Leaving Berea

By Arlyn Kantz

At least seven municipalities in the South bear the name Berea: Berea, Texas; Berea, Tennessee; Berea, South Carolina; Berea, North Carolina; Berea, Kentucky; Berea, Virginia; and Berea, West Virginia. Alongside these, at least one college and two denominations have adopted the name, and dozens of churches. Google “Berea Baptist Church” for a small sampling.

The name Berea comes from Acts 17:10-11: “Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. … These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” 

Berean fair-mindedness and love for scripture is held up as the paragon of biblical vigilance. In my youth, to be called a Berean was a high compliment. In fact, the adherents of every variant of the Christian faith were ready and able to give you a reason, including chapter and verse, why their particular theological flavor was truer than the other denominations. 

Times have changed. Now my Protestant friends and family are less likely to give me theological arguments for their preferred gathering and more and more likely to sigh and say, “Isn’t it beautiful the variety God has created? So many ways to worship and reach people for Christ.” Perhaps the reason for this revised approach is exhaustion. Perhaps its because it is more apparent then ever that the world is going to hell in a hand-basket. If a man claims to love Jesus, he is seen as an ally. Why criticize a fellow believer for highlighting different verses?

I would be more sympathetic to this blithe disregard for religious differences, except for the fact that I spent so many years having the same people – who now say that differences don’t matter – encouraging me to check sermon reference and even dig into the Greek. I might overlook the about-face had I not for so many decades been the consummate Berean. It seems (according to some) that I spent much of my life trying to take seriously the study and application of Scripture only to find I had taken it too seriously. But for Orthodoxy, I would be among the tens of thousands of former church-goers now deeply committed to do-it-yourself, churchless Christianity. What is the use of committing to a place of worship to listen to Bible teaching when one man’s opinion is as good as the next – or mine even?

There is no persuading a determined evangelical before his or her time, but in case this article falls into the hands of a despairing Protestant, here are a few breadcrumbs along the path toward the ancient Church. 

• You will no longer be led to believe that salvation occurs at a specific point in time; i.e. during an altar call or camp meeting or moment of crisis. Orthodox believers do not point back to the date, time, and moment when we were saved – past-perfect tense. You will have a baptism or chrismation date, but the progressive tense – being saved – is implicit in the theology. Instead of waxing nostalgic about a “before and after meeting Jesus” testimony, you will be trained for the reality of spiritual battle. Orthodox theology fits the actual experience of human beings: continual spiritual struggle until death. In your walk with Christ, the end is more important than the beginning.
• You will no longer have to feel pressure to ‘present the gospel’ to everyone who crosses your path. In Orthodoxy we do not yank souls from the jaws of hell by sharing the four spiritual laws, reciting the Roman Road, or convincing someone to pray the sinners prayer. Yes, we impact those around us, but when we do it is the byproduct of the rich and rewarding journey of our own repentance and transformation.
• You will no longer be stirred up to do big things for God. Most of the spiritual life in Orthodoxy is intensely private because ancient Christianity possesses all that is necessary to nurture an ever expanding interior life. Meaning and purpose is not wrapped up in a seeable, shareable, sellable exterior. In fact, a platform, book deal, or ministry using one’s “gifts,” is not only deemed unnecessary, but dangerous.
• You will no longer have to remain hyper-vigilant, guarding yourself against theological compromise. God’s Holy Church will be vigilant over you. You can open yourself up to the healing she offers simply by basking in her liturgy. You will never be extolled to be a doctrinal watchdog because an Orthodox priest’s theology does not flow from his personal quiet time.

Though a handful of theologians still ferret out problems of proper translation and debate how and by whom biblical cannon was established, I sense these arguments are meaningful to fewer and fewer. Only the most spiritually driven remain on the quest to find the original text and finally achieve to the most accurate version of biblical truth. But most folk I know have grown weary of Berean-ness. 

In Orthodoxy, there is no lack of love for Scripture. In fact, the gospel book is venerated every Sunday. But in the hands of Holy Mother Church – the God-established historical institution that set the boundaries of the cannon – holy scriptures shines like an arkenstone mounted in its proper, glorious setting.

How many years and hours and days
Will it take to unlearn all my Protesting ways
And know first instant, that You reveal to heal

For You are not a cold clinician
Diagnosing and prescribing from afar
But lover lying with me in my agony
Fingers tracing every weary scar.

From a Prufrock Poem in the Agape Review.

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Arlyn Kantz came into Orthodoxy from a Bapticostal background in 2011. She lives in Alvarado, Texas, and attends Archangel Gabriel in Weatherford. Kantz has Sunday school curriculum in the works with Ancient Faith Publishing, summer 2024. She writes fiction under the pen name A.J. Prufrock.