Life and Books and Everything

Maybe the movie ends with the good guys smiling with grateful satisfaction, knowing that whatever failures lay in the past, and whatever dangers lie ahead, this was a day for celebration. In this episode of Life and Books and Everything, Kevin reads from the article he wrote for WORLD Opinions on why Christians should rejoice in the destruction of an instrument of death.

Kevin welcomes Tommy Kidd to LBE to talk about Tommy’s new biography on Thomas Jefferson. How should we understand Jefferson’s many inconsistencies and contradictions? How do we make sense of his significant moral failings? Was he a Christian? Is his legacy worth commemorating and celebrating? Kevin and Tommy talk about these questions and many others in an hour-long discussion that goes deep into history and helps us think about the Declaration of Independence that Americans will celebrate in just a few days. Timestamps: Intro and Guest: Thomas Kidd [0:00-6:32] The Discipline of Writing [6:33-10:14] Jefferson: Historical Hypocrite? [10:15-32:41] Sally Hemmings [32:42-38:20 Jefferson's Religion [38:21-52:47] The Mammoth Cheese Episode [52:48-56:33] Jefferson vs. Patrick Henry [56:34-59:06] Father of the University of Virginia [59:07-1:04:02] Why Celebrate Jefferson? [1:04:03-1:10:46] Books and Everything: Thomas Kidd's Twitter account: https://twitter.com/thomasskidd Thomas Kidd's newsletter: https://twitter.us3.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=393885e6de8bef994ad9a4c3b&id=f10e42555a Thomas Jefferson: A Biography of Spirit and Flesh: https://a.co/d/elVxdLe

As much as abortion has been indefensible on constitutional grounds, the real monstrosity of Roe was not legal but moral. For 50 years the two sides of the debate have been called “pro-choice” and “pro-life,” and those are accurate labels. The ability to freely terminate a pregnancy—at any point in the pregnancy and for any reason—is certainly about the right to make a choice. But that invented constitutional right has been, even more fundamentally, about the ending of life. Everyone with eyes to see the literal pictures of beating hearts and 4D ultrasounds, not to mention the gruesome photos of preborn children torn limb from limb, has known that we are talking about life. In this episode of Life and Books and Everything, Kevin reads from an article he wrote for WORLD Opinions following the historic overturning of Roe v. Wade.

No doubt, we need a lot of smart people reflecting on the intellectual principles and the practical priorities of our moral philosophy. That’s a crucial conversation. But that’s not the conversation most ordinary people are having online, in church, and around the dinner table. They (and I should say we) are having a messy—but if done right, a really important—conversation about how to approach the conversation itself. As Christians in an age dominated by politics, we are trying to think about how we should think about Christianity and politics. In this episode of Life and Books and Everything, Kevin reads from the first of a series of articles he wrote for WORLD Opinions on how to think about Christianity and politics.

In this episode of LBE, Kevin visits with Erika Bachiochi—a pro-life legal scholar, an author, a wife, and a mother of seven children. After discussing the Dobbs case which, we hope will overturn Roe, Kevin and Erika turn their attention to the Enlightenment writer Mary Wollstonecraft. In this wide-ranging discussion through Erika’s book The Rights of Women: Reclaiming a Lost Vision (University of Notre Dame Press, 2021). Kevin and Erika talk about the staunch anti-abortion views of early women’s rights advocates, how the feminist movement lost its way, and why our culture needs a new (old) vision of motherhood and fatherhood. Timestamps: Intro and Sponsor [0:00-1:22] Guest: Erika Bachiochi [1:23-8:48] Abortion & Women's Rights History [8:49-19:12] Mary Wollstonecraft - Misunderstood? [19:13-32:47] Sexual and Reproductive Asymmetry [32:48-41:29] Pregnancy, A Gift not a Liability [41:30-52:48] Contemporary Sympathies to the Lost Vision [52:49-56:30] Summing Up Erika's Book [56:31-59:57] Books: The Rights of Women: Reclaiming a Lost Vision (Catholic Ideas for a Secular World)  A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and A Vindication of the Rights of Men 

Pride Month turns a moral argument—about which the Bible has clear and unequivocal answers—into a quest for personal self-acceptance, which is why many soft-hearted and muddle-headed Christians line up for the parade just like everyone else. In this episode of Life and Books and Everything, Kevin reads from the article he wrote for WORLD Opinions on the LGBTQ quest to turn a moral argument into an emotive appeal for affirmation and acceptance.

After the gospel, there is no bigger gift you can give to the world than your children and no better gift you can give your children than to be raised by a mom and dad who love them and love each other. In this episode of Life and Books and Everything, Kevin reads from the article he wrote for the Spring 2022 issue of Eikon: A Journal for Biblical Anthropology.

On May 21, 1922, Harry Emerson Fosdick took to the pulpit of Old First—the historic First Presbyterian Church (est. 1716) located on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan—to deliver what would be his most famous sermon. In this episode of Life and Books and Everything, Kevin reads from the article he wrote for the journal of Reformed Theological Seminary as part of “Shall the Fundamentalists Win?” A Centennial Symposium. 

The doctrine of particular redemption is worth defining and defending because it gets to the heart of the gospel. In this episode of Life and Books and Everything, Kevin reads from the article he wrote for byFaith on the good news of limited atonement.

Kevin welcomes Phil Ryken, President at Wheaton College, to the podcast to talk about “The Heart of the Cross,” a newly reissued book comprised of sermons from Dr. Ryken and James Montgomery Boice. But before they get to the book, Kevin and Phil talk about preaching, the challenges of higher education, Tenth Presbyterian Church, the ministry of James Boice, and a little bit about pickup basketball. Timestamps: Intro and Sponsor [0:00-1:39] Guest: Phil Ryken [1:40-10:43] The Merits of Guest Preaching [10:44-13:50] What Makes for Good Preaching? [13:51-20:50] Reading When Busy [20:51-22:55] Issues with Higher Education [22:56-28:38] Who was James M. Boice? [28:39-38:40] The Heart of the Cross [38:41-43:32] The Simplicity and Profundity of the Cross [43:33-52:43] The Merits of Provocative Advertisements [52:44-56:15] The Merits of Expository Preaching [56:16-58:41] The Lack of True Discipleship [58:42-1:01:12] Why Continually Focus on the Cross? [1:01:13-1:06:52] Books and Everything: Freakonomics Podcast Episode on Higher Ed  The Heart of the Cross   The Cross of Christ