Theology Unpacked

In this “Theology Unpacked” episode, Dr John Moffatt SJ explores how growing tensions within the late medieval Church, particularly the sale of indulgences, prompted Martin Luther’s challenge to papal authority and his emphasis on salvation through faith and God’s grace. As reformers placed scripture at the centre of Christian life and developed different approaches to worship and church governanc...

In this “Theology Unpacked” episode, Dr John Moffatt SJ explores how European expansion, papal authority and Renaissance humanism reshaped Christianity in the late 15th and early 16th Centuries. As classical learning challenged established traditions and reformers questioned the Church’s wealth, practices and authority, the foundations were laid for the Protestant Reformation. 📚 ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

Apologies to lovers of Italian epic for inadvertently putting Dante in the wrong century in this episode! In this “Theology Unpacked” episode, Dr John Moffatt SJ explores the restoration of papal authority and the movements for religious and intellectual reform that reshaped Western Christianity during the 15th century. The recovery of the Greek New Testament and a growing emphasis on reading Scri...

In this “Theology Unpacked” episode, Dr John Moffatt SJ explores the growing clashes between Kings, Emperors and Popes during the later Middle Ages, as political rivalries and disputes over authority challenged papal supremacy. Through figures such as Dante and William of Ockham, Dr John examines the growing desire for Church reform, alongside the emergence of new forms of personal devotion follow...

In this “Theology Unpacked” episode, Dr John Moffatt SJ explores how Bonaventure takes Joachim’s approach in a new direction, placing Christ at the centre of his interpretation of Genesis. Bonaventure reveals a millennium of Christian history hidden within the narrative of the seven days, tracing patterns that connect biblical events with the unfolding life of the church. 📣 Register for "The...

In this “Theology Unpacked” episode, Dr John Moffatt SJ explores two medieval approaches to the end time, both of which read contemporary events as part of God’s plan for history. A seventh-century Syriac apocalypse foretold that a king of Rome would reclaim Jerusalem before Christ’s return. Joachim of Fiore instead described an emerging “age of the Spirit”, in which contemplative communities offe...

In this “Theology Unpacked” episode, Dr John Moffatt SJ explores how the medieval Church sought to tolerate and tame the Spirit, distinguishing accepted forms of personal revelation from prophetic movements that threatened its teachings and structures. Through Hildegard of Bingen, Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe, he examines how vivid visions of divine love could be tested, guided and brought...

In this “Theology Unpacked” episode, Dr John Moffatt SJ explores Christian prayer and the work of the Holy Spirit, tracing how medieval Christians understood prayer as an encounter with God that could transform both the intellect and the will through consolation, love and spiritual discernment. 📚 ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore the wide range of reading materials⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  in the Heythrop Library...

In this “Theology Unpacked” episode, Dr John Moffatt SJ explores how medieval Christianity was communicated and experienced through the everyday lives of ordinary people, offering glimpses of 14th-century society in Chaucer's colourful cast of characters alongside the Church's official vision of salvation. He highlights the crucial work of the friars, whose preaching, drama, art, and pasto...

In this “Theology Unpacked” episode, Dr John Moffatt SJ explores how ordinary medieval Christians encountered the sacred through both the Church’s official sacramental life and the rich world of popular devotion, where relics, pilgrimages, charms and local traditions often existed alongside formal theology. 📚 ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore the wide range of reading materials⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  in the Hey...

In this “Theology Unpacked” episode, Dr John Moffatt SJ explores who does the thinking in the Church, tracing the shift in theological leadership from monasteries and monks to the new universities and the friars, especially the Dominicans and Franciscans, who became some of the Church's leading scholars. He explains how figures such as Peter Lombard and Thomas Aquinas developed Christian doctr...

In this “Theology Unpacked” episode, Dr John Moffatt SJ explores how the growing distinction between state law and canon law strengthened papal authority, illustrated by the conflict between Church and Crown in the case of Thomas Becket and the Church's increasing claim to govern its own affairs. It also examines how Pope Urban II used this new authority to launch the First Crusade to Jerusale...

