This is the second episode of our monthly series where Sam and Hank discuss the church fathers. This episode is about Irenaeus of Lyon. He was the Bishop of Lyon in southern France but he had grown up in Smyrna. We discuss his biography, his importance in church history, his writings, his views on gnosticism, his Christology, and other facets of his theology. We also draw parallels and applications of his life and message for Christians today. We also mention Paul Vanderklay, Jonathan Pageau, Jo...
May 06, 2021•2 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Parker is a theology student at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is the host of "Parker's Pensees" youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYbT... I ask him about his theological background. We talk about the importance of the doctrine of the trinity to salvation, how a church defines itself and he shares with me his argument for the Trinity based on our knowledge of concepts. We also discuss William Hasker, Paul Vanderklay, Jordan Peterson, Fred Sanders, Paul Gould, Chad McIn...
Apr 29, 2021•1 hr 39 min•Season 1Ep. 32
JP Marceau comes back for his second appearance on my channel. This conversation was spurred on by the recent conversation between Paul Vanderklay, John Vervaeke and JP regarding miracles and the logos. JP and I talk about that topic other how we can understand immanence, emergence, the logos together with a focus on Christ. We mention Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, Keiji Nishitani, Plotinus, Bishop Barron, Jordan Peterson, CS Lewis, John Scotus Eriugena and more. You will benefit most from watching...
Apr 20, 2021•1 hr 47 min•Season 1Ep. 31
Jonathan Stewart is a Deacon in The Apostolic Johannite Church in Montreal. The Apostolic Johannite Church is a modern day church in the gnostic and esoteric christian tradition. Jonathan also is the host of "Talk Gnosis" on the Gnostic Wisdom Network youtube channel. We talk about the history and emergence of Christian Gnostic. It's connections to the orthodox Christian tradition, it's beliefs and teachings, it's various historical manifestations and the state of Christian Gnosticism today. We ...
Apr 16, 2021•1 hr 19 min•Season 1Ep. 29
Dr. Chad McIntosh has a PhD in Philosophy from Cornell University. He has developed a model of social trinitarianism complimented by a deeper understanding of group personhood. I feel like his model is one of the best and most compelling articulations of social trinitarianism that many people could learn from. He also challenges me with arguments against Biblical Unitarianism. We mention Dale Tuggy, William Lane Craig, Augustine, Larry Hurtado, and more.
Apr 16, 2021•1 hr 54 min•Season 1Ep. 30
Luke Thompson comes on my channel for his fourth appearance. We talk about how we agree and disagree on the trinity. We talk about Beau Branson, John Piper, Owen Barfield, Nathan Ormand, Neoplatonism, John Vervaeke, Paul Vanderklay, Jonathan Pageau, Richard Rohr, Jordan Peterson, Nathan Jacobs, Douglas Harding, CS Lewis, JRR Tolkein, Ross Douthat, Charles Taylor, Alisa Childers, Jacob Faturechi, John Behr, Stephen Freeman, Byrne Powers, Bishop Barron, and Preston Sprinkle.
Apr 08, 2021•1 hr 43 min•Season 1Ep. 28
Jacob Faturechi is an orthodox Jew with very interesting and unique perspectives on Jesus and the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. Jacob has a youtube channel where he teaches Hebrew interpretation of the Bible: https://www.youtube.com/user/faturechi/videos?view=0&sort=p&flow=grid Jacob and I have spent a lot of time conversing about these topic on Paul Vanderklay's discord server. This is our first recorded conversation. We talk about the Messiah ben Joseph, the Gospel of ...
Apr 01, 2021•1 hr 54 min•Season 1Ep. 27
Hank and Sam are starting a series of dialogues discussing the Early Church Fathers. The first Church Father that we are discussing in Justin Martyr. We talking about his life, his writings, his beliefs, church community, his faults, and what he means for Christians today. Hank Kruse is coming at this as a recent convert to Catholicism from Protestantism and Sam is coming at this from the perspective of a Biblical Unitarian. We also mention Plato, Socrates, the Stoics, Pythagoras, Gnosticism, th...
Apr 01, 2021•1 hr 23 min•Season 1Ep. 28
John Vervaeke is a Professor of Cognitive Science and Psychology at the University of Toronto. He has an excellent youtube channel and I would particularly recommend his series "Awakening from the Meaning Crisis". Awakening from the Meaning Crisis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54l8_ewcOlY&list=PLND1JCRq8Vuh3f0P5qjrSdb5eC1ZfZwWJ In this conversation we talk about what Neoplatonism was, how it interacted with Christianity, and how it is relevant today. We mention Plato, Aristotle, Socrates,...
Mar 31, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 26
Here is the introduction video that should be watched first: https://youtu.be/azSNgWEv6R0 Rivers o Feden is a self taught bible student who is very good at Greek. He has a very interesting interpretation of the prologue of gospel of John. In this conversation we do a in depth examination of his interpretation of the prologue and how that fits into the larger picture of the gospel. Rivers' interpretation is compatible with a Biblical Unitarian understanding of Jesus but it is different than the w...
