Welcome to the Deeper-Than-Usual Episode! This episode has been named “the Deeper-Than-Usual Episode” mostly because it is a bit deeper than usual. Dr. J.V. Fesko—professor of systematic and historical theology at Reformed Theological Seminary and all-around very deep person—joins Garrick and Timothy to discuss many deep things. Fesko momentarily risks his deep reputation by admitting his longstanding longing to sing like David Lee Roth, who is not a deep person according to certain anonymous reports and to anyone who’s ever seen him in concert. However, Fesko quickly recovers his much-coveted mantle of deepness by deeply discussing presuppositionalism, the Reformation, and historic worldview theory, all of which are very deep topics. Also, "Mantle of Deepness" would be a terrible name for a band. 

In the second half, your intrepid cohosts discuss a song that forces the dynamic duo to wade even deeper than Dr. Fesko’s much-coveted mantle of deepness. The song is “Freewill” by Rush, and the deep topics include determinism, libertarianism, compatibilism, Molinism, and whether or not a fish can become a helicopter. According to Garrick, fish cannot become helicopters; Scott Stapp, lead singer and chief arm-spreader in the band Creed, deeply disagrees and even sings a song entitled “Marlins Will Soar.” This song is apparently about how marlins can turn into helicopters while playing baseball and even fly to the World Series if they are sufficiently optimistic. 

This week’s Toybox Hero Tournament pits a pig against a magical object from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The pig-versus-Potter conflict is so intense that confusion reigns until a song from Cher shows up on the deck of a ship in the deep ocean to render a verdict. The result is bacon. 

The new cover art for this season was created by Dani Wallace (daniwallace.myportfolio.com). 

This Week’s Guest

J. V. Fesko presently serves at Reformed Theological Seminary (Jackson) as Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology.  He is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and has served in church planting, pastoral ministry, and teaching for more than twenty years. Fesko has authored or edited more than twenty books and written fifty published essays for various journals and books. You can find out more about Fesko at his personal blog, Reformed Theology.

Links to Click

B and H Academic

Theology of the Reformers: book by Timothy George

Reforming Apologetics: book by J. V. Fesko

Nature and Scripture: essay by Cornelius Van Til

Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics: 4-volume work by Richard Muller

Lectures on Calvinism: lectures by Abraham Kuyper

Reformed Theology

The Long Shadow of Racism in America: article by Timothy Paul Jones

The Gospel and the Pursuit of Justice in Your City: article by Jamaal Williams, Timothy Paul Jones, and Jarvis Williams

Permanent Waves: album by Rush

Freewill: song by Rush

Does God Know the Future?: interview with Thomas Flint

True Spirituality: book by Francis Schaeffer

SBTS Preview Day

Urban Ministry Podcast

How to Make Three Chords and the Truth More Amazing than It Already Is

Support the show and spread the word! Here are a few ways to do that:

1. Subscribe to Three Chords and the Truth: The Apologetics Podcast: Apple / Android / RSS.

2. Leave a rating and review on iTunes to encourage other people to listen to the show.

3. If you purchase any of the books mentioned in Three Chords and the Truth, consider using the Amazon links provided in the show notes. The show will receive a small percentage of each sale.

4. Visit our Patreon site where you can support the podcast, suggest future songs or topics, and order Three Chords and the Truth merchandise.

5. Make contact with us on Twitter: @DrTimothyPJones  @GarrickBailey  @ApologeticsPod

The Closing Credits

Three Chords and the Truth: The Apologetics Podcast thanks B&H Academic for their sponsorship. Music for the podcast has been licensed through Artlist.io and performed by Trent Thompson. Brief excerpts of music played in each program are included solely for the purposes of comment and critique as allowed under the fair-use provision of U.S. copyright law. “The fair use of a copyrighted work … for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, … scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright” (U.S. Code § 107, Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use).