The Far Side of Faith

Simon and Darian take a deep dive into Genesis, Chapter 13, which covers the story of Abram and Lot going in different direction. Drawing from biblical scholarship in the areas of linguistics, history, anthropology, archeology, geography and ancient Near Eastern context, Simon and Darian explore what this portion of the Bible likely meant to its original audience and how those meanings have evolve...

In this bonus episode, Simon presents a talk titled The Agape of God to a Unitarian congregation. Within his presentation Simon explores topics such as God’s love, Mormon folklore and belief, themes of betrayal and redemption interwoven throughout multiple biblical texts, and Bigfoot.

Simon and Darian take a deep dive into Genesis, Chapter 12, which covers the story of Abram and his crew leaving Ur and Haran to the Land of Canaan. Drawing from biblical scholarship in the areas of linguistics, history, anthropology, archeology, geography and ancient Near Eastern context, Simon and Darian explore what this portion of the Bible likely meant to its original audience and how those m...

Simon and Darian take a deep dive into Genesis, Chapter 11, which covers the story of the Tower of Babel and another stream of geneology. In part two we tackle geanology and uncover some of the greatest meanings behind why Abram and his family begin their big journey. Drawing from biblical scholarship in the areas of linguistics, history, anthropology, archeology, geography and ancient Near Easter...

Simon and Darian take a deep dive into Genesis, Chapter 11, Which covers the story of the Tower of Babel and another stream of geneology. In part one we tackle the Tower of Babel story. Drawing from biblical scholarship in the areas of linguistics, history, anthropology, archeology, geography and ancient Near Eastern context, Simon and Darian explore what this portion of the Bible likely meant to...

Simon and Darian take a deep dive into Genesis, Chapter 10. which begins another rhythmical Toledoth Progression. There is a lot of meaning and symbolism in the names here and a ton of geography so we are splitting this up into two parts. Drawing from biblical scholarship in the areas of linguistics, history, anthropology, geography and ancient Near Eastern context, Simon and Darian explore what t...

Simon and Darian take a deep dive into Genesis, Chapter 10. which begins another rhythmical Toledoth Progression. There is a lot of meaning and symbolism in the names here and a ton of geography so we are splitting this up into two parts. Drawing from biblical scholarship in the areas of linguistics, history, anthropology, geography and ancient Near Eastern context, Simon and Darian explore what t...

Simon and Darian take a deep dive into Genesis, Chapter 9. which covers the post flood world and Noah and the new convenant. Drawing from biblical scholarship, history, anthropology, geography and ancient Near Eastern context, they explore what this portion of the Bible likely meant to its original audience and how those meanings have evolved over time.

Simon and Darian take a deep dive into the last part of the Flood Story. Drawing from biblical scholarship, history, anthropology, geography and ancient Near Eastern context, they explore what this portion of the Flood Story likely meant to its original audience and how those meanings have evolved over time.

Simon and Darian take a deep dive into Part 1 of the Flood Story. Drawing from biblical scholarship, history, anthropology, geography and ancient Near Eastern context, they explore what this portion of the Flood Story likely meant to its original audience and how those meanings have evolved over time.

Simon and Darian take a deep dive into the first part of Genesis which covers Noah and the pre-flood story. Drawing from biblical scholarship, history, anthropology, geography and ancient Near Eastern context, they explore what this portion of Genesis likely meant to its original audience and how those meanings have evolved over time.

Simon and Darian take a deep dive into Genesis 5 which covers The generations of Adam. Drawing from biblical scholarship, history, anthropology, and ancient Near Eastern context, they explore what Genesis 5 likely meant to its original audience and how those meanings have evolved over time.

Simon and Darian take a deep dive into Genesis 4 which covers the story of Cain and Abel. Drawing from biblical scholarship, history, anthropology, and ancient Near Eastern context, they explore what Genesis 4 likely meant to its original audience and how those meanings have evolved over time.

In this episode of The Far Side of Faith , Simon and Darian begin a different kind of Bible study voyage...the kind they both wish they had growing up. Together, Simon and Darian take a deep dive into the Garden of Eden, not to defend a doctrine or push an agenda, but to understand the text on its own terms. Drawing from biblical scholarship, history, anthropology, and ancient Near Eastern context...

The boys continue to check out the Book of Mormon and this time they dive into Nephi. The fellas also discuss commandments vs. outcomes and ponder if people focus more on the commandments of relgious texts or the outcomes. Buckle up and get ready to study and learn with Simon and Darian!

Simon and Darian take a deep dive into The Doctrines and Covenents to discuss everything after verse 50. And well...its all about polygamy and really...what could go wrong?

In part 2 of this triology, the guys break down several areas of Christian scripture where accuracy is highly questionable and flat out wrong. The guys also discuss the charismatic qualities of leaders as a part of why accuracy of information may not be important in religion.

In today's epsiode Simon and Darian discuss why accuracy of information may be important to them in their study of faith, but why it may not be important to others in their faith journey.

In this episode, the guys discuss a very big topic within religion, which is prayer. They tackle questions such as what is the science behind prayer neurologically, psychologically and socially? Does prayer like intercessory prayer actually work? Darian and Simon tackle these questions with open arms and also discuss why wrestling with faith is one of the most important parts of your spirtiual exp...

Just as the title says...would Jesus be welcome in churches today? Simon and Darian take a deep dive into this topic and discuss the teachings of Jesus and how this might be in conflict with various denominations of churches across the US. What do you think?

In part two of this conversation, Dr. Darian Parker and Simon explore the complex relationship between slavery and religion, particularly focusing on the Bible's stance on slavery. They discuss the multiple traditions of the Bible, the authorship and context of biblical texts, and the implications of Jordan Peterson's interpretations. The conversation also delves into the power dynamics pr...

In this episode Simon and Darian discuss religious texts and how racism and slavery are viewed and discussed in various readings. Why isn't this talked about more in churches and in general spiritual discussions? The guys take a deep dive to explore more about this topic.

Simon and Darian study whether God can be both good and evil based on study from the bible. They guys dive into scripture from Genesis, Isaiah and more to provide context to this idea. In the end it is all about what you believe based on what is actually in the bible. Join us to learn and grow!

What happened during the lost years of Jesus. You know, all the times between his birth, him being around 12/13 and then reappearing around age 29? Simon and I discuss what may have been happening in the in between times and create a different take about the self-actualized Jesus and the wonderful similarities of Jesus' teaching to Buddhism.

The greatest commandment is Love God and Love Your Neighbor as You Would Love Yourself. However, how can you love your neighbor as you would love yourself if you don't love yourself? It is just a question to ponder and in this episode Simon and I discuss this and some ways we can begin to love ourselves so that we can be better equipped to strive towards this really beautiful principle.