Forging Ploughshares

Paul and Jonathan Totty talk about Kierkegaard’s pseudonym Johannes Climacus, and how he travels a road very similar to Zizek and Lacan. The difference of course is that Kierkegaard moves beyond Climacus to a full blown Christianity. The question is if his criticism of Hegelian Christians as falling short applies to the contemporary scence. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to...

Paul continues his explanation of Romans 13. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music:  Bensound

Paul’s study in I John continues, this time about practicing righteousness and what it means to be born again. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music:  Bensound

Paul explains the disastrous consequences in the 20th Century brought about in part by the role modern philosophy of religion played. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music:  Bensound

Paul addresses how the Christian should respond to evil government in Romans 13. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music:  Bensound

Paul describes the keys to recognizing the false Christians among us. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music:  Bensound

What kind of dialogue does the Gospel of peace have with the state, especially in as dark a political time as the one we find ourselves in? That of obedient supporters of its agendas or of withdrawn resignation to its violence? Jason and Paul discuss the New Testament’s witness (from the Gospels and the epistles) of the Church as a radical alternative Kingdom to Caesar’s, a Kingdom whose prophetic...

Subordination is significantly different from unconditional obedience.  Was Christ “obedient” to Rome?  He was killed by Rome.  Romans 13 is not about “blind obedience to the state.”  If that was the case, the Christians would all have been worshiping Caesar.  Paul is rejecting any notion of violent revolution.  Paul has no illusions about Rome being a servant of God, though he does use corrupt na...

John poses three tests to determine orthodoxy: The moral test (How do you walk in light or darkness?), the social test (Do you continue to fellowship with the saints or are you divisive?) and the doctrinal test (Do you believe that Jesus is Lord and that he was fully human?). If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music:  Bensound

Paul discusses how our own self-image and the idolatrous image reflect a failed image. The restoration of the image in Christ is actually more of a fulfillment of an original potential. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music:  Bensound

In this study John’s opposed pairs are shown to counter dualistic notions in that one pair is always pictured as overcoming the other. Salvation is pictured as entailing a set of practices (walking in the light) that John clearly delineates. Practicing Christianity is already an idea aimed at defeating the dualistic separation of faith and practice. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider don...

Sharon Klingemann, Mazie Sinlee and Paul discuss the lost apostle – Junia. Why has she gone missing and what are the implications of a woman apostle? The discussion is based on Sharon’s research of the subject. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music:  Bensound

This conversation between Paul and Jason is inspired by Paul’s essay  The Mystery Revealed .  The conversation explores legitimate and illegitimate understandings of the mystery of Christ and focuses largely on pagan understandings of the “idol” and the contrast of the “Image of God” as described by Genesis 1. As the conversation unfolds, what emerges is an understanding of loving God and loving n...

Paul begins a Bible study on I John. This introduction covers key ideas leading to universal false teaching as represented by Gnosticism. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music:  Bensound

Paul explains how the image of God defines us. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music:  Bensound

Paul and Frank continue their conversation on house church. Topics covered in this episode include what to call “house church,” confession, disciplinary action, and integrated learning. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music:  Bensound

Paul and Jonathan Totty discuss the life of Søren Kierkegaard. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music:  Bensound

Jonathan and Catie Totty visit and discuss mysticism within Eastern Orthodoxy, specifically Vladimir Lossky, and their baby joins the dialog. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music:  Bensound

Paul and Frank begin a conversation about house church. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music:  Bensound

Paul concludes the study of Galatians. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music:  Bensound

Paul demonstrates how the Holy Spirit overcomes the various socio-cultural and personal barriers so as to bring about unity. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music:  Bensound

Ryan, in an unusual move, combines Pauline theology and the Book of Revelation with the peaceable living of agrarianism. He talks about Wendell Berry’s agrarian pacifism, it’s a sort of rooted peaceableness. In my mind, I can’t imagine anything more peaceable than rooting oneself on a piece of land, committing oneself and one’s family to live in tune with that place and embodying the gospel by you...

Paul compares the two economies presented in Galatians. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music:  Bensound

Paul interviews Michael Householder, who practices a very different “church growth” system than what we normally see in consumer-oriented mega-churches. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music:  Bensound

That we have entered into this millennial kingdom in and through Christ—what should mean for us in our immediate experience is that we’re no longer desperate to save ourselves. If we understand the human enterprise—the kingdoms of this world—what are they all about? Well, they’re in the business of securing themselves. They’rein the business of saving themselves. And that is the desperate need tha...