The Westminster Podcast

How should seminaries prepare faithful pastors for a world being reshaped by technology, cultural change, and growing ministry needs? Recorded during Westminster’s presidential inauguration events, this panel brings together Ligon Duncan, Joel Kim, Kevin Kang, and Valdeci Da Silva Santos, with David Garner moderating, to discuss the future of theological education in the United States, South Korea...

Images shape what we love, what we fear, and what we believe. But how often do we stop to examine their power? In this archival address, Al Groves explores how God uses imagery throughout the Old Testament to reveal himself, communicate truth, and reach the hearts of his people. Moving from the familiar words of Psalm 23 to the images competing for our allegiance, Groves challenges us to bring our...

In this final installment of our three-part series on Dissecting the Heart by David Powlison, Pierce Taylor Hibbs and Alfred Poirier explore Powlison’s conviction that all theology is practical theology. From suffering and the possibility of genuine change to the Psalms, death, and the Beatitudes, they consider how Scripture addresses the questions people actually face, and often redirects us towa...

What role should evidence play in presuppositional apologetics? In this archival lecture, J. I. Packer considers the role of evidence in the covenantal approach to apologetics, arguing for their value in serving the work of Christian persuasion while insisting that neither argument nor evidence can bring a sinner to faith apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. Along the way, Packer reflects on Co...

What does it actually mean to fight a spiritual war? In the second installment of Dissecting the Heart, Pierce Taylor Hibbs and Alfred Poirier explore David Powlison’s approach to spiritual warfare, and why both secular psychology and deliverance ministries can miss the deepest battleground: the human heart. Rather than looking for demons to cast out or psychological explanations that remove human...

What difference should Reformed theology actually make in the counseling room? In this archival lecture, Jay Adams argues that biblical counseling must begin with the sovereignty of God and the sufficiency of his Word. Working through the five points of Calvinism, Adams explores how doctrines such as total depravity, election, particular redemption, effectual calling, and perseverance shape the Ch...

Modern culture is saturated with the language of psychology. Words like identity, trauma, boundaries, self-esteem, and triggers shape how many people understand themselves, their relationships, and even their suffering. But what happens when those categories begin to replace the Bible's own understanding of the human heart? In the first episode of this three-part series on Dissecting the Heart, a...

What does it mean to preach the whole Bible as Christian Scripture? In this lecture, former Westminster president Edmund P. Clowney turns to Jesus’ description of the scribe of the kingdom who brings from his treasure “things new and old” to explore the task of Christian preaching. For Clowney, the preacher announces something genuinely new—the arrival of God’s kingdom and the renewal of all thing...

What does apologetics have to do with preaching? In this episode of the Westminster Podcast, Nate Shannon talks with Dr. Rob Edwards about his new book, Pulpit Apologetics: A Christ-Centered Apologetic for Gospel Proclamation. Drawing on the apologetic tradition of Cornelius Van Til and his own years of pastoral ministry, Edwards argues that preaching and apologetics belong together more closely t...

What does it mean to live faithfully as a Christian in a culture that no longer shares a Christian understanding of reality? In this lecture at Westminster Theological Seminary, Dutch art historian and Christian thinker Hans Rookmaaker explores the relationship between Christianity and culture, moving from art, music, wealth, and the church to deeper questions of knowledge, certainty, and the Chri...

What role should psychology play in pastoral ministry? How did Cornelius Van Til shape the biblical counseling movement? And what is the relationship between presuppositional apologetics and soul care? In this episode, Brandon McLean Smith sits down with Jared Poulton to discuss his new book, Van Til's Counseling Movement: A Critical Analysis of Jay Adams and Biblical Counseling. Jared traces the...

In this archival chapel sermon, Old Testament scholar Tremper Longman III turns to Psalm 139 and its deeply personal portrait of God. Drawing on the Psalms as an “anatomy of the soul,” Longman explores the comfort and, at times, discomfort of being completely known by the God who searches us, surrounds us, and formed us in the womb. He also considers the conflict underlying the psalm, the psalmist...

