
The Theology Pugcast
The Theology Pugcast is three over-educated Reformed guys grumbling about what bugs them, and sometimes even barking about what they like. The show usually is recorded in a pub--that's why there is some background noise on occasion. The topics can vary widely seeing as the Pugsters have different spheres of knowledge and interest, but common themes which appear regularly include the transcendence of God and the meaningfulness of His creation.
Latest episodes

May 29, 2023 • 1h 6min
Woo in the Silicon Valley?
On today’s show Tom and the guys look at how technocratic rationalists are increasingly longing for something deeper and fuller even though their search mostly remains within the bounds of modernist assumptions and relativism. The guys look at Tara Burton’s article Rational Magic: Why a Silicon Valley culture that was once obsessed with reason is going woo in the New Atlantis. The range of topics this episode engages is rich and timely.
Article Referenced: https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/rational-magic?fbclid=IwAR0d4vZwY914UGnjbzXve4EA8otCxvtVu7d25ZEhKSZBEYYjpVtolvmpsmY
Join us in Memphis on June 14th for 2 live show recordings, conversation, and refreshments. 3pm-7pm at the Courtyard Marriott in Downtown Memphis at 75 Jefferson Ave. No RSVP needed!
Support the Pugcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thetheologypugcast?fbclid=IwAR17UHhfzjphO52C_kkZfursA_C784t0ldFix0wyB4fd-YOJpmOQ3dyqGf8
Check out The Good Life Podcast with Matt Carpenter: https://mattcarpenter.podbean.com/

May 22, 2023 • 1h 1min
Magnanimity: A Forgotten Virtue
In this week’s episode, the Pugsters riff off a Twitter thread and article contrasting the way Aragorn is portrayed in the movies and in the books. But Aragorn isn’t really the point. His character in the books but not in the movies displays magnanimity, or great-souledness (if that’s a word). The guys talk about the ideas roots in Aristotle, how the concept was Christianized in the Middle Ages, and why we should recover it.
Twitter thread referenced: https://twitter.com/ChivalryGuild/status/1648463680735162372?fbclid=IwAR1fP4SrOko6DNHtn2Wb-ep0y0Ji3t5BWU-1AZjRFSr0v5aSLVGsVKuCTFo
Support the Pugcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thetheologypugcast?fbclid=IwAR17UHhfzjphO52C_kkZfursA_C784t0ldFix0wyB4fd-YOJpmOQ3dyqGf8
Check out The Good Life Podcast with Matt Carpenter: https://mattcarpenter.podbean.com/

May 15, 2023 • 1h 2min
Can Public Education Be Saved?
On today's show the Pugs respond to an article published in First Things entitled: Don't Spare the Rod, by Daniel Buck. Buck is a public school teacher and in the article he describes the break down of the order that had once at least partly been kept in public school classrooms. The guys reflect on their own educations in public schools and wonder aloud, "What should Christians do about public education?"
Support the Pugcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thetheologypugcast?fbclid=IwAR17UHhfzjphO52C_kkZfursA_C784t0ldFix0wyB4fd-YOJpmOQ3dyqGf8
Check out The Good Life Podcast with Matt Carpenter: https://mattcarpenter.podbean.com/

May 8, 2023 • 1h 5min
Away With God, Away With Humanity
On this week's episode Tom engages insights from Vigen Goroian's article (and book chapter) on Chesterton, Rallying the Really Human Things. The guys join Tom in discussing things human and the humane and the requisite theological and trascendent frame which grounds such things. For example, Christian virtues ripped from their theological mooring become barbaric and inhumane once unleashed on a civiliazation apart from God in Christ.
Article Referenced:
https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2013/04/chesterton-rallying-really-human-things-vigen-guroian.html?fbclid=IwAR0spJ2dKXeE2y0qjQIctjRiTkIsY6RqVHRkagDJJVzotGIoP1t_7PEQS-s
Thank God For Bitcoin Conference in Miami FL: https://tgfb.com/
You can get 15% off any of the TGFB23 tickets (including the livestream for those who can't make it in person) with promo code PUGCAST
Support the Pugcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thetheologypugcast?fbclid=IwAR17UHhfzjphO52C_kkZfursA_C784t0ldFix0wyB4fd-YOJpmOQ3dyqGf8
Check out The Good Life Podcast with Matt Carpenter: https://mattcarpenter.podbean.com/

May 1, 2023 • 1h 5min
The Role of the Imagination
Malcolm Guite’s book, Lifting the Veil: Imagination and the Kingdom of God, provides the Pugster’s with the starting point for this week’s episode. After a summary of some of Guite’s ideas about imagination as the means by which reason and intuition are united, making the imagination an essential tool for understanding reality, the guys engage in their usual wide-ranging discussion taking Guite’s ideas in new directions and ending with some suggestions on how to grow and stretch our imaginations.
Thank God For Bitcoin Conference in Miami FL: https://tgfb.com/
You can get 15% off any of the TGFB23 tickets (including the livestream for those who can't make it in person) with promo code PUGCAST
Support the Pugcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thetheologypugcast?fbclid=IwAR17UHhfzjphO52C_kkZfursA_C784t0ldFix0wyB4fd-YOJpmOQ3dyqGf8
Check out The Good Life Podcast with Matt Carpenter: https://mattcarpenter.podbean.com/

