Questioning Belief

"You can tell a lot about the state of twenty-first century evangelicalism by talking to those who leave it." This is the opening sentence of the introduction to A Heart Aflame for God, a thoughtful, Scripturally-based, and thoroughly-researched book by Dr. Matthew Bingham on spiritual practices from the early Reformed church. In this episode, we discuss perceived issues with Protestanti...

Individualism, Exclusion, and the Cult of Busyness: How to Build a Radically Christ-Centered Community

Christian communities should be strongholds of worship, godly love, and hospitality, but the Church elicits many negative perceptions in the modern day, some imposed by the surrounding culture and some of its own making. Dr. Brian Carrier, Pastor of Discipleship at the District Church i...

Dr. Sita Slavov grew up in a Hindu household, practiced Zen Buddhism for many years, and is now a professing Christian. Dr. Slavov embarked on a search for absolute truth from an early age, using her skills as a researcher to investigate the truth claims behind different world religions. In this episode, we address religious pluralism, the role of tradition and upbringing in religious id...

In this episode, Dr. Noller engages the wisdom of a speaker with a wide-ranging expertise in Reformed theology, Dr. Gray Sutanto. We discuss the development of apologetics throughout church history and the influence of seminal Reformed theologians such as Herman Bavinck, Cornelius Van Til, and Alvin Plantinga on cultural apologetics. We dive into common yet weighty objections to Christia...

Discussing Christianity or sharing your faith with others who hold different beliefs can be intimidating. In this episode, Dr. Bannister teaches us how to organically open up about our faith and ask open-ended questions of others. Evangelism doesn't need to take place in a stadium and apologists needn't be university professors-- they can be ordinary Christians like you and me. Join us a...

Dr. Tom Tarrants is President Emeritus of the C.S. Lewis Institute and author of Consumed by Hate, Redeemed by Love: How a Violent Klansman Became a Champion of Racial Reconciliation. In this episode, Tom and I discuss the accusation that the American Protestant church promotes bigotry and racism, particularly white supremacy. In Part 1 of our discussion, Tom shares his gripping testimon...

Sharon Dirckx, PhD., trained neuroscientist, prolific speaker, and author of award-winning books on the problem of evil and human consciousness, helps us to tackle the problem of natural evil. There are evils in our world which can't be directly attributed to human moral error: natural disasters, parasites, and disease attack seemingly indiscriminately, causing rampant death and destruct...

Many Christian leaders across different sects hold varied interpretations of key Biblical practices, leading to notable differences in theology and practice. Do differences in Biblical interpretation betray a pluralism within Christianity or an insufficiency of Scripture as God's method of communication? Dr. Kevin Vanhoozer joins us to discuss historical and modern differences in Biblica...

Dr. Peter Williams joins us to discuss various objections to the trustworthiness of the gospels, including the possibility of fabrication of the gospel accounts by later writers, the presence of apparent contradictions within the gospels themselves, and the alleged corruption of the original accounts by oral transmission and thousands of years of copying and translation. Dr. Williams has...

Dr. Carolyn Weber, a prolific writer, professor of literature, and ardent Christian, joins us to discuss the rich history of Christian literature and the purpose of Christian art. We discuss Rudolf Otto's concept of the numinous, or the feelings of awe and mystery which give us a sense of the supernatural. Is beauty more than aesthetic perfection? What can the Bible teach us about storyt...

How can it ever be reasonable to accept the testimonial evidence of an alleged miracle over the mass of evidence that the natural world behaves according to the laws of nature? Could it be rational to accept that miracles could theoretically occur, or are miracles impossible violations of nature? Dr. Timothy McGrew discusses the history of objections to miracles, focusing on Hume and Spi...

How can God be both good and powerful if evil exists?

We live in a world where children die of cancer, women are raped, and entire villages are wiped out by natural disasters. Yet, according to Christianity, our universe was created and is presided over by an all-powerful, good, and loving God. So how do we rec...