The Ezra Institute Podcast for Cultural Reformation

On this episode Joe Boot and Ezra Institute Fellow Aaron Rock discuss the themes, issues, and ideologies related to the contemporary environmentalism movement. For those who didn't get their questions answered during the conference Q&A session, we deal with several more of those questions here. Get our book of the month, The Heidelberg Diary, on sale at Ezra Press all January.

We bring our series in Thomas Aquinas to a close by restating six significant differences between Thomistic thought and the reformation worldview that we believe is more consistent with Scripture. On the question of origins, nature and grace, ontology and anthropology, apologetics and Christian philosophy, the medieval thought of Aquinas falls short of the biblical position. Get The Heidelberg Dia...

This Christmas season, Joe Boot reflects on the staggering reality of God’s glory revealed to His people as he takes up residence, or tabernacles, among us. This fact ought to be a great source of strength for Christians, greater than any hardship we could ever experience. Make a year-end donation to the Ezra Institute here. Get the December/January book of the month, The Heidelberg Diary: D...

This Christmas season, we talk about the question of public, national worship, and the state in direct relation to God. Read Joe Boot’s recent article on Diwali and Dechristianization Start off 2023 with daily readings and meditations from the Heidelberg Catechism  

In this episode Joe describes the influence that Thomas Aquinas has had on the field of Christian apologetics, and discusses the areas where the Thomistic approach falls short of vindicating the full Christian doctrine of God. Joe’s classic apologetics work, A Time to Search, is available at Ezra Press.

Ezra Institute Fellow Dr. James White joins us this week to talk about the Protestant fascination with Aquinas, and the path that leads from Thomism to Roman Catholicism. Dr. White explains some of the reasons why Protestants are induced to follow Thomas, the fundamental issue of authority that is at stake, and what Thomas would have thought of the current Pope. Get a philosophical assessment of A...

Joe Boot addresses the realm of medicine and healing, and demonstrates how much of the contemporary thinking surrounding medicine has been reduced to mere biology. In contrast, the Christian should think of health in terms of wholeness – both wholeness of the created reality, and wholeness in the sense of health. Get tickets to the Mission of God Canada conference. Read Keeping Faith in Medi...

In this episode Joe Boot discusses the thought of Thomas Aquinas as it relates to the Christian understanding of history. To speak of history is inescapably to speak about God’s relation to and activity within His creation. Get a reformational assessment of Thomas Aquinas and the Neo-Thomist Tradition at Ezra Press. Register for the Mission of God Conference Canada, December 10.  

This week in the thought of Thomas Aquinas, we examine the idea of natural law, and conclude that, as articulated by Aquinas, it is an idea that gives unwarranted scope to human reason, and effectively makes God equal with His law. In contrast, Scripture teaches that God is the source of all definition, and that human law must be positivized in an historical context.

We could have also titled this episode How the Reformation delivered us from ecclesiocracy. Here we discuss Aquinas’ political philosophy, the problem with his adoption of Aristotle’s teaching that man is a political animal, and the need for an utterly transcendent authority. Get Joe Boot’s book Ruler of Kings. Register for the Mission of God Canada conference

There is a common assumption in Christianity that at the fall, man lost a supernatural gift of grace, but retained his natural faculties intact and unscathed – including the faculty of reason. In this episode, Joe Boot explains that the biblical distinction is not nature and grace, but wrath and grace: those who belong to Christ and those who war against Him. Read Joe’s recent Jubilee...

We have new music and a new theme as we get rolling in Season 6. In this episode we begin a short series on the life, thought, and influence of Thomas Aquinas, the medieval scholastic philosopher and theologian, introducing his person and major works, and considering why there seems to be a recent revival of interest amongst Reformed Protestants in this Roman Catholic thinker. American listeners!...

Aaron Rock joins the podcast this week to discuss the scheduled expiry of Canadian border restrictions and the ArriveCan app. We also discuss Canada’s latest Federal Action Plan to advance LGBTQ rights, and the inescapability of religious commitments. The Christianity and Culture Colloquium is coming soon!  Register here. Listen to Aaron’s podcast,  Leadership Now .

In this episode Joe Boot reflects on the funeral ceremonies of Queen Elizabeth II, the historic role of the English monarch as “Defender of the Faith,” and the error of contemporary Two Kingdoms thinking. Get Joe Boot’s book,  Ruler of Kings , at Ezra Press. Read The Servant Queen

In this episode we reflect on the legacy of Elizabeth II, the role she played in influencing culture, and the Christian virtue she exhibited as a monarch who was self-consciously under the authority of God. Scripture has much to say about thrones and kingdoms, and Joe Boot discusses some of the major passages for how a king is to rule.

We're back with a brand-new season of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation! Joe, Nate, and Ryan discuss the recently published Frankfurt Declaration of Christian and Civil Liberties, and the relationship of the Cultural Mandate and Great Commission. In its most basic formulation, we tend to see Christians desiring to conform to culture or to escape culture, though the biblical calling is for God's...

Ezra Institute Fellow Andrew Sandlin responds to listener questions on prayer: why it is difficult to develop a habit of prayerfulness, how to pray boldly and faithfully, and what happens when we pray.

A distinctly Christian way of thinking means returning to the Word of God as the source of all true knowledge and insight, and building an understanding of the world from that foundation. It is our starting point that makes all the difference. Register for the  Christianity and Culture Colloquium , October 18-21. This episode originally aired September 29, 2021. We’re revisiting it for...

Jacob Reaume, pastor of Trinity Bible Chapel, joins us to talk about an upcoming documentary he is producing, Antichrist and His Ruin, dealing with the life and witness of John Bunyan, the biblical teaching on the doctrine of antichrist, and the call to the church for courage and faithfulness. Learn more about the documentary and how you can be involved.

This episode started out with John Cooper asking Joe Boot about pacifism, and became a wide-ranging dialogue on what it means to be an image-bearer of God, and the implications that reality has for war, self-defense, and living in a state that is hostile to God. We also discuss the descriptions of God in Scripture as a warrior and the fact that the obligation to give honour and obedience is always...

In this episode, we discuss Edmund Burke and the origins of modern conservative ideology; we consider the validity of the sentiment that there is a crisis in conservatism, as well as the historic connection between conservatism and Christianity. Joe Boot explains how the contemporary attempt to distinguish between fiscal and social conservatism is a practical impossibility. Get Joe Boot’s bo...

On this week’s episode we consider the biblical conditions necessary for human flourishing, which always manifests in economic prosperity. Jonathan Wellum, CEO of Rocklinc Investment Partners, shares how a biblical approach to economics handles inflation and private property, and how contemporary theories and policies cause the greatest harm to the world’s poorest people. Learn more ab...

Dale Partridge joins us as a guest this week to discuss how his organization is working to fulfill the Great Commission on a national and international scale. We also discuss the masculinity of Jesus, and the eschatological hope that motivates our evangelistic efforts. Find out more at  www.mailthegospel.org . Get Joe Boot’s book,  For the Hope that is in You, at Ezra Press . &nbsp...

What does the recent Dobbs decision of the US Supreme Court mean for the practice of abortion? We discuss why it’s fitting for Christians to loudly celebrate this ruling, as well as the reason we must approach issues related to life in terms of God’s standard, for any other standard is ultimately arbitrary and subject to change. Get “For Life: Defending the Unborn” at Ezra...

Andrew Sandlin joins us from the Runner Academy to talk about the nature of God’s covenant with man, how the new covenant relates to earlier covenants, and what the covenant has to do with our responsibilities as citizens of the kingdom of God. Andrew’s new book, Failed Church, will be available soon from  Ezra Press .