Mar 31, 2021•2 hr 50 min•Season 1Ep. 26
Rivers o Feden is a self taught bible student who is very good at Greek. He has a very interesting interpretation of the prologue of gospel of John. In this conversation we do a high level overview of his interpretation of the prologue and how that fits into the larger picture of the gospel. Rivers' interpretation is compatible with a Biblical Unitarian understanding of Jesus but it is different than the way most Unitarians have interpreted the prologue in recent times. If you enjoy this episode...
Mar 31, 2021•31 min•Season 1Ep. 26
Jake Brancatella is the host of The Muslim Metaphysician channel on youtube. Jake has an interesting story, he grew up catholic but later converted to Islam, partially over objections to the doctrine of the trinity. He has studied philosophy and knows a lot about different Christian doctrines of the trinity. We discuss his current Islamic views of Jesus and the other prophets, we discuss the different trinity models in Christianity and what we perceive as their shortcomings, and then we discuss ...
Mar 31, 2021•2 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Dr. Dustin Smith is the host of the Biblical Unitarian Podcast. He is also an expert on the Book of Revelation also known as the Apocalypse of John. While most of the time people associate Revelation with eschatology, in this video we focus on what we can learn about Christology. We mostly set eschatology aside and cover Dustin's own personal story, his interest in the book, the background of the book, and then what we can learn about God, Jesus, and even the Holy Spirit. I really enjoyed talkin...
Mar 31, 2021•1 hr 43 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Dr. Richard Rubenstein is a Professor of Conflict Resolution and Public Affairs at George Mason University. He is the author of the excellent book "When Jesus Became God" about the Arian Controversy. In this conversation we cover both the details and higher level themes of the Arian controversy. We talk about Arius of Alexandria, Athanasius of Alexandria, the Emperors Constantine, Diocletian, Julius Caesar, Augustus, Constantius, Constans, Valens, and Theodosius, the Cappadocian Fathers Basil th...
Mar 31, 2021•1 hr 47 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Dr. Madison Pierce is an Assistant Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. She is an expert on the Letter to the Hebrews. We talk about the background of the letter, the theology of creation, the role of Jesus in creation, prosopological exegesis, soteriology, and of course, Melchizedek. Hope you enjoy! You can find her book on Divine Discourse in the Epistle to the Hebrews here: https://www.amazon.com/Divine-Discourse-Epistle-Hebrews-Recontextualization/dp/1108495419 ...
Mar 31, 2021•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Dr. Lydia McGrew is an analytic philosopher who focuses on the reliability of testimony particularly as that applies to the gospels. She has written a book titled "The Mirror and the Mask: Liberating the Gospels from Literary Devices". We talk about the difference between a literary device model supported by Dr. Michael Licona and the historical reportage model supported by Dr. McGrew. As a statistician I enjoyed getting to talk with Dr. McGrew about probability theory and how we can apply that ...
Mar 31, 2021•2 hr 36 min•Season 1Ep. 22
Dr. James Arcadi is an Assistant Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He has written a book about his Incarnational Model of the Eucharist which you can find here: https://www.amazon.com/Incarnational-Eucharist-Current-Issues-Theology/dp/1108425895 He is also a cohost of the Foreword Podcast from the faculty of TEDS which you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMTXOvLqW5YGn44VKNR3QqQ We discuss the details of his book and his proposal...
Mar 31, 2021•1 hr 47 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Sr Anthony Buzzard is one of the living leaders of Biblical Unitarianism. He has written many books and appeared in many debates and discussions. We talk about his upbringing and his theological journey. You can find his ministry here: https://focusonthekingdom.org/ Here are some of his books: https://www.amazon.com/Doctrine-Trinity-Christianitys-Self-Inflicted-Wound/dp/1573093092/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=anthony+buzzard&qid=1597942498&sr=8-1 https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Was-Trin...
Mar 31, 2021•1 hr 37 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Dr. Jo-Ann Brant is the author of a wonderful commentary on the Gospel of John: https://www.amazon.com/John-Paideia-Commentaries-New-Testament/dp/080103454X She has also written a book "Dialogue and Drama" about connections between Greek Drama and the style of the Gospel of John: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1565639073/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1 I heard about her from her appearance on Dale Tuggy's trinities podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVnOdseOXOY https://www.youtube.com/wa...
Mar 31, 2021•1 hr 44 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Eric Seitz will be ordained as a Priest in the Catholic Church in just over a week. This will probably be the last recording of him as a Deacon. Eric and I had a 3 way conversation with Jacob that you can find here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Llk3r3T63uE The letter wiki conversation I am having with Tripp and Eric you can find here: https://letter.wiki/conversation/679 We discuss the Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas and Augustine, how that relates to the doctrine of divine simplicity, and wheth...
Mar 31, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Beau Branson and Skylar McManus and I have a joint discussion about the definitions and borders between Unitarianism and Trinitarianism. We talk a lot about church history mentioning Justin Martyr, Ignatius of Antioch, Irenaeus of Lyon, Paul of Samosata, Origen, Arius, Athanasius, Constantine, Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory Nazianzus, Eusebius of Caesaria, Photinus, Augustine, Maximus the Confessor, Photius, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, Michael Servetus, Socinus, John Calvin and ...
Mar 31, 2021•2 hr 44 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Charlie has his own channel called Thought Journey that you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL-Hga0OoEHlzSJgRNmr7Aw Charlie was raised Southern Baptist with a brief stint in Oneness Pentecostalism. He has an MDiv from Dallas Theological Seminary. He preaches at his church in Arkansas. We try and see if we can agree on who Jesus is and how he relates to God. It sounds like we get pretty close. We specifically look at Matthew 24 and Revelation 4&5 as part of our conversation. W...
Mar 31, 2021•1 hr 38 min•Season 1Ep. 16
Skylar McManus is training in analytic theology and philosophy. You can find his blog where he discusses theology and the trinity here: https://skylarmcmanus.com/ Skylar discusses his interesting background of growing up Oneness Pentecostal, diving into apologetics and philosophy, and moving towards Eastern Orthodoxy while exploring the full landscape of Christology along the way. We discuss David Bernard, William Lane Craig, Dale Tuggy, Thomas Morris, Tripp Parker, Edward Feser, Augustine, Thom...
Mar 31, 2021•1 hr 37 min•Season 1Ep. 15
Chris Date recently published a book with Dale Tuggy that you can find here: https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Human-Not-Divine-Essential-ebook/dp/B087X7VWKJ/?fbclid=IwAR3LHQv3J2xTvhXd3NPhFNeRPplEdbngdGWXunHGpBKbRV_5QvBjXSLou3Y Chris Date and I also had a first conversation on Preston Sprinkle's 'Theology in the Raw podcast': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a7tsC_6T80&t=2s Chris Date and Dale Tuggy recorded a live debate here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c35_uFjEbx8&t=1s Chris Date and I...
Mar 31, 2021•1 hr 57 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Shari lives on a self-sustaining farm in British Columbia. You can see her tell her story with Paul Vanderklay here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYDJjVbG3mk We talk about a journey into the church fathers and seeing theology through their lenses. We talk about Origen of Alexandria, Athanasius, Gregory of Nyssa, Maximus the Confessor. We also talk about modern day influences like Jordan Peterson, Paul Vanderklay, Herbert McCabe, Fr John Behr, David Bentley Hart, Beau Branson, Bret Salkheld, G...
Mar 31, 2021•1 hr 38 min•Season 1Ep. 13
Kegan Chandler has a Masters in Theology and is an amazing self-taught scholar, historian, theologian and fellow Biblical Unitarian. He has written a new book about the Theological beliefs and motivations of Constantine the Great. We talked about his conversation, Pagan Monotheism, Sol Invictus, Lucius Lactantius, Hermeticism, Neoplatonism, Augustine of Hippo, Eusebius (both of them), the Council of Nicea, Athanasius, Arian of Alexandria and more. The Book: https://books.google.com/books/about/C...
Mar 31, 2021•2 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 12
JP Marceau is a friend I met through the Paul Vanderklay community. He has a background in philosophy with interests in the patristic period of the church fathers, neoplatonism, and Thomism. He combines these old ideas with new philosophical schools of thought like panpsychism and process theology. We have an interesting discussion covering many people like John Vervaeke, Jonathan Pageau, Mary Kochan, Bertrand Russell, Henry Bergson, Thomas Aquinas, St Maximus the Confessor, John Scotus Eriugena...
Mar 31, 2021•1 hr 58 min•Season 1Ep. 11
This is a casual 4-way conversation between friends. None of us are professional theologians but we are all very interested in the topics of Unitarians vs Trinitarianism and Universalism vs Annihilationism vs Eternal Conscious Torment. Jeff has a background in various forms of conservative evangelicalism growing up in Texas. He also is a CS Lewis and George McDonald quote encyclopedia. You can learn more about his story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoAHv6_LG_w Luke has been on the chann...
Mar 31, 2021•57 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Dr. Khalil Andani is an Assistant Professor of Religion at Augustana College and a recent PhD graduate from Harvard University. Dr. Andani is a member of the Nizari branch of Ismaili Shi'i Islam. He invited me to have a dialogue with him about my views on Jesus as a Biblical Unitarian Christian for his class "Global Christians: Christian-Muslim Encounters". As far as either of us are aware our particular traditions have never had such a dialogue publicly before and we find a lot we can agree on ...
Mar 31, 2021•2 hr 24 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Brett Salkeld is a Catholic Theologian and author of a new book on Transubstantiation. He explores the often misunderstood Thomistic doctrine of transubstantiation and how that relates to the eucharistic theologies of Martin Luther and John Calvin. His bold proposals suggest that a better understanding of Thomas Aquinas can actually help lead to greater unity between Catholics and Protestants, and even within Protestants, on this often contentious issue. We all talk about the sacramental nature ...
Mar 31, 2021•1 hr 56 min•Season 1Ep. 8
