Gospel Conversations podcast

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The first talk from Iain Provan's series titled Seriously Dangerous Religion. Get full access to Gospel Conversations at gospelconversations.substack.com/subscribe

The eminent historian, Edwin Judge, takes us back to the mind of the Roman Empire as they faced the burgeoning growth of Christianity. Furthermore, he recreates the self-identity and characteristics that defined early Christianity—including that this new thing was not a 'religion' in the minds of either the Christians or the Romans. This jewel of a talk/interview merits a couple of hearings as it is packed with the depths and profundity of Edwin's lifelong journey. Get full access to Gospel Conversations at gospelconversations.substack.com/subscribe

Almost no doctrine is more controversial than 'original sin'. It has branded the Gospel as a dark message in the minds of many people—but most Christians just have a foggy notion of what it might mean. In this important talk, Tony challenges the mental models behind 'original sin' and then gives us a much richer model for sin—its beginnings and its imputation. Tony uses Romans 5 and the 'two Adams' to shine a better light on the topic, and then leaves us with suggestions as to how we might frame the Gospel differently in the light of these insights. Get full access to Gospel Conversations at gospelconversations.substack.com/subscribe

One of the great stumbling blocks to evangelism and faith is the doctrine of predestination. Calvin was the most vociferous advocate of it, and he built it around his belief in total depravity. But was he right. In this talk, Tony explains where Calvin went wrong because his frame was limited. Tony turns to Ephesians 1 and builds a much grander picture of what predestination means. Get full access to Gospel Conversations at gospelconversations.substack.com/subscribe

Tony looks at the prayers of the church in Revelation and compares them to the prayers of the angels. The difference shines the light on a radical humanism—because the church (i.e. humanity) sees so much more than the angels do, and is closer to the heart of God. This opens the door to a radical humanism based on the incarnation of Jesus. Get full access to Gospel Conversations at gospelconversations.substack.com/subscribe

In this breathtaking overview, Rikk Watts zooms across the landscape of the four gospels and puts them all in a historical and biographical context. He argues that their narrative structure is their most defining feature—and that in fact, the narrative structure implies a breakthrough new theology. His climactic point is that this structure was the brainwave of Jesus himself. Get full access to Gospel Conversations at gospelconversations.substack.com/subscribe

Tony keeps exploring how 'resurrection' reframes 'judgment'. In this talk, he focuses on 'inheritance' as the dominant motif for the latter part of Hebrews and develops the theme that this is a double-edged sword. It expands our vision of God's plans for us, but it also sobers us as God is trusting us with an awesome responsibility. Get full access to Gospel Conversations at gospelconversations.substack.com/subscribe

In our previous talks on Hebrews, we revealed the strong foundation built by Apollos through Melchizedek and the resurrection, a foundation that renders the law obsolete. Now the question is, how does he build on that? How does he build accountability, how does he build responsibility, on top of all this wondrous talk of the resurrection?In this talk, we open a door to an expansive new paradigm, something we will continue exploring in future talks. The key to this new paradigm can be found in his extraordinary use of “the word being made perfect”. It’s a very strong theme in Hebrews, and it’s applied first to Jesus, and then to us. Just as the resurrection was first applied to Jesus, and then applies to us. He was there creating the universe, sustaining the universe.So what mental model does Hebrews have around this claim that the divine Logos, the Christ, went through some kind of process of perfection? Being made perfect? What does this mean? If we can crack that, if we can get inside that, we’ll open a door to what our trajectory and pathway is. Because the whole argument of Hebrews is that we should fix our eyes on the Logos, on the Divine, on the Christ. As we do that the implications for our lives will become clear.That’s the bundle of ideas in this talk. God bless you. And enjoy it. Get full access to Gospel Conversations at gospelconversations.substack.com/subscribe

Drawing on Nietzsche, Professor Volf will explore two pervasive and mutually reinforcing nihilisms of our time—our misplaced search for meaning, and our wrongheaded pursuit of pleasure—and counter common critiques of religion by arguing that faith in God intensifies and deepens the enjoyment of the world, uniting both meaning and pleasure.Professor Volf will tie this in with his personal story, his speech at the UN at the time of 9/11, and his participation in the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Councils. Get full access to Gospel Conversations at gospelconversations.substack.com/subscribe