The Theology Pugcast

Today Glenn shares some of his reflections on how the image of God is reflected in creation by the respective roles of men and women. Using the pattern of "forming and filling" from Genesis chapter one, Glenn notes that these correspond to the respective tasks of men and women as God's regents. Naturally this leads to a wide-ranging discussion as Tom and Chris comment on Glenn's thoughts. 

In today's show C. R Wiley raises the question, "Can Christians be Pragmatists?" Quotations from William James and Richard Rorty, two of the 20th centuries greatest pragmatists, show how pragmatism is hostile to the classical Christian understanding of the relationship between words and the world. Words are tools for pragmatists, not windows--they create meaning and can be used to manipulate people. (No wonder people are offended by pronouns! Welcome to Babel.) The problem is most of the popular figures in the evangelical world today are pragmatists. 

Today Tom Price shares an article by the English theologian Oliver O'Donovan entitled, The Natural Ethic. The discussion gets into late medieval developments in philosophy--specifically voluntarism and nominalism. Glenn raises some historical qualifications, but all are agreed that we live in a time when things are falling apart because we've lost the ability to see meaning in nature.

In today's show, Glenn analyzes the phenomenon of transgenderism and its meteoric rise to cause celebre'. Using "cultural marxism" to understand the phenomenon Glenn discusses both its appeal and its use of intimidation to force normalization. Tom looks at the phenomenon through the lens of the relationship of the transcendent God with his creation--particularly as that doctrine has been misconstrued by modernity, and Chris shares some anecdotes and his own nascent perspective that transgenderism is one more way that the world is at war with the Logos of God.

Chris gives an overview of the newsletter The Masculinist, and its creator Aaron Renn. Then he introduces the controversial claim made in the latest edition that "Complementarianism" (the belief that men and women have different roles in the household and the church but not in wider society) is doomed. Glen and Tom ask for a better account of complementarianism, but all three agree that version of "thin biblicism" is going to die. They do not think egalitarianism offers anything as an alternative. So what's next? They agree, the Church needs to recover its old metaphysic, and then the Christian doctrine of creation will come back. 

In today's show, Dr. Thomas Price shares an article written by his old mentor at Oxford, Dr. John Webster. The article is entitled: "Love is Also a Lover of Life: creatio ex nihilo and Creaturely Goodness." After Tom explains the importance of transcendence and the doctrine of creation from nothing, then Chris, Glenn, and Tom venture to "comb out" the implications for worldview, ethics, salvation, and the place of the church in the world. 

Dr. Glenn Sunshine, Dr. Thomas Price, and C. R. Wiley discuss 'Cultural Marxism' in American culture, exploring evolving worldviews, metaphysical foundations, and the integration of cultural Marxism with postmodernist perspectives. They delve into secularism as a religious alternative, the control of reality through language and power dynamics, and the potential impact of cultural Marxism on political worldviews.