Frank Schaeffer speaks with Dr. Clint Heacock—former pastor, theologian, and host of The Dismantling Doctrine Podcast—about surviving Bill Gothard’s teachings, the lasting harm of authoritarian Christianity, and the journey beyond deconstruction toward healing, reason, and community.
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Dr Clint Heacock is the host of The Dismantling Doctrine Podcast that focuses on reconstruction after deconstruction. He's also the author of the 2024 book Not So Shiny Not So Happy People: How Bill Gothard, Church, and Family Taught Me Christianity Doesn't Work.
Clint grew up in Seattle, WA, in the Church of Christ denomination with parents who followed the Bill Gothard method of child rearing. Clint now describes this as cultic practices.
After pursuing two Master's degrees, followed by a PhD in Theology in the U.K., it was while teaching Clint began to recolonize the disparity between what he believed and what he was teaching. The problems with the Bible, the church, and his Christian faith became too much and he finally left it all behind.
Clint's podcast focuses on cult studies, the Christian Right, Dominionism and Christian Reconstruction where politics and religion meet. He has had various experts in these fields on his podcast
Most important Clint has a heart for people. Just because we no longer are religious does not mean we lose our sense of pastoral care.