Faith Still Seeking

The Who, Where, and When of the origins of the four Biblical Gospels. Continuing in the series getting to the heart of the "good news," Kelly examines the historical context, authorship, and transmission of these core texts about Jesus' life, ministry, death, and resurrection. Topics include: Authorship of the Gospels Historical context of the Gospels Transmission of oral traditions...

We use the term “the Gospel” a lot in Christian circles, but how often do we think about what it really means? Yes, as we’ve all heard, it means “Good News,” but what is the CONTENT of that news?  Throughout Christian history, theologians and ministers have interpreted the Gospel to mean different things. Is it individual salvation for the sinner? Entire sanctification and holiness of the believer...

A peace, love, and justice-loving progressive takes on traditional doctrines about an angry god--and makes some surprising discoveries along the way. I would love to just ignore all the mentions of wrath, but it would be hard to do without cutting the Bible to pieces. In this episode, I talk about the arguments for and against thinking about God’s attitude toward us as “Wrath,” as well as the plac...

Wars, weather disasters, plagues, technological threats...some interpret these as signs of the approaching end, specifically the Rapture & a futurist unfolding of the book of Revelation. But do these “dispensationalist” readings of the Bible miss the mark? Author/speaker/teacher Keith Giles joins me to unpack the short history of dispensationalist thinking, the ways that theologians viewed Rev...

A meditation on superheroes and theology. Using the unboxing of my Daredevil action figure as a launching point (which many would say is blasphemous on its own--it loses its value out of the box!), I reflect on the superheroes I've admired through my life and how their stories intertwine with my faith. I consider the noble sacrifice of Superman, the torn nature of the Hulk, the broken faith of...

You know all about Hell. Fire. Torment. Gnashing teeth. All the images we inherited from Dante, Milton, and "Chick Tracts." But where did those images come from? The Hebrew Bible has Sheol and the Greeks had Hades, but when Jesus said "Gehenna," it was a fiery new thing. What did he mean? Was it real or metaphor? Did his listeners know what he was talking about? How did the ide...

Kelly is grateful to welcome Matthew Distefano and Keith Giles, co-authors of the newly released "Reading Romans Right" (Quoir publishing). For many Christians (and non-Christians as well), Paul's teachings in Romans and other New Testament letters have long been a source of tension. Yes, Paul introduces grace by faith, but at what cost? Paul has long been accused of misogyny, homophobia, fosterin...

The KINGDOM is at HAND! It was so surprised to find out that's what the Gospels really said. After a lifetime of thinking of the Gospel as being focused on my sin and individual salvation, I finally read what Jesus said on the page and it was totally different than I thought. It was announcing the Kingdom of God, which is quickly approaching but also has already started, and establishes God’s rule...

So if I want to find out what’s true about Christianity, where do I go? The Bible? The Church? Theologians and thinkers? Prayer and meditation? My heart? My MIND? In this episode, Kelly explores the Prolegomena of theology, namely, what assumptions and other prior knowledge one needs to know more. This episode specifically focuses on the sources of theology. Does it come from the Bible alone? What...

I'm so glad to finally have a chance to talk with Steev RX, musician and entertainer, whose song "Purpose" is the theme song of this show! Steev RX is a talented musician, "blending his original southwest emo roots with current trap and alt pop music to create his own unique sound." He is also a longtime worship leader, and talks about his commitment to being an authentic presence in church, imper...

Faith Still Seeking--Christian Theology, No Certainty Required. A series about Christian Theology (by someone who doesn't have it all figured out yet--but it hasn't stopped me from trying!) Kelly Wilson is a writer, podcaster, and the co-creator/co-host of the podcast Radical Love Live. Kelly is a lifelong student of theology, a committed Christ-follower, and confirmed Episcopalian who lives in th...

Who or what is the Devil? Our culture has strong ideas about Christian teaching, and its view of Satan is no exception. We have seen the images our whole lives, from the red-skinned horned master demon ruling over Hell with his pitchfork to the sly serpent who sells us sinfully delicious deserts to the handsome seductive tempter who lures us with sparkling promises to our doom. We’ve heard of the...

There is not just one way to read a Bible. I thought I had it figured out when I was a kid—our church had it right and everyone else’s had it wrong. I didn’t know how they could miss the plain truth. It was RIGHT THERE ON THE PAGE, if they would only read it with open, faithful eyes. And then it happened. I was introduced to MIRACLES. Never before had I experienced the outpouring of the Holy Spiri...

Are science and religion natural enemies? Or can the methods of scientific inquiry help measure the truth of religious claims, although they are mostly based in words and feelings? This is a wide ranging exploration of the compatibility of religious and scientific thought, and the potential for cutting through bias and assumptions to a resilient faith, featuring quotes from a variety of sources, i...

When salvation as I understood it stopped working for me, I had work out my own salvation based on what I understood. In this episode I summarize the version of salvation I learned as a child, which is probably very familiar to anyone from conservative evangelical traditions. I examine the questions I had about the logic and mechanics and justice of salvation, which became major stumbling blocks t...

(NEW EPISODE) This episode explores the dynamic tension between faith and reason. Religion asks us to believe things we can't prove with scientific evidence, but science doesn't rule out the mystical and experiential. How does a person have an honest faith that is also intellectually rigorous? Kelly Wilson is a writer, podcaster, and the co-creator/co-host (with Mark Dilcom) of the podcast Radical...

The first episode of the new podcast "Faith Still Seeking" from writer and perpetual student of theology, Kelly Wilson (he/him). This is the beginning of an earnest, curious, sometimes irreverent exploration of the core ideas of Christianity from the point of view of a faith that still has a lot of questions. In this episode, Kelly shares his background from fundamentalist Evangelicalism though in...