Forging Ploughshares - podcast cover

Forging Ploughshares

Cultivating the Peaceable Kingdom

Episodes

Sermon: Reconstructing the Temple in Christ: Revelation of Righteousness as Salvation

Paul Axton Preaches: Romans 3:25 is a key verse in determining Christ's relationship to the Temple. Is he a sacrifice of atonement to be fit into the Temple and Law, or is he the (hilasterion) Mercy Seat providing access to revelation of righteousness which is salvation? If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!...

Apr 12, 202522 minEp. 1043

James Alison on Marriage, Divorce, and Gender

In part 2 of Brad and Paul's conversation with the theologian James Alison, the role of the church in marriage, divorce and the role of Church law are discussed especially as it relates to issues of gender and homosexuality. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!...

Apr 07, 202555 minEp. 1042

Sermon: The Nonviolence of Christ as the Final and Full Revelation of God

Paul Axton preaches: What Paul calls the ministry of death, is accentuated and exposed in the murder of Jesus, due to Jesus teaching and action in the Temple. The temple deals in the death of animals, which did not touch upon the deadly attitude of the human heart, and Jewish response to his interruption of the killing is the motive for killing Jesus bring this ministry of death to an end. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!...

Apr 05, 202526 minEp. 1041

James Alison On Shame and the Sexual Crisis in the Church

Brad and Paul interview the Girardian theologian James Alison concerning the pastoral and practical application of Girard, and how this relates to the sexual crisis in Catholicism. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!

Mar 31, 20251 hr 2 minEp. 1040

Sermon: Beyond Now and Not Yet to the Fullness of Life in Christ

Paul Axton preaches on the inadequacy of now and not yet as a characterization of the Christian life. Victory in Christ holds out a fullness of truth, a complete adoption, and the reality of escaping evil. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!

Mar 29, 202520 minEp. 1039

Part 2 Anselm Versus Hegel on the Ontological Argument

Anselm's deployment of the ontological argument leads directly to the closed whole of his atonement theory in divine satisfaction, all of which depends upon the reification of language resisted and corrected in Hegel, and noted by Paul. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!...

Mar 24, 202559 minEp. 1038

Sermon: Personal Relationship and Betrayal as Definitive of Salvation and Sin

In the story of the Good Samaritan Jesus sets love above custom, law, and religious institutions but the corruption of this very best also poses the possibility of the very worst, in the words of Ivan Illich, in the institutionalization of the Church. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!...

Mar 22, 202525 minEp. 1037

Wounded Ministers Project

John Pearson describes his work with the homeless and in sustainable farming leading to his work with wounded ministers through Ministry Support Services International https://www.mssint.org/ If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!...

Mar 17, 20251 hr 2 minEp. 1036

Sermon: Incarnation as Universal Salvation

The fundamental lesson of the incarnation is that embodiment in general is the carrier of meaning a meaning for death or life, and that His embodiment is the fullness of meaning, life, extended universally. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!

Mar 15, 202523 minEp. 1035

Part II. The Meaning of David Bentley Hart's Confession for His Work

In Part 2 of this 2 part conversation, Jon, Matt, and Paul, discuss the possible meanings and impact of David Bentley Hart's recent confession and discuss various alternative interpretations. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!

Mar 10, 20251 hr 12 minEp. 1034

Sermon: Personalism as Universal and Infinite Versus Foundationalism

Personhood is definitive of God and humanity, meaning the relational, the infinite, and the universal, are inherent to truth, rather than the foundational, the propositional, the doctrinal, or the institutional, which reduce to the impersonal. Personal truth and knowledge overcomes the reductionistic, finite, and limited systems of this world. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!...

Mar 08, 202519 minEp. 1033

The Meaning of David Bentley Hart's Confession for His Work

In Part 1 of this 2 part conversation, Jon, Matt, and Paul, discuss the positive impact of the work of David Bentley Hart and consider what his recent confession might mean in understanding his work. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!

Mar 03, 20251 hr 2 minEp. 1032

Sermon: The Faithfulness of Christ as Resolution to Doubt and Evil

The focus on Christ's faithfulness rather than merely our faith in Christ, creates a more holistic understanding of faith than an interior intensity of belief, focused on Christ as object. Faithfulness is Christocentric rather than anthropocentric, incorporating ethics and embodiment of the living out of faith in Christ. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!...

