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EarlyChristians.org || Interview with Scott Hahn

"LIKE THE EARLY CHRISTIANS, WE SHOULD LEARN TO SEE AGAIN THE GOSPEL AS... FRESH, ATTRACTIVE." INTERVIEW WITH DR. SCOTT HAHN expert on sacred script ure and t heology and cat holic convert In this special interview, renowned Bible expert and ex-Presbyterian minister, Scott Hahn, tells www.earlychristians.org of his conversion to Catholicism upon attending the Holy Mass and what the Early Christians got to do with it.

1. You have written numerous books on a wide range of topics related to the Catholic Faith and the Scriptures. What is your current focus and what do you intend to achieve? My focus now is what it has been for decades: t o promot e biblical lit eracy f or all Cat holics and biblical f luency f or clergy and t eachers. That sounds absurdly ambitious, I know, but it's true. That's not only the purpose of my books, but also the mission of the St . Paul Cent er f or Biblical Theology, which I founded. The Center sponsors a wide variety of programs, many for ordinary Catholics, but many others for scholars. We publish free online Bible studies. We organize conferences. We train catechists in the best methods of leading a Bible study. We have our own publications -- books, a journal, a newsletter. We lead pilgrimages to Rome and the Holy Land. We host one of the best online libraries for biblical studies (SalvationHistory.com). After almost twenty years of writing and ten years of running the Center, I've been encouraged by the successes, but there's still so much work to do. But God will get it done. So even though it's my work, it need not be my worry. 2. How was it when you first got acquainted with the Catholic Faith? What finally made you decide to embrace it? I f irst got acquaint ed wit h it as it s declared enemy! I was a convinced Protestant, Calvinist in my thinking and evangelical in my style. I thought the Catholic Church was the enemy of true

Christianity. I was in love wit h t he Bible, and that was my undoing as a Protestant. In spite of my resistance, my Bible study led me to adopt a sacramental world view. It led me to see the need for objective, earthly authority in God's covenant people. It also led me to the early Church Fathers, who were profound biblical interpreters. What I f ound in t he Fat hers was a Church t hat corresponded perf ect ly t o biblical religion, but looked a lot like t he Roman Cat holic Church. I wanted to be there, with the Apostles, the Fathers, the martyrs, and the saints. 3. In The "Lamb's Supper", you described your first encounter with the Holy Eucharist. Could you tell us the experience and what the Early Christians got to do with it? I had been studying the writings of the Fathers, and there I'd found countless references to "the liturgy," "the Eucharist," "the sacrifice." For those first Christians, the Bible the book I loved above all was incomprehensible apart from the event that today's Catholics called "the Mass." Well, I'd had no experience of liturgy. So I persuaded myself to go and see, as a sort of academic exercise. As t he Mass moved on, I began t o not ice how biblical it was. One line was from Isaiah, another from the Psalms, another from Paul. The experience was overwhelming. Then I saw the priest raise the host, and I felt a prayer surge from my heart in a whisper: "My Lord and my God. That 's really You!" Scott Hahn I continued to resist conversion, but resistance was futile from that moment! 4. How relevant are the Early Christians today? What things do they have in common with us? Human nature hasn't changed. They speak t o t he same concerns we have t oday -- the need for salvation, the desire to be virtuous, the difficulty of overcoming sin. They speak t o t hese issues wit h a cert ain f reshness. When we read the Fathers, we're hearing the Gospel as it was preached to a pagan world. They also provide us wit h excellent models f or reaching a world t hat has been re-paganized. 5. What was the secret of the Early Christians in their rapid evangelization of the ancient world that perhaps we, Christians of today, lack? I'd say it was t he f reshness of t he Gospel. They heard it, and it was something radically different

from what their culture was offering them. For that reason, it was attractive. For us, after a millennium and a half of established and legal Christianity, we've st opped not icing t hat t he Gospel is st ill f resh, it 's st ill new, it 's st ill radical. It still stands in stark contrast to what the broader culture is giving us. We need t o immerse ourselves in prayerf ul st udy and st udious prayer, so t hat we see Jesus more clearly. He'll take it from there. If we lack anyt hing, it 's t hat f riendship wit h him, sust ained t hrough a regular and disciplined lif e of prayer. Back to top