The Laymens Lounge

Are we Human Beings or Human Doings? Join us as we sit down with Christopher Holmes, author of A Theology of the Christian Life: Imitating and Participating in God, as we discuss the nitty gritty of the Christian life. Questions like, should all Christians (like my busy wife) be reading Theological books? Do we over-emphasize the Second person of the Trinity at the expense of the First? How does o...

Most Christians around me seem to be answering questions that nobody is asking. Christianity seems more to answer the question of a damned-soul and ethical living rather than scratching our most felt needs like: longing for romance, acclaim, self-confidence, and so on. Does God really care about those things because it seems the NT is chiefly concerned with Jew/gentile relations and helping Christ...

Rejoice! God is interested in your hobbies, your projects, and the things you love “Glorify God and enjoy Him forever…” That sounds great, but how exactly does one do that? In what way does my considering the lilies of the field glorify God? Does God care about my hobbies, my stamp collection, and my walks on the beach? Does God have enjoyment when I enjoy my favorite baseball team? What does Chri...

Christian Democrats? Church & State? “Not of this world”? Join us as we sit down with Bruce Ashford (author of “Letters to an American Christian” and “One Nation Under God: A Christian Hope for American Politics”) asking questions like: 1. Should Christians even concern themselves with Politics? Jesus didn’t care about polotics, so should we? 2. It just seems like an abyss of lies and a world...

Let God be true and every hermeneutic a liar John Walton appreciates Calvin, gleans from Vos, and his happy to draw from the ancient confessions - but he offers them no allegiance. Metanarratives and hermeneutical grids abound, but so do the interpretive pitfalls that come with them. Walton gets right to the heart of it saying, “The labels we use are the ones we are accountable.” He just wants us...

What does Neo-Calvinism applied look like? 84 years of insight Today we sit down with Jan Boer, an 84 year old Dutch/Canadian who is a translator of Kuyper, student of Evan H. Runner, and a missionary in Nigeria for over 30 years where neo-Calvinism was no theoretical exercise, but a world-and-life-view applied in the day-to-day of everyday life. Of neo-Calvinist philosophers, political theorists,...

When Union & Theosis Shake Hands “These themes of perfection, union with Christ, and the necessity of the incarnation point to the fact that Bavinck’s theology is profoundly ripe for the incorporation of the summative theme of theosis. This is the notion that humanity is meant to be united to and participate in the trinitarian life of God… There is a fundamental similarity between this element...

If you know only one thing, know this “ Whoever knows well this art of distinguishing between Law and Gospel, him place at the head and call him a doctor of Holy Scripture. " – Martin Luther “ The distinction between law and gospel is the highest art in Christendom .” – Martin Luther “ The reality of God’s grace is so radical that we often find ourselves trying to domesticate it, unconsciously (or...

“Humanity is no aimless mass of people which only serves the purpose of giving birth to the elect. On the contrary, the world now, as well as in the beginning, is the theater for the mighty works of God, and humanity remains a creation of His hand, which, apart from salvation, completes under this present dispensation, here on earth, a mighty process, and in its historical development is to glorif...

Means, Ends & Expectations of Personal Devotion What should my “quiet time” consist of? What should be taking place – increased knowledge? felt experience? And, either way, what are the appointed means? Are “quiet times” even a biblical concept? What did the people of God do before the printing press? Join us as we sit down with Jonathan Gibson, author of “Be Thou My Vision: A Liturgy for Dail...

Satiated with Kuyper as Mystics or the with Kuyper as Cerebral Theologians and Worldviewers?  Join us we sit down with Steven Garber and identify and discuss the core longings of the human heart – especially those of the Christian. We ask questions like “how can Christian’s experience God?” - “Is Abraham Kuyper’s mysticism unachievable?” - “What values is there in merely reading about God and...

The Rise, Demise, and Global Resurgence of Abraham Kuyper Listen in as we sit down with the treasurer of the heritage of neo-Calvinism himself: Dr. George Harinck. In this episode we survey the spread and implications Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck thoughts and teachings.  This interview is kicking off a series that will run the next few months at TheLaymensLounge.com called "The State of...

Naming the presence of God in our midst “God with us.” God with us? “YHWH with us” (But isn’t that the first person of the Trinity?)? Jesus left, but he leaves the Spirit? And that’s better how? Join us as we sit down with Myk Habets to nuance the points of contact, the roles of, and the relations of the Trinity in our life as well as praying in a Trinitarian way.

Gettin’ stoked on metaphor, allusion, & foreshadowing Chad Bird is in the business of turning on lights. If you crack open one of his books, or listen to his podcasts, don’t’ be surprised if one of his hands comes out of the book and flips the switch on your Old Testament understanding. Most of us see the Old Testament like a pepper-sprayed collection of curiosities and divinely bizzarro truth...

Genealogy, “14 Generations,” the "Son of David," the “Christ," the Exile We had the privilege of sitting down with Dr. Tom Schreiner to discuss the first chapter of Matthew – asking how best to make sense of it all and have our calloused hearts hear the story afresh. Join us as we take a Christmas stroll through advent portions of Matthew with the sweetheart of sweethearts the good Dr. Tom Schrein...

Everybody loves Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” (well, at least the movies), but who was this man? Was he best friends with Hudson Taylor and annoyed with Charles Spurgeon? Was he an ideal husband or a bit of a playboy? Did he leave his children to their own devices, or did he pen an entire book solely for their edification and growth in Christ? Listen in as we are joined with Charles Dickens...

A Hospitable Bed Interview on Spiritual Formation with Jim Houston “I came here to die.” Speaking from Hospice that is what Christian pillar James Houston, who is 99 years old, told me on our chat today – yet he is still writing and still offering wisdom to weary souls (read his "Letters From A Hospital Bed: Reflections From a 99 Year Old" here ) and offers a lifetime of insight in these 45 minute...

Questions about what we have assumed A few weeks ago, I happened upon a 2-part article series by Michael Cooper called “Ephesiology and the Critique of Church Planting Movements” and “Is Church Planting a Biblical Mandate?” and so, I’m not a deconstructionist, but I do appreciate a good questioning of what has been assumed. Listen in as we sit down with Dr. Cooper and discuss Paul’s model of makin...

Getting the Big Picture of the Pilgrims. Fact vs Fiction. Pilgrim Theological Emphasis. Theonomy Applied. Etc. Thomas Kidd just showed me that I really am a product of the California public school system as he separates pilgrim, Mayflower, and Thanksgiving fact from fiction. It’s not just that he corrects snippets of legend-as-history, but he fills out the pilgrim experiment and gives us the big p...

Lim Swee Hong and Lester Ruth “God inhabits the praises of His people” Psalm 22:3. With this verse as the Theological lynchpin, a new way of worshipping God took root, and continues to this day. New forms of worship have transformed the face of the American church over the past fifty years. Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, including interviews with dozens of important stakeholders and k...

15 years ago Collin Hansen identified a movement; “Young, Restless and Reformed.” John Piper, Mark Driscoll, John MacArthur were all pillars. With a heavy emphasis on a Calvinist soteriology, many of them, mostly from the Baptistic tradition, were pleased to cultivate a little bit of rootedness in the 2006 world of relativism and “you do you.” But, its been a long 15 years and now these guys have...

A Trinitarian Theolog of Gratitude and Giving “ We swim in gifts, in things given freely by God… But you don’t feel this very often though, do you? Neither do I. The greatest irony of being alive is that we treat gifts as possessions, generosity as commonplace, grace as summer grass-something to be stepped on and forgotten with every lifting muscle… We unwrap so many gifts every moment that we for...

Join us as we sit down with Pastor Benji Magness and discuss the life of the believer and the enjoyment (or rejection?) of Rod Serling and The Twilight Zone, creepy stuff and horror films, punk rock and burning your CDs at church camp. 

Dr. Sandra Richter speaks all manner of ancient languages, has a doctorate from Harvard, is a professor, an archeologist, a leading voice in academic theological/historical/hermeneutical discussions, and she wants to help normal Christians read and understand the Old Testament.  Dr. Richter is the author of the heavily circulated book “ The Epic of Eden: A Christian Entry into the Old Testame...

Father as “Not Begotten” – Son as “Begotten” – Spirit as “Spirated” Join us as we sit down with the Trinity powerhouse Dr. Matthew Barrett author of “ Simply Trinity: The Unmanipulated Father, Son, and Spirit ” (Baker). Dr. Barrett has done the heavy lifting for us in reviewing the last 2,000 years of making sense of the Trinity and how it functions, while also dealing with some of the whack and n...