The Ancient Witnesses

Preface & Acknowledgments

Anyone familiar with city life has encountered the perplexing variety of Christian churches found on many street corners. Interspersed with these are false churches preaching “another gospel” than the one proclaimed by Jesus Christ and the Twelve. Yet, “no one can lay a foundation other than Jesus Christ,” wrote the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians. He also warned them to take care just how they built on that foundation (1 Corinthians 3:10-15). Churches not founded on “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3) are in danger of losing their way. Today more than ever, urban ministers must be grounded in historic Christian orthodoxy if the Church is to withstand the flood of contemporary heresy. But given the current indifference toward the historical creeds, councils and doctrinal standards that anchored previous generations in the historic Christian faith, how will the Church maintain its orthodoxy, the standard of right belief? In a book entitled Sacred Roots: A Primer in the Great Tradition , the Reverend Dr. Don Davis offered both an apologetic and a blueprint for reconnecting urban pastors to Nicene orthodoxy—the foundational-doctrinal

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