Queen of the Sciences

Ruth-exclamation-point, because evidently Podbean won't let you do four-letter titles. Hmm. Well anyway, in this episode Dad and I talk through this absolutely delightful little book of the Old Testament, one of only two named for a woman and the only one named for a Gentile. In particular we explore the necessary and good yet self-contradicting and troubling aspects of the Law, why neither Law no...

Preachers should preach with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other, so we are told. Maybe Karl Barth told us so. Maybe someone in your church with an axe to grind. Or a sensitive conscience eager to be compassionate and relevant. Should we? In this episode, we continue our explorations of technique and propaganda with the help of Jacques Ellul, pressing the question: how can we poss...

Nearly everyone thinks the world has gone off the rails, and nearly everyone has a theory why, from kids these days to the moral breakdown of the West to the internet. We return to the conversation started by French Protestant philosopher Jacques Ellul more than 80 years ago, and find him startlingly, alarmingly prescient. In this episode we consider his proposal that technique, in the sense of ef...

Popularly considered the last of the church fathers, John of Damascus gathered up the fruit of early church reflection on the Trinity and the person of Christ in his learned tome, The Orthodox Faith. But in addition to the usual wrangling with the Greek philosophical heritage and the monotheistic challenge of Judaism, John had a new adversary to consider: the even more radically monotheistic Islam...

The Council of Chalcedon (451) gave us the famous christological formula that Jesus Christ is one person in two natures, without change, division, separation, or confusion. It also gave us a lot of conundrums, enough to cause the first major split of the church between the Syriacs and the Greeks. Among others trying to sort out the perplexities of Chalcedon was Martin Luther himself, whose own chr...

What's worse, being bound by the Law or untethered from it entirely? It probably depends on where you're standing. In this episode, Dad and I trace out two kinds of challenges Christians have had to work out with respect to the Law—whether the Law given to Israel applies also to Gentile believers in Jesus Christ, and whether the Law in any respect contributes to justification. Then, we explore wor...

My second appearance on the All About Agatha podcast, talking to host Kemper Donovan about Agatha Christie's speculative-mariology-fanfiction story, "The Island"! Here's a link to my previous All About Agatha appearance: Star over Bethlehem And if that still isn't enough Agatha Christie for you, check out my article in the new issue of the fabulous magazine The Mockingbird, " Agatha Christie, a Ve...

Death! Disaster! Panic in the streets! In this episode Dad and I try to understand how fear and fear-mongering have come to grip our wealthy and (historically speaking) unprecedentedly free societies. Toward that end, we also explore the metastasis of the psychiatric diagnosis of debilitating phobias to a biopolitical strategy for accusing and shutting down anyone who doesn't agree with or approve...

The prayer our Lord Jesus taught his disciples, in address to his and their heavenly Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit! And probably the most-prayed prayer of all time. (Well, except maybe "HELP!") In this episode Dad and I pore over each petition, with a great deal of help from Luther's Catechisms, discuss why it is we should pray, and the greater truth that we can and are invited to pray....

Sarah sits down to chat with Roger Lowther of the Art Life Faith podcast! Also, in the unlikely event you missed it, the Transfiguration book Kickstarter mentioned in this episode has already ended (after exceeding all expectations! ). But you can preorder the ebook on Amazon , where it will be published on August 6, 2024.

In remembrance of an event that took place 50 years + 1 week ago, Dad tells the story of the internal schism in the Missouri Synod, the "walkout" of professors and students from Concordia Seminary St. Louis, and the founding of a seminary in exile, popularly known as Seminex. It is the founding story of why American Lutheranism looks the way it does today and mirrors the wider cultural polarizatio...

Andrew Christiansen of Doth Protest and Dad discuss Karl Marx's reception and use of Martin Luther.

We've discussed the Crucifixion and the Resurrection , Anselm and Aulen , and salvation itself all over the place... but until now, never "the Atonement." Could that be because the word itself tends to dictate the outcome? In this episode we talk about the origins of the English word "atone," exchange some thoughts on the Epistle to the Hebrews, and then dive deep into an essay by theologian Rober...

In church, do your sins actually get forgiven, or are you only assured that in general God likes to forgive sins? Do you have to be penitent for the absolution to work? How penitent? Can a mere human absolve on God's behalf? And if so, how do absolvers know whether they ought to loose something or whether they'd better keep it bound up? In this episode, Dad and Sarah discuss Luther's little known...

Sarah talks with Katie and Gretchen of Freely Given about her forthcoming book, Seven Ways of Looking at the Transfiguration (Kickstarter's closed, so look for it in July 2024!).

Sarah talks with Katie and Gretchen of the Freely Given podcast about her forthcoming book, Seven Ways of Looking at the Transfiguration (Kickstarter's closed, so look for it in July 2024!).

John Drury of Fresh Text and Sarah discuss all things Transfiguration in light of her forthcoming book, Seven Ways of Looking at the Transfiguration (Kickstarter's closed, so look for it in July 2024!). And, if you want to hear their next two conversations about the Transfiguration, including the mind-blowing discussion of the Gospel of John, be sure to subscribe to Fresh Text right away!

Jason Micheli of Crackers and Grape Juice and Sarah discuss all things Transfiguration in light of her forthcoming book, Seven Ways of Looking at the Transfiguration (Kickstarter's closed, so look for it in July 2024!).

All about the Transfiguration of our Lord! And, to be perfectly honest, all about Sarah's new book, Seven Ways of Looking at the Transfiguration (which, as you'll hear, launched as a Kickstarter, and will be available for purchase starting July 2024). Among other topics: Why Elijah and Moses of all possible visitors from Israel's past? Why does Peter offer to build booths, of all weird things (and...

I have a new podcast! For people who need good fiction and good theology at the same time. Two final episodes here to whet your appetite—so if you enjoy them, please hop on over and subscribe to Sarah Hinlicky Wilson Stories so you won't miss a single episode!

My lecture at the Parkville Plus seminar hosted by Australian Lutheran College in Adelaide, South Australia, on "Three Nineteenth-Century German Lutheran Saint Calendar Proposals."

I have a new podcast! For people who need good fiction and good theology at the same time. Two more episodes here to whet your appetite—so if you enjoy them, please hop on over and subscribe to Sarah Hinlicky Wilson Stories so you won't miss a single episode!

Dad speaks about preaching to political and cultural issues as an exercise of both Christian discipleship and lefthand-kingdom stewardship at the Love Teach Heal Academy for lay preachers and teachers.

I have a new podcast! For people who need good fiction and good theology at the same time. Two episodes here to whet your appetite—so if you enjoy them, please hop on over and subscribe to Sarah Hinlicky Wilson Stories so you won't miss a single episode!

What makes human beings to be in the image of God? A rational soul? A capacity for action? An openness to the divine? Is it a given or an achievement? Who or what has it, and who or what doesn't? And does the image of God tell us only about humans, or can it tell us something about God, too—without remaking God in our own image? We wrap up Season 5 of Queen of the Sciences tackling these fraught q...