Journeys of Faith, an interview with Wax and Plummer

Earlier this week Trevin Wax interviewed Robert Plummer about Journeys of Faith.

Below is an excerpt, and you can read the rest here.

Trevin Wax: What were the hopes you had in putting this book together? What were some of the concerns or worries you had as you worked on this book?

Robert Plummer: I have several different hopes for the book, but let me focus on one here – for the Evangelical readership – that it would help us both understand and respond to persons leaving our churches for liturgical Christian traditions. Speaking quite directly… I believe an Evangelical understanding of the gospel, salvation, and the Scriptures is correct. (If I did not, I would leave Evangelicalism.) Yes, I respect persons leaving my faith tradition.

Nevertheless, through the responder sections of the book, I want to lay before potential converts the reasons I think they are making a mistake to leave Evangelicalism. And for those with friends leaving Evangelicalism, I hope this book equips them to make a loving appeal to stay. Chris Castaldo’s riveting account of his journey from Catholicism to Evangelicalism also highlights the strengths of Evangelical claims, I think.

Now, please don’t misunderstand. I did not include the stories of former Evangelicals as simply foils for my views or as “straw men.” I enlisted competent scholars who made passionate and skilled arguments for the reasons they preferred another faith tradition. We need to listen to these stories and arguments in all their strength.

Let me also say – even when we cannot convince someone to stay, there is great value in hearing the undiluted story of why they left. We have to ask ourselves, “Has our lack of love or biblical fidelity contributed to their departure?”