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Will the Theologians Please Sit Down  /  Chapter 23: Clueless about Historic Christianity  /  Discussion Questions
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Question 1
David Bercot claims that reading the early Christian writings is enough to show that modern theologians “don’t even remotely think like” Christians within one or two generations of the apostles; what specific differences in “how they thought,” “worship practices,” and “reasoning” would you expect to find if his claim is true, and which of those differences would most unsettle your current assumptions?
Another way to ask: If Bercot is right that early Christians thought very differently than modern theologians, what differences would you expect in their ideas, worship, and way of arguing? Which difference would most challenge what you assume now?

Direct Answer Based on Bercot’s claim, you should expect the early Christians to sound “strange and baffling” to modern ears because they were not shaped by later theological systems and had a strong suspicion of innovation. The most unsettling difference would likely be realizing that many “cherished doctrines of today’s Christianity” are not prominent or even present in the earliest post-apostolic writings.

Support from Transcript:

  • He says modern theologians are “totally out of touch with what Christianity originally represented” and “don’t even remotely think like” early Christians.
  • He argues we don’t have to guess: “we still have the writings of the early Christians…we can know it from reading their writings.”
  • He notes modern Christians find these writings “unexpectedly strange and baffling” and are “shocked” that early Christians “knew so little about the cherished doctrines of today’s Christianity.”
  • He mocks the assumption John would find second-century churches “out of place” but modern churches familiar: “If you think that’s the reality…dream on.”
  • He ties early leadership to preserving what was taught: “holding fast the faithful word…as he has been taught,” leaving “no room…for brilliant theological innovators.”
Discussion Follow-ups Which would shake you more: the early church’s lack of later doctrines, or their instinct that “innovation” signals “error”?

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