Forging Ploughshares

Paul Axton Preaches - In the so-called cleansing of the Temple is the depiction of the theme of John: Christ is true Temple and true Passover Lamb, and there is a fulfillment of a Jewish order now destroyed (subsequent to 70 A.D.) as the cross marks the true defeat of death and the tomb now marks the spot of revelation and life previously assigned to the Holy of Holies and the Ark of the Covenant. 

Jim, Matt, David, Brian, and Paul discuss how the idolatrous scene illustrates the shame/pride condition and the fear of death and how Christ's dissolution of death is illustrated in the transformation of the tomb into a similitude of the Ark of the Covenant.  Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - The lamb that takes away the sin of the world, is the Passover lamb which does not bear sin, but this result is finalized by Christ in his work of filling up all things, including Sheol, with his life - thus taking away sin through his life.  Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Dan, Rob, Ray, Matt, David, Jim, and Paul discuss the focus on the defeat of death in Ignatius as a defeat of sin and heresy and the shift with Augustine and Constantine which results in alternative atonement theories. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton Preaches - The gap between heaven and earth is marked by Sheol or the place of the dead, a distance illustrated in the rites of the tabernacle and the distance between the Goat for the Lord and the Goat of Azazel, a gap closed by Christ and by his preaching to the dead and freeing those captive to Sheol.  Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.  

Jim, Matt, David, Janice, Rob, Ray, and Paul discuss how Anselm's shift to rationalism changed the register of theological discussion to abstractions surrounding identity (Descartes, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche) which develop in modernity, giving rise to the delusion of a self-grounding reason and identity; the false notion Christ defeats. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton Preaches - The cross, as foolishness to Greeks and a scandal to the Jews, requires a world-view shift for both Jews and Greeks, in which God in Christ directly confronts the inhumanity, injustice, and demonic evil which constitutes the city of man and which put Christ on the cross. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Matt, Janice, Jim, Rob, and Paul discuss the inherent violence leading to and stemming from the doctrine of penal substitution. Penal Substitution is a manifestation of the problem of sin and violence which Christ defeats. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

In this lecture Paul Axton traces the intrinsic necessity of violence to the law, which accounts for the peculiar violence of the United States. The law founding and law keeping violence described in the work of Walter Benjamin supports the biblical depiction of  "necessary violence" exposed as the lie which killed Christ. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Rob, David, Matt, Janice and Paul, discuss the early church understanding of Christus Victor and Recapitulation as developed through Irenaeus and this is compared to notions of the cross as God's punishment, culminating in Luther's notion that Jesus is viewed by God as the worst of sinners and Calvin's doctrine of Penal Substitution. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.