Mar 01, 202523 minEp. 1031

The Baptist Vision of Unity Versus the Unity of Christendom

Matt, Paul, and Jon continue the discussion of the baptist vision set forth by Stanley Hauerwas and James McClendon, focusing on unity and contrasting it with the forced and violent unity of Christendom. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!

Feb 24, 20251 hr 7 minEp. 1030

Sermon: The Psychological Difference in Recapitulation

Ephesians 3:10 describes the work of Christ as recapitulation, which is inclusive of all that it means to be human, and can be described as a different human experience and psychical difference. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!

Feb 22, 202528 minEp. 1029

The Baptist Vision of Stanley Hauerwas

John, Matt, and Paul, inspired by articles by C. J. Dull, discuss the baptist vision set forth by Stanley Hauerwas and James McClendon, and discuss how this provides for a first order unity in the person and work of Christ. Sign up for the upcoming class, "Lonergan & the Problem of Theological Method." The course will run from the weeks of February 16th to April 11th. Register here https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/offerings If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support ...

Feb 17, 20251 hr 1 minEp. 1028

Sermon: The Gospel as the Interpretive Key and Situation of Scripture

In this sermon, the witness of Scripture to Christ and Christ as interpretive key to Scripture is spelled out, using the Gospel of John and Paul's illustration in Corinthians concerning Moses. Sign up for the upcoming class, "Lonergan & the Problem of Theological Method." The course will run from the weeks of February 16th to April 11th. Register here https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/offerings If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!...

Feb 15, 202524 minEp. 1027

Anselm Versus Hegel On the Ontological Argument

In this first podcast on Imaginary Apologetics, it is noted that Anselm's ontological and cosmological arguments pose a logic developed in his atonement theory, focused on a foundational logic, and this is contrasted with Hegel's understanding that the ontological argument is dependent on Christianity and the Person of Christ. Hegel is working from a Maximian-like understanding in which Christ brings together thought and being while Anselm does not reference Christ in the core of the argument. S...

Feb 10, 20251 hr 2 minEp. 1026

Sermon: Stretching Forth Eternally Toward the Image of God

Philippians 3:13 describes a stretching forth, in which the past (failures and achievements) are forgotten as part of the focus on the goal of attaining to likeness of Christ. Gregory of Nyssa portrays this Pauline understanding as the eternal dynamic of life in Christ which offers true stability and peace. Sign up for the upcoming class, "Lonergan & the Problem of Theological Method." The course will run from the weeks of February 16th to April 11th. Also sign up for Sin and Salvation: An i...

Feb 08, 202522 minEp. 1025

Sermon: Transcending the Finite Self Through the Alpha and Omega

The transformative power in conversion and salvation flows backward, redeeming all of our life, so that the end is in the beginning. Our finite lives make sense as they are stretched out in the beginning and end that is Christ. This self-transcendence is realized in being woken up religiously to the love of God, morally to others, intellectually to the cosmic Christ, and psychically or emotionally to the fruits of the spirit. Sign up for the upcoming class, "Lonergan & the Problem of Theolog...

Feb 03, 202524 minEp. 1023

Part 2 Sin and Salvation and Entry into Friendship

Here is part 2 of the 2 part discussion of the upcoming course Sin and Salvation. John, Matt, and Paul, discuss their theological journey as a journey of friendship. (Sorry, the previous podcast was duplicated but here corrected.) Sign up for the upcoming class, "Lonergan & the Problem of Theological Method." The course will run from the weeks of February 16th to April 11th. Also sign up for Sin and Salvation: An in-depth study of the meaning of sin and a description of the atonement as a de...

Feb 01, 20251 hr 2 minEp. 1024

Conversion and Salvation: The Beginning is in the End

Matt, John and Paul discuss the upcoming course with PBI, Sin and Salvation, which focuses on the peace of Christ, and which pictures the theological journey as only cohering as a continuing journey, in which the beginning is in the end, as with Christ. Sign up for the upcoming class, "Lonergan & the Problem of Theological Method." The course will run from the weeks of February 16th to April 11th. Also sign up for Sin and Salvation: An in-depth study of the meaning of sin and a description o...