Apr 24, 2023 • 1h 2min
An Interview with Kemper Crabb
Kemper Crabb is a musician who was involved in the “Jesus Music” of the late ‘70s and ‘80s that later turned into CCM, an Anglican priest working in a Missouri Synod Lutheran Church, and a scholar of medieval literature and history, among other things. On today’s episode the Pugsters have a wide ranging conversation with Kemper, including an inside look at the history of Christian and popular music, the influence of medieval music and instruments in Kemper’s work, Tolkien, and things we need to recover from the medieval mind.
Find more more Kemper: https://www.kempercrabb.net/
Connect with Kemper’s church in Katy TX: https://newchurch.love/
Thank God For Bitcoin Conference in Miami FL: https://tgfb.com/
You can get 15% off any of the TGFB23 tickets (including the livestream for those who can't make it in person) with promo code PUGCAST
Support the Pugcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thetheologypugcast?fbclid=IwAR17UHhfzjphO52C_kkZfursA_C784t0ldFix0wyB4fd-YOJpmOQ3dyqGf8
Check out The Good Life Podcast with Matt Carpenter: https://mattcarpenter.podbean.com/

Apr 17, 2023 • 1h 4min
Theology, the Queen of the Sciences?
Once upon a time Thomas Aquinas referred to theology as the "Queen of the Sciences"--but what was he referring to? Today the Pugsters take up the crisis of knowledge. The tendency today is to reduce everything to material and efficient causes--in other words, to a material basis. Whole dimensions of human life are now considered too subjective to warrant referring to them as knowledge. Nevertheless, into the void ideology has inserted itself, and now, not only is every discipline aping the material sciences, everything is now politics--especially leftist politics. But once theology held things together to the glory of God. Today the Pugsters express their longings for a return of theology to its royal calling.
Thank God For Bitcoin Conference in Miami FL: https://tgfb2022.com/
Support the Pugcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thetheologypugcast?fbclid=IwAR17UHhfzjphO52C_kkZfursA_C784t0ldFix0wyB4fd-YOJpmOQ3dyqGf8
Order Glenn’s most recent book, 32 Christians Who Changed Their World: https://a.co/d/fooO3B9
Order Jason Cherry’s The Making of Evangelical Spirituality: https://a.co/d/5LdNXiu

Apr 10, 2023 • 60min
Angels, Demons, and Christus Victor
A timely discussion of the biblical reality of the spiritual realm, the angelic, the demonic, and Christ’s victory over Satan, death, hell, and the grave. Tom introduces the problematic placement of the place of angels and demons in contemporary theology and the need to retrieve the rich biblical vision which shaped classic Christian orthodoxy. Chris and Glenn chime in with a wealth of insight and perspective as the guys unpack this theme. Further, Tom brings into the discussion the biblical atonement theme of Christus Victor, Christ’s triumph over Satan and the bondage he has held creation under until Christ’s triumph over evil on the Cross. The guys each contribute to the import of such a biblical emphasis in having a full understanding of the work of Christ over evil and our confidence in Him.
Thank God For Bitcoin Conference in Miami FL: https://tgfb2022.com/
Support the Pugcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thetheologypugcast?fbclid=IwAR17UHhfzjphO52C_kkZfursA_C784t0ldFix0wyB4fd-YOJpmOQ3dyqGf8
Order Jason Cherry’s The Making of Evangelical Spirituality: https://a.co/d/5LdNXiu

Apr 3, 2023 • 1h 5min
The Return of the Old Gods
Today’s Pugcast is a discussion of Naomi Wolfe’s Substack piece, “Have the Old Gods Returned?” which is a reflection and development of the ideas in Jonathan Cahn’s The Return of the Gods. The premise is that with the rejection of Christianity, God’s protection over the Western world has been withdrawn and the old gods—demonic entities that were pushed to the margins by Christianity—have now returned. The guys discuss some specifics of the pieces and reflect on the biblical and historic Christian ideas of the demonic and its influence on culture. A resurgence of demonic activity may be the best explanation for the unprecedentedly rapid spread of cultural and social chaos and the way governments, education, media, and big tech are marching in lockstep across the globe to promote these destructive ideologies and practices.
Naomi Wolfe's Substack article: https://naomiwolf.substack.com/p/have-the-ancient-gods-returned
Traditional Fatherhood Intensive in Vancouver WA: https://www.solochristo.org/fatherhood-conf
Thank God For Bitcoin Conference in Miami FL: https://tgfb2022.com/
Support the Pugcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thetheologypugcast?fbclid=IwAR17UHhfzjphO52C_kkZfursA_C784t0ldFix0wyB4fd-YOJpmOQ3dyqGf8
Order Jason Cherry’s The Making of Evangelical Spirituality: https://a.co/d/5LdNXiu

Mar 28, 2023 • 10min
An Interview with Nathan Spearing about a Theology of Violence—and more!
Today Chris interviews another speaker from The Traditional Fatherhood Intensive--Nathan Spearing, retired Army Ranger and host of The Life on Target Podcast. Nate shares briefly on a theology of violence, as well as on how to become more dangerous. If you'd like to hear more, sign up for the Traditional Fatherhood Intensive which will be May 5-6 in Vancouver, Washington. Here's a link to the Eventbright page: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/traditional-fatherhood-intensive-purpose-provision-protection-tickets-559053583317?aff=ebdshpsearchautocomplete
And here's a link to The Life on Target Podcast: https://www.spearing.co/content_type/podcasts/life-on-target