In this “Theology Unpacked” episode, Dr John Moffatt SJ explores the growing struggle for control of the Church between the Pope and Christian monarchs, tracing the shift from imperial oversight in both East and West to the sweeping reforms of the eleventh century. He explains how Pope Gregory VII asserted the Pope as the supreme lawgiver for all Christians, claiming authority over bishops, counci...

In this “Theology Unpacked” episode, Dr John Moffatt SJ explores the intriguing story of how Christianity spread into Asia and Africa beyond the control of Constantinople and Rome, taking root through missionaries, trade and local kingdoms while developing a rich diversity of languages, liturgies and theological traditions. 📚 ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore the wide range of reading materials⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

In this “Theology Unpacked” episode, Dr John Moffatt SJ explores the rise of a new Frankish dynasty that took charge of the Latin Church, as Charlemagne and his successors forged a close alliance between emperors, popes, and monastic reform while expanding Latin Christianity across Europe. He then traces the growing struggle between imperial and papal authority, showing how reform movements, monas...

In this “Theology Unpacked” episode, Dr John Moffatt SJ explores how, between 500 and 750, the pope navigates a changing political landscape, negotiating with emperors in the East while forging new alliances with the emerging dynasties of the Latin West, as Christianity spread through kingdoms, monasteries and pilgrimage to Rome. 📚 ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore the wide range of reading materials⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

In this “Theology Unpacked” episode, Dr John Moffatt SJ explore how St Augustine of Hippo made sense of the sack of Rome, presenting the rise and fall of empires within God's universal plan and arguing that the true focus of history is the eternal destiny of individual souls rather than earthly kingdoms. He also examines how the Saxon monk Bede told the story of the Christian mission to the Englis...

In this “Theology Unpacked” episode, Dr John Moffatt SJ explores how the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, theological controversies, and new migrant kingdoms elevated the bishop of Rome into an increasingly significant political and spiritual leader. He concludes with Gregory the Great and his mission to the Saxons through Augustine of Canterbury, showing how it helped establish Christianity...

In this “Theology Unpacked” episode, Dr John Moffatt SJ examines how two Christians tell their version of history from the early centuries through Luke’s Acts of the Apostles and Eusebius’ History of the Church , presenting historical events as part of God’s unfolding plan for humanity. 📚 ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore the wide range of reading materials⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  in the Heythrop Library 🤓  ⁠⁠⁠...

In this “Theology Unpacked” episode, Dr John Moffatt SJ takes us on a race through the first 400 years of Christianity, tracing its journey in the Roman Empire from a persecuted minority to an imperial faith. He explores how bishops and church councils began to define orthodoxy, establishing shared beliefs and practices across diverse Christian communities. Councils such as First Council of Nicaea...

In this “Theology Unpacked” episode, Dr John Moffatt SJ reflect on how a faith tradition writes its ‘salvation history’ and the different ways of ‘reading a tradition’ for those who come after. 📚 ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore the wide range of reading materials⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  in the Heythrop Library 🤓  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join online or in-person courses⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  at the London Jesuit Centre If y...

In this “Theology Unpacked” episode, Dr John Moffatt SJ revisits Christian claims about resurrection in the modern era, exploring how the modern Catechism presents resurrection life with humility about the “how” and “when” of the transformed creation, while still affirming the promise of eternal life. 📚 ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore the wide range of reading materials⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  in the Heythrop...

In this “Theology Unpacked” episode, Dr John Moffatt SJ offers a first introduction to the roots of the distinctive Christian language of “sacraments,” tracing its development from the Greek mysteria and its connection to the sacred, liberating dramas of the ancient mystery religions. He then explores how baptism, the Eucharist, and other Christian rites came to be understood as participation in C...

In this “Theology Unpacked” episode, Dr John Moffatt SJ explores how Christians have understood the claim that Christ “died for us,” beginning with the rich variety of New Testament and liturgical images and tracing how these were developed in the tradition. He then examines several twentieth-century attempts to make sense of this mystery in ways meaningful to the modern world, including the renew...

In this “Theology Unpacked” episode, Dr John Moffatt SJ compares how Athanasius of Alexandria and Anselm of Canterbury connect the Incarnation with the atonement as they answer the question of why God became human. 📚 ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore the wide range of reading materials⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  in the Heythrop Library 🤓  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join online or in-person courses⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  at the Lond...