Freely Given

We are excited to discuss David Zahl's book "Low Anthropology." Gretchen Ronnevik and Katie Koplin heard him speak last fall (you can watch his talk HERE .)  Though it can feel sometimes like having a low anthropology is mean or making excuses for poor behavior. In fact, it's living out the reality of not only the reality of sin, but the limitedness of human nature. We are not god. This book talks...

As we work through some prescriptive vs descriptive passages of the Bible, especially in regard to women, we start with Tamar, and how she falls in line to Jesus' geneology. This is a strange story involving Judah being an unintentional kinsman redeemer, not by choice, but by thinking he's picking up a prostitute. Tamar was not cared for by the men who were entrusted with her care, and she fought...

We are preparing for summer, and sharing our summer book club picks, and then talking about the conference on Galatians that 1517 just had in Arkansas. We talk a bit about the circumcision debate, our tendency toward legalism, and how we even often prefer using softer language than the Bible. Gretchen shares her illustrations from her presentation on Galatians 2, on how legalism is putting creatio...

This is our monthly book club episode, where we discuss "Giants in the Earth" by O.E. Rölvaag. This novel was originally written in Norwegian, and translated to English in the 1920s. This is a story of Norwegian immigrants, crossing the prairie, and finding a new life in a new country. This is not the "Hallmark version" of the immigrants. Reading this book, you can see the midwest culture develop...

Have you ever heard the illustration about the janitor in heaven? In this episode Gretchen Ronnevik and Katie Koplin what it means to "store up your treasures in heaven." This ties in with discussions on sanctification and vocation. What are our good works for? Are they even worth?  We talk about a lot of attitudes around work and how those attitudes effect how we see grace.  Support the work of 1...

Gretchen and Katie are back together to talk about how the resurrection impacts daily life. While apologetics are important, to analyze "if" the resurrection happened, this episode is the step beyond that, and asks how the resurrection changes our outlook and our daily interactions. We talk about the temptation to want to use God, either for political or personal reasons, and how the resurrection...

Joy isn't getting what you want when you want it. We can't produce joy, but we can  produce pleasure, but we often get those two things confused. Defining what joy is helps us understand what it is, and what it isn't. Katie Koplin and Gretchen Ronnevik talk about how it relates to suffering, and how it stands up in suffering. The Bible talks about joy and suffering together. Like all things, it co...

What is the difference of being a theology of the cross, and the theology of glory? Gretchen Ronnevik and Katie Koplin talk about what it means to have the cross as the center of your theology. We talk about Luther's Heidelberg Disputaitons of 1518, a year after he posted the 95 thesis, and why it was so revolutionary and contrary to what the church was teaching at the time. This is the center of...

Oftentimes we interpret our prayers through the lens of our emotions, or our passion behind the prayers we pray. When those prayers aren't answered the way we want, we examine the level of passion, or our method of prayer, to see what needs to be fixed. Gretchen Ronnevik and Katie Koplin talk about the woman who was bleeding, as well as other stories of healing, to examine the connection between f...

Our monthly book club has returned, and we are discussing Michelle DeRusha's book "Katharina and Martin Luther: the Radical Marriage of a Runaway Nun and a Renegade Monk." If you can't tell, Gretchen and Katie enjoyed this book immensely, and found this book to be a page turner.  This is a story of the rubber meeting the road, when it comes to the theology of Martin Luther. Katharina or "Katie" as...

Everyone feels awkward praying. Performance anxiety and perfectionism can paralyze us in prayer. Praying is not about us, it's about Christ for us. Katie Koplin and Gretchen Ronnevik talk about wrestling through prayer, and finding rest in Christ. They talk about how our failure is a gift, and how the Holy Spirit is interpreting and correcting our prayers. This upsidedown kingdom of God's puts his...

Is Proverbs 31 inspiring or burdening to women? Is it a passage that's just for women? What do you think when you think about Proverbs 31? Where is the gospel in this passage? We have on Hebrew scholar, Chad Bird, to discuss Christ in the Old Testament--even in Proverbs 31. He shares how this church applies not only to women, but to the whole church, and how Christ is wisdom personified. This epis...

What if you could have a conversation with someone who was theologically sound, a great communicator, and an experienced licensed therapist to talk about the emotions we struggle with, and what to do with them?  Gretchen Ronnevik and Katie Koplin were fortunate enough to get back on Heidi Goehmann to talk about her new book: " Emotions and the Gospel ." She gives a ton of gospel for our emotions,...

Sometimes our resistence to forgiveness is that we are attempting to give Christ-less grace. A lot of times this shows up in "forgiving yourself" or brushing sin under the rug, and dismissing it in the name of "grace."  Does grace mean that sin doesn't matter? Is downplaying sin giving more grace or less? Gretchen Ronnevik and Katie Koplin talk about why true grace is from Christ, and why downplay...

This is the first of our monthly BONUS episodes for our Freely Given book club. Gretchen Ronnevik and Katie Koplin are discussing the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis this month. This book has a lot of law in it, as fictionally one demon is coaching another demon how to trip up Christians. True to form, the accuser does a lot of accusing. We talk a lot about different ways truth can be obscured, as...

Gretchen Ronnevik and Katie Koplin continue their conversation with historian Dan vanVoorhis about the history of revivals. We cut into this conversation asking the question: is revivalism something for the young? Does it hit a certain demographic of psychological development differently? Does growing older and have different vocations mean that we are not "on fire for the Lord." We consider the n...

We invited church historian, Dan van Voorhis, to come and talk to us about the history of revivalism. What is a revival? Are we in a revival right now? He talks about the first Great Awakening, and the second Great Awakening, and the mindsets and theology that came out of those movements. He talks about a spectrum in our definitions of revivals, from Pentecostal to Methodist, and the historical cr...

In this episode, Gretchen Ronnevik and Katie Koplin discuss some of their favorite poems, and how poetry helps us understand theological concepts that are difficult to understand through different means. The look at poetry that examines things like eternity, the idea of being wild or tame, the nature of patience, what is sacred and desecrated, and the myth of free will. They ponder several poems o...

How can you tell if you are lamenting or complaining all the time? The Bible invites us to lament, and tells us not to complain. Is this a contradiction?  In this episode Gretchen and Katie talk about "calling a thing what it is" when it comes to things that we are upset about. We look at the difference between grumbling and complaining and lamenting to God--bringing our pain straight to him. We t...

"An apology is a promise to never do it again." In this episode we disucss this common phrase, and the differnece between a confession and an apology. We talk about the difference between horizontal forgiveness, and vertical forgiveness.  We talk about the necessity of apology, and what it really means to forgive, the freedom to "go in peace" and how what it means when you struggle to heal.   Kati...

Gretchen and Katie talk about what happens when we focus on our pietism in ways that often hurt our neighbors. How does this happen? They talk about how freedom points to the gospel, and how uncomfortable freedom is for the pietist. In this system, your reputation is the gospel, and keeping your reputation is seen as the same as either fulfilling the law, or telling people about God. In this syste...

Does it ever feel like you just can't be a good enough Christian, or do all the things you want to do? In this episode we define piety and Pietism, and the difference between them. We talk about the pietism and spiritual practices of monks and nuns, and what Luther wrote about it, and ask the question: "when is our obsession with 'being a good Christian' actually rob us of our rest in Christ?" Doe...

Gretchen and Katie are finally back together, and they have a lot of catching up to do. We talk about trying to find our New Year's "word of the year." We talk about looking ahead to the next year, and what God has been teaching us. Gretchen talks about people pleasing and identifying as Eustace Scrubb. We discuss navigating big family changes, and bracing for what we don't know.  There's a couple...

As Gretchen is (stuck) on the road, we thought it would be fun to interview her oldest daughter, Silje, about what it's like being a college kid and looking for a church. We asked for questions from Twitter followers, mostly surrounding how churches can reach out to and encourage young adults. Silje talks about the importance of being intentional, not just in regard to reaching young adults, but s...

We are continuing to discuss the philosophies from "The Good Place." In this episode, we talk about the need for our redemption to come from outside of ourselves. We talk about sink holes in our lives, and trying to pretend that we are enough. We talk about the shallowness of affirmations to redeem, and the characters each struggling through facing who they really are. We talk about the torture of...