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The Kingdom that Turned the World Upside Down  /  Chapter 30, The Alternate Stream  /  Discussion Questions
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Question 1
David Bercot argues that “returning to the Christianity of Augustine’s day was in itself a major reform,” yet “by no means a return to the Gospel of the Kingdom”; what does this suggest about God’s priorities for “reform,” and how do we discern when a reform is merely a rollback of later abuses rather than a return to Jesus’ actual teaching?
Another way to ask: What does it say about what God cares most about in “reform” if going back to Augustine is still not the same as going back to Jesus? How can we tell the difference between fixing later mistakes and truly returning to Jesus’ teachings?

Direct Answer Based on David Bercot’s teaching, “reform” can mean simply rolling back later Roman Catholic additions, but God’s deeper priority is a return to Jesus’ Kingdom teachings—especially the lifestyle Jesus commanded. A reform is only partial if it stays inside the Constantinian church-state system and treats Jesus’ commands as optional.

Support from Transcript:

  • Bercot says going back to Augustine’s era was “in itself a major reform,” because later corruptions (indulgences, cardinals, denial of the cup) weren’t yet present.
  • Yet he insists it was “still within the Constantinian hybrid” and “by no means a return to the Gospel of the Kingdom.”
  • He lists clear markers of the Augustinian stream: “Acceptance of the Constantinian Hybrid” and using “the power of the state” to reform.
  • He says they rejected key Kingdom teachings: Jesus’ teachings on “wealth and oaths did not need to be followed literally,” and they said “little about separation from the world.”
  • He contrasts essences: Augustinian movements focused on “theology as the essence of Christianity,” while Kingdom movements focused on “lifestyle.”
Discussion Follow-ups What reforms today mainly remove abuses but leave the basic church-world arrangement untouched? What would it look like to measure reform by obedience to Jesus’ commands rather than by institutional purity?

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