So We Speak

After his reluctant conversion, C.S. Lewis's life began to change. In his friendships and work at Oxford, his faith started to make a difference. But a phone call changed everything. When Lewis was invited to address the nation on the BBC about spiritual hope during WWII, he started to become the C.S. Lewis we know today. From then on, he would write book after book, letter after letter, and becom...

“In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed, perhaps that night the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.” This is no normal conversion story, but so C. S. Lewis narrates his journey of faith in Surprised by Joy. Like so many parts of Lewis’s life, his conversion is full of surprises, twists and turns, and the evidence of God’s work. Th...

Before he was known to the world as C. S. Lewis, “Jacks” as his friends and family called him, struggled through his early years. After his mother’s passing and the trenches of the Great War, Lewis was a fledgling scholar trying to make his way in the world. But he was also searching for Joy. This opening episode traces Lewis’s life from the paradise of Little Lea to the trenches on the Western Fr...

On Thursday of Holy Week, Jesus ate the Passover meal with his disciples in what we now call the "Last Supper." Then he washed the disciples' feet, and they went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. But Maundy Thursday gets its name from something else that happened that Thursday. Jesus gave his disciples a "new commandment," or in Latin, a "new mandate" to love one another. This command of love h...

One of the great conversations in the Bible is between Jesus and Pontius Pilate in John 18-19. Pilate is shrouded in mystery, and we know very little of his life outside of the Bible. Cole and Terry discuss Pilate's life, the role he plays in Jesus's death, and what we can learn as we anticipate Good Friday and Easter Sunday. 

The Easter season is full of great music, and one way to focus on Christ's death and resurrection during Holy Week is to read, sing, and meditate on great hymns from Christian history. Dr. Kim Arnold has picked out 5 hymns for Holy Week this year that guide our hearts to the cross and the empty tomb. To read about these hymns, see her article, " Hymns for Lent ."  "O Sacred Head Now Wounded" - Pau...

It is impossible to understand the world of the New Testament without Greek culture, philosophy, and history. But the Greeks play a role in the Old Testament, too, and between the Testaments. In this episode, Cole and Terry look at the Greeks and the ways God used this region and these people to work his plan in the world. 

Cyrus the Great may own the title for the greatest conqueror before Alexander. He and his famous successors Darius and Xerxes conquered the known world and extended their empire all the way to Greece. The Persian Empire did not treat the Israelites like the Assyrians and Babylonians; they returned them to the promised land, let them rule themselves, and allowed them to rebuild the temple. In this...

One empire stands above them all in the Bible: Babylon. From the opening pages of Genesis to the end of Revelation, Babylon stands in for every city and kingdom that would raise itself against God. But how did it become that symbol? Cole and Terry discuss the origins of Babylon, the high point under Nebuchadnezzar, the final destruction of the city, and the reputation that lives on to this day. 

The Assyrian Empire was the first world empire. Founded in the small town of Ashur on the Tigris, the Assyrian kingdom would eventually engulf much of the known world until it vanished nearly overnight. The kings of Assyria play leading roles in the Bible and the northern kingdom of Israel falls to Sennacherib in 722 BC. In this episode, Terry and Cole discuss the empire and what the Bible has to...

What opportunities does the post-Christian world hold for Christians? Glen Scrivener's book The Air We Breathe sorts through the Christian values that pervade our post-Christian world and discusses opportunities for Christians to reconnect people to the person of Jesus Christ. 

Tom Holland's book Dominion has sparked a wave of books, articles, and interviews about the Christian foundations of the West. Though fewer people might call themselves Christians, their worldviews are still saturated with Christianity. In this episode, Cole and Terry discuss the Christian foundations of the West and the glimpses of that worldview still shining through today. 

1776 was a formative year for the West, in fact, Andrew Wilson argues in his new book Remaking the World that it is an origin point for so much of the world as we experience it today. In this episode, Cole and Terry discuss the book and the making of the post-Christian world we live in in the West. 

How can a good God allow evil? Or, since God created everything, is he responsible for evil? In this final episode on common objections to Christianity, Cole and Terry discuss responses to the problem of evil. 

Here are our best books for 2023: Terry's Top 5 Dynasty - Tom Holland  Finding Calcutta - Mary Poplin Scalia - James Rosen  The Matter with Things - Iain McGilchrist  Leadership Not by the Book - David Green and Bill High   Cole's Top 5 Timothy Keller - Collin Hansen Remaking the World - Andrew Wilson  Dominion - Tom Holland  The Pastor of Kilsyth - Islay Burns  The Fellowship - Philip and Carol Z...

Christmas is unique among the holidays for so many reasons, above all the music. Christmas music fills the season and our hearts as we prepare to celebrate the Savior. In this episode, Dr. Kim Arnold talks about hymns, Christmas music, and compiling the songs for the new So We Speak advent booklet.  Get the new Advent booklet here .

One of the most common objections to Christianity is called the problem of evil. Why does God allow evil? Why do bad things happen to good people? How can we explain the existence of a good and all-powerful God with evil in the world? In this episode and the next, Cole and Terry discuss the problem of evil and ways Christians have responded to this difficult objection. 

How can we trust the Bible with all the contradictions? So the objection goes. In this episode, Cole and Terry break this objection down into three pieces; textual errors, factual contradictions, and factual errors. They discuss different approaches to reading the Bible and work through some specific objections. 

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Are faith and science compatible? One objection many people have to Christianity is that they feel torn between faith and science. In this episode, Cole and Terry discuss this objection and ways science relies on a Christian worldview and reasons Christians should be optimistic about science. 

How can there be only one truth? In this new series, Cole and Terry discuss the claims of Christianity against some of the most common objections to Christianity. Starting with the question of exclusivity, they look at the nature of truth, different religions, and how it's possible to claim that Christianity it true amid all the other options. 

Identity politics, critical theory, and deconstruction dominate our world right now. How can Christians sort out what is good and true? In this discussion, Cole and Terry give an overview of Voddie Baucham's book Faultlines. 

As Israel responds to the brutal attacks of October 7, questions are arising about the future, the relationship between the U.S. and Israel, and support for the Palestinians. In this episode, Cole and Terry answer five common questions about Israel: What is the distinction between geographic Israel and historic Israel? Why does the US have such a strong interest in or allegiance to Israel? Why are...

Over the weekend, Israel came under attack by Palestinian terrorists. What's happening now? Who are the major players? What's going to happen in the future? Cole and Terry discuss the central issues in the attacks on Israel, the path forward, and how to pray for Israel.    For more history and background, check out Terry's series, " The Making of Modern Israel ." 

Jesus was fully God and fully man, a great moral teacher, and rose from the dead. But was he a genius? In Peter Williams' new book  The Surprising Genius of Jesus , he argues that Jesus's cleverness, insight, and depth are unrivaled in the history of the world. Focused on the parable of the two sons in Luke 15, Williams teases out the deep connections to the Old Testament and concludes that only J...