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Bereans were the inhabitants of the ancient city of Berea, also known in the Bible as Beroea and now known as Veria. According to the Book of Acts, Chapter 17 verse 11, Paul of Tarsus and Silas preached at Berea, and the inhabitants "eagerly examined the scriptures every day to see whether these things were so", and many of them believed.

Many churches and ministries, predominantly evangelical Protestant in the USA, have adopted the name Berean in allusion to this account. The Catholic Diocese of Lincoln describes one particular affiliation, the Berean Church, as comprising about 60 independent U.S. congregations of similar beliefs with features in common with Baptists, Methodists and Presybyterians. Their central emphasis on scriptural authority, sola scriptura, puts their beliefs in particular conflict with Catholicism.

History

Historically, the Bereans (also called Beroeans, Barclayans or Barclayites) were a Protestant sect following former Scottish Presbyterian minister John Barclay (1734-1798). Founded in Edinburgh in 1773, the Berean Church followed a modified form of Calvinism. It had congregations in Scotland, London and Bristol, but mainly merged with the Congregationalists after Barclay's death.

References

• Bereans / John Barclay: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. E. A. Livingstone. Oxford University Press, 2000

External links

• Berea, Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
• Bereans, The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001.
• Berean Church International
• One of the Berean Fellowship of Churches
• The Berean Beacon
• Why the Bereans rejected sola scriptura *Catholic Answers article on Bereans.
• Diocese of Lincoln Q&A (Catholic POV).
• Berean Statement of Faith from Berean National Convention, September 25, 2002
• The Berean Call

• Christian denominations
• Protestantism