From Babylon, With Love

We’re back with our second installment of podding through Joshua Gibbs’s book How to Be Unlucky! Join Laura and I as we talk about what it means to pursue maturity.

In our first episode on Joshua Gibbs’s book, How to be Unlucky, Laura and I tackle the place of goodness and the conversation around goodness in the life of Christian adults.

Well, I have never been accused of being punctual, but it’s here! Join myself and my intrepid (long-suffering) co-host, Laura Hashimov, as we recap our summer and chart the pod path forward for this new season. It’s good to be back. Put your feet up, pour a cup of something refreshing, and pretend, just for a moment, summer ended last week… Let’s pod!

God bless Zak Salazar.

Lore! Lore! LORE! And some hot takes on the Rings of Power! The Only Dan Bellum brings us into the world of the Silmarillion, Tolkien’s sweeping epic myth-history of Middle Earth which undergirds the better-known stories of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and yes, The Rings of Power. Let’s follow Daniel into the ancient library as he blows the dust off this epic tome and tells us th...

Pour yourself a nice cup of coffee or tea, my friends, stir the fire, put your feet up–it’s time to return to the reading room. From time to time on the pod, we like to dive more deeply into a particular author or work of literature, and this season is no exception. Join myself and The Only Dan Bellum as we explore the roots of the world J.R.R. Tolkien created in The Hobbit and The Lor...

On this episode, Laura takes over the hosting duties as she interviews me about my reasons for leading Zoe Church to be a house church. My hope and prayer, whether you find yourself agreeing or disagreeing with my argument, is that Christians in general–and pastors in particular–might begin to really re-evaluate what we are meant to be giving our lives to and what form/s best allow us...

Conjunction junction what’s my function?! Today, we finally tackle a topic we teased at the start of this season: deconstruction and the Christian faith. Join Laura and I as we discuss the trending elephant in the room… and attempt to chart a path forward. Let’s pod!

Come in out of the cold, fellow travelers, light a fire, pour a cuppa, and join Jordan Dobbins and I as we discuss Shakespeare’s most famous play, Hamlet.

All of the best things come from England: Aslan, Hobbits, King Arthur, Robin Hood, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Rabbit, Harry Potter, the Beatles, and, of course, Jordan Dobbins. Join me this week as I interview my dear friend, colleague, and Britain’s leading export. Let’s pod!

The long-awaited second part of my conversation with The Only Dan Bellum… Let’s pod!

Happy New Year, Pod Fam! I am so happy to welcome you to the first part of THE IMPOSSIBLE QUEST TO THE HEART OF THE ONLY DAN BELLUM! Scientology, Thor, Breaking Bad, Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai, Chuck Norris, John Carter, high school hellscapes, and Jesus in your brain… buckle up… it’s 2023… let’s pod!

We conclude our series through Rebecca DeYoung’s “Glittering Vices” with a conversation on Envy. Beware the green eye! Let’s pod.

Black Friday? Cyber Monday? Giving Tuesday? What about SAD WEDNESDAY?! That’s right! TWO sins for the price of ONE! What a deal. Join me and my resilient crew, Laura and Hayden, as we attempt a tour de force of two structurally similar vices–Gluttony and Lust. Let’s Pod!

Join Laura, Hayden, and I as we tackle the deadly sin of Anger for our next installment on Rebecca Deyoung’s “Glittering Vices.” Let’s pod!

Henry Ford once said, “Work is our sanity, our self-respect, our salvation. Through work–and work alone–may health, wealth, and happiness be secured.” In the land of hustle culture and entrepreneurial culture how do we understand the capital vice of Sloth? Is it fundamentally laziness, and therefore is working harder, working more, the remedy? I am thrilled to be joined by...

This week we continue our series through the Seven Deadly Sins by looking at the ubiquitous sin of Greed! Yaaay! As Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Mammon.” Matt. 6:24

Join us as we officially kick off our series on Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung’s Glittering Vices by going out of order immediately and taking a trip to Vanity Fair… Let’s pod!

Fall is in the air . . . in the form of a soul-crushing California heat wave! But Laura and I managed to stay cool in Papa Billy’s Bat Cave studio long enough to lay down our season opener. We’ve missed our pod family and are thrilled to be back in the saddle bringing you some sweet, sweet pod every other week till kingdom come . . . or graduation in the Spring. So gather your friends,...

We made it! Sort of. Thank you all for your herculean patience. We wanted to get the ‘official’ Season 3 closer out there so we can rest and regroup over the summer. So here it is. Laura and I chat about memory, summer plans, and, of course… Anne of Green Gables. Let’s pod!

Minimalism, maximilism, or something else?  What is our stuff for? Join Laura and I as we try to practically sift through our cultural and personal disposition to our stuff. Let’s pod!

What did Christianity look like at the edge of the world? In a land of wildness and deep magic, a land where the spirit world was known to be nearer and less controllable than many wanted to believe, Christianity took root by matching wildness to wildness, by overwhelming and directing these magical impulses to their proper ends. This St. Patrick’s Day, Fr. Hayden and I revisit the story of...

The Great Fast begins this week on Ash Wednesday, my friends, so I am particularly pleased to bring you this (timely!) conversation with Reverend Butler on the meaning of Lent, how to approach it, and why it is such an important season in the life of the church. We keep the fast so we can keep the feast! Let’s pod!

Prof. Craig Hovey returns to talk about the very difficult set of questions that arise when Christians face, and participate in, a world of violence. Let’s pod.