The Pastor Theologians Podcast

Collin Hansen, Editor-in-Chief of the Gospel Coalition, reflects on the political vision and legacy of Tim Keller. Politics is not the first subject anyone would associate with the life and work of pastor Tim Keller. And yet when you review his teaching, you find someone who may have written more deeply and insightfully about politics than any other contemporary pastor. In this session, Hansen exp...

Ryan Fields joins the podcast again to share a sermon he preached on 1 Peter 2:12, calling the church to pursue commendable conduct "among the Gentiles" in the turmoil of a divisive moment in America's public and ecclesial life. What does God call us, the church, to pursue, both among fellow believers and in the public sphere? Join us at the CPT Conference

Chris Ganski shares his story of faith and ministry in one of our Becoming a Pastor Theologian episodes. He shares how his journey has been a series of continuing conversions towards deeper faith and how the Lord worked through various experiences to lead him to the pastorate. How does a PhD relate to pastoral ministry? How can a liberal academic context help to foster faithful evangelical witness...

Coleman Ford and Shawn J. Wilhite join the podcast to discuss their recently published book  Ancient Wisdom and the Care of Souls: Learning the Art of Pastoral Ministry from the Church Fathers (Crossway, 2024). They talk about why the wrote the book and the need that it meets for busy pastors today. Why should we learn the art of soul care from the church Fathers? What corrections can they bring t...

Carmen Joy Imes joins the podcast to discuss her books Bearing God's Name and Being God's Image , as well as previewing what she will be talking about at this year's CPT conference Kingdom Politics . Carmen shares her story of faith, ministry, and education, as well as her heart to serve the church. What does it mean to be made as his image? What does it mean to bear his name? What...

Jack Franicevich, a parish priest in the Anglican Church of North America, joins the podcast to discuss his book, Sunday: Keeping Christian Time (Athanasius Press, 2023), that focuses on the nature of the Sabbath, what it means in the biblical narrative, and how the social imaginary of Christians might be formed by a deep understanding of the Sabbath. What does the Sabbath mean for rest? For the h...

Dan Brendsel joins the podcast to discuss his recent book  Answering Speech: The Life of Prayer as Response to God (Crossway, 2023). Paul commands the church to "pray without ceasing." What does that mean? In what ways do we misunderstand prayer? How might reframing prayer as a whole-life response reform and renew the lives of the saints and the life the church? All this and more on this...

Joel is joined by Brad Gray, CEO of Walking the Text, a non-profit organization that specalizes in helping pastors and Christians understand the cultural, linguistic, and literary context of the Bible. What are the "lenses of context" for reading scripture? How does understanding this context correctly enable Christians to live out the vision of scripture and be conformed to Christ? SPON...

For our July episode on books, we, the CPT staff, have been reading: Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness (2024) Stephen King, 'Salem's Lot  (1975) Cynthia L. Haven,  Evolution of Desire: A Life of René Girard  (2018) Join us at the CPT Conference

Kaitlyn Schiess joins the podcast to talk about her recent book The Ballot and the Bible: How Scripture Has Been Used and Abused in American Politics and Where We Go from Here (Brazos, 2023). She shares her background of education and how she began interacting with the question of the relationship between church and state, Christians and the politics of the world. What makes America a "Bible...

Russell Moore, Editor-in-Chief of Christianity Today, joins the podcast to talk about his journey of faith, major influences on his faith, and current reflections on the state of American Evangelicalism. Why is fiction so profoundly impactful on his thinking? Why is the American church prone to cultural nominalism and pragmatism? What does the American church need to repent of and convert to? What...

Ryan Fields, senior pastor of Faith Evangelical Free Church, joins the podcast to tell his story of coming to faith and his journey of education and ministry.  Join us at the CPT Conference

Matt O'Reilly joins the podcast to discuss and share the presentation he gave at the Reconstructing Methodism conference earlier this spring, explaining why the new Global Methodist church needs to be firmly planted on strong theological rock, with pastor theologians doing the necessary hard building work. In his presentation he focuses on why the task of preaching is necessarily theological,...

