Kainos Project

What did Jesus accomplish when he died on the cross? It seems like an obvious question: he died for my sins. He died to save us. He died so that we might have life. But there’s actually a lot more to it than that. Throughout the centuries, theologians have grappled to understand exactly what happened in the universe at the moment when Jesus surrendered his life. At the heart of it, Jesus reconcile...

For evangelical Christians, it's no secret that the Bible is at the center of just about everything we do. We believe it is God-breathed, inspired, and that it is the measuring rod by which we evaluate all moral and spiritual claims.  But is it inerrant?  As follow up questions go, this feels like an easy "yes." Nevertheless, biblical inerrancy has long been a feature of debate among Bible-believi...

A recent development in technology has some people on edge, as the field of artificial intelligence continues to advance in its efforts to create ever smarter technology. ChatGPT, perhaps the most sophisticated chatbot ever created, was launched in Nov. 2022 and was trained on a dataset of an estimated 300 billion words. Users simply type in their question or prompt into the dialogue box, and Chat...

Learn about 3 practical ways to practice patience, persistence, and grace from Ashleigh and Ted Slater, the hosts of the Team Us podcast.    Listen to More Episodes of Team Us: Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3SY5fQY Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3SYgXel LifeAudio: https://www.lifeaudio.com/team-us     We'll be back next week with a brand new episode of Kainos Project! Discover more Christian podcast...

Last week, a now-deleted article published by The Gospel Coalition about sex became the cause of controversy and concern. In that article, which was an excerpt from Josh Butler's forthcoming book, titled "Beautiful Union: How God's Vision for Sex Points Us to the Good, Unlocks the True, and (Sort of) Explains Everything," Butler argues that sex "is an icon of Christ and the church." Shortly after...

On Tuesday, February 21, the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee announced that Saddleback Church was no longer "in friendly cooperation" with the denomination and had been disfellowshipped.  Famously founded by Rick Warren, Saddleback had long been the largest church in the SBC. Nevertheless, they were removed from the denomination because they have ordained women on their staff to th...

On the morning of Wednesday, February 8, something unexpected happened on the campus of Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky.  A chapel service was held for students, one that we imagine was much like any other, apart from one detail: it just never ended. When a group of students spontaneously stayed back to pray, something began to stir. In the days that would follow, the campus would be marked...

Today is Valentine's Day, perhaps the greatest holiday that corporate America ever successfully commercialized!  But while Valentine's Day has become a day for exchanging cards, chocolates, flowers, and sometimes even jewelry, the holiday actually has deep roots in Christian tradition––namely in the story of Saint Valentine.  In this episode, we dive into the history of who Saint Valentine was, wh...

If you grew up in low church evangelical spaces like we did, liturgy might not have featured heavily in your spiritual upbringing. In fact, you may not be familiar with it at all. Liturgical elements in worship services include things like call and response prayers, corporate recitations of key biblical passages, creeds, or blessings, or communion as a central part of gathered worship. While many...

It's no secret that we live in divided times. This is true of our culture at large, but it's also true within the church. Further, the things that divide us can often be so personal and painful that they keep us from even seeing people on the other side of the disagreement as fellow Christians. But as we look to history, even with all our historic misdeeds against one another, there is one documen...

It has often been said in Christian circles that anxiety is "temporary atheism." But is that true? In this episode, we take a look at what the Bible has to say about anxiety, and whether what the biblical authors are referring to when they use the word translated as "anxiety" is the same thing that we refer today when we speak about anxeity as a clinical diagnosis. Our hope is to interpret these p...

History is replete with examples of the Christian Church wielding its power to destructive ends. Far too often, Christians have supported violence, oppression, or the mistreatment of other people created in the image of God. But that isn't the only thing the Church has done in the last 2,000 years. It has also served society through philanthropy, advancing education and scientific inquiry and serv...

