On Becoming

In this episode, we consider the way in which Evangelicals hold on to their beliefs. In effect, there is very little room for questioning. Those who find themselves with doubts are often accused of lacking faith. But the ability to question and examine beliefs is crucial to being a thinking person. 

Confession of sin is an integral part of the Evangelical experience. It's there from the moment you 'pray the prayer'. But, in this episode, I consider how confession works in the Evangelical world and how confessions often end up being celebrated. 

We continue our examination of Evangelicalism through the ‘cult’ lens with this episode on the expectation of purity. You’ll most likely discover some things about Evangelicalism that will surprise you—such as how dispensationalism results in a strikingly different reading of the Sermon on the Mount (probably the best known of Jesus’ teachings).

In this episode, we consider the extent to which Evangelicalism is manipulative. Do Evangelical leaders (pastors, evangelists) realise that they are manipulating people? Or does this happen in a way that is less obvious to everyone involved? Or does it even happen at all? As always, my goal is to put in front you what I'm able to see and let you decide for yourself.

In this episode, we consider the first of eight characteristics of 'cults'. Milieu control is a way in which groups provide limits to what members can say, read, view, or even think. Such control happens all the time, in groups of all sorts. But the question is: at what point (if at all) does such control become 'cultish' in nature?

With this episode, we begin a series examining Evangelicalism using the rubric of 'cult'.  This first episode is designed as an introduction to the notion 'cult'. We consider various things and ways in which they could be said to be 'cultish'.

In this episode, I look back to my years growing up. I hope you'll find my reflections interesting on their own. However, many aspects of this episode will be expanded in episodes to come, so it will give you an idea of where we'll be going.

In this episode, I consider how Jesus deconstructs the religious teachings of his day. We begin with a short excursion on the brain, particularly on how the right hemisphere is where we experience things in context. Then we turn to Jesus' deconstruction. With that example, we then consider deconstruction and its role.

On this episode, we have the treat of hearing from Professor John D. Caputo. As you'll hear in the interview, I've asked him to tell us about his own intellectual and religious development.

Have you ever wondered where all the customs that surround Christmas came from? You likely have heard that Christmas picks up on certain 'pagan' customs. But the story is much more interesting than that. In this episode, we consider how many centuries it took for the celebration of Jesus' birth to take the form it now has. It's a fascinating story.

It's an old question, but there are some fascinating new answers. In this episode, we explore how we make moral judgments. We consider the  evidence for the idea that morality is something we know intuitively. Our moral judgments are strongly affected by our community and tradition. Precisely because morality is based in our emotions (our 'sentiments' as some philosophers called it), having a rati...

The French philosopher Michel Foucault spent much of his career analysing how power works in society. In this episode, I unpack his ideas about how 'discourses' (really, anything in which humans interact) work by considering various examples, including a current Supreme Court case.

Perhaps the most effective strategy for silencing someone you don't like is to accuse him or her of being 'demonic' or in league with the devil. It doesn't matter, in such a case, whether the devil is real or not. Calling someone 'satanic' makes meaningful conversation impossible.

In this episode, I discuss the book Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World. It is a long and well informed history of Christianity. But the focus of the author, Tom Holland, is particularly on how deeply western society has been influenced by Christianity, so much so that our current cultural differences are not disagreements between Christianity and the secular but differences be...

How does one find meaning and purpose in life? Is there something like 'the meaning of life'? Prof. Treanor has written a rich and thoroughly engaging book, one that engages with questions about nihilism and relativism but points us toward hope and love. In this episode, Dr Treanor elaborates on his idea of joy tinged with melancholy.

You've probably never thought that the workplace could be a cult. After all, we usually assume that cults are strange religious things. But, in this episode, I consider the case laid out by Carolyn Chen that many of the tech firms in Silicon Valley perfectly fit the definition of a cult. Her book is titled Work Pray Code: How Work Becomes Religion in Silicon Valley. She doesn't argue that work is...

Does it sound crazy to you that football (in both the American sense and the way the rest of the world uses the term) can be considered a religion? In this episode, we consider how football functions as a religion for many people. Along the way, I have important things to say about the human brain and how we come to our values--the things that really matter to us. I'll also be showing both how and...

Although many of my listeners live in someplace other than the United States, I've chosen to add an 'extra' podcast to discuss the race in the state of Georgia between Herschel Walker and Raphael Warnock. What might seem to be simply a contest between two people running for the US senate turns out to be a study in how Evangelicals portray themselves as the 'true' Christians. But I argue that Warno...

Most people assume that religion and evolution are seriously at odds with one another. However, in this podcast you'll come to see how religion played a highly significant role in our evolution as human beings. Indeed, religion seems to be one of the major factors in the development of human language and it's hard to imagine that human beings could have developed so significantly apart from religi...

Everyone knows what religion is. Or do we? In this episode, we'll take a look at how our conception of religion developed over many centuries. We'll discover that the term 'religion' is based on the Latin term 'religio', a term that offers important clues for how we might re-think the very notion of religion.

Is Chrisitianity finished in the US? The most recent Pew Report on religion in the United States shows that Christianity is in a steep decline. In this podcast, I examine the stats and consider what this means for the future of Christianity. 

In this episode, we consider how practice and doctrine relate in Christianity. I argue that practice is foremost.

How does one become a follower of Jesus? In this episode, we examine the surprising and complex things that Jesus says about following him.

In this episode, I use the interview with Russell Moore as a springboard for my own thoughts regarding Evangelicalism.

An introduction to the podcast