Evangelical Exodus: Evangelical Seminarians and Their Paths to Rome

Over the course a single decade, dozens of students, alumni, and professors from a conservative, Evangelical seminary in North Carolina (Southern Evangelical Seminary) converted to Catholicism. These conversions were notable as they occurred among people with varied backgrounds and motivations—many of whom did not share their thoughts with one another until this book was produced. Even more striking is that the seminary's founder, long-time president, and popular professor, Dr. Norman Geisler, had written two full-length books and several scholarly articles criticizing Catholicism from an Evangelical point of view.

What could have led these seminary students, and even some of their professors, to walk away from their Evangelical education and risk losing their jobs, ministries, and even family and friends, to embrace the teachings they once rejected as false or even heretical? Speculation over this phenomenon has been rampant and often dismissive and misguided—leading to more confusion than understanding. The stories of these converts are now being told by those who know them best—the converts themselves.

They discuss the primary issues they had to face: the nature of the biblical canon, the identification of Christian orthodoxy, and the problems with the Protestant doctrines of sola scriptura ("scripture alone") and sola fide ("faith alone").

Douglas Beaumont has a Ph.D. in theology from North-West University and an M.A. in apologetics from Southern Evangelical Seminary, where he served as assistant to President Norman Geisler and taught Bible and religion for ten years. Beaumont is the author of The Message Behind the Movie (Moody, 2009) and has contributed to The Best Catholic Writing (Loyola, 2006), The Apologetics Study Bible for Students (B&H, 2010), and Got Questions? (Pleasant Word, 2009). He lives in Charlotte, N.C., with his wife and four children.