Returning to the Ways of the Early Church

Episode 70 Show Notes

Returning to the Ways of the Early Church

From the Show

What do you think about majoring in religion and studying Christianity in a secular university?

I remember attending a series of lectures in Oxford, when I was doing my PhD, led by a very respected professor who had been an evangelical Christian. And each day he took it as an opportunity to talk about the mystical and moral party within a particular religion. So, for the Muslims it was Sufi, the mystical sect of Islam. Then you had Vedantic Buddhism, and the mystical traditions of Christianity, and so forth. You had Hasidic Judaism, etc. He put all that together and he said, kind of in a venn diagram, “See here, where they all agree in the middle? That’s the important thing.” And a number of us went out afterward just frustrated. A Muslim, a Roman Catholic guy, a Jewish guy, a couple of others, and myself.

We went out and were just flabbergasted that at the end of all this, all he really did was put down all of our particular religious beliefs, not taking them seriously at all, and reduced them to his own religion of enlightened morality. I’m not saying you can’t learn anything valuable from religious studies, but you just have to realize it’s not a neutral, unbiased, purely scientific approach. It’s just as committed to a set of presuppositions, including theological doctrines, as any religion. But it pretends not to be, that’s why it’s I think kind of dangerous. — Michael Horton

Questions in this Episode

1. How can we tell the difference between what Jesus taught and what reflects the faith of the early church?

2. What is the difference between showing grace and excusing sin?

3. In Jeremiah 11:14 why does God tell Jeremiah, “Do not pray for this people or offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress”? If God loves his people why would he not listen to them?

4. How can the church get back to the teachings of the early church?

5. What is the most important thing you think a Christian husband needs to know about how to love his wife the way that Christ loves the church?

6. What do you think about majoring in religion and studying Christianity in a secular university?