Discussion Questions

The speaker calls Bart Ehrman “a poster child” for what Christians “reflexively…instantly know we don’t want to do”; what fears or assumptions about God, truth, and faith are exposed by that reflex, and which of those assumptions deserve to be challenged? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Why do some Christians quickly see Bart Ehrman as a warning sign? What fears about God, truth, or faith does that reaction show, and which fears might be wrong?

The speaker notes Jesus’ strongest warnings are often about money, yet says Mennonites regularly “play in the danger zone” with wealth while drawing a hard line at academics; what does that comparison reveal about what we actually fear losing, and what we trust God for? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If Jesus warns a lot about money, why do some Mennonites worry more about academics than wealth? What does that show about what we’re afraid to lose and what we trust God to handle?

Using the UK example, the speaker claims Cambridge and Oxford have higher church attendance and that Cambridge is an “evangelical hotspot”; how does this story complicate the “academics kills faith” narrative, and what would it require for a church community to produce Christians who can enter intellectual spaces without panic? JumpstartAnother way to ask: How does the example of strong church life at Cambridge and Oxford challenge the idea that “school destroys faith”? What would a church need to do to help Christians enter academic settings without fear?

The speaker asks whether Christians losing faith in academia is a problem with academia or with the Christian who entered it; what kinds of faith foundations or discipleship models might be exposed as fragile when questions get hard? JumpstartAnother way to ask: When someone loses faith in college, is the bigger problem the school or the person’s faith foundation? What kinds of discipleship fall apart when the questions get hard?

The speaker observes that Jews and “high church” Christians (Catholic, Orthodox, Dutch Reformed) often remain stable in academia compared to evangelicals; what practices, assumptions, or views of authority/tradition might explain that difference, and how might early Christians have handled similar pressures? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Why might Jews and “high church” Christians stay steadier in academic settings than evangelicals? What habits or views of authority and tradition might help, and how did early Christians face similar pressure?

The speaker critiques a “naive reading of the Bible” and the attitude of “we’re winning without trying”; where do you see that mindset in your own circles, and what does it suggest about our doctrine of Scripture and our humility before God? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Where do you see a careless “the Bible is obvious and we’re already winning” attitude in your church circles? What does that say about how we treat Scripture and how humble we are before God?

The speaker says we often dismiss viewpoints simply because “it disagrees with mine,” and he connects ideological purity with isolation and ignorance; what would repentance look like here—intellectually and relationally—without sliding into unbelief or cynicism? JumpstartAnother way to ask: How often do we reject ideas just because they disagree with us? What would real repentance look like in how we think and how we treat people, without becoming unbelieving or cynical?

A friend’s quote challenges the slogan that “the Bible is written so that a sixth grader can understand it,” calling that an “extra biblical idea”; how does that statement confront modern evangelical instincts about clarity, personal certainty, and “just me and my Bible” interpretation? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If it’s not a Bible teaching that “a sixth grader can understand everything,” what does that change about how we think of Bible clarity and certainty? How does it challenge the “just me and my Bible” approach?

The speaker describes his own struggle: “faith is not the absence of doubt, but… the choice to go forward in the midst of it,” and he says God “calls things of us in keeping with our ability”; how does this picture of God differ from common church expectations about assurance and doubt, and what obedience might God be calling for in seasons of unresolved questions? JumpstartAnother way to ask: How is “faith means moving forward even with doubt” different from what many churches expect? When you still have questions, what might God be asking you to obey anyway?

The speaker says the biggest academic danger is loneliness and lack of community, not the data itself; what concrete commitments should a church make to keep intellectually stretched believers connected, and how might those commitments resemble (or differ from) early Christian communal life? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If the biggest danger in academics is loneliness, what should churches do to keep thinking Christians connected? How could that look like the early church, and how might it need to look different today?