This former Catholic priest from France in the 12th Century is another historical figure who is often presented as an example of a heroic Christian remnant. E. H. Broadbent writes, “Prominent among such teachers was Pierre de Brueys, an able and diligent preacher who for twenty years, braving all dangers, travelled throughout Dauphiny, Provence, Languedoc, and Gascony, drawing multitudes from the superstitions in which they had been brought up, back to the teachings of Scripture, until he was burned at St. Gilles (1126). He showed from Scriptures that none should be baptised until they had attained to time full use of their reason; that it is useless to build churches, as God accepts sincere worship wherever offered; that crucifixes should not be venerated, but rather looked upon with horror, as representing the instrument on which our Lord suffered; that the bread and wine are not changed into the body and blood of Christ, but are symbols commemorative of His death, and that the prayers and good works of the living cannot benefit the dead” (The Pilgrim Church, chapter V).

On the surface it is easy to see how de Bruys could be viewed by 2×2’s as one of their historical forefathers, especially with his rejection of church buildings. Unfortunately for 2×2’s who are tempted to hold him up as a hero of some primitive Christian faith, de Bruys was a heretic, even by 2x2 standards. Here is what Colish writes about him:

"There were other heretics who were not academics and who also objected to certain popular devotions. A good case in point is Peter of Bruys (fl. 1117/29-35/6), a renegade cleric and unlicensed preacher in southern France. He reverted to a heresy held by more than one group in the early Church, the notion that Christ's humanity was not real, but illusory. For Peter, Christ had never been born in the flesh and had never truly suffered and died. Hence, he thought it improper to venerate the crucifix. He expressed this view by lighting a bonfire of crucifixes in front of the abbey church of St. Gilles one Good Friday, which led to his lynching by the enraged citizens.”(Colish, Medieval Foundations of the Western Intellectual Tradition, Yale University Press: New Haven, 1977, p. 247)