In part two of our series, we will go through the Biblical narrative and explore some of the "pagan saints" of the Bible to see that the Biblical story has always affirmed a variety of epistemological paths to salvation in Christ alone. Plus, have we completely misunderstood the Apostle Paul's argument in the book of Romans to make the Good News of Jesus Christ feel more restrictive than Paul intended? Listen and let me know what you think in our Patreon Discussion Forum for this episode (see th...
Apr 19, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 116
Ever since I was a kid, there was a nagging question in my mind about what happened to the indigenous people who lived and died on this continent long before missionaries ever brought the message of Jesus to them. Or what about the Daoists who lived in China in the 1st century? Did they have access to salvation? What about a Muslim child in Syria who died in the rubble of another bombing? Is there a biblically supported and historically Christian option between believing that either all religion...
Apr 12, 2021•49 min•Ep. 115
Jon Guerra is a singer-songwriter based in Austin, Texas. His album Keeper of Days is a brilliant work of "devotional music" that's among one of my favorite records in recent years. He also composes music for the soundtracks of Terrance Malick films. In today's episode, I talk with Jon about his spiritual journey and what drew him to music, what once caused him to become cynical about God and music, and what brought him back to his calling. What is it about an experience of beauty that disarms o...
Apr 05, 2021•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 114
Dan Kent is an author and pastor at Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. He also co-hosts with Greg Boyd a podcast called "Apologies & Explanations with Greg Boyd." Dan joined me way back in episode 21 to share his personal story and insights from his book "Confident Humility". So if you want to know more about Dan's back story, then go back and listen to that episode. Dan also has his Master's in Christian Thought from Bethel Seminary and is a major proponent of Open Theism and his...
Mar 29, 2021•1 hr 46 min•Ep. 113
For those who see the Bible as inspired and authoritative, are we stuck having to choose between believing the Bible or our science textbooks? Here to talk about three difficult sections of Genesis that frequently emerge in science and faith discussions is Dr. John Walton. John Walton is an Old Testament scholar who specializes in Ancient Near Eastern culture. He’s a professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College, and has authored numerous commentaries and books. Most notably (for the purposes of...
Mar 15, 2021•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 112
This is the finale of The Problem of Evil series. Last week (Ep 87/ Part 17), I began sharing with you my conclusions and so I think it is important to listen to that one before you listen to today's episode. I imagine that some of you will still have questions, observations, and probably plenty of disagreements with where I have landed, but know that I welcome them all. The best way to share them is via our Patreon Discussion forum for this episode or by messaging me on Patreon. The next best o...
Mar 08, 2021•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 111
Well, this year-plus-long series is almost at an end. I have tried to be an impartial tour guide over the past 16 episodes (17 if you included the convo with Greg Boyd & Thomas Jay Oord), but now I get to share with you my own conclusions. I can honestly say that my own theodicy has changed as a result of going through this series together. This conclusion will be in 2 parts. Today, I talk about what to do with the book of Job and the obvious differences in the Old Testament and New Testamen...
Feb 28, 2021•58 min•Ep. 110
Ted Kim is senior pastor of Evanston Vineyard. He did his undergrad degree at the University of Chicago and has Masters of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. Ted joins me today to discuss the role of “story” in our quest for meaning in an increasingly “post-secular” America. How should followers of Jesus who believe in a true-overarching story for humanity interact with the stories we are constantly consuming via streaming services, movies, books and podcas...
Feb 22, 2021•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 109
The week after the storming of the U.S. Capitol, I talked with my friend Adam Russell on The Ferment podcast about the historical, theological, & psychological reasons for the development of "Culture War Christianity" and American Civil Religion. How did we get here as Christians in America? What can we do differently in our church communities? This conversation was released last week on The Ferment podcast and I'm re-airing here this week as I recover from COVID 19. Adam has been on Deep Ta...
Feb 01, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 108
In part 17 of The Problem of Evil series, I talk with theologians Greg Boyd and Thomas Jay Oord about their unique responses to the problems of evil and suffering. Why did each of them find traditional responses to the problem of evil in various forms of classical theism unsatisfying? What is similar and different about their respective positions? Does either Boyd's Open Theism or Oord's Essential Kenosis/God Can't theodicy provide more satisfying answers than what people like Augustine, Aquinas...