What does the Bible mean by glorification? Is heaven merely an escape from this world, or does Scripture promise something far greater? And how does our future glory shape the Christian life today? In this concluding episode of our series on John Murray's Redemption Accomplished and Applied, Nate Shannon is joined by S.A. Fix to explore the final benefit of redemption: glorification. Together they...

How can Christians affirm a fundamental antithesis between belief and unbelief while also recognizing the genuine truth, goodness, and cultural achievements found among unbelievers? In this archival lecture from his History and Nature of Apologetics course, Cornelius Van Til explores the Reformed doctrine of common grace and its importance for Christian apologetics. Van Til explains how God's rest...

What does it mean to be united to Christ? Nate Shannon is joined by Dr. Sinclair Ferguson to discuss John Murray's climactic chapter on union with Christ, the fountain from which every saving benefit flows. Along the way, Dr. Ferguson reflects on Murray's remarkable influence as a theologian and teacher, the relationship between doctrine and piety, the Christian's union with the triune God, and th...

Can theology ever be merely academic? In this classic lecture from 2000, David Powlison argues that every doctrine is meant to shape the way Christians live. Far from being abstract speculation, theology answers the deepest questions of the human heart, directing our hopes, confronting our fears, and teaching us to interpret life through the lens of God's Word. Drawing from passages including Haba...

Can a Christian lose his salvation? In this episode of our Redemption Accomplished and Applied series, Nate Shannon is joined by Westminster alumnus and pastor Gabe Fluhrer to explore John Murray's treatment of the perseverance of the saints. Together they examine why perseverance rests not on human resolve but on God's unchanging grace, discuss the relationship between justification and assurance...

What gives the Bible its authority? In this episode we return to the Westminster archives for the opening lectures of E. J. Young's course, The Authority of Scripture. Expounding 2 Timothy 3:16, Young explains why the church's confidence in Scripture rests not on human opinion, but on the God who has breathed out his Word, offering a timeless defense of biblical authority that continues to speak w...

What does it mean to be holy? In this episode of our Redemption Accomplished and Applied series, Nate Shannon is joined by Westminster professor Rob Edwards to explore John Murray's treatment of sanctification. Together they unpack Murray's important distinction between definitive and progressive sanctification, discuss what it means to be freed from the dominion of sin, and show how Christ's deat...

In this episode we have a historic lecture from New Testament scholar Herman Ridderbos on the Christology of the Gospel of John. Engaging the influential interpretations of Rudolf Bultmann and Ernst Käsemann, Ridderbos argues that John's Gospel presents neither a merely symbolic Christ nor a diminished humanity, but the eternal Son of God who truly became flesh. Rooted in careful exegesis and bibl...

What does it mean not only to be forgiven by God, but welcomed into his family? In this episode of our Redemption Accomplished and Applied series, Nate Shannon is joined by Pastor Mark Sallade to explore John Murray's rich treatment of the doctrine of adoption. Together they discuss why adoption is a distinct benefit of redemption, how it differs from justification and regeneration, and why the Fa...

In this inaugural episode of Westminster Radio, we turn to the Westminster archives for a historic lecture from Professor John Murray on definitive sanctification. While sanctification is often understood as the believer’s gradual growth in holiness, Murray reminds us that the New Testament also, or even predominantly, speaks of sanctification as a decisive, once-for-all act of God. Rooted in unio...

What does it mean to be right with God? In this episode, Nate Shannon and Michael Christ discuss John Murray's treatment of justification, exploring why the doctrine stood at the center of the Reformation and continues to shape the Christian life today. From the holiness of God to the righteousness of Christ, this conversation highlights the grace and assurance found in the gospel. If you enjoy th...

Continuing our series on John Murray's Redemption Accomplished and Applied, Nate Shannon is joined by Harrison Perkins to discuss Murray's treatment of faith and repentance. Together they explore the nature of saving faith, the free offer of the gospel, and the lifelong call to repentance that flows from union with Christ. Along the way, they reflect on why true faith looks away from itself to Chr...

What does it mean to be born again, and why does that doctrine matter for the Christian life? In this episode, Nate Shannon and Daniel Schrock explore John Murray's treatment of regeneration, discussing the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit, the relationship between regeneration and faith, and the comfort that comes from knowing that salvation is God's work from beginning to end. Along the way, th...