Why Orthodoxy Appeals to Hank Hanegraaff and Other Evangelicals

Quick to Listen

Christianity Today

Religion, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.3 • 622 Ratings

🗓️ 20 April 2017

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Last week, the radio personality many Christians know as “The Bible Answer Man” announced his conversion to Eastern Orthodoxy. From CT’s report: Last Sunday, 67-year-old Hank Hanegraaff and his wife entered into Orthodox Christianity at St. Niktarios Greek Orthodox Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. The former Protestant is well known among evangelicals as The Bible Answer Man. Since 1989, Hanegraaff has been answering questions on Christianity, denominations, and the Bible on a nationally syndicated radio broadcast. A champion of evangelical Christianity, he’s best known for arguing against cults, heresies, and non-Christian religions. Hankegraaff’s conversion didn’t surprise James Stamoolis, the author of Eastern Orthodox Mission Theology Today, who has previously written on why evangelicals are attracted to this older iteration of Christianity. Stamloois points to Orthodoxy’s highly sensory services which include both incense and icons, as well as “the whole idea of authority.” “I know a lot of people who have converted from Protestantism to Catholicism and Orthodoxy because it’s fixed. It’s settled. 'We don’t have women priests. We’re never going to have women priests,'” said Stamoolis, who grew up in the Orthodox tradition but now identifies as a “card-carrying evangelical.” Ironically, Orthodoxy’s association with tradition came after the church proved to be highly successful at contextualizing across different cultures, says Stamoolis. “A lot of it has to do with their theological methodology,” he said. “[They] were successful and imbued so much in the culture.” Stamoolis joined Morgan and Mark on Quick to Listen this week to discuss why there are so many different Orthodox traditions, the theological underpinnings of theosis, and what Christianity is like without the theological ideas of Aquinas and Augustine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you in part by The Apologetics Guy Show, the podcast that helps you find clear answers to tough questions about Christianity.
0:11.0	Learn to explain your faith with courage and compassion.
0:14.5	Join Moody Bible Institute professor Dr. Mikhail del Rosario at Apologeticsky.com.
0:28.7	Thank you. Michael Del Rosario at apologetics guy.com. You're listening to Quick to Listen. Each week we go beyond hashtags and hot takes and set aside time to explore the reality behind a major cultural event. Today we will be talking about Hank
0:38.7	Hennigraph and his conversion to orthodoxy. And if conversion is even the right word to use there,
0:44.0	it's going to be complicated and interesting. I'm Morgan Lee and I'm an assistant editor here at
0:48.2	Christianity today. And I am joined by Mark. Galley, hi Mark. Hey, how you doing? It's always good to do this, and we haven't done it in a couple weeks, so I'm, like, pumped
0:56.4	that we're back doing the podcast.
0:57.9	Mark, who is joining us today?
0:59.5	Joining us today is Jim Stamoulis.
1:02.2	He was born of a Greek immigrant status, and he's had a lifelong interest in the Orthodox
1:07.0	Church.
1:07.7	He has been a missionary.
1:09.0	He's worked with Wheaton College. He's worked with Trinity
1:11.1	University. He currently serves on the steering committee of the Lausanne Orthodox Initiative.
1:15.8	He's the author of Eastern Orthodox Mission Theology today. I'm really excited to have him on the show
1:20.6	and to meet him for the first time because his name has popped up in so many conversations in such
1:24.7	admirable contexts that I was glad to me. I'm glad to have him on the show
1:28.0	on to meet him. Hey, Jim, what's going on? Well, thanks, Mark. That was a nice introduction. And I'm glad to
1:32.7	meet you in person, too. I'm an avid reader of Christianity today. My wife and I read it. We compete. Who
1:38.1	Gets the magazine, the print magazine first when it comes. She usually gets it. You know what's funny and ironic is that our cover story for this issue is about self-control.
1:47.9	We'll see.
	...

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