Questions From The Pew - WOS

In this episode, we continue our conversation on reading Jonah better and ask: How do our questions affect our reading of Jonah? Do our questions clarify what’s going on in the narrative or only muddy our understanding? How can we read Jonah in a way that moves beyond Sunday morning or Sunday school? All that and more on this edition of the podcast. Leave us a short voice message or text message a...

The biblical book of Jonah is one of the most well known in the Bible. It’s found in nearly every children’s Bible. Even those who do not read the Bible or hold to the Christian or Jewish faiths are acquainted with this narrative. With a man being swallowed by a fish only to be spat out again, it’s little wonder why. But that’s probably where the knowledge of the story ends for most people, especi...

In this episode, we continue our conversation about medical technologies. Are advancements in medical technologies always a good thing? What complications go along with advancements in medical technologies? What new ethical questions are raised as a result of the advancement of medical technology? All that and more on this edition of the podcast. Leave us a short voice message or text message at (...

Modern life has countless luxuries. Mundane things like written communication have drastically changed in the past hundred years. No longer do we have to wait weeks for letters to arrive. Email and text messaging have made the task nearly instantaneous. Our modes of transportation have moved from a reliance on horses, to steam, coal, and gas, and now electricity. All of these technologies affect t...

In this episode, we continue our conversation and ask: What if we aren’t alone and unique in the universe? Have these kinds of questions become less outlandish given what we know about the universe? How does this affect our reading of Scripture and our theology? All that and more on this edition of the podcast. Leave us a short voice message or text message at (312) 725-2995. Support us on Patreon...

Extra-terrestrial life forms have fascinated generations of people. From cinema to literature, we have been fascinated with the question of whether or not human beings are alone and unique in the universe. As our understanding of the universe expands, so do our questions. And while these questions, and those who ask them, have lived on the periphery of “normal” society, the recent congressional he...

In this episode, we continue our conversation about artificial intelligence. Should AI be celebrated or feared? Or should we be indifferent to it? What ethical implications come with technological advances? What will the future look like in light of the rate at which technology is advancing? All that and more on this edition of the podcast. Leave us a short voice message or text message at (312) 7...

It is commonly said that technology grows at an exponential rate. Technology that would have been considered science fiction by one generation is an everyday reality a mere two generations later. The cell phone is a prime example of this. In a generation or two, it went from being a luxury owned by the affluent to an everyday item carried by most of the population, regardless of economic status. T...

In this episode we continue our conversation with Dr. Michael O. Emerson about what he sees as one way to understand how the American church has gotten to the place it is in today. He presents a diagnosis for understanding the current state of the American church’s relationship with race and provides hopeful possibilities for the future. All that and more on this edition of the podcast. Leave us a...

In this series we’ve been using the metaphor of an illness and its diagnosis to talk about the relationship between the church and the racial issues present in America. As the country has changed, so has the illness, growing worse at some points and getting better at others. Good observation can lead to a helpful diagnosis of a problem, whether in part or in its entirety. In this episode we’re joi...

On this episode, we continue our conversation with by Dr. Malcolm Foley, whose doctoral research focused on the various ways African Americans in the 19th to 20th century were forced to respond to the multiple forms racism took in American society. In our conversation, we ask: How can the response of African American Protestants in the past help us understand the American Church today? Can there b...

In the face of injustice, neutrality can sometimes seem like a sensible response. Capitulation makes one morally culpable while resistance can bring about consequences for those who challenge the status quo. And so, neutrality, however long it remains a seemingly viable option, is chosen as a means of avoiding the stain of immorality while avoiding the risk of endangering oneself. Those who are th...

In the initial visit with a new doctor, a question that is frequently asked is about the patient’s family history. The doctor asks, “Do you have any family history of X, Y, or Z?” Even if the patient can’t remember every detail of the family’s medical history, the doctor records them in the patient’s file anyway. All of this is to help the doctor better understand the patient and his or her medica...

We’ve have decided to change things up slightly and end the season here, just a little bit earlier than we originally planned. That’s because the conversations that we were planning for the last series of season five ended up being much longer and more involved than we thought they would be. So instead of having to shorten the series or the important conversations in it, we’ve decided to save it a...

In the initial visit with a new doctor, a question that is frequently asked is about the patient’s family history. The doctor asks, “Do you have any family history of X, Y, or Z?” Even if the patient can’t remember every detail of the family’s medical history, the doctor records them in the patient’s file anyway. All of this is to help the doctor better understand the patient and his or her medica...

In this episode, we’re finish the conversation we began with Ruth Nathaniel last week and we ask: Are there blind spots when we engage in a deep relationship with someone from another cultural or ethnic background? What are the beauties of being in intercultural or interethnic relationships? All that and more on this edition of the podcast. Leave us a short voice message or text message at (312) 7...

We’ve said it before on the podcast: America grows more and more diverse every year. And there’s U.S. Census Bureau data to support that. The Diversity Index measures the probability that two randomly chosen people come from different racial or ethnic groups. Between 2010 and 2020, the United States as a whole went from a 54.9% chance to 61.1%. Particularly in major urban areas, the likelihood of...

It is often understood that as times change, so does technology. And so we find new ways of doing old things. For example, communication is not new, but with today’s technology we have countless ways of doing it. Few letters are being mailed today, but hundreds of emails are sent in a single day. Shopping has shifted from a physical experience of entering a storefront to scrolling on a webpage and...

The pandemic changed everything. That should go without saying. The whole nation shifted. But moving beyond the macro-changes, there were also changes in smaller pockets of American society. We’ve already talked a bit about how businesses and schools had to transition overnight to remote work and remote learning. Other organizations had to change and continue to change. The political sphere was as...

The pandemic changed a lot about the way we think about human existence, whether it further entrenched people in their previously held beliefs or opened them up to new ways of thinking about how humans exist and flourish in the world. We had to ask ourselves what aspects of human life are absolutely essential for our own wellbeing, and what could we acceptably relinquish for the short-term. The id...

Early in 2020, the world came to a screeching halt. Whole states went into lockdown. International travel was stopped. Everyone was told to go home and isolate in an attempt to slow the viral spread. Even the slightest sign of illness caused panic and paranoia. And even when solutions were proposed and created, the journey out of the pandemic was a slow and grueling one. For the most part, we are...

Religious movements have had a long history in America. From the Great Awakening in the 18th century to the Jesus Movement of the 20th, seasons of what some call moves of God are in no short supply. The most recent of these religious movements is what is now being called the “Asbury Revival.” What began at a small Christian university in early February quickly caught the attention of many. Among C...

A secure and unshakeable faith is often viewed as the goal of anybody who calls themself a Christian. The mark of someone who is spiritually mature is certainty and unwavering confidence in all matters of faith. There are whole organizations and ministries dedicated to helping people feel certain in their beliefs. People who are in positions of leadership are often thought of as people who have an...

It is easy to think of life in terms of black and white, this or that. But rarely is that ever the case. We live in the in-between more than we think we do. Nowhere is that more evident than in the realm of faith, spirituality, and religion. Faith and doubt are often thought of as being in opposition to each other. If your faith is strong, then no doubts will arise. But if you have doubts, you hav...

If you spend any time taking care of young children, you’ll know that they ask a lot of questions, often more than you have energy to answer. They’re usually simple, even humorous. But once in a while they ask the big questions - questions about the meaning of life, death, purpose, and faith. No matter how old we get, we continue to ask those kinds of questions in one form or another. And it can f...