The Protestant Libertarian Podcast

In this episode I talk with Stephanie Slade, senior editor at Reason magazine and author of the forthcoming book Fusionism: Liberty, Virtue, and the Future of the American Right, out September 1, 2026 on University of Notre Dame Press. Slade argues that fusionism is much more than the Cold War coalition between conservatives and libertarians, but is rather a philosophy in which the pursuit of liberty and virtue are bound to one ano...

In this episode I explain the New Testament concept of ‘inaugurated eschatology’ and mount a biblical response to the claim that we are currently living through the end times. ‘Eschatology’ simply means ‘the study of final things’, and in theology eschatology explores how God is going to bring his plans for creation to their intended conclusion. Despite the rhetoric that the end times have begun ...

In the long-awaited Round 4 of our "Ludwig von Mises vs. A Christian Scholar" series I examine one of the most important questions at the intersection of biblical theology and economics: what is the relationship between justification, righteousness, and social justice? In the first half of this episode, I review James D. G. Dunn's understanding of righteousness and justification as presented in The Justice of God: A Fresh Look at t...

In this episode I talk with Dr. Jason Staples about his book Paul and the Resurrection of Israel, in which he argues that the resurrection of Israel is a major motif in Paul’s thinking. Staples explains how the resurrection of Israel is based on the prophetic hope, rooted in passages like Ezekiel 37, that God would rescue and restore Israel based on His covenantal promises to them. He demonstrates that there is a distinction ...

This Theology Thursday episode of The Protestant Libertarian Podcast features a recording of a sermon I preached on Sunday, June 21, on Jesus' teaching about worry in Matthew 6:25–34. While Jesus famously commands His followers not to worry, this passage raises important questions: Does Scripture prohibit all forms of concern, and how should Christians reconcile Jesus' words with the Bible's many commands to work diligently a...

In this episode I talk with Dr. Paul Duff, professor emeritus in the department of world religions at George Washington University and the author of the brand-new book Paul and the Corinthians: Reconstructing the Relationship and the Letters, out now on Eerdmans. In this book Dr. Duff explores 1 and 2 Corinthians , the divisions which plagued the church, and Paul’s complicated relationship with his Corinthian congregation. We...

In this episode I talk with Jeremy Todd, the Libertarian candidate for Congress in Kentucky’s 4th district. Todd talks about his decision to run, his opponent and the GOP establishment, and his campaign. Todd believes that Massie represented a principled, America-first agenda and that foreign lobbyists bought his seat in Kentucky. He explains how the GOP candidate Ed Gallrein is a political opportunist who doesn’t care ...

In this episode I talk with Tony Scarcello about his brand-new book Love All Our Neighbors, where he explores how churches can faithfully hold to a traditional Christian sexual ethic while genuinely loving and ministering to LGBTQ people. Tony discusses the tension many Christians feel in this conversation, the ways the church has often failed LGBTQ individuals, and why many people leave not because of doctrine but because of their...

In this episode I offer an introduction to the doctrine of sanctification. I explore how the language of sanctification is related to holiness-language, and that ‘holiness’ primarily denotes a state of being set apart for a particular purpose and is the Greek behind the NASB’s ‘saints’. I explore how holiness is related to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament by exploring Ephesians 1,...

In this episode I talk with Dr. John J. Collins, Holmes Professor of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation Emeritus at Yale University and the world’s leading scholar of apocalypticism and apocalyptic literature, about his brand-new book Apocalypticism as a Worldview in Ancient Judaism, out June 25, 2026 on Eerdmans. Dr. Collins discusses his career and life-long interest in apocalypticism and his role in formulating the...

In this episode I talk with Dr. Carl-Magnus Carlstein, lecturer on Biblical Studies at Linkoping University, Sweden, about the contribution he contributed with co-author Rebekah Eklund in New Testament Ethics, out now on Eerdmans, which explores the ethics of possessions and wealth in the New Testament. We discuss the often-neglected topic of possessions, why many Christians are uncomfortable with this topic, and why it is so signi...

In this episode I explore the relationship between God’s active and passive wrath, demonstrating how God’s wrath is often manifested by Him allowing people to suffer the consequences of their sins, which is what Paul has in mind when he thrice says that God “handed them over” to sinfulness in Romans 1. Romans 1 and Romans 6, focusing especially on Paul’s understanding of obedience, participation in Chr...

In this episode Dr. Kevin Burr and I critique The Ballot and the Bible by Kaitlyn Schiess. Schiess is an author and co-host of The Holy Post podcast and published this book in 2023. It is an analysis of the ways in which Scripture has been used and abused in American politics, and while there is a lot of excellent content in the book Kevin and I wanted to offer a thoughtful and respectful critique of the areas in which she falls sh...

In this episode I explore an easily-overlooked text with surprising political implications. In Romans 8:29-30, Paul claims that we were “predestined to become conformed to the Image of His Son” and that because of this will have been “glorified”. What does Paul mean? In her book Conformed to the Image of His Son, Dr. Haley Goranson Jacob argues that Paul is claiming believers are conformed to Jesus’s s...

In this first (official) installment of my semi-weekly ‘Theology Thursday’ series, I discuss how God enables us to overcome sin through the power of His Spirit. Reflecting on a recent sermon I heard from Matthew 5:27-30, in which Jesus equates lust with adultery and then instructs his audience to gouge out an eye or cut off a hand if it causes them to sin. While Jesus is obviously using hyperbole, he doesn’t in th...

In this episode I talk with economist Eric Schansberg about how Christians should think critically about public policy. We discuss how Christians often fail to reflect on their support for particular public policies and how our faith aligns with political and economic systems in the modern world. Schansberg explains how the Bible should shape our understanding of public policy, why there is often a discrepancy between political the...

In this episode I address the popular misconception that the apostle Paul, formerly Saul, was personally responsible for the killing of Christians before his Damascus Road experience. In popular Christian imagination, Paul was the ‘persecutor and killer’ of Christians before his dramatic encounter with the risen Jesus. While Paul did indeed viciously persecute the church, there is no New Testament evidence that any beli...

In this episode I discuss how the covenant God made with Israel in the Old Testament was a form of an ancient Near Eastern suzerain-vassal treaty. Building from the fantastic work of Sandra Richter’s ‘Epic of Eden’ book, a suzerain vassal treaty is one in which a king or imperial power, the suzerain, makes a treaty with a lesser kingdom or people, the vassal. They are asymmetrical in the sense that the suzerain cl...

In this episode I talk once again with Old Testament scholar Dru Johnson, who recently hosted a conference about Christianity and politics entitled “Bible First”. I ask him a wide range of questions about the political themes and consequences of the Torah and Old Testament. We explore the relationship between creation and human agency in Genesis 1-11, the patriarchal narratives and their role as shepherds of Israel, the...