Interviews

Joshua Michael Smith grew up in northern Florida in a Baptist church. In this interview he shares his journey of faith, including how came to Christ as well as how he ended up in ministry training at Word of Life before earning a bachelors at Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga. While there, he began questioning Read more about 558 Courageous Baptist Seeks Biblical Truth (Joshua Michael Smi...

Many believe there is 400 years of silence between the Old and New Testament. My guest today is Professor George Athas, director of research and senior lecturer in Hebrew, Old Testament, and Early Church History at Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia. He’s the author of Bridging the Testaments, which covers four major periods, including Read more about 557 Bridging the Testaments...

Christians have approached the first chapter of Genesis differently over the centuries. There are those who hold to young earth creationism, day-age theory, gap theory, and progressive creationism, just to name a few. Oftentimes defenders of a particular view will provide biblical, scientific, and historical evidence for their position. Our focus today is on the Read more about 556 Recruiting Anci...

Scholars and pastors regularly point to specialized “technical” language in Paul’s epistles to make the case that Paul was intentionally subverting Roman power by applying to Jesus terms that the ancients commonly applied to the Caesars. My guest today has done the hard work of analyzing the inscriptions, coins, and material remains of several key Read more about 555 Was Paul Rea...

Something is going on in New Zealand…and I’m excited to tell you about it. In today’s interview I speak with Zach Mayo who along with his wife, Kayla, were serving as youth pastors at an evangelical church when they came to change their minds on the doctrine of the Trinity. Now they’re organizing a conference Read more about 554 Biblical Unitarian Christians in New Zealand...

Kermit Zarley was a professional golfer who had an interest in studying the Bible about the end times when he came across a disturbing verse. Reading Jesus’s words in the Olivet Discourse, he noticed that only the Father knew the day and hour of the end. Neither the angels nor the son of God were Read more about 553 Pro Golfer Turned Christologist Tells All (Kermit Zarley) […]

From her childhood in a Jewish family to a 7-year stint with the Jehovah’s Witnesses to attending evangelical churches, Susanne Lakin never felt comfortable with the doctrine of the Trinity. She signed up to attend Phoenix Seminary, a conservative evangelical school, thinking they would help her finally get to the bottom of it. She was Read more about 552 Seminary Convinced Me the Trinity Is...

As the dust continues to settle from last week’s debate between Dale Tuggy and James White, reviewers are coalescing on a rather exciting conclusion. Tuggy handedly won the debate! Rumor has it that James White has even requested a rematch! We’ll have to wait and see if anything happens on that front, but requesting a Read more about 540 Dustin Smith’s Take on the Tuggy-White Deb...

We’re taking a break this week from our class on Reading the Bible for Yourself. By the way, did you know that there’s a separate podcast just for classes without any interruptions like this? You can find it if you search your podcast app for Restitutio Classes. Anyhow, I had an opportunity to speak with Read more about 539 Dale Tuggy’s Thoughts on the James White Debate: Is Jesu...

I’ve been putting out podcast episodes on Restitutio since 2015. I’ve interviewed many authors in that time. However, I’ve never been interviewed as an author. That changed a couple of days ago when Sam Tideman of Transfigured had me on his show to talk about my new book, Kingdom Journey. We discussed the biblical idea Read more about 535 Kingdom Journey Interview (Sam Tideman) [...

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts Today my guest is Thomas Gaston who’s book is called Dynamic Monarchianism: the Earliest Christology? Dr. Gaston earned his Ph. D. from Oxford University and this book one of the fruits of that labor. In this interview we talk about the earliest Dynamic Monarchians, including Ebionites Read more about 528 Dynamic Monarchianism: The Earliest...