Conspiracy theories have always been a part of American life and culture, but up until about seven years ago, they existed on the fringes of society. More recently, they have become mainstream. In fact, through a constellation of accusations and conspiracy theories, an entire movement known as QAnon has been birthed—and with consequences that have been undeniably corrosive to society. Even still,...

Recently, controversy erupted over a statue on the campus of Princeton University. The statue depicts John Witherspoon, an American founding father, pastor, denominational leader in the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, and the sixth president of Princeton. Presiding over the school for a quarter of a decade, he has been credited with bringing back Princeton from the brink of fi...

If you try hard enough, you can get the bible to say whatever you want it to. Whatever your agenda, you can probably find some bible verses to back your argument up. This begs the question: what does the bible actually say? What does God intended for us to understand from his word? Certainly not simply a reiteration of our own agendas. In this episode (which originally aired on February 16, 2021),...

If you are a follower of Jesus, should you self-identify as a sinner or as a saint? You might say that both are true. Nevertheless, how we identify ourselves matters, because it determines the course of our actions. What we do tends to flow from who we are. So it’s important to cling to the identity you’ve been given in Jesus. You are a saint. In this episode (which originally aired on May 26, 202...

There has recently been some talk in academic circles about the idea of Jesus being trans. In fact, one Cambridge University professor recently made headlines for arguing in a sermon that artistic depictions of Jesus throughout history seem to indicate that he has been portrayed as trans. As you might imagine, the sermon received considerable blowback, both from the people who were in the pews at...

Christmastime is here! And that means that we are decking the halls with all of our favorite decorations. Among your decorations may be a nativity scene. We have one in our home that Dale actually purchased in Bethlehem. It stays on our shelf all year long! But as we look at that nativity depiction, there are some pretty glaring inaccuracies if we compare it to the biblical account. In fact, we'd...

The crisis of mental health in America continues to loom large, and the pandemic has only exacerbated the issue. What is the role of the church in rising to meet the growing need for care and support? In this episode, we discuss the different ways Christians have approached the topic of mental health, pointing out that some have been more helpful than others. We explore how to approach mental heal...

Tithing and generosity have always been evergreen topics within the church. Even a cursory reading of the New Testament makes it clear that followers of Jesus are called to be generous with not only their time and talents, but also their treasures. But does the Bible command Christians to tithe––to give a tenth of their income––to the local church? On that point, theologians tend to disagree. In t...

In a recent article for The Atlantic, economist Emily Oster called for what she refers to as "pandemic amnesty." After an extended season of speculation, difficult decisions made in the midst of foggy information, and consequential disagreements, Oster argues that it is time for us to set aside our vitriol, look to the future, and focus on solutions to the problems we currently face. Does Oster ha...

Kanye West has recently been making headlines, as a number of his key business partners have ended their professional relationships with him. The reason for this has been Kanye's string of antisemitic comments, which have come in the form of interviews and tweets. As a result of these antisemitic statements, hate groups around the nation have actually staged demonstrations in Kanye's honor, even h...

If you enjoy listening to Kainos Project, we've got another great show that you'll want to add to your playlist. Let us introduce you to How to Study the Bible with Nicole Unice! In this podcast, pastor and Bible teacher Nicole Unice brings life back to reading the Bible by walking listeners through her Alive Method of Bible study, helping us personally encounter God through his Word by giving us...

If you attend church regularly, you may notice that most (if not all) of the songs we sing are happy or uplifting. But that isn't necessarily the case when you look at the book of Psalms, which is an ancient songbook that was used by the people of Israel. Within the pages of the Psalms, there are songs that were meant to be sung corporately by the people that are either incredibly sad or remarkabl...

Baptism is an important part of being a Christian, regardless of your theological tradition. However, we can't all seem to agree upon exactly how we're supposed to do it. If you grew up in baptistic churches like us, then you have probably understood baptism to simply be an outward sign of an inward faith. But that's not how everyone sees it, even within the various Protestant and evangelical trad...