Robbie Jones wrote a book called ?Backslide?, and I went in expecting a chronicle of every way a Southern Baptist kid from Jackson, Mississippi cursed or lusted in middle school. That is not what this book is. Robbie takes a word that in our shared upbringing was entirely personal and entirely … Read more about Embracing Division: Robert P. Jones on Unity, Justice, and the Lines We Have to Draw
Who Owns the Creed? Joerg Rieger on the Conservative Gimmick and the Surplus They Missed
Second live Q&A, and this week we went to Nicaea. Here's the setup, in case you're new: Constantine called the council, funded the bishops' travel, set the agenda, chaired it, and personally suggested the technical term homoousios — that the Son is of the same substance as the Father. Joerg's … Read more about Who Owns the Creed? Joerg Rieger on the Conservative Gimmick and the Surplus They Missed
A Baptized Neighbor-Neglecting Device
I sent Bo a seven-page show proposal this week, which is roughly six and a half pages more than the bullet points he normally sends me the day before. It came out of a lecture I gave in my Luther Seminary class where I kept telling Bo stories as examples, and finally thought — I should just try this … Read more about A Baptized Neighbor-Neglecting Device
You’re Probably Assyria: Anna Sieges on the Book of the Twelve and the Empire You’re Actually In
Al Mohler recently let the internet know he finds it a bit sus when a woman talks about the Bible on a podcast. Today's guest is one of four women who just launched a podcast where they talk about the Bible. Four. Plural. It's called Bible Divas, and Anna Sieges says she plans to email Al every time … Read more about You’re Probably Assyria: Anna Sieges on the Book of the Twelve and the Empire You’re Actually In
Is That Really a High View of Scripture? Craig Allert on Scripture, Canon, and the Story We Weren’t Told
My dad had a giant church history timeline hanging in his office wall when I was a kid. And if you are a pastor's kid, you learn a lot watching how your parents handle the church member who shows up to run an inquisition. Somebody would come in and say, "You said X, but the biblical answer is not … Read more about Is That Really a High View of Scripture? Craig Allert on Scripture, Canon, and the Story We Weren’t Told
Empire Goes All the Way Down: Joerg Rieger on What “Christian Nationalism” Misses
This is the first live Q&A for the new class, and Joerg Rieger came ready. Christ and Empire came out during my last year of div school, and that's why I was so excited to try to study with him, until Joerg promptly went on sabbatical. So this whole class is, in a sense, twenty years of making … Read more about Empire Goes All the Way Down: Joerg Rieger on What “Christian Nationalism” Misses
Ancient Israelite Religions, Plural: Cynthia Shafer-Elliott on Household Shrines, Figurines, and Yahweh’s Asherah
There is an entire content industry built on "biblical archaeology" right now — TV shows, YouTube channels, the House of David series on Amazon, all of it running on big Nephilim energy. Cynthia Shafer-Elliott does not watch any of it, because it makes her yell at the screen. (Her husband, however, … Read more about Ancient Israelite Religions, Plural: Cynthia Shafer-Elliott on Household Shrines, Figurines, and Yahweh’s Asherah
Tripp Hijacks Religion on the Mind with Dr. Dan Koch
Dan Koch just finished a seven-and-a-half-year process and came out the other side a fully licensed clinical psychologist. So I did what any friend would do — took over his podcast, gave him a week off from prepping, and made him answer every question I've been saving. He did zero prep on purpose. … Read more about Tripp Hijacks Religion on the Mind with Dr. Dan Koch
Three Books and a Meme: on Brin, Gleick, Baudrillard, Debord, & The Contraction of the Present
Bo's mic died, so this one almost didn't happen — and then it turned into one of the best hours we've recorded. He came back from a week of night school, a home renovation, a bike ministry, and a community center opening with four conversation partners he had pulled off his shelf to put in dialogue … Read more about Three Books and a Meme: on Brin, Gleick, Baudrillard, Debord, & The Contraction of the Present
Constantine Is a Cipher: Tony Jones on the Emperor Everyone Uses and Nobody Knows
Tony Jones has been getting up early for ten years and refusing to talk to anyone until he has written for hours. Now we know why. Son of Helena is the first book of a trilogy about Constantine — a figure Tony correctly calls a cipher, the empty container into which everyone who loves or hates the … Read more about Constantine Is a Cipher: Tony Jones on the Emperor Everyone Uses and Nobody Knows
We’ve Engineered a World with Nothing to Say and a Listener with No Ears
We started with alt-blonde beards, the Lakers selling for $12.5 billion, and the gambling apps that will call you with Super Bowl tickets when you lose your year's income and cancel your account when you win. Then Bo told the story of the four-clergy ministerium in Twin Falls discovering that none … Read more about We’ve Engineered a World with Nothing to Say and a Listener with No Ears
Hope Does Not Exist”: O’neil Van Horn on Making Hope and the Practice of Resurrection
My friend & Orbis editor, Dr. Tom Hermans-Webster, sent me this book with a note that said, "You're going to love this, Tripp. No, really, you are." He was right. O'neil Van Horn's Making Hope: Practices, Prayers, and Parables for a Changing Climate opens on page one by announcing that hope does … Read more about Hope Does Not Exist”: O’neil Van Horn on Making Hope and the Practice of Resurrection