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts Should Christians celebrate the birth of Christ? If so, where should we draw the line with respect to ancient pagan customs like bringing an evergreen tree into our houses or  giving presents to each other? How much pagan practice is too much? My guest today is Read more about 527 Should Christians Celebrate Christmas? (Dale Tuggy) […]

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts It’s the holidays and many of us are seeing family members and coworkers and neighbors at parties. Sometimes the topic of Christianity comes up, and you may be having conversations about your beliefs. You may find yourself defending your belief in Jesus in general or even Read more about 526: The Role of Assumptions in Bible Conversations (...

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts Do the Gospels give you the impression that the kingdom of God is about to arrive? My guest today is Troy Salinger who wrote an interesting article called, “The Postponement of the Kingdom – A Response to Preterists and Anti-Missionary Rabbis.” His idea is that the Read more about 524 Kingdom Postponed (Troy Sallinger) […]

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts For centuries heresy hunters have labeled those who deny the pre-existence of Jesus “adoptionists.” This ancient category was based on the idea some Christian groups denied the virgin birth, thinking instead that Jesus became the son of God at his baptism when God adopted him. Modern Read more about 523 Rethinking Adoptionism (Jeremia...

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts Ignatius of Antioch lived in the first generation of Christians after the apostles died during the late first and early second century. Modern day apologists regularly point to Ignatius’ letters to prove the antiquity of the deity of Christ and one-bishop church governance (monarchical episcopate). But Read more about 522 Problematizing Ign...

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts Philippians 2.6-11 has generated an immense amount of scholarly literature such as journal articles and monographs not to mention blog posts, video lectures, and podcasts. What does the enigmatic phrase “in the form of God” mean? Did Paul intend us to think Jesus refused to grasp Read more about 520 In the Form of a God (Andrew Perrim...

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts My guest today is Dr. Andrew Perriman of London who will discuss his recent book In the Form of a God, which is part of the Studies in Early Christology series. (Read Perriman’s helpful summary of the book here.) The focus for our conversation is looking Read more about 519 No Pre-Existence in Paul? (Andrew Perriman) […]

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts We’ve all heard plenty of stories of Trinitarians who begin questioning their received teaching and eventually become Unitarian. However, today, we’re bringing you a story that’s a little different. My guest is Rick Naviello who held a biblical unitarian view of Jesus for decades before attending Read more about 518 Tried to Bel...

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts Have you ever read miracle stories in the bible and asked yourself, “I wonder if this happens today?” My guests today are Josh and Daisy Jones of the UK who share their testimonies of God intervening in and through their lives. Hear about Josh’s miraculous healing Read more about 517 Walking with God (Josh and Daisy Jones) [&#82...

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts Recently Tom Huszti interviewed me for his YouTube channel, the Unitarian Anabaptist. We talked about the importance of geography, archeology, and Greco-Roman history for interpreting the bible, especially the New Testament. Next we delved into early church history, starting with the earliest forms of Jewish Christianity Read more about 516 Sean...

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts I’m so delighted to present you with an interview I did with Professor Nancy Pearcey, an author whose books have significantly helped me understand and live out my faith better. Today we’re talking about masculinity. Have you noticed the critical and uncharitable tone in our culture Read more about 515 The Toxic War on Masculinity (Na...

Although he’s one of the lesser known Christian authors of the fourth century, Aphrahat is extremely important for our understanding of early Persian Christianity prior to the advent of Islam in the region. Amazingly a full-length book of his survives, called The Demonstrations. In today’s interview I ask about Aphrahat’s beliefs in general and his Read more about 514 Aphrahat an...

Have you heard of the quests for the historical Jesus? This has been going on for two and a half centuries. It has produced a massive amount of literature and occupied the minds of some of the most impressive biblical scholars over the years. What’s all this about? Why do we need to search for Read more about 513 The Historical Jesus and the Gospel of John (Craig Blomberg) […]

We continue in our conversation on the topic of healing from bullying. This episode applies not only to those who suffered in school, but also should prove helpful to any who have suffered abuse later in life as well. Jon Nessle taps into Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount to gain practical advice on what to Read more about 512 Healing from Bullying – 2 (Jon Nessle) […]