Forging Ploughshares

Paul Axton
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Jan 12, 2026 • 52min

The Constantinian Shift to "Common Sense"

In this continued discussion of how the Constantinian shift impacted Christianity, Nate, Karl, Jim, Andrew and Paul, discuss the loss of non-violence, the turn from Christian ethics and the Sermon on the Mount, the turn to violent atonement, and the shift in the conception of authority and the church. A different "common sense" arose that pervaded every area of life so as to displace the uniqueness of Christian identity. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!
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Jan 10, 2026 • 40min

Sermon: The Transformed Mind as an Alternative Subjectivity

Paul Axton preaches, describing the transformed mind, or knowing God as the suspension of the common Jewish and Enlightenment notion of God and, recognized by Hegel. Paul's suspension of the law and Hegel's negation of the negation as the displacement of a mediated notion of God and direct knowing in Christ, are making the same argument about the necessity to cease believing in the God of the law so as to believe in the Father of Christ. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!
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Jan 5, 2026 • 1h 3min

How Christianity Became a Religion

In this discussion of how it is that Christianity became a religion, much like other religions, Paul, Nat, Jim, Andrew and Karl, discuss the impact of the Constantinian shift, the rise of Divine Satisfaction, the turn to a closed understanding of the world, and the relinquishing of the revolutionary nature of the faith.  If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!
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Jan 3, 2026 • 25min

Sermon: Eucharist as the Completion of Emmanuel

Paul Axton preaches: The theme of Mathew captured in Immanuel, is completed in the Lord's Supper, in which the efficacious presence of God is made to bear on the lives of believers in what Hegel calls "actualized Christian Freedom." There is freedom from the violence of blood spilled in the taking up of the blood of Christ in the life of believers.  If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!
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Dec 27, 2025 • 43min

Emmanuel: The Presence of God as the Resolution to the Human Predicament

Paul Axton preaches: In this Christmas Sermon the role of presence ("God with us") and absence is traced in Scripture as the primary theme fulfilled in Christ; a theme also recognized in postmodern philosophy. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!
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Dec 22, 2025 • 1h

An Expanded View of Recapitulation

In this continuation of discussions of sin and salvation, Paul Axton takes up and expands upon the early church understanding of recapitulation as an all-embracing understanding of atonement that accounts for the New Testament and the focus on the new divinized humanity found in Christ. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!
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Dec 20, 2025 • 54min

The Rule of Faith and Deliverance from the Law of Sin and Death

In a continuation of the discussion of the nature of sin and salvation and hermeneutics, the discussion turns to how the rule of faith, or biblical hermeneutics centered on the person of Christ, brings out Christ's deliverance from the human predicament through his defeat of the rule of death over human lives. This is not an answer defined by law, but a deliverance from this orientation. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!  
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Dec 15, 2025 • 1h 8min

Sin and Salvation: The Gospel as the Coherence of Scripture

In this new series on sin and salvation, Paul Axton introduces a series on theories of atonement, beginning with Christ as the "rule of faith" interpreting Scripture and exegeting God. The issues of psychological healing in connection to death drive, cosmic bondage and apocalyptic deliverance, and the eternality of the historical Christ are introduced. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!  
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Dec 13, 2025 • 40min

Jesus as Temple Recapitulation: Transformation of Historical Good Friday into Speculative Good Friday

In this talk Paul Axton gave at a local restaurant, the focus is on outlining the Gospel of Matthew as Jesus as Temple recapitulation, the implication of which is Jesus taking up the historical, social, and legal situation of the Temple and Israel, and this is worked out by Gillian Rose and G.W.F. Hegel as addressing the injustice of the law and the Temple or the City of Man.  If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!    
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Dec 8, 2025 • 59min

Overcoming Dualism in the Body and the Bible Through the Synthesis of Christ

Brad and Paul discuss the work of Wittgenstein, Maximus, Hegel and Bulgakov as they converge on embodied synthesis in Christ and then extend the conversation to the synthesis of Scripture overcoming the contention in Job, Daniel, Maccabees, and Jonah over the split and violent or unified and peaceable image of God. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!  

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