When Christianity was young, the focus was on Jesus Christ and His kingdom, not theology. To be sure, there are foundational doctrines that Christians have always considered essential to the faith. But somehow the things considered essential have grown from a few sentences to a long list of theological tenets, many of which were unknown to the early Christians.

In the beginning, Christians understood that the essence of Christianity was an obedient love-faith relationship with Jesus Christ. This was not just any relationship, but a relationship that produced genuine kingdom fruit.

But then something happened: Theologians took over the church. Once they took over, the emphasis soon changed from godly fruit to orthodox theology. Christianity became Doctrianity. In this provocative work, Bercot argues that it is time to let Jesus speak through the pages of the Gospels without filtering His teachings through the denials and mental gymnastics of the theologians. It is time for the children of the kingdom to stand up for Jesus and the gospel He preached and for the theologians to sit down.

• Will the Real Heretics Please Stand Up: A New Look at Today's Evangelical Church in the Light of Early Christianity
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• A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs: A Reference Guide to More Than 700 Topics Discussed by the Early Church Fathers
• In God We Don't Trust
• The Pilgrim Road: Insights From the Early Christians