Jan 26, 2021•1 hr 55 min•Ep. 107
Dr. John Vervaeke is a renowned cognitive scientist at the University of Toronto. He's published groundbreaking research on the cognitive science of "meaning." His popular "Awakening from the Meaning Crisis" lecture series is a massive 50 part video & podcast series with well over 1 million total views on YouTube. In this series, Vervaeke weaves together insights from cognitive science, biology, philosophy, theology, and history to try and help people understand how we've arrived at our curr...
Jan 18, 2021•2 hr 22 min•Ep. 106
We're nearing the end of our problem of evil series. In today's episode, we'll explore the controversial theology and philosophy known as Open Theism, which was popularized in the 1990's by a group of predominantly evangelical theologians. These open theists challenged both classical and process views on God and attempted to find a way to make metaphysical sense of what they believed was essential to the biblical narrative. Believing that the entire biblical narrative collapses if we cannot find...
Jan 11, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 105
As we discussed in Part 14 of this series, the 20th century brought unimaginable human moral evils, and yet much beneficial human progress. Our basic understanding of how the universe functions also shifted. Our Newtonian perspective gave way to Einstein and then to quantum physics. Perhaps, the metaphysics of classical theism need to be reexamined too if we're to properly address the problem of evil? Enter the philosopher and mathematician Alfred North Whitehead and his new school of philosophy...
Jan 04, 2021•59 min•Ep. 104
Today's episode is a unique episode because I'm on the other end of the interview for a change! Steven White is a pastor in Iowa, a long time listener of this podcast, and a member of our Deep Talks Patreon Community. He recently reached out to me to see if we could record an interview together as part of his Master's thesis he is completing focusing on cultural theology & church leadership. I was glad to be of help in that way, so we jumped on for a Zoom call last week. I thought he asked s...
Dec 21, 2020•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 103
This is part 2 of our miniseries. Make sure to listen to part 1 (Episode 78) before you listen to this one. In this episode we'll explore the differences between masculine & feminine cultures, and the differences between cultures that avoid uncertainty and those that embrace it. Plus, we'll try to answer some of the initial questions I posed at the start of part 1 and consider how Christians can begin to comparatively discern the values of Jesus' Kingdom of God and the values within their ow...
Dec 09, 2020•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 102
What is behind the Trump vs Biden, lefts vs right cultural divide in America? Why do some people become convinced by COVID conspiracies? Why do some march in Black Lives Matter protests while others fly Blue Lives Matter flags in their yards? Have you ever visited a foreign country and been completely shocked at how different the cultural values and behaviors were? In this two-part miniseries, we'll explore how culture acts as software for our minds, shaping our perceptions of reality, and progr...
Dec 07, 2020•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 101
In our dis-enchanted secular age, many of us struggle to believe in "spiritual" entities and powers. In fact, only 4 out of 10 Americans believe that "spiritual beings" exist, yet many people believe in "hyper-objects" like systemic racism, the stock market, climate change, or the "deep state." Are there any points of commonality between this relatively new philosophical concept called "hyper-objects" and the ancient, biblical notion of cosmic spiritual powers? In today's episode, we'll explore ...
Nov 16, 2020•50 min•Ep. 100
Paul Vander Klay is back on the program today to discuss a variety of topics and issues including: - The Post-COVID Church -Unplugging from the Culture War Matrix by following Jesus -The Rise and Fall of the Jordan Peterson zeitgeist and whether Peterson's theology was more Augustinian or Gnostic. -Why his church is in decline while his online influence keeps growing. - Why everyone believes in God - When dinosaurs causes a faith crisis - suffering with Christ and the problem of evil -the tensio...
Nov 04, 2020•1 hr 51 min•Ep. 99
As we discussed in part 13, the scientific discoveries of the 19th century posed monumental theodicy challenges...especially to those trying to find God in reason and in nature. The 20th century only brought greater theodicy challenges when the two worst wars in human history unleashed unimaginable moral evils. Perhaps the problem of evil had killed God. In the midst of this, a Swiss theologian named Karl Barth claimed that God's revelation wasn't to be found in nature or reason because it was "...
Oct 27, 2020•46 min•Ep. 98
The 19th century marked a time of significant discovery in geology and biology, but with these scientific discoveries came a picture of a much older, more violent, and less human-centric world than people previously imagined. In many ways, it was this era that marked the beginning of the "science vs. faith" debates in Western civilization that continue on to this day. Can we really blame Adam and Eve's fall for the existence of disease, famine, and natural disasters when it becomes clear that th...