Jan 27, 20251 hr 1 minEp. 1022

Flannery O'Connor Versus Enlightenment Individualism

In part 2 of discussion of Flannery O'Connor, David, Jonathan, and Paul discuss how her depiction is an explicit defeat of liberal and pietistic notions which believe in the natural competency of the soul. Only an acknowledgement of judgment, evil, and purgation, even as part of a universal salvation, is adequate for the reality of the human condition. (Sign up for the upcoming class, "Lonergan & the Problem of Theological Method." The course will run from the weeks of February 16th to April...

Jan 25, 202547 minEp. 1021

Lonergan and the Problem of Theological Method with Jonathan Heaps

In this discussion Jonathan Heaps, Head of the Lonergan Institute at Seton Hall University, Editor of the Lonergan Review, and author of The Ambiguity of Being: Bernard Lonergan and the Problems of the Supernatural, describes his upcoming class with PBI on Bernard Lonergan. Jonathan describes the resolution that Lonergan brings to the modern theological impasse, a breakthrough broached by nouvelle théologie and ressourcement, but completed by Lonergan. (Sign up for the upcoming class, "Lonergan ...

Jan 20, 20251 hrEp. 1020

Sermon: The Historical Jesus as the Beginning of All Creation

Colossians 1:15-20 stands at the center of the logic of the New Testament, taken up by Origen, the Cappadocian Fathers, Maximus, and in the modern period is recovered by Robert Jenson (among others). Apart from this understanding, that Christ is the realization of the eternality of God, Christianity becomes unintelligible. (Sign up for the upcoming class, "Lonergan & the Problem of Theological Method." The course will run from the weeks of February 16th to April 11th. Also sign up for Sin an...

Jan 18, 202521 minEp. 1019

The Conclusion: Jordan Wood on Hell, Hierarchy, and Nature and Grace In Maximus

Jordan Wood brings his series on Maximus to a conclusion, summing up his views on nature, hierarchy, and the possibility of annihilation. (Sign up for the upcoming class, "Lonergan & the Problem of Theological Method." The course will run from the weeks of February 16th to April 11th. Also sign up for Sin and Salvation: An in-depth study of the meaning of sin and a description of the atonement as a defeat of sin and the basis of an alternative community in Christ. This course will run throug...

Jan 13, 20251 hr 19 minEp. 1018

The Violent Bear It Away: Flannery O'Connor and Radical Evil

David, Jonathan, and Paul in part 1 of this 2 part podcast discuss the novels and short stories of Flannery O'Connor and their challenge to a modern liberal worldview, with their portrayal of inexplicable evil and love. (Sign up for the upcoming class, "Lonergan & the Problem of Theological Method." The course will run from the weeks of February 16th to April 11th. Also sign up for Sin and Salvation: An in-depth study of the meaning of sin and a description of the atonement as a defeat of si...

Jan 11, 20251 hr 4 minEp. 1017

Jordan Wood: Comparing Hegel and Maximus

Jordan Wood describes key texts in patristics and philosophy and then describes the similarities between Hegel and Maximus. (Sign up for the upcoming class, "Lonergan & the Problem of Theological Method." The course will run from the weeks of February 16th to April 11th. Register here https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/offerings ) If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!...

Jan 06, 20251 hr 4 minEp. 1016

Sermon: The Slaughter of the Innocents in Palestine

Herod lied to the wisemen about his intent, pretending to want to worship Jesus, but slaughtered the innocent children of Bethlehem in an attempt to kill any rival. This provides a working principle for understanding the facade of piety among rulers and the powerful and how to understand the continued slaughter of the innocent in Palestine and elsewhere. It clarifies the mandate for the people of God to be citizens of the Kingdom of God rather than citizens of this world. (Sign up for the upcomi...

Jan 04, 202520 minEp. 1015

Maximus and the Love of God in Synthesis, Personhood and Humility

Jordan Wood leads a discussion on Maximus' view of the all-embracing and unbelievable love of God as the work being accomplished through the Trinity, in synthesis, personhood, and divine humility. (Sign up for the upcoming class, "Lonergan & the Problem of Theological Method." The course will run from the weeks of February 16th to April 11th. Register here https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/offerings ) If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patro...

Dec 30, 20241 hrEp. 1014