Kingdom Roots

The hosts explore politically charged interactions from Jesus' life, including his response to a trick question about paying taxes to Caesar. They analyze the different authorities in the Roman Empire and Israel during Jesus' time. The relationship between Pharisees and Herodians in the Gospel of Mark is discussed. The chapter highlights Jesus' resistance to taxation and his politically charged language. The subversive nature of Jesus' actions and his emphasis on allegiance to him rather than political powers is examined.

In this episode Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett begin a new series on the politics of the New Testament (A Time To…Politick!) within which they will examine political themes, texts, and theories from Jesus of Nazareth to John of Patmos. 

On this episode of Kingdom Roots, Scot and I interviewed Scott Nelson about his new book, Supply Lines: Five Supporting Relationships Every Planter and Pastor Needs.  In this book, Scott identified five supply lines, or types of relational support, that pastors and church planters need: Spiritual, Inspirational, Motivational, Interpersonal, and Practical. Scott Nelson is a church planter and lead pastor of Covenant Grove Church in Modesto, California. He also serves as a church planting coach and trainer. 

An Interview with John Blake about his recent book, More Than I Imagined: What a black man discovered about the white mother he never knew, published this past May with Convergent Books.John Blake is an award-winning CNN journalist. Previously, he was a reporter for the Atlanta Journal Constitution. He has been honored by the Associated Press, the Society of Professional Journalists, the American Academy of Religion, the National Association of Black Journalists, and the Religion Communicators Council. A recipient of the GLAAD Media Award, he has spoken at high schools, colleges, symposiums, and in documentaries on race, religion, and politics. Blake is a native of Baltimore, MD, and now lives in Atlanta, GA. https://johnkblake.com

In this episode, Scot and I talk with Cody Matchett. Cody is a teacher, writer, and pastor from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He is also a PhD student in New Testament studying Paul and character in the Greco-Roman world. He lives in the Beltline of Calgary with his wife Brianna who is a counseling-therapist, his daughter Aletheia Theodora and his son Atticus Ignatius. Cody is a graduate of Northern Seminary with a Master in New Testament. He helped Scot write Revelation for the Rest of Us. 

In this episode, Scot and I interview Jon Ward about his book Testimony: Inside the Evangelical Movement that Failed a Generation. Jon is the chief national correspondent at Yahoo! News. Jon grew up in evangelical Christian circles and has spent the last two decades covering politics, government, culture, and the nature of power. In this book, Jon explores how the evangelical church lost its witness—and how it can regain it by laying aside grasps for power to serve with Christlike love. 

In this episode of Kingdom Roots, Scot and Laura chat about the book of Revelation, the Pharisees, and the writing process. 

In this episode of Kingdom Roots, Scot and Laura chat about Beth Moore's new memoir, church planting, and what it takes to create a culture of tov in the local church

 Nijay Gupta's new book, Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church uncovers the stories of women who were active in leadership in the life of the early church. As we begin to learn more about what women actually did in first-century Roman culture, we are able to shine a light on the contributions of women to the first Christian churches. In this conversation, we talk about several women mentioned by Paul who actively participated in the life and leadership of the early church. 

In this podcast episode, we brought together three professors from Northern Seminary to talk about the recent Gospel Coalition article by Josh Butler. Dr. Beth Felker Jones has written a book called Faithful: A Theology of Sex and as a systematic theologian, she is able to help us understand human sexuality from a theological perspective. Beth recently wrote a piece on her Substack that gave us eight reasons why Butler's piece was bad theology. Dr. Lynn Cohick is a New Testament scholar and has written a commentary on Ephesians. She is well-suited to address the Ephesians 5 text Butler's article was based upon. Dr. Scot McKnight has written extensively about the culture of the church in his book, A Church Called Tov, which looks closely at themes of abuse. Scot recently responded in his own Substack to Butler's article by giving three considerations about the culture that produced it.