of humbly following the Light wherever it genuinely leads. (This is also very much recommended though it may be painful in some areas to do this).
There is no valid sixth option in my humble opinion.
I noted in a recent essay I wrote on Christian unity, "the dynamic manner in which Evangelicals seek to put Christ first in their lives indeed puts most other Christians to shame." This element is of vital importance and lends itself in service to the greater good of the fullness of Christian truth. Mr. Ray did this in discovering the Historic Church and he does this today both in the books he writes, the articles he authors, and other means whereby he exhibits the importance of putting his words into action. I am sure the reader is wondering why I would say such things of Steve and yet only give the book 4 stars. Well, Amazon's rating policy does not allow for half-stars to be given for one thing.
The content of the book itself is solid 4 star material not only in content but (most importantly) in presentation. From there, the copious footnotes bump that up to 5 stars. (Steve does more than just tell you what he believes but he also substantiates it with solid source citation - always a bonus in the view of this reviewer). But alas if I were to rate the composition or flow of the work I would give it 2 stars possibly 3 tops. The reason: while Steve uses copious footnotes, the layout many times forces the reader to flip pages over and back again to read the book. For example: page 151 has a passage from Ecclesiastical Writer Origen. The footnote by the name is '101'. The accompanying footnote is detailed and runs a couple of paragraphs. If one reads each footnote as they come up in sequence (which the layout of the book almost makes necessary) this at times presents a minor inconvenience to the reader. To complete the section, the reader must pause 1/3rd of the way down the page at the footnote, skip another 20% or so down the page to the start of the footnote, and read the footnote finishing page 151. From there they must flip over to page 152, scan 50% of the way down the page where the footnote resumes, finish the footnote. Then at that time they must flip back to page 151 and pick up on Steve's main points on Origen again at that point. While it is certainly well worth the effort involved, this structure detracts from the flow of the book.
Regardless, this is still a book I highly recommend both for budding Catholic evangelists as well as those of the Evangelical tradition looking into the claims of the Catholic Church. This book is not presented as a scholarly thesis (though it is well documented). Steve strikes the balance in writing a book with the resource citations to please the scholarly sort as well as writing from the heart. He does this in a very warm appreciating tone towards his nearly 40 years of life as an Evangelical Protestant. The tone to the Evangelical is of the 'your goodness is fully realized in the Historic Catholic Church' mode (path number 4 from above). This is light years better than the oft-conversion story where the person takes a 'scorched earth policy' view towards their former faith incarnation (path 3 above). The treatments from Patristic sources on the ancient understanding of two core Church beliefs (Baptism and the Lord's Supper/Eucharist) add to the package and combined with the conversion story each takes up about 1/3rd of the book. It is almost three books in one: any of which is worth the cost of the purchase.
Book Review: A Conversion Story & A Whole Lot More
Summary: 5 Stars
Steve Ray, once a fundamentalist Baptist, and now convert to the Catholic faith has written an excellent conversion story. When Steve converted his whole family converted with him. This is the story of that conversion.As with most conversions, Steve did a lot of soul searching. He also did a lot of research.
Part of Steve's research into the Catholic faith appears in a very readable, but comprehensive, form in this book. Aside from a conversion story, this book is also a thorough treatise on baptism and the eucharist. Steve's remarks on these topics are concise and heavily supported by scripture.
Steve also provides a wonderful commentary on how the early church fathers believed in the Catholic understanding of the Lord's Supper (Eucharist) and baptism. As Cardinal Newman, a convert from the Anglican faith, once stated, "To be deep in history is to cease to be protestant."
These words bode true for Steve Ray. Sometimes it can be a hard pill to swallow when you realize that your suppositions that the Catholic faith had engineered their position on baptism and the eucharist to conform with pagan belief and custom is utterly false and not proven true by scripture or early (i.e., 1st & 2nd century) church history. Steve does a great job of refuting these suppositions.
Steve swallowed this bitter pill and the result was his conversion and this excellent and well thought out book. The treatment of the eucharist and baptism is thorough so take your time in reading this.
Most importantly, this book is a charitable presentation of Catholic truth. Steve Ray, like many converts to the faith, does not find it necessary to denigrate the faith of protestants in order to make his points.
His argument is forceful because it is well made and has the ring of truth. Most protestants, I think, would enjoy reading this book. A good book for all.