Last week, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled 5–4 against President Trump's attempt to repeal former President Obama's executive order on Immigration, known as DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). In this episode, John Anthony Dunne and Rev. Daniel Parham are joined by Jon Garcia, a PhD student in Religion at USC. Over the course of our conversation we talk about the implications of this ruling, President Trump's possible determination to try to repeal DACA once more, the relationship between immigration policy and growing nationalism in America, the nature of the conservative argument in favor of voting for Trump in 2016 on the grounds of gaining conservative justices given the two rulings from last week that went against certain conservative positions (i.e. regarding LGBT rights and immigration), and how certain cultural and societal trends have particularly led white evangelicals to be disinclined towards seeing immigration as a subject worth Christian reflection and action. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our newsfeeds are inundated with memes and videos promoting all sorts of ideological perspectives, and much of that is curated by the networks that we choose to incorporate into the spheres of our respective social media accounts. As a result, it's easy to create insular and isolated social bubbles that keep us from understanding where others outside those bubbles are coming from, or from knowing what's truly going on in the world. In this episode, Amber Bowen, John Anthony Dunne, and Rev. Daniel Parham discuss some of these  dynamics, such as the use of memes by Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X to critique present-day protests, and the arguments against kneeling as a form of protest by contending that kneeling should only be reserved for God. For many of us, these memes are helpful because they are short and easy-to-understand, but given the echo chamber of social media, these memes often serve to reinforce a confirmation bias where we're likely to passively consume rather than critically engage what passes through our newsfeeds because the memes cohere with what we already think or because they align with what we would like to think about the world. Given our general human inclination to approve of what we prefer to be true rather than what's actually true, we turn our discussion in this episode to address the importance of cultivating a habit of discernment. As our discussion unfolds, we articulate that being a discerning person looks like: (A) being suspicious and skeptical, and allowing our curiosity to drive us to dig deeper, (B) utilizing and engaging a variety of sources, (C) seeking wise counsel from others, (D) checking our heart attitudes, and (E) prayerfully committing ourselves to the heart of God in service of others. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Following upon our conversation on "Racial Justice" in the previous episode, John Anthony Dunne and Grace Sangalang Ng are joined by Dr. Walter Augustine, Director of Intercultural Education and Research in the Division of Diversity and Inclusion at Biola University and an adjunct professor of theology and ethics at Talbot School of Theology. In this episode we extend our theological reflections on racial justice from the previous episode with further conversation on related issues of systemic racism, white privilege, “Black Lives Matter," the role of the church in the present racial tension, and the reasons to be hopeful regarding change and reform. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the wake of horrific events from last week in Minneapolis with the murder of George Floyd on Memorial Day by a police officer and the subsequent series of protests and riots throughout the United States, we discuss the need to think theologically about racial justice. Rev. Daniel Parham joins John Anthony Dunne and Grace Sangalang Ng to address gaps in our theological education regarding racism, the cliché of "colorblindness" as an apathetic reaction to the necessity of properly addressing racism, and the importance of racial justice as a component of our Christian orthopraxy.Resources mentioned in this episode can be found below: BooksWoke Church: An Urgent Call for Christians in American to Confront Racism and Injustice by Eric MasonOne Blood: Parting Words to the Church on Race and Love by John PerkinsVideosInterconnected: Confronting Racial Prejudice Between Asian American and African American CommunitiesOrganizationsBe the Bridge Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What value does Philosophy have in our lives? In a time of crisis like the present global pandemic in which we find ourselves, we might be particularly convinced that Philosophy is irrelevant or unhelpful. Broader societal trends seem to confirm this line of thought with the way that we privilege a certain kind of productivity over against living a well-lived life of purpose and meaning. Joining us to advocate for the inherent practicality of Philosophy and its crucial importance for us right now is Dr. J. Aaron Simmons, Professor of Philosophy at Furman University in South Carolina. In this episode, Amber Bowen and John Anthony Dunne chat with Dr. Simmons about the role of Philosophy in higher education and the present crisis. Particular stress is placed on the value of thinking well about all things, even leisure activities like playing the drums and trout fishing. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

N.T. Wright joins The Two Cities podcast for a special interview episode about his upcoming new book, God and the Pandemic: A Christian Reflection on the Coronavirus and Its Aftermath (London: SPCK / Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2020). His new book is an expansion and development of a short article that he wrote for TIME magazine on March 29th, entitled, “Christianity Offers No Answers About The Coronavirus: It's Not Supposed To." In this episode, John Anthony Dunne talks with Prof. Wright about his new book, the biblical conceptions of lament, whether the coronavirus should be viewed as part of God's end-time tribulational judgment, and what the message of hope needs to be at the present time. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Building further upon our previous conversations on the podcast about the nature of the gospel and the nature of faith (“Talking About The Gospel" and "Believing in the Gospel"), in this episode Amber Bowen and John Anthony Dunne discuss the popular notion of Faith as it has become famously expressed in the phrase, "A Leap of Faith." In this common recognition of what Faith is and does, it is an irrational exercise that seems to ignore evidence. This concept is often attributed to the great Danish philosopher of the 19th century, Søren Kierkegaard. This “Leap of Faith" is based, however, on a mistranslation as well as a misunderstanding of what Kierkegaard originally meant. Instead of what Faith does (i.e. leaps away from evidence), Faith is understood like a realm that one moves towards (as a kind of destination). Along the way the present discussion includes the reception of Kierkegaard among evangelicals, particularly evidentialist and classical apologists, reference to a popular interaction with this discrepancy in understanding Kierkegaard in the popular TV Show centered on ethics and the afterlife, The Good Place (Cf. Season 2, Episode 8 “Leap To Faith"), and finally the portrait of Faith as a crazy man on the top of a mountain in Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling. Amber explains that ultimately for Kierkegaard, Faith is a realm that we move into, and then come back from, with new eyes to see beyond the closed finite horizon in which Faith will inevitably be perceived as crazy, isolating, and solipsistic. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we discuss what it means to believe the gospel, following up on our previous episode discussing recent debates on the blogosphere about what the gospel is and isn't ("Talking about the Gospel"). Building upon that previous conversation, Amber Bowen, John Anthony Dunne, and Logan Williams discuss binary thinking that impairs how we conceive of what faith is, and then address more helpful ways beyond that restrictive way of thinking that is more in line with how the Greek words for “faith” (πίστις; pistis) and “believing” (πιστεύω; pisteuō) were used and understood in the New Testament—as expressions of trust. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How should we define the gospel? Recently, there have been some heated discussions about the nature of the gospel. What should the central identifying feature be? Should it be the legal declaration of Justification by Faith? Or should it be the regal proclamation that Jesus is King? In this episode, Amber Bowen, John Anthony Dunne, Chris Porter, Kris Song, and Logan Williams call into question whether identifying a "center" to the gospel is even helpful in the first place, and draw attention to the broader implications about what tends to happen in our theological discourse when we talk about what the gospel is and is not. The way the gospel is often addressed in these kinds of conversations have implications for creating insiders and outsiders. In the end, we attempt to provide an account of what the gospel is in ten words or less, but conclude with the observation that the personal nature of the gospel and a relational understanding of the truth of the gospel breaks beyond reductionistic propositions. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Getting a PhD is tough. What are the unique challenges that come with getting a PhD in theology? In particular, how can we maintain a vital devotional life in the midst of the stresses of a PhD program? In this episode John Anthony Dunne talks with The Two Cities team member Brandon Hurlbert to discuss this tricky subject; John went through a PhD program in New Testament at the University of St Andrews (Scotland), and Brandon is currently in the midst of a PhD program in Old Testament at Durham University (England) under the supervision of Professor Walter Moberly. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.