The Pastor Theologians Podcast

CPT Fellow Amy Peeler returns to the podcast to discuss some of her journey of faith and education.  Dr. Peeler recounts her experiences as a spiritually earnest child who involved herself in ministry opportunities from a young age. She goes on to describe her own wrestlings with biblical texts as a college student. Finally, she shares on some of the theological vision for female identity from her...

Author and Journalist Bonnie Kristian joins the podcast to talk about her new book,  Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community  (Brazos, 2022). What are the fractures caused in society by our information overload and our consistent use of social media? How has a crisis of authority contributed to these fractures? What is the...

Our September episode on books we, the CPT staff, have been reading. Robert H. Bork – The Tempting of America: The Political Seduction of the Law (1990) Sinclair Lewis – Elmer Gantry (1927) Charles Marsh – Evangelical Anxiety: A Memoir (2022) Crawford Gribben – Survival and Resistance in American Evangelicalism: Christian Reconstruction in the Pacific Northwest (2021) Join us at the CPT Conference

CPT Fellow Laurie Norris joins the podcast to discuss her story of life, faith, education, and ministry as a Professor at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. What is it like to grow up and commend the gospel in un-churched communities and regions of the country? How do we integrate multiple spheres of learning in our thinking, theology, and preaching? Laurie also shares the vision behind  One-Vo...

How do we think theologically about the persuasive aspects of Christian mission and evangelism? How can pastors avoid the manipulative tendencies that have characterized some preaching of the gospel? How can we seek excellence in Christian persuasion without buying into cