Kate O’Hare, in the Catholic Channel of Patheos, discusses a conversation with David Gibson (pictured), one of the co-authors of “Finding Jesus,” the book on which the CNN TV series of the same name is based:
On the relics examined:
Some of them are not as claimed; some of them are probably forgeries. even; but some of them are the real deal. Some of them, all of them, open a window on history and onto the Gospels and what really happened.
Even if this piece of the True Cross isn’t the True Cross, what happened? How did these things migrate across centuries, why are they so important?
On why he’s a Catholic:
Honey, I don’t have enough time. That’s a whole other thing. I was raised Evangelical. My mom’s a Billy Graham Evangelical and very strong in her faith, but for me, I found a deeper tradition and a liturgical practice in the Catholic Church, like a number of Evangelicals have.
But again, not to diss anything else, there are so many aspects of conversion which are fascinating. Each conversion story stands on its own.
In the context of this book and this series, coming from a tradition where anything associated with relics was ridiculous or superstitious, to a tradition that reveres and venerates relics, and is also very strong on historical, Biblical research, there’s a common ground there that both sides can learn from the other on the value of looking for the Jesus of history.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/18/us/politics/jeb-bush-20-years-after-conversion-is-guided-by-his-catholic-faith.html?ref=topics
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2015/03/18/uk-christians-face-discrimination-in-workplace-says-archbishop/
Curiously, this attitude seems to have been unexpected in England, say around two decades ago. I felt the discrimination, not in a workplace, but in a chain bookstore in London.