Oct 14, 2020•52 min•Ep. 97
I'm an 80's/90's kid who grew up in the evangelical heyday of Christian subculture. "Christian" music, movies, tv, bookstores, and even our own brand of science was all part of a larger culture war movement. A lot of people my age eventually abandoned right-wing, republican Evangelicalism but simply traded it for left-wing, progressive post-evangelicalism (if they didn't reject Christianity altogether) not realizing they were still combatants in a culture war even though they switched teams. How...
Oct 05, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 96
How should Christians in America navigate the "culture war"? Are we forced to choose between either being angry cultural combatants or being passively assimilated into ideologies & guiding stories foreign to the way of Jesus? How do narratives, especially the hero myths that fill our comic book pages and movie theater screen, invite people to explore theology, ethics, and philosophy? Where might Christ be at work in those stories to reveal what is true, good, and beautiful? And why might you...
Sep 28, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 95
Is the role of a pastor becoming obsolete? One thousand years ago, the role of a pastor (or priest) had a radically different value in society than the role they occupy today in Western culture. Understanding how we shifted from a worldview filled with magic and enchantment where pastors were seen as powerful wizards of white magic to modern CEO's of private spiritual corporations won't merely be helpful for pastors to understand but will be transformative to anyone who's spent any amount of tim...
Sep 15, 2020•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 94
In my formative years when I first started getting into theology and philosophy, I used to really enjoy watching debates between Christian and atheist apologists on the question "Does God exist?" But the deeper I went on my journey the more I realized that this question, and many of my conceptions of God, were fundamentally flawed. I had misunderstood what the word "God" meant. When we properly understand what that word means, it becomes clear that everyone (yes, even Richard Dawkins!) believes ...
Aug 31, 2020•46 min•Ep. 93
Like Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Schleiermacher believed that our reasoning ability has its limits. With growing anti-religious attitudes spreading throughout Europe in the 18th century, Schleiermacher set out to make Christianity relevant to the "cultured despisers" of religion as the Enlightenment shifted into the 19th century. But did Schleiermacher adapt and redefine Christianity too much? Was he right to believe that we should do away with ideas about the Devil? After all, does believing that ...
Aug 24, 2020•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 92
In this week's episode, we'll explore how theology, philosophy, and the quest for meaning has been the spark that ignited revolutions throughout history, especially since the advent of mass communication beginning in the 15th century. Why do revolutionaries seek to change aesthetic symbols and "holy-days" on their path towards changing a culture's guiding story? Historically, how has something as small as work of theology or philosophy been the seed for eventual political revolutions, civil wars...
Aug 11, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 91
Our journey through history searching for insights and answers to the problem of evil has brought us to the height of the Enlightenment era where the limits of reason, especially as it relates to the problem of evil and Christian theology, were stretched and challenged. What happens if you were to only use reason and "natural" theology to determine what God is like and how reality is structured? This is was Deism attempted to do. Is there a danger to this hyper-rationalism that would eventually ...
Jul 27, 2020•57 min•Ep. 90
Dr. Dwight N. Hopkins was born and raised in the segregated south, but through the support system of his loving family and the African American church community, he grew to become a renowned theologian. Hopkins is the Alexander Campbell Professor of Theology at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Graduating from Harvard, Hopkins went on to earn PhD's from Union Seminary and the University of Cape Town (South Africa). Those of you who listen to this program regularly know that I have credi...
Jul 13, 2020•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 89
The Problem of Evil series returns with part 10! In this episode, we'll review some of the reasons why theology shifted towards natural theology and rationalism during the Enlightenment and we'll see how a Christian rationalist like Gottfried Leibniz (a man who invented calculus, mechanical calculators, and artificial intelligence over 300 years ago) attempted to solve the problem of evil with his "best of all possible worlds" theodicy. You find all the previous episodes in this series at: https...
Jul 06, 2020•41 min•Ep. 85
As the old guiding stories found in traditional religious structures seem to be breaking down, why are horror films and nihilistic comedies like Rick and Morty apparently growing in popularity? What sorts of theological and philosophical ideas are embedded in these expressions of popular culture? To help unpack these ideas, we're joined by author and pastor, JR. Forasteros. JR writes, podcasts, and speaks extensively about the intersection of theology & pop culture. He's got a Master's in Re...
Jun 29, 2020•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 84
