Will the Real Heretics Please Stand Up: A New Look at Today's Evangelical Church in the Light of Early Christianity, by David W. Bercot (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1999), is a very valuable book. Bercot presents the writings and accounts of pre-Constantine Christians (prior to 313 A.D.) to constructively challenge our current beliefs and practices of Christianity with what actually was historically genuine primitive Christianity.

After beginning with an account of Polycarp's inspirational martyrdom, Bercot presents these early Christians' consistent teachings and practices on issues such as baptism, capital punishment, conservatism, divorce, entertainment, equality, ethics, fashion, free will, morality, predestination, salvation by faith alone, war, and wealth. He also explores the significance of Constantine, Augustine, and Martin Luther to the history of Christianity.

Two issues on which Bercot should seriously reconsider his treatment are (1) the role of women in the early Church and (2) the role of Christian healing in early Christianity.

1. Regarding the first issue, Bercot has accepted the long-held view that Paul taught that women should not speak and act in church leadership roles. The traditional belief is that Paul wrote 1Co 14:34-35 and 1Ti 2:11-12 and that he taught that women should remain silent in church. Many scholars, seminaries, and major biblical research publications -- representing the best in both Protestant and Roman Catholic scholarship -- have conclusively documented that these two passages were not Paul's words. Contrarily, they explain that Paul was in fact an advocate of women being in the ministry and in church leadership roles.

For some documentation of women's participation, see http://www.bibletexts.com/women.htm. To explore some relevant books that further document women's active roles in the early Christian church, see http://www.bibletexts.com/bibliogr/12his-nt.htm#women, especially:

• One-volume commentaries
  • The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, edited by Raymond E. Brown, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy (Englewood Cliff, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1990, commentary on 1Co 14:34-35, pages 811-812)
  • The Oxford Bible Commentary, edited by John Barton and John Muddiman (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001, commentary on 1Co 14:33b-36, page 1130)
• Commentaries on individual books of the Bible
  • Hermeneia: 1 Corinthians, by Hans Conzelmann (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1975, commentary on 1Co 14:33b-36, page 246)
  • First Corinthians (a volume in the series Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching), by Richard B. Hays (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1997, commentary on 1Co 14:33b-36, pages 245-249)
• Books specifically on addressing the subject
  • Women Preachers and Prophets Through Two Millennia of Christianity, edited by Beverly Mayne Kienzle & Pamela J. Walker (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1998, commentary on 1Co 14:33b-36)
  • Women and the Genesis of Christianity, by Ben Witherington III (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990)
  • What Paul Really Said About Women: The Apostle's Liberating Views on Equality in Marriage, Leadership, and Love, by John Temple Bristow (San Francisco: Harper SanFrancisco, 1991)

2. Regarding the second issue, Bercot comments, "Early Christians believed in divine healing, but their testimonies about healing miracles indicate that such miracles were primarily administered to non-believers as a sign." (page 89) This statement is not consistent with other early Christian reports of their dependency upon Christian healing and their rejection of other methods of healing. This is verified by the many healings noted in the gospels, in Acts, and in the writings of very early Christians such as Justin Marytr and Tatian. Hector Valos' book, Health Care and the Rise of Christianity (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1999, provides an excellent treatment of the subject. So do many other books. To explore some relevant books on the history of Christian healing, see http://www.bibletexts.com/bibliogr/12his-nt.htm#christian-healing, especially:

• Health Care and the Rise of Christianity, by Hector Avalos (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1999)
• Biblical Healing: Hebrew and Christian Roots, by Frank C. Darling (Vista Publications, 1989)
• Christian Healing After the New Testament: Some Approaches to Illness in the Second, Third and Fourth Centuries, by R.J.S. Barrett-Lennard (University Press of America, 1994)
• Encyclopedia of Early Christianity, Second Edition, edited by Everett Ferguson (NY: Garland Publishing, 1998, pages 511-512, article on "Healing, religious."

Aside from these two areas, David Bercot's Will the Real Heretics Please Stand Up is an outstanding, thought-provoking book with a well-documented, authentic message that all Christians should heed. Bercot has made an important contribution not only to our historical knowledge but most of all to our faithful practice of genuine Christianity.

To further explore the significance of 313 A.D. and how Constantine changed Christian theology & practices , browse http://www.bibletexts.com/terms/war.htm#teachings-change-313.

Some other works that provide needed balance to Bercot's book are listed below. Though each book represents a different editorial position and individual conclusions, and no one book does complete justice to the subject, those in bold are particularly useful.

• History of efforts to reinstate earliest Christianity, including those efforts labeled and persecuted as heresies by opponents

  • Crimes of Perception: An Encyclopedia of Heresies and Heretics, by Leonard George (NY: Paragon House, 1995)
  • Heresies: Heresy and Orthodoxy in the History of the Church, by Harold O.J.Brown (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1988)
  • Heretics: The Other Side of Early Christianity, by Gerd Ludemann (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996)
  • The New Birth of Christianity: Why Religion Persists in a Scientific Age, by Richard A. Nenneman (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992)

  • Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity, 2nd Edition, by Walter Bauer (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress Press, 1996)

• Modern exploration of what historically constituted earliest Christian teachings and practices

• Backgrounds of Early Christianity, Second Edition, by Everett Ferguson (Grand Rapids, MI; Eerdmans, 1993)
• Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas, by Elaine Pagels (NY: Random House, 2003)
• The Birth of Christianity: Discovering What Happened in the Years Immediately after the Execution of Jesus, by John Dominic Crossan (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1998)
• A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs: A Reference Guide to More Than 700 Topics Discussed by the Early Church Fathers, edited by David W. Bercot (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1998)
• Early Christians Speak: Faith and Life in the First Three Centuries, Revised Edition - by Everett Ferguson (Abilene, TX: Abilene Christian University Press, 1987)
• The Early Church: Origins to the Dawn of the Middle Ages, by E. Glenn Hinson (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1996)
• Encyclopedia of Early Christianity, Second Edition, edited by Everett Ferguson (NY: Garland Publishing, 1998)
• The Gnostic Gospels, by Elaine Pagels (NY: Random House,1978)
• History of Primitive Christianity, by Hans Conzelmann (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1973)
• Introduction to the New Testament, Volume 2: History and Literature of Early Christianity, 2nd Edition - by Helmut Koester (Berlin: Aldine de Gruyter, 2000)
• Lost Christianities: The Battle for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew, by Brad D. Ehrman (NY: Oxford University Press, 2003)
  
• The New Birth of Christianity: Why Religion Persists in a Scientific Age, by Richard A. Nenneman (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992, especially "The Early Church" pages 55-82)
• The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture: The Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament, by Brad D. Ehrman (NY: Oxford University Press, 1997)
  
• The Rise of Christianity, by W.H.C. Frend (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984)
• When Jesus Became God: The Struggle to Define Christianity during the Last Days of Rome, by Richard E. Rubenstein (NY: Harcourt, 1999)
• The Worship of the Early Church, by Ferdinand Hahn (Fortress Press)