Meet the scholars and teachers who produce the content on The Historic Faith. Each brings unique expertise and a passion for the early Christian faith.
David Bercot is a retired attorney, author, and church historian who serves as an elder at Chambersburg Christian Fellowship, an Anabaptist church in Pennsylvania. Since 1985, he has made early, pre-Nicene Christianity his special field of study, helping the average layperson understand the core message of the early Christians.
Dean Taylor serves on the ministry team at Crosspointe Mennonite Church and as minister for the refugee work and church at Lesvos Island. He is currently completing his dissertation for his ThD in Historical Theology from Evangelical Seminary in Myerstown, PA.
Dean is passionate about taking all of Jesus' words seriously and putting them into action. He has studied early church history with David Bercot and has taught historical theology and Anabaptist history. Also, he has published several books, most notably A Change of Allegiance, which chronicles his journey from soldier to nonresistant Anabaptist. A Change of Allegiance has been translated into multiple languages.
Dean lives in Sugar Creek, OH, with his wife Tania. He has six children and three grandchildren. Earlier in his life Dean served as a sergeant in the U.S. Army stationed in Germany. After questioning the role of Christians in warfare Dean began to study the early church, just war theory, and the place of the church in society. Through this study, Dean and his wife Tania felt they could no longer support the concept of a "just war theory" biblically. Following this conviction Dean and his wife embraced a clear two-kingdom view of the Church and State and resigned from the army as a conscientious objector during the first Iraq war. This experience led Taylor to commit himself to spreading the message of Jesus' peaceful revolution.
Chuck Pike pastors a house church–based Christian fellowship, a church of Christ in Woburn, which meets north of Boston. He is a semi-retired civil engineer whose professional career has focused on designing water and wastewater infrastructure projects.
Chuck's greatest passion is for studying and teaching the Word of God. He has taught in North America, Europe, and the Middle East, and developed online lessons and teaching resources in English and Farsi. His teaching emphasizes restoring the simple Christian faith of the early Church, "the faith once for all entrusted to the saints." His approach features practical expository teaching, explaining interconnections between the New and Old Testaments, sharing insights from the pre-Nicene Christian writers, and using the evidence of fulfilled prophecies to convince nonbelievers.
Chuck is married to his wife Alison. They have a son, a daughter, and two grandsons. He grew up in New Jersey but has lived in the Boston area for most of the past forty years.
Finny Kuruvilla is the founder of Sattler College, a non-denominational Christian college in Boston. Kuruvilla holds an MD from Harvard Medical School and a PhD in Chemistry and Chemical Biology from Harvard University.
Kuruvilla has a keen interest in biblical interpretation and church history. His desire to see a strong and vibrant church today compelled him to write King Jesus Claims His Church. He also seeks to build up the future church by teaching at Sattler College. Areas of interest include ante-Nicene Christianity, Reformation and Anabaptist history, and the Great Awakenings of the eighteenth and nineteenth century.
He is married to his wife Laura, and lives with his six sons and daughter in the Boston, Massachusetts area. He works with a group called Eventide in socially responsible and values-based investing. Kuruvilla has been a practicing Christian for many years and fellowships with a church called Followers of the Way.
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