Undeceptions with John Dickson

This episode was sponsored by Zondervan’s new book Ethics Beyond Rules, by Keith D Stanglin. Visit the undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.Follow the show on Twitter and InstagramEmail the show with your comments / feedback: admin@undeceptions.comUndeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band. Hosted by John DicksonProduced by Kaley Payne Directed by Mark Hadley Audio Editing by Richard HamwiCopyright Undeceptions Ltd 2021

This episode was sponsored by Zondervan’s new book ‘Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth’ by Thaddeus J Williams.Visit undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.Follow the show on Twitter and InstagramEmail the show with your comments / feedback: admin@undeceptions.comUndeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band. Hosted by John DicksonProduced by Kaley Payne Directed by Mark Hadley Audio Editing by Richard HamwiCopyright Undeceptions Ltd 2021

Dr. Chris Forbes brings his expertise in the Greco-Roman world to bear on why historians believe the story of the three magi and the star over a stable might actually be based in fact.Join John Dickson as these two historical boffins discuss astrological formations, ancient king-makers and a reasonable explanation for an interstellar night light in Bethlehem.

This episode was sponsored by Zondervan's new book Urban Apologetics by Eric Mason. Visit the undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.Follow the show on Twitter and InstagramEmail the show with your comments / feedback: admin@undeceptions.comUndeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band. Hosted by John DicksonProduced by Kaley Payne Directed by Mark Hadley Audio Editing by Richard HamwiCopyright Undeceptions Ltd 2021

The cliche is: ‘faith’ is the antithesis of knowledge … of wisdom. And therefore “Christian philosophy” is an oxymoron, right?Our guests today, though are professional philosophers and they reckon that, while Christians could do with a healthy dose of philosophy, so could sceptics. We all need to think deeply about what we believe, and why we believe it.And if you think – as atheists like Sam Harris and many others do – that scepticism or atheism doesn’t involve any mere ‘beliefs’, well, you probably especially need to think this stuff through. This episode is sponsored by Zondervan’s 10th Anniversary edition of Seven Days that Divide the World by John Lennox.For the full show notes, go to undeceptions.com.

This episode was sponsored by Zondervan's new book Believing Philosophy by Dolores G. Morris.OUR GUESTSDouglas J. Moo is a New Testament scholar who, after teaching for more than twenty years at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois, has served as Blanchard Professor of New Testament at the Wheaton College Graduate School since 2000. His latest book is A Theology of Paul and His Letters. Lynn H. Cohick is an American New Testament scholar and author. Since January 2021 she has been Provost, Academic Dean and Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary.For the full (and often rather extensive) show notes, head to Undeceptions.com.

This episode is sponsored by Zondervan's new book Person of Interest: Why Jesus still matters in a world that rejects the Bible by J. Warner Wallace.Meet Our GuestsNigel Biggar: Regius Professor of Moral & Pastoral Theology, and Director of the McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics, & Public Life, University of Oxford.Andrew Hastie: Australian Federal Member for Canning and Assistant Minister for Defence. Former Officer, Australian Defence Force.Mike Bird was one of our 'phone a friend' guests for this episode. He wrote The Story of God commentary for the Book of Romans for Zondervan and is a lecturer at Ridley College.Jarrod McKenna was another of our lovely 'phone a friend' guests for this episode. He is an advocate for non-violence direct action.For our full show notes and links to everything we mention in this episode, go to undeceptions.com.

This episode is sponsored by Zondervan's new book Why is there suffering? by Bethany Sollereder.Download the transcript for this episode here.Meet our GuestThe Rev Dr George AthasGeorge is Director of Research and Lecturer in Old Testament and Hebrew at Moore Theological College in Sydney.Featured MusicMichael Levyis a composer for the lyre. His music is a blend of some original ancient melodies and some of his own creations. His arrangements for solo lyre are based on reconstructions of some of the incredibly rare, actual surviving written music of antiquity. We played two of these reconstructions in our episode, with permission: Ma Tovu and Kandel's Hora. You can find out more about Michael's work, and listen to more of his music at ancientlyre.com.Yamma Ensemble is an Israeli world music group who have a beautiful love of the Hebrew language and ancient instruments. We played parts of their live recordings of Psalm 104 (see below) and also a track featuring the ancient Shofar, based on the Mi'mekomcha, a Jewish prayer. All music used with permission. For our full show notes and links to everything we mention in this episode, go to undeceptions.com.

Some would say that an ancient faith like Christianity won’t survive outer space -- especially as we explore further than we ever have before. This episode is sponsored by Zondervan's new book 'The Theology of Paul and His Letters' by Douglas J Moo.  For the full show notes, with links to everything we mention in this episode, go to undeceptions.com.

Download the transcript for this episode here.COMPETITION!We’re celebrating our 500,000th download this month - half a million! And so, with the help of our major sponsor, Zondervan, we are giving away a book pack of five of Zondervan’s newest titles. We’ll throw in a copy of my new book Bullies and Saints AND an Undeceptions T-Shirt.To WIN, all you have to do is leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (what used to be called iTunes), take a pic of the review and send it to us. Producer Kaley will pick the best-written review on October 25 (and I mean ‘best-written’ not necessarily most glowing). So be quick, you’ve got two weeks! LINKSMeet our guests: Sam Allberry, author and pastor.Ronald Sharp, author of Norton Book of FriendshipRead Sam Allberry's book Seven Myths about Singleness and find his other books here.Here are the links to all the studies we referenced in this episode: Death of a close friend: Short and long-term impacts on physical, psychological and social well-being, PLoS ONEFriendship enriches your life and improves your health: Mayo ClinicThe State of American Friendship, 2021 American Perspectives SurveyMore on Plutarch.Read the Tu Fu poem, To Wei Pa, A Retired Scholar, translated by Kenneth RexrothLearn more about the Book of Proverbs, and read it for yourself.Read more about the debate over anti-semitism in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, in this article from the Smithsonian Magazine.Read about David and Jonathan's close friendship from the book of 1 Samuel.Read more about Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep from Ancient Egypt in this New York Times article.Further Evidence that Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep were Twins, Journal of Ancient ArchaeologyLearn more about the friendship between King Richard I and King Philip II.Here's The Guardian's article about whether Jesus was gay. Read Ronald Sharp's article, Mateship, Friendship and National Identity for the Australian Book Review.Never seen Crocodile Dundee? It's probably about time...Learn more about CS Lewis' 'four loves'.Listen to previous episodes of Undeceptions with John and his best mate, Ben Shaw (who died in June 2021 after a battle with cancer).