In this episode we’re joined by Rev. Dr. N. Gray Sutanto, who is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Washington, DC, and the author or editor of several books on Neo-Calvinism and the theology of the Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck, including translating into English some of his previously untranslated works. Over the course of our conversation we talk about education, politics, and other elements related to the cultural mandate and the...
Dr. Tim Middleton is Tutorial Fellow in Theology & Director of the Centre for Baptist Studies at Regent’s Park College at Oxford University. In this episode, we talk about ecological trauma—the trauma experienced by the earth and as a result of climate change and other ecological conditions. Dr. Middleton explains how his work intersects with trauma theologies and brings Christology into the conversation. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John...
In this episode we are joined by Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Warne, who is priest-in-charge at St. Paul Episcopal Church in Mishawaka, Indiana, to talk about his new book, Josef Pieper on the Spiritual Life: Creation, Contemplation, and Human Flourishing (published by Notre Dame University Press). Rev. Dr. Warne explains that he came to the work of Pieper, a scholar of Thomas Aquinas, by way of his own research on eudaimonia in Thomistic thought. In the...
In this episode we talk about limits with Dr. Kelly Kapic, who is Professor of Theological Studies at Covenant College (in Lookout Mountain, Georgia), and the author of You’re Only Human: How Our Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News (published by Brazos). Over the course of our conversation, Dr. Kapic talks about the importance of human limitation and how it should be considered from within a theology of creation. In particular, he...
I am an Armenian-American. This is something in which I take great pride. It roots my own spiritual and racial identity. April 24 is Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day and for some reason, it never occurred to me until this year that Earth Day (April 22) and the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day are so close. Upon this realization, I began considering how these two ‘days of remembrance’ might inform each other. I immediately recalled a powerful...
On today’s episode we begin the season of Lent with a discussion on ecological grief with our guest, Hannah Malcolm, who is PhD Candidate in Theology at Durham University studying ecological grief as a form of theological knowledge. She is also the editor of Words for a Dying World: Stories of Grief and Courage from the Global Church (SCM Press, 2020) containing essays, poems, and anecdotes related to our ecological crisis. Over the course of...
I’m currently participating in an extracurricular reading group with students here at Bethel Seminary. We just finished reading through the first five books of St Augustine’s Confessions. It’s been a blast to read and discuss, and I thought I’d share one of my reflections so far. As I was reading the beginning of Book V, I was intrigued by St Augustine’s theological engagement with the Manichean sect that he was a part of for some time...
SPOILERS AHEAD! RUN FOR THE HILLS! Darren Aronofsky’s new film, mother!, is absolutely stunning. I was mesmerized and blown away. Let me say at the outset that one’s enjoyment of this movie is almost entirely based upon two factors: (a) knowing as little about the film as possible before seeing it, and (b) actually figuring out what you’re watching to some extent. If you know what it’s about beforehand, you may find it predictable. If you...
As you may well know, earlier this week Bill Nye (The Science Guy) and Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis and the Creation Museum, debated one another as to whether or not Ken Ham’s understanding of the world’s origin is viable (Ham is a literal 6 day, young earth creationist). If you haven’t watched the debate, and have 2 hours and 45 minutes on your hands, you can check it out here. When I...
In August of 2011 I wrote a post entitled, “Sex and Eschatology.” In that post I essentially tried to articulate that sex is a biblical type. It functions typologically as a pointer to the eschatological joy of believers. If you are interested in how I articulated this check out the post here. The reason for revisiting this post is because of a blog posted yesterday (May 6) by Dr. Len Hjalmarson (nextreformation.com). Dr. Hjalmarson, who...
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