Richard Lints joins the podcast to discuss his recent book Uncommon Unity: Wisdom for the Church in an Age of Division (Lexham 2022). Pressing into the given difference that exists, he argues for a deeper unity funded by the inclusion narrative of the gospel. Lints calls for a renewed unity that doesn't march according to the orders of the cultural calls for unity that prevail today. What kin...

Gregg Allison joins the podcast to talk about his journey of faith and ministry and his theological work on the Holy Spirit. He discusses common misperceptions about the Holy Spirit, encouraging believers to think about the Spirit as the greatest gift God gives to his children. In what ways do we make the Spirit the potentiator of our own works? How can we listen to the guidance of the Spirit? Wha...

Collin Hansen joins the podcast to discuss Tim Keller's legacy as a public theologian and his work in New York City to both a modern and orthodox Christian, engaging the world and seeking the good of the city. We address such questions as the influences on Tim Keller's vision for public engagement, his drawing together of diverse traditions, and what pastors can learn today from his mini...

Preston Sprinkle joins the podcast to talk about his recent book Exiles: The Church in the Shadow of Empire , to discuss a biblical theology of Christian engagement with politics, and to preview his upcoming contribution to the CPT conference. Why is it so easy to mingle ecclesiology and politics? Why is this a matter for Christian discipleship? What does it mean for the church to be a political i...

Chris Bruno joins the podcast to share his story of becoming a pastor theologian. He talks about his journey of faith the path the Lord led him on to pursue higher education, as well as sharing about the current work he is doing to train pastors on the Hawaiian Islands through Training Leaders International and Oahu Theological Seminary . Join us at the CPT Conference

Gayle Doornbos joins the podcast to talk about her journey of faith and education and current ministry at Dordt University.  Gayle brings us into conversation with Herman Bavinck and the importance of his work as a theologian who sits patiently with Scripture and the tradition as he works to apply theology to his own day, helping us learn what it means to live before the face of God. We discuss su...

Dr. Dan Treier, Gunther H. Knoedler Professor of Theology at Wheaton College, joins the podcast to discuss his recent book on Christology, Lord Jesus Christ . In this conversation, we dig into questions of methodology, pastoral theology, and the strengths and weaknesses of evangelical understandings of Jesus. What does faith seeking understanding mean? How can we recover deep, biblical understandi...

"In order to understand the third commandment, we have to understand how it relates to the greatest commandment." Josh Stone shares a sermon he recently preached on Exodus 20:7: "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain." He unpacks what it means to take his name in vain, showing that when we r...

Why are is the CPT hosting a conference on Kingdom Politics this September? Joel Lawrence and Zach Wagner preview the 2024 CPT conference, explaining why creating space for intentional conversations about the church and politics fits within the mission of the CPT to equip pastors to be theologians for today's complex world. What will the conference be about? What will it not be about? Why sho...

Josh Stone joins the podcast to tell his story of becoming a pastor theologian. He discusses the influence of significant medical diagnoses in his family, his journey of education, his studies in gender, and what it means to be a pastor theologian. Some of the questions we discuss are how does a PhD help serve the pastorate? What are unique challenges and opportunities in multi-site ministry? Why...

The text of Genesis 1 helps us understand who God is, who we are, and what our purpose in the world is. In this sermon, Charles Anderson explains the structure and purpose of Genesis 1 to help us understand how God is purposefully at work in creation and in our lives, even the midst of seeming chaos. Join us at the CPT Conference

Walter Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), joins the podcast to discuss the mission of the church in the present political climate. Along the way, he shares about his journey of faith and call to ministry, the work of the NAE, and how Deuteronomy can inform a holistic vision for church discipleship and engagement with the world. He and Joel discuss questions like, How...