Banned Books

Featured text: "Myth is the Ghost of Concrete Meaning" — Owen Barfield Little Plastic Castles. In this episode, we read the first Inkling, Owen Barfield, as he defends the use of old words, old stories, and old ways of expressing what's good, beautiful, and true against modern proponents that argued for more modern "scientific" ways of judging language, esp., poetics and myth, as well as religion...

Featured text: "A Litany and the Horae Cononicae" — W.H. Auden Liturgy Amongst the Rubble. In this episode, we read poems by W.H. Auden about pulp fiction, ancient myths, conversion, liturgy, poetics, and how industrialization and corporatism build a new Babel inside and around the churches. SHOW NOTES:   WH. Auden Bio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._H._Auden The Orators (1932) https://archive.or...

Featured text: "Remembering Your Baptism" — Kathryn Morales Wetly All the Way. In this episode, we visit with author Kathryn Morales about her new book, Remembering Your Baptism. We discuss who should be baptized and why. How many times does someone need to be baptized? Can someone fall away from baptism, and what if someone doubts that baptism saves them from judgment and death? This and much, mu...

Featured text: "The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien" — J.R.R. Tolkien Got A Machine Head. In this episode, we read J.R.R. Tolkien's letter to his son, Christopher, about a question of Genesis' unfashionable status amongst Christians and those who value beautiful 'stories.' He also discusses Eden as it was, as it is to faith, and will be on the last day, the war of the machine, its triumph, and the conse...

The Secret of My Success. In this episode, we answer a listener's question about success and the Christian life. How does one measure success? What about when we fail? Is that God's will? How does the cross inform the Christian definition of success? This and much, much more on today's Christian podcast! SHOW NOTES:   BBC4 - In Our Time, Dragons https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002dzy4 Hobbes - L...

Featured text: "Luther's Outlaw God" — Steven Paulson You've Got to Hide Your Love Away. In this episode, we read the Outlaw God and discuss the hidden life of a Christian. How are Christians to understand the living Word, or Christ crucified before Adam and Eve, or being called into vocations that serve the kingdom of life rather than a culture of death? SHOW NOTES:   Steven Paulson - Outlaw God...

What Do You Mean, There's More to This? In this episode, we answer a listener's question about Taylor Swift that leads us into a conversation about symbols and meaning, religious iconography, wild truth, and seeing reality through what's occurring in the sacraments. SHOW NOTES:   Tolkein - The monsters and the critics, and other essays https://archive.org/details/monsterscriticso0000tolk Martin Lu...

Featured text: "Luther's Outlaw God" — Steven Paulson Little Willy Plays in Duty. In this episode, we read Steven Paulson's Outlaw God, discussing the appeal of the Law (in the abstract), why old Adam loves pretending he has free will, the Ninevite Conundrum, Jonah's wormy preacher, and our obsession with placing therapy alongside Christ as a means of grace. SHOW NOTES:   Steven Paulson - Outlaw G...

Featured text: "Civil Disobedience" — Henry David Thoreau The Long and Winding Road. In this episode, we answer another listener's question about civil disobedience, understanding the tension for old Adam that's inherent within the two kingdoms doctrine, and we go down a bunch of alleyways picking through conspiracies, immigration, war, colonialism, and ice cream coveting. SHOW NOTES:   The Night...

Featured text: "Luther's Outlaw God" — Steven Paulson All That and A Bag of Chips. In this episode, we return to Steven Paulson's book, The Outlaw God. We discuss law and Gospel, why God sends a preacher, why we hate Christ preached, and what therapy can do for the walking dead. SHOW NOTES:   Steven Paulson - Outlaw God https://amzn.to/4kHmP8s   Outlaw God Podcast https://www.1517.org/podcasts/out...

Just Answer the Question. In this episode, we answer listener questions, specifically active and passive choices, active and passive righteousness, election and the bondage of the will, addiction, the limits of Alcoholics Anonymous, and the ultimate Good we all seek, and much, much more. More from 1517: Support 1517 Podcast Network: https://www.1517.org/donate-podcasts 1517 Podcasts : http://www.1...

Featured text: "Luther's Outlaw God" — Steven Paulson Strong Words for a Strong Word. In this episode, we read Steven Paulson's book, The Outlaw God. We discuss preaching, doing God's Word to listeners, calling out curses and blessing confessions, using strong words to expose and condemn the devil and the world, and much, much more. SHOW NOTES:   Steven Paulson - Outlaw God https://amzn.to/4kHmP8s...

Featured text: "Table Talk" — Martin Luther I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm. In this episode, we discuss how pre-modern church history, the Industrial Revolution, therapeutics, language, corporate culture, and the flight of heretics from Europe in the 17th-18th century affected contemporary Western churches. SHOW NOTES:   The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age h...

Featured text: "What Is the Church?" — Tim Keller Come Together, Right Now… In this episode, we read from Tim Keller's sermon, which asks, "What is the Church?" We discuss the relationship between churches and culture, what the church is and isn't, where we locate faith, whether Christian faith changes one's values, and much more. SHOW NOTES:   A Vision for a Gospel Centered Life by Dr. Timothy Ke...

Featured text: "Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, Article XI: Concerning the Eternal Predestination and Election of God" Burning Down The House. In this episode, we continue our discussion of election, addressing the certainty of election, how we are chosen, the human limits of perseverance in faith, why the pope is a bad example of Christian piety, and how old Adam tries to invert election b...

Featured text: "Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, Article XI: Concerning the Eternal Predestination and Election of God" Somebody Told Me. In this episode, we read the Book of Concord on election, and discuss why God chooses to forgive all people on the cross, why some reject the gospel, why Lutherans reject double predestination, what the consequences are to trust that we are always justifie...

Featured text: "The Power and Primacy of the Pope" — Philip Melanchthon Over And Done With. In this episode, we read Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope and discuss the validity of the papacy's claims to divine authority, the response of Lutherans and Protestants to the death of Pope Francis, how to love one's neighbor while disagreeing with them, the distinction between heterodoxy and h...

Featured text: "Complete Sermons of Martin Luther" — Martin Luther Sunday Bloody Sunday In this episode, we read Martin Luther's sermon for Maundy Thursday (1534), discussing the Lord's Supper, polity, sacramental piety, fellowship, election, and all the rabbit trails we follow… SHOW NOTES:   Complete Sermons of Martin Luther - Klug https://duckduckgo.com/?q=complete+sermons+of+martin+luther+klug&...

Featured text: "Adiaphora and Tyranny" — Matthias Flacius Can't You See. In this episode, we read the Lutheran theologian Matthias Flacius, and discuss inter-church debates, the Lord's Supper as ground zero for most church conflicts, the consequences of compromise in matters of faith, the limits of love, and when it's time to push away from the table and go into prayer. SHOW NOTES:   Adiaphora and...

Featured text: "Adiaphora and Tyranny" — Matthias Flacius Kick Out the Jams. In this episode, we focus on the raw, real work of life in the parish—the ordinary burdens, the hidden insecurities, and the quiet faith that holds it all together. We explore the distinction between philosophy and theology and why attempts to fuse them often leave both diminished. There's talk of reformation—its drama, i...

Featured text: "Great Commission, Great Confusion, or Great Confession?" — Lucas Woodford Hey, Hey, What Can I Do? In this episode, we read Lucas Woodford's book, Great Commission, Great Confusion, or Great Confession? and discuss the Great Commission, evangelism, the radical gospel, the purpose of the church's preaching about Jesus, post-modern consumerism, and many, many rabbit trails into uncha...

Featured text: "Under the Unpredictable Plant: An Exploration in Vocational Holiness" — Eugene H. Peterson First It Giveth. In this episode, we discuss Jonah's vocation, gospel imagination, dogmatic materialism, spell casting, the contemporary effects of the Industrial Revolution, and God's preference for wasted places while reading Eugene Peterson's Under the Unpredictable Plant: An Exploration i...

Featured text: "The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien" — J.R.R. Tolkien And so it begins. In this episode, we read the letters of J.R.R. Tolkien for Lent. We discuss sin and mercy, Eden and scientific materialism, ecumenism and cults, and much more! SHOW NOTES:   The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien https://amzn.to/3FbRqLS   Shelby Foote https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_Foote Phrygian Mode https://en.wikiped...

Featured text: "The Impossible Prize: A Theology of Addiction" — Donavon Riley The Impossible Prize In this episode, we explore The Impossible Prize: A Theology of Addiction, a forthcoming book that examines addiction not just as a habit or illness, but as a form of misplaced worship. We discuss how addiction draws us toward false gods, demanding our devotion and shaping our lives in ways we barel...

Featured text: "Oration, Meditatio, Tentatio" — John Kleinig Who Made Who? Today, we read an essay by Rev. Dr. John Kleinig about what makes a theologian. Dr. Kleinig explains Martin Luther's threefold description of how the master of theology, the Holy Spirit, makes one a theologian through contemplative prayer, meditating on Scripture within the communion of saints, and being translated into the...