Gospel Conversations podcast

John is Professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College. He has pioneered the study of Ancient Near Eastern cosmology and its impact on our understanding of the Old Testament—and the work of Moses and Genesis in particular. This kind of study has only been possible in recent years as vast treasures of ancient texts and inscriptions are being discovered and translated. The result is that we understan...

John is Professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College. He has pioneered the study of Ancient Near Eastern cosmology and its impact on our understanding of the Old Testament—and the work of Moses and Genesis in particular. This kind of study has only been possible in recent years as vast treasures of ancient texts and inscriptions are being discovered and translated. The result is that we understan...

John is Professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College. He has pioneered the study of Ancient Near Eastern cosmology and its impact on our understanding of the Old Testament—and the work of Moses and Genesis in particular. This kind of study has only been possible in recent years as vast treasures of ancient texts and inscriptions are being discovered and translated. The result is that we understan...

John is Professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College. He has pioneered the study of Ancient Near Eastern cosmology and its impact on our understanding of the Old Testament—and the work of Moses and Genesis in particular. This kind of study has only been possible in recent years as vast treasures of ancient texts and inscriptions are being discovered and translated. The result is that we understan...

John is Professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College. He has pioneered the study of Ancient Near Eastern cosmology and its impact on our understanding of the Old Testament—and the work of Moses and Genesis in particular. This kind of study has only been possible in recent years as vast treasures of ancient texts and inscriptions are being discovered and translated. The result is that we understan...

John is Professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College. He has pioneered the study of Ancient Near Eastern cosmology and its impact on our understanding of the Old Testament—and the work of Moses and Genesis in particular. This kind of study has only been possible in recent years as vast treasures of ancient texts and inscriptions are being discovered and translated. The result is that we understan...

In this talk, we look at the 'normative' aspect of Trinity thinking. Our learning goal is to have our minds transformed to God's agenda rather than ours. We look at the typical evangelical interpretation of the gospel and reveal its shortcomings. Tony does that by synthesising the four spiritual laws onto a one-page architecture which reveals its shortcomings. He then asks, "Is there a better way?...

Tony argues that we have narrowed Christian growth by framing it as a religious effort. He spends the first part of this talk, diagnosing the religious mindset and explaining how it distorts the gospel. But the question becomes, "Is there a better way to frame our growth journey?" Tony turns to the structure of the Trinity as the architecture for what makes us truly human and thus truly Christlike...

Ron moves on to the topic of cosmology—ie what is the origin of the universe. This is mind-boggling stuff and dwarfs the more conventional 'evolution' debates. He explains the anthropic principle that is fast emerging among scientists and which is ironically putting this little old earth back at the centre of attention. He describes the earth as the ark of humanity—a wonder of life in the midst of...

Ron confronts the question, "How well does Genesis 1 fit in with the new science?" Most people wonder whether Genesis fits with evolution, but Ron takes a far broader view and compares the implications of Genesis with cosmology—the theory of relativity and the origins of the universe. He concludes that Genesis is surprisingly modern, although it does not try to be a science textbook. Then he compa...

In this talk, Tony opens up how the doctrine of the Trinity frames our whole role in creation. The creating God has mandated that we humans will continue his expansive work in creation. We can only do this, by sharing his nature, which equips us to be Trinitarian agents. This culminates in the rule of God. Tony then suggests how this stupendous framework challenges the agenda for sin-based Christi...

This is part two of Tony's talk on the Trinity and creativity. Having established the intrinsical creativity character of the Trinity, he moves onto the role of humanity in this creative process as 'trinitarian agents'. At the end of the talk, he addresses the question of the role of sin and the 'Fall' in this otherwise optimistic and expansive picture. Again, a set of Powerpoint slides accompanie...

This talk comes in two parts. In this the first part, Tony outlines why the creative act lies at the heart of the Trinitarian Godhead. He bases this part of the talk on Jonathan Edwards' great essay "The Ends for which God Created the Worlds". Look out for a very important interaction with Mark Strom towards the end of the talk, which turns the Christian engagement with the world on its head - fro...

Tony introduces 'language' as the archetypal view of the Trinity. He argues that the 'Trinity' is the utterly novel invention of the Christian church - it is an enigma that is unique and central to the Christian belief system. We do well to peer into it. He explains how the doctrine developed in the fourth century, and then how it slipped into neglect after the Reformation. The climax of the talk...

Ron takes his discussion of the new physics beyond matter to mind and language. Is matter the ultimate reality? Last time we discovered there is more mystery to matter than most people realise. But this time we move into the even more important question of whether matter is the only building block of the universe - or whether the mind and language, are just as primary as matter. Of course, it suit...

Ron opens up for us the wonder of the ‘new physics’ that restored mystery to matter in the 20th century. If you think that we get more concrete, the closer we get to atoms and molecules, you will never think that way again after hearing Ron’s talk. In fact the closer we get to matter—the little ‘bits’ of it, the closer we get to mystery and strangeness. Please note that Ron used an extensive set o...

Mark explains how the knowledge of good and evil (morality and binary thinking) has captured our minds and distorts Christianity into a religion rather than life. A mind-blowing and life-changing message. Get full access to Gospel Conversations at gospelconversations.substack.com/subscribe