Yesterday and today, the Mass readings present Jesus’ dialogue with Nicodemus, from the Gospel of John, and the well-known statement of Jesus that “‘unless one is born from above [or “born again”], he cannot see the Kingdom of God.'” Jn 3:3. Catholics understand this exchange, in which Jesus also says that “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (Jn 3:5 (NRSVCE)), to refer to Baptism. (For explanatory notes and citations about this passage’s linkage to Baptism, the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible — New Testament (Ignatius Press 2010) is a good resource.)
It is an understatement to say that “Fundamentalist” Christians do not agree. To be “born again” in Fundamentalist/Evangelical parlance is to have had an experience of a conversion to Christ. Baptism merely confirms that experience; if Baptism is important, it is because Jesus commanded it (see Mt 28:19, for example), making it an “ordinance,” but of itself it effects no change in the one baptized. (Even some “mainline” churches view Baptism as merely symbolic, even if they call it a “sacrament.”) Ex opere operato is definitely not the Fundamentalist way. [https://www.catholic.com/qa/what-does-the-expression-ex-opere-operato-mean. For an interesting discussion of the view of the Reformed tradition’s rejection of the doctrine, see https://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2019/01/sacramentism-ex-opere-operato-vs-calvin-37.html]
It just so happens (or, does it? Are there really “coincidences” of this kind?) that as the issue of being “born again” appears in the readings, I have been re-reading David Currie’s Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic (Ignatius Press 2009). Currie’s Fundamentalist/Evangelical pedigree is impeccable: his father was a preacher and both parents taught at various times at Moody Bible Institute. The elder Curries were married by famed Protestant preacher and author A.W. Tozer. Currie was “born again” as a young teen when he publicly professed his faith in Christ and was baptized (as confirmation of his profession). As an adult, he received a degree in philosophy and entered full-time ministry in Chicago (only later to leave ministry for the business world); then he attended Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (“TEDS”). At that time, he began to call himself an “Evangelical,” though there was no discernible change in his theology. Significantly, while at TEDS he studied Greek with a professor who “could be ruthless in his pursuit of what the [Bible] text actually said. God help the student in his class who was sloppy in exegesis. That approach reinforced the direction of my earlier upbringing. The truth mattered.”
The truth was so important to Currie that he found himself compelled to join the Catholic Church at age forty, if not against his will, then certainly against his desires. He admits he was very satisfied with his Evangelical church experience, even giving the one he left before becoming Catholic an “A.” He knew he would lose both friends and support from within his extended family. He wasn’t sure his wife was on board. He had never been to Mass. Why resolve to make the change?
He had long been troubled by aspects of Evangelical theology that didn’t provide adequate answers to his questions or account for troublesome verses of scripture. The Catholic Church had answers and a coherent theology. His pursuit of truth compelled him:
As an Evangelical, I was convinced that truth was objective and knowable. If something was true for one person, then it was absolutely true for all. Truth had an objective character, not merely a subjective one. . . . Now I found the truth breaking into my thinking with such effectiveness that I would never be the same. At the time, I did not want to be a Catholic, but eventually I felt I had to in order to keep my intellectual integrity.
(Emphasis his.) That is tremendously powerful testimony.
As to how he was “born again” in the Church, Currie writes,
I find it more true the longer I am here: I was “born again” as a child to worship with this Church. I would have vehemently denied it at the time, but I was “born again” a Catholic. Since that childhood experience with God, I had been on the hunt for truth. Now I had found it in a totally unexpected place: the Catholic Church.
Currie writes with both clarity and charity. If conversion stories, or the tensions between Protestant and Catholic theology, are of interest to you, I highly recommend this book. (It is available to download via the FORMED platform.)