Faith at the Frontiers

How can national constitutions persecute religious minorities? What would motivate them to do so, and is this motivation really Christian? These questions and others are addressed by Marietta van der Tol in her book, Constitutional Intolerance  (CUP, 2025) . In this episode, Barney and Austin draw out some of Marietta’s key insights not only in this book but other of her publications. Thanks to Ja...

In this episode, Austin & Barney discuss the key takeaways and insights from the series on Exvangelicalism, and introduce the topic of our next series: Christian Nationalism! Watch this space for interviews with world experts across the spectrum of political opinions on this urgent and controversial topic! Thanks to Jamie Maule for sound engineering!

Next up in our Exvangelicalism series, Karen Swallow Prior outlines some of the images that have shaped the social imaginary of evangelicals—for good and ill—and how that has impacted the experiences of exvangelicals . She is the author of The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images, and Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis (Brazos, 2024).

Another episode in our Exvangelicalism series, Sarah McCammon shares her story and her research on those who leave the American Evangelical church, to produce a powerful and insightful insider account of the exvangelical experience. Today is the launch day of the paperback edition of Sarah's book, The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church (Macmillan: 2024) . Click...

The second in our mini-series on Exvangelicalism. Emma Feyas is a PhD candidate researching exvangelicalism. She tells us about the history of the movement and provides insights both from scholarship and from her own experiences.

The first in our mini-series on Exvangelicalism. It makes sense to start by asking what Evangelicalism is! Professor Mark Noll is one of the world’s leading experts on the history of Evangelicalism. In this interview, we ask him questions like: When did Evangelicalism begin? How has the word “Evangelical” changed its meaning over time? Why have people abandoned Evangelicalism in the past? Thanks t...

Over 400 million people in the world are classed as Evangelicals. In the USA, their association with the Republican Party has led to a lot of people rejecting the label and yet remaining quasi-Evangelical in their spirituality. Since 2016 they have come to be known as “Exvangelicals” or “Post-Evangelicals.” Who are they and why are they significant for global Christianity? How are they putting pre...

Is science or history a greater challenge to faith? In this episode, Austin argues that history is a far greater challenge than science. In that light, we review our long series on history and bring it to a close.

What is tradition and how might it help us deal with both the good and bad in the history of Christianity? Dr Anne Carpenter is Danforth Chair in Theological Studies at St Louis University and the author of 'Nothing Gained is Eternal: A Theology of Tradition."

What is colonialism and how should white Western Christians think about their own involvement in it? How do we respond, whether Christian or not, to the trajectories of power laid down by our colonial past? Prof. Willie James Jennings is one of the leading voices in postcolonial theology. We are hono(u)red to have him join us in our first discussion on this thorny topic. Thanks to Jamie Maule for...

Our second episode on religious violence, with Dr. Matthew Rowley , author of God, Religious Extremism, and Violence . Dr. Rowley talks about how we should criticize our own tradition first, approaching everything with curiosity and humility. He also questions ideas about what it means to be an "extremist" and whether that's really a bad thing? Thanks to Jamie Maule for sound enginee...

Does religion cause violence? It's a common notion today, but Professor William Cavanaugh challenges it in an incisive way. Who stands to gain from this idea? Who benefits from laying the blame for violence at the feet of religion? And what definition of 'religion' is operative here? Thanks to Jamie Maule for editing this video!

An interlude (sort of) in the middle of our present series. It does not address a historical challenge, but starts from the other end. What can Christians do today in responding to these challenges? Barney interviews Professor Mark Glanville of Regent College, Vancouver, on his latest book, Improvising Church . We discuss questions like: How can the Bible speak meaningfully to new situations Chris...

Everyone has heard of the Spanish Inquisition. But how accurate is the popular understanding of it? What really happened and how does it reflect on Christianity? Is this an episode Christians should repent of? What lessons can we learn for the modern day? These questions and others are discussed in today’s episode. Austin and Barney are joined by Dr. Dennis Castillo who teaches Church History at S...

Continuing our “Faith and the challenges of history” series, we turn from biblical history to later history. First of all we want to tackle the crusades, one of the most frequently mentioned in debates about the authenticity of Christian claims to bring peace and justice. We have invited Dr. Mike Horswell to join us in this discussion. He has spent many years studying not only the crusades, but co...

It's a big event: our own podcast co-host's first published book: Austin Stevenson, The Consciousness of the Historical Jesus (T&T Clark: 2024) . The book discusses questions like: What is the movement called 'the historical Jesus' and how should Christians think about it? How does our own way of doing history depend on our understanding of what it means to be human? How can we...

Is our New Testament the same as the original texts written in the first century? How do we know which manuscripts to trust, and who does the work of deciding? What are the implications of the fact that the biblical text itself has a history? In this episode, we discuss these questions and more with Dr Jesse Grenz, Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies at Palm Beach Atlantic University. Thanks t...

Does the Bible value women? Does it make sense to call God ‘Father’ from a feminist perspective? Why did God create gender difference in the first place? These questions and many more are tackled by Dr. Amy Peeler, New Testament Professor at Wheaton College. Dr. Peeler has recently published Women and the Gender of God which goes into these issues in more depth. Thanks to Jamie Maule for sound edi...

In this episode we talk with Prof Michael J Gorman , New Testament Scholar and author of nearly twenty books including several major works on Paul. In this discussion, Prof Gorman draws a distinction between historical criticism and the historical critical method. He argues that understanding the original context is necessary, but not sufficient when it comes to interpreting the Bible today.

Austin and Barney go back over the last few episodes and share our thoughts. What did we learn? What did we disagree with? How do we compare and contrast the Bible scholars and theologians we've interviewed so far? What do YOU think though? Email us your thoughts at whatdoyouthink (at) faithatthefrontiers.com and we'll dialogue with you in future episodes! This is NOT the end of ‘faith and...

So many Bible scholars and methods claim to be ‘historical’, but are they all the same? In this episode, Barney and Austin interview Professor Matthew J Thomas , who has come up with a taxonomy of FOUR methods for reading the Bible that are currently prevalent in scholarship: Simple historical exegesis: interpreting the Bible with attention to its cultural and historical context. Investigating the...

Austin and Barney interview theologian Dr Seth Heringer , who describes the development of modern historical methods and how these methods have impacted theology. We consider the ways in which not only the results of historical research, but the principles of the historical method themselves might stand at odds with theology. If history isn't as neutral a discipline as it seems, does that open...

Barney and Austin interview Old Testament Professor Iain Provan, who takes a different view to our previous guests on the historical reliability of the Bible. For him, there is every reason to trust the Bible's authors, and no reason not to trust them. Provan also suggests that: The very idea of history comes from the Old Testament There is no 'neutral' way of reading the Bible: there...

Austin and Barney interview Professor Emeritus Hugh Williamson of Oxford University on how his faith relates to historical enquiry about the Old Testament. We discuss questions like: How does Prof. Williamson hold together his identity as a scholar and his faith as a Christian? Does he ever see a conflict between them? What does the historical study of the Bible do for one's faith? What histor...

Is the Old Testament historically reliable? What difference does that question make to our faith? What do we mean by 'historical' and 'reliable' anyway? In this episode, Barney and Austin interview Professor John Goldingay, a retired Old Testament scholar enormously influential in the Evangelical tradition. Prof. Goldingay shares his thoughts about the relationship between faith an...