Life and Books and Everything is a podcast hosted by Kevin DeYoung where discussions center on, well, life and books and everything. As a church pastor and theology professor, Kevin loves to talk about faith, theology, history, current events, and the occasional hot topic. The format for LBE includes interviews with leading authors and thinkers, recurring conversations with Justin Taylor and Collin Hansen, and the occasional solo musing from Kevin. Listen in and we hope you will learn something, laugh a little, and get some good book recommendations along the way.
To ignore, minimize, or repudiate the differences between men and women is to reject our creational design. In this episode, Kevin reads from an article written for Desiring God, reasoning why we should be careful not to banish patriarchy to the ash heap of history too quickly.
There is no category called “politics” that can be safely quarantined from the category we call “religion.” In this episode, Kevin reads from the second of a series of articles for WORLD Opinions on how to think about Christianity and politics.
Maybe the movie ends with the good guys smiling with grateful satisfaction, knowing that whatever failures lay in the past, and whatever dangers lie ahead, this was a day for celebration. In this episode of Life and Books and Everything, Kevin reads from the article he wrote for WORLD Opinions on why Christians should rejoice in the destruction of an instrument of death.
Kevin welcomes Tommy Kidd to LBE to talk about Tommy’s new biography on Thomas Jefferson. How should we understand Jefferson’s many inconsistencies and contradictions? How do we make sense of his significant moral failings? Was he a Christian? Is his legacy worth commemorating and celebrating? Kevin and Tommy talk about these questions and many others in an hour-long discussion that goes deep into history and helps us think about the Declaration of Independence that Americans will celebrate in j...
As much as abortion has been indefensible on constitutional grounds, the real monstrosity of Roe was not legal but moral. For 50 years the two sides of the debate have been called “pro-choice” and “pro-life,” and those are accurate labels. The ability to freely terminate a pregnancy—at any point in the pregnancy and for any reason—is certainly about the right to make a choice. But that invented constitutional right has been, even more fundamentally, about the ending of life. Everyone with eyes t...
No doubt, we need a lot of smart people reflecting on the intellectual principles and the practical priorities of our moral philosophy. That’s a crucial conversation. But that’s not the conversation most ordinary people are having online, in church, and around the dinner table. They (and I should say we ) are having a messy—but if done right, a really important—conversation about how to approach the conversation itself. As Christians in an age dominated by politics, we are trying to think about ...
In this episode of LBE, Kevin visits with Erika Bachiochi—a pro-life legal scholar, an author, a wife, and a mother of seven children. After discussing the Dobbs case which, we hope will overturn Roe, Kevin and Erika turn their attention to the Enlightenment writer Mary Wollstonecraft. In this wide-ranging discussion through Erika’s book The Rights of Women: Reclaiming a Lost Vision (University of Notre Dame Press, 2021). Kevin and Erika talk about the staunch anti-abortion views of early women’...
Pride Month turns a moral argument—about which the Bible has clear and unequivocal answers—into a quest for personal self-acceptance, which is why many soft-hearted and muddle-headed Christians line up for the parade just like everyone else. In this episode of Life and Books and Everything, Kevin reads from the article he wrote for WORLD Opinions on the LGBTQ quest to turn a moral argument into an emotive appeal for affirmation and acceptance.
After the gospel, there is no bigger gift you can give to the world than your children and no better gift you can give your children than to be raised by a mom and dad who love them and love each other. In this episode of Life and Books and Everything, Kevin reads from the article he wrote for the Spring 2022 issue of Eikon: A Journal for Biblical Anthropology.
On May 21, 1922, Harry Emerson Fosdick took to the pulpit of Old First—the historic First Presbyterian Church (est. 1716) located on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan—to deliver what would be his most famous sermon. In this episode of Life and Books and Everything, Kevin reads from the article he wrote for the journal of Reformed Theological Seminary as part of “Shall the Fundamentalists Win?” A Centennial Symposium.
The doctrine of particular redemption is worth defining and defending because it gets to the heart of the gospel. In this episode of Life and Books and Everything, Kevin reads from the article he wrote for byFaith on the good news of limited atonement.
Kevin welcomes Phil Ryken, President at Wheaton College, to the podcast to talk about “The Heart of the Cross,” a newly reissued book comprised of sermons from Dr. Ryken and James Montgomery Boice. But before they get to the book, Kevin and Phil talk about preaching, the challenges of higher education, Tenth Presbyterian Church, the ministry of James Boice, and a little bit about pickup basketball. Timestamps: Intro and Sponsor [0:00-1:39] Guest: Phil Ryken [1:40-10:43] The Merits of Guest Preac...
Important lessons to learn as we deal with negativity and hostility In this episode of Life and Books and Everything, Kevin reads from the article he wrote for WORLD Opinions on seven principles for cultivating a Christian posture toward the world.
After the unprecedented leak of the possible Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade , Kevin talks to Justin and Collin about the pro-life movement in America, how the church ministers well, and why political polarization is not always a bad thing. The triumvirate also talk about the books they're reading, and they try to keep the sports banter to a minimum. Timestamps: Intro and Sponsor 1: Crossway [0:00-1:41] Life and Family Banter [1:42-10:43] Roe v Wade Decision and Effects [10:44-47:...
Relevant Christianity doesn’t stay relevant for long. In this episode of Life and Books and Everything, Kevin reads from the article he wrote for WORLD Opinions on the decline of the mainline church.
In this freewheeling conversation, Kevin talks to Jonny Gibson about his life, his books, and some of everything. Gibson, an Old Testament professor at Westminster Theological Seminary, opens up about the loss of his daughter in 2016, why he believes in 24-hour creation days, and the need for old forms and old prayers to help us in our daily devotions. Timestamps: Intro, sponsor, and guest [0:00-4:46] The State of the UK Church(es) [4:47-15:34] Edited Series on the Five Points [15:34-20:28] More...
In this bonus episode, Kevin talks with historian and WTS president, Peter Lillback, about the life and ministry of John Witherspoon. In particular, they discuss Witherspoon’s treatises on justification and regeneration, a new (old) book being published by Westminster Seminary Press. Listen in as Kevin and Pete talk about their shared love of history and old books.
The fundamental story of the world is not the story of good guys and bad guys, or of oppressors and the oppressed, but of sinners and a Savior. In this episode of Life and Books and Everything, Kevin reads from the article he wrote for WORLD Opinions for Holy Week, examining how we are all sinners in need of a Savior.
In this wide-ranging discussion, Kevin sits down (actually, they were both standing up) with his RTS colleague, John Fesko, to talk about covenant theology. In addition to doing a deep dive on the covenant of redemption and the covenant of works, Kevin and John talk about life and ministry and writing more broadly. They finish their time by talking about a never-before-translated-into-English volume of Vos’s lectures on natural theology. Want to know more about biblical theology, systematic theo...
I know, it’s complicated. But don’t worry, the less you think about it the more it will make sense.
In this bonus episode, Kevin talks with the brilliant artist, Don Clark, Kevin’s co-collaborator on The Biggest Story and on (their new book) The Biggest Story Bible Storybook . In this fascinating conversation, Don talks about the joys and challenges of working on such a massive project and how he goes about the artistic process.
The historic liturgy of the Christian church did not originate in evangelicalism, or in the Reformation, or in Europe. It grew out of Old Testament (and then New Testament) assumptions about what it meant for God’s people to gather and renew the covenant.
The band gets back together to talk about lessons learned from the two biggest events of the past two years: Covid and the war in Ukraine. Without pretending to be experts in infectious diseases or in international affairs, the three amigos explore what we can learn about humility, evil, tradeoffs, and prayer. The episode concludes with an update on what everyone has been reading over the past couple months. Timestamps: Intro and Sponsor [0:00-3:13] Lessons After (?) the Pandemic [3:14-22:58] Le...
In an age where digital immediacy can be confused for personal intimacy, we often forget that public communication will not have all the features of private communication.
As much as it shows admirable humility or apologetic concern, we must not act or teach as if every sin is the same in God’s eyes.
We think of shame as destructive, manipulative, and toxic. And it can be all those things. But shame can also be a powerful and healthy part of our moral formation. In this fascinating conversation, Kevin talks to Te-Li Lau, a professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, about his recent book Defending Shame: It’s Formative Power in Paul’s Letters. Together, Kevin and Te-Li explore the pervasiveness of our therapeutic assumptions, the central theme of shame throughout the Bible, and good an...
Please note: Unfortunately the audio on this episode cuts in and out from time to time. Kevin is joined by the distinguished historian, Dr. Wilfred McClay as the two of them talk about the task of the historian in being a “recording angel” of the past. After discussing McClay’s perceptive article “The Surprising Persistence of Guilt” (2017), they turn to McClay’s recent book on American History, A Land of Hope (Encounter, 2019). McClay talks about his conversion to Christianity early in his acad...
In this episode, Kevin is joined once again by Justin and Collin as they discuss all that is going right in the church. While there are many problems we can—and at times should—point out, there are also many signs of blessing, reform, and faithfulness in the church today. Kevin, Justin, and Collin make a special point to encourage pastors. Turning to books, they discuss two recent books Kevin has read—one book about global politics shifting from left/right to insider/outsider divisions, and the ...
Andrew Walker, a professor of ethics at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and the managing editor for World Opinions, comes on to talk with Kevin about the importance of natural law and natural theology. Although some Protestants reject natural law, and others are nervous about it because of caricatures they may have, the broad sweep of Protestant theology has affirmed the legitimacy and importance of making natural law arguments. Kevin and Andrew talk about where the idea of natural law...
Dr. Joel Beeke is the president of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary , a pastor of the Heritage Reformed Congregation in Grand Rapids , and editorial director of Reformation Heritage Books . In this conversation, Dr. Beeke, Kevin, and Justin dive into the theological and historical world of the Puritans, providing reading suggestions for both beginners and experts. They also talk about improving your preaching through expository and experiential content. Life and Books and Everything is spon...
