Homepage / Pivot Podcast /#192: Early Christian Theology: What Augustine, Irenaeus, and Justin Martyr Still Teach the Church Today

#192: Early Christian Theology: What Augustine, Irenaeus, and Justin Martyr Still Teach the Church Today

Warren Smith, professor of historical theology at Duke Divinity School, joins Dwight and Terri to talk about his new book, Early Christian Theology: A History, and what the first several centuries of Christian thought have to say to church leaders today.

Warren Smith, professor of historical theology at Duke Divinity School, joins Dwight Zscheile and Terri Elton to talk about his new book, Early Christian Theology: A History, and what the first several centuries of Christian thought have to say to church leaders navigating a very different, but strangely familiar, moment. Warren walks through Justin Martyr’s arguments to a suspicious Roman government, Augustine’s account of pride and the desire for dominion, Irenaeus’s vision of a unified gospel, and Gregory of Nyssa’s reflections on the endless discovery of God.

The conversation turns practical near the end, as Warren offers church leaders a word of encouragement: the church’s survival has never rested on our shoulders, and the best thing a pastor or teacher can offer their people is genuine delight in scripture. That kind of enthusiasm, he says, tends to spread.

Resources mentioned

Early Christian Theology: A History, Warren’s new book.

Featuring

Warren Smith

Professor of historical theology at Duke Divinty School, Durham, NC

J. Warren Smith is professor of historical theology at Duke Divinity School. His research focuses primarily on patristic theology; his books include Ambrose, Augustine, and the Pursuit of Greatness, Christian Grace and Pagan Virtue: The Theological Foundation of Ambrose’s Ethics, and Passion and Paradise: Divine and Human Emotion in the Thought of Gregory of Nyssa, and Early Christian Theology: A History.

Hosts

Dwight Zscheile

Professor of Congregational Mission and Leadership, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota

The Rev. Dr. Dwight Zscheile is professor of congregational mission and leadership at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota.

He is the author of Embracing the Mixed Ecology (with Blair Pogue, Seabury Books, 2025), Leading Faithful Innovation: Following God into a Hopeful Future (with Michael Binder and Tessa Pinkstaff, Fortress 2023), Participating in God’s Mission: A Theological Missiology for the U.S. (with Craig Van Gelder, Eerdmans 2018), The Agile Church: Spirit-Led Innovation in an Uncertain Age (Morehouse Publishing, 2014), People of the Way: Renewing Episcopal Identity (Morehouse Publishing, 2012) and The Missional Church in Perspective: Mapping Trends and Shaping the Conversation (with Craig Van Gelder, Baker Academic 2011), editor of Cultivating Sent Communities: Missional Spiritual Formation (Eerdmans, 2012), and co-editor (with Ed Olsworth-Peter) of The Starter’s Way: Leading New Contextual Christian Communities (Church Publishing, 2025).

A graduate of Stanford University (B.A.), Yale University (M.Div.), and Luther Seminary (Ph.D., Congregational Mission and Leadership), Dwight previously served congregations in Minnesota, Virginia, and Connecticut. Dwight’s experience growing up in a secular home in California has shaped his commitment to helping the church cultivate Christian community with neighbors in today’s changing world.

Terri Elton

Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor of Leadership, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota

The Rev. Dr. Terri Martinson Elton began teaching at Luther Seminary as an adjunct instructor in 2004 before becoming the director of the Center for Children, Youth and Family Ministry in 2008. In addition to her continued work with the Center, Elton accepted the position of associate professor of Children, Youth and Family Ministry in 2010 and associate professor of Leadership in 2014.

Prior to her call to Luther Seminary, Elton served as an associate to the bishop in the Saint Paul Area Synod where her responsibilities included working with congregations, leadership development, First Call theological education and youth and family ministry.

Elton holds a B.A. degree in communications from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn. (1986). She earned both her M.A. (1998) and Ph.D. (2007) degrees in Congregational Mission and Leadership from Luther Seminary.

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