History doesn’t come with an editing feature.
For believers and skeptics alike, confronting the unfiltered reality of church history (with its faithfulness alongside its hypocrisy), can feel daunting. But in an era where AI-generated polish and revisionism cloud discourse, an unvarnished look at the past could be just what we need to navigate our future.
Nick Walters is uniquely positioned to speak into this. A 7th-generation Mississippian, professor of history at Mississippi Christian University, an appointee under the George W. Bush administration, and the voice behind “This Week in Christian History,” Walters brings a rare mix of public sector experience and academic rigor to the table.
We sat down with Walters to discuss why messy church history strengthens faith, how historical literacy restores institutional trust, and why giving the next generation a “longer memory” helps them cut through the panic of the present.
NRB:
Why is understanding the full, unvarnished history of Christianity beyond the Upper Room essential, either for nonbelievers or believers?
Walters:
Christian history is a human story, complete with courage and poor judgment, charity and violence, incredible faith and hypocrisy. For believers, I’m afraid too many of us think we have to defend everything every Christian has ever said or done. History happened, and we can’t change it. But we can learn from its mistakes and pattern our lives after the Christ-centered examples of those who came before us.
For nonbelievers, I think it’s important for them to know that we aren’t hiding the difficult chapters. Christian history is a story knitted together from the lives of imperfect human beings living in a fallen world, yet finding, as one of my favorite hymns says, “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.”
NRB:
How does engaging with the unfiltered complexities and human failures of church history strengthen a Christian’s faith rather than undermine it?
Walters:
The Bible doesn’t attempt to sanitize its heroes, and I don’t think we should either. In Jesus’ own genealogy in Matthew 1, we find women and men who didn’t have stellar reputations. Henri Nouwen reminds us: “The long painful history of the Church is the history of people ever and again tempted to choose power over love, control over the cross, being a leader over being led.”
Christian history is, in some ways, like my own walk. It isn’t simply a running list of failures. It’s the story of trying to be salt and light, finding meaning in a lost world, and discovering that God loves me so very much that He’ll put up with me until I realize Who is Lord — and who is not.
“We aren’t hiding the difficult chapters. … The Bible doesn’t attempt to sanitize its heroes, and I don’t think we should either.”
NRB:
In an era of AI-generated content and digital noise, why is rigorous historical scholarship needed now?
Walters:
AI is a tool — just like a dictionary or spell-check on a device screen. But a tool can’t relieve us of the responsibility to ask where information came from, whether it can be corroborated, and whether we’re presenting it in the right context.
Our scholarship, currently found in our podcasts and the unedited full video interviews on our YouTube channel, comes directly from subject matter experts who value scholarship and insight. I think AI is forcing us to become more discerning about what we see and hear, and that is why we will always strive to be a trusted portal of information.
NRB:
How can studying historical events build confidence in Scripture, either for believers or nonbelievers?
Walters:
For nonbelievers, history provides opportunities to test claims against other evidence. They can see ancient literature such as the Epic of Gilgamesh containing a flood narrative and examine people, cities, wars, rulers, and geographical locations mentioned in Scripture alongside evidence from other ancient sources. Christianity makes historical claims, and many of those claims can be examined and corroborated.
I think a believer’s confidence can increase when they see that Scripture isn’t just some book of rules or moral stories somehow floating outside of a political context. When Isaiah tells King Hezekiah that the Assyrian king Sennacherib will return home and will not enter Jerusalem, it’s comforting to know that historical evidence outside of the Bible also helps place those people and events in a real historical setting.
“If we can pique someone’s interest simply by planting a seed … then we’ve accomplished an important part of our mission.”
NRB:
Having served in federal leadership under President George W. Bush, how do you see historical literacy impacting institutional trust today?
Walters:
Historical literacy keeps us from assuming institutions can’t make mistakes while reminding us that institutions are made up of imperfect people.
I worked with hundreds of people who were trying to make their communities better places but had to do that within the confines of rules and regulations. Understanding why institutions operate the way they do — and often why particular rules were created in response to past mistakes — can help build trust.
NRB:
What do you hope your upcoming Encyclopedia of Christian History achieves for both the curious and the committed?
Walters:
The Encyclopedia is still a long-term project, but right now we’re working feverishly to turn our daily Christian-history posts into short radio features for Christian radio. If we can pique someone’s interest simply by planting a seed — getting them to wonder how an event shaped doctrine, worship, or the Christian world they live in — then we’ve accomplished an important part of our mission.
NRB:
Overall, what message would you like to get across to this generation? Why is Christian history relevant to students in 2026?
Walters:
I tell my students all the time that history gives you a longer memory. And when you have a longer memory, the present becomes less frightening, the latest ideas become easier to evaluate, and you begin to understand that your generation is part of a story much larger than itself.
I think many historians are missing the mark when they use terms like “you should care” or “you ought to memorize these dates.” Their generation is not the first to live through confusing times. Showing them how earlier generations got things right — and how they got things terribly wrong — can help them process the world they’re living in now.