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Because the triune God has graciously revealed himself, he is knowable. But because he is infinite, there is always more to him than finite creatures can comprehend. Dr. Ronni Kurtz explains and explores the profound and often overlooked doctrine of incomprehensibility in his book Light Unapproachable: Divine Incomprehensibility and the Task of Theology. In this episode, he and Dr. Keith Plummer discuss the b...

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Reading and interpreting the Bible is more, never less, than applying the correct principles. That's because the Scriptures are unlike any other writing in that they are God's words to his people. In his book Mere Christian Hermeneutics: Transfiguring What it Means to Read the Bible Theologically, Dr. Kevin Vanhoozer writes, “Biblical interpreters are answerable not only for the ‘correctness’ of their reading...

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What could a book written about television forty years ago possibly have to teach us about living well and wisely in our world of smartphones, social media, and high-speed connectivity? According to the editors of Scrolling Ourselves to Death: Reclaiming Life in a Digital Age, a lot! In this episode, Brett McCracken and Dr. Ivan Mesa join Dr. Keith Plummer to discuss why Neil Postman's classic volume Amusing ...

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When it comes to controversial topics, it’s tempting to go to one of two extremes—to engage people with vitriol, anger, and contentiousness in our determination to make them see things our way or to totally avoid talking about important yet potentially controversial subjects altogether in an attempt to “keep the peace.” Neither is a viable option for followers of Jesus. In this episode, Dr. Sean McDowell join...

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Chris Martin, author of The Wolf in Their Pockets: 13 Ways the Social Internet Threatens the People You Lead, returns to the podcast to talk with Dr. Keith Plummer about why Christian leaders need to understand how our relationship with social media changes the ways we think, feel, and believe. Chris explains why he calls social media “the most pervasive discipleship force in the world right now;” details the...

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Central to the historic Christian faith is the confession that our God is triune, one in being and three in persons. Admittedly, this truth exceeds our ability to comprehend. But we shouldn’t allow that to keep us from seeking to understand what we can of what God has revealed of himself. To that end, Dr. James Dolezal, professor of theology at Cairn University, joins Dr. Keith Plummer to discuss his chapter ...

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Seasoned journalist Bonnie Kristian believes America is in the midst of a knowledge crisis that the church cannot afford to ignore. In fact, she thinks it could be the most pressing and unprecedented challenge for contemporary discipleship. Her book Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community describes the multiple forces contributing to ...

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For several years, Michael Sacasas, executive director of the Christian Study Center of Gainesville, has reflected on and written about the effects of emerging technologies on us individually and societally. His work explores how our interactions with technology affect how we answer the questions of what it means to be human and the nature of the "good life." In this episode, he talks with Dr. Keith...

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“Gift” and “good” aren’t words that usually come to mind when we think about our limitations. Dr. Kelly M. Kapic, author of You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News, thinks this reveals a serious theological problem, writing that denying our finitude “distorts our view of God and what Christian spirituality should look like.” In this episode he joins Dr. Keith Plummer t...

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Disenchanted by the atheism she embraced in her teenage years, Ashley Lande turned to the world of psychedelic drugs and Eastern mysticism in search of meaning, satisfaction, and spiritual reality. Though her desires went unfulfilled, and she experienced the very opposite of what she was looking for, she kept returning to mushrooms and LSD. In her book _The Thing that Would Make Everything Okay Forever, _she ...

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The velocity with which culture changes challenges evangelism and discipleship—something Brad Edwards, planter and lead pastor of The Table Church in Lafayette, Colorado, thinks about a lot. In this episode, he joined Dr. Keith Plummer to discuss lessons he continues to learn while ministering where people are “open to the idea of God but very turned off to the idea of church.” Other subjects they discuss are...

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Chris Martin, author of Terms of Service: The Real Cost of Social Media, says social media has become so pervasive that not even non-users can fully escape it. He joins Dr. Keith Plummer to talk about how social media is influencing how we think and feel about life in largely negative ways and—most importantly, what Christians can do to resist. His is not a call to totally reject social media but rather, a ca...

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Michael Graham is the program director for The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics and coauthor of The Great Dechurching: Who’s Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will it Take to Bring Them Back? In this episode, he joins Dr. Keith Plummer and co-host Pastor Ben Best to talk about the 40 million Americans who have left the church in the last 25 years. They discuss the cultural drivers behind this exodu...

Faithfully following Jesus in a digital and media-saturated society involves more than not using our devices for explicitly immoral purposes. Forming biblical wisdom requires being aware of how our technological practices might be shaping us in ways contrary to that of Christ. Listen to Dr. Felicia Wu Song, author of Restless Devices: Recovering Personhood, Presence and Place in the Digital Age, discuss these important ma...

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Cairn University’s Professor of New Testament, Dr. Kevin McFadden is the author of Hidden with Christ in God: A Theology of Colossians and Philemon, in Crossway’s New Testament Theology series. He joined Dr. Keith Plummer to discuss Christ as our hidden hope, his preeminence and sufficiency, Christians’ union with Jesus in death and resurrection, and its profound significance to changed living. They also talk...

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“To live with OCD is to be vulnerable to the machinations of your own mind...It is an Affliction that lives in me as a powerful, painful intimidation.” So writes John Andrew Bryant in his award-winning book A Quiet Mind to Suffer With: Mental Illness, Trauma, and the Death of Christ, a book in which he recounts how a mental breakdown, a stay in a psychiatric ward, and being diagnosed with obsessive compulsive...

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Proponents of physician-assisted death present it as an act of compassion that recognizes the dignity of those suffering from terminal diseases and other illnesses. Dr. Ewan Goligher, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, is a critical care physician who is regularly involved with patients and their families facing end-of-life decisions. In his book How Should We Then Die? A Christian ...

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Over his almost two decades as host of the UK-based radio program and podcast Unbelievable?, Justin Brierly facilitated countless thoughtful conversations about faith and unbelief between some of the world’s foremost atheists and Christian apologists. In his book The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God and podcast by the same name, Justin explores what led to the popularity of the so-called New Atheists in th...

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The Christian faith provides intellectually and existentially satisfying answers to many of life’s questions. But it likewise challenges us to consider whether the things we’re most curious about are really important and liberates us to ask new and better questions. Dr. Matthew Lee Anderson is convinced that the call to follow Jesus is a call to a life of questioning (to be distinguished from doubting). He wr...