Jumpstarter 4 of 10

Ideas to help restart your discussion

Question 4

Alexander Campbell is quoted condemning the impulse to “confine all goodness and grace” to “the elect few who are like us.” Where do you see that same “sublimated Phariseeism” showing up in modern Christianity—not mainly “out there,” but in your own tradition’s reflexes about who is really in or out?

Another way to ask: Campbell warns about thinking only “people like us” have God’s grace. Where do you see that attitude in your own Christian tradition, especially in who seems “in” or “out”?

Direct Answer Bercot’s point is that Christians easily build tight boundaries around “our noble selves” and those “like us,” treating our group as the safe place of grace while casting suspicion on other professing believers—often by using theology as the test.

Support from Transcript:

Campbell’s warning is quoted: building “our own tent” and “confining all goodness and grace” to “the elect few who are like us” is “the quintessence of sublimated Phariseeism.”
Bercot notes the irony: “many of Campbell’s followers did the very thing their founder condemned.”
He says it is “incredible” how ordinary Christians quickly make pronouncements about others’ eternal standing.
He gives typical language: “He’s not a Christian,” applied not only to non-Christians but to “other professing Christians.”
He identifies the common basis: condemnation “because of the other person’s theology.”

Discussion Follow-ups What “labels” does your tradition use that may function like Campbell’s “tent”—signaling who gets presumed grace and who does not?

Jumpstarter 4 of 10

Add your phone number?

Thank you!

Jumpstarter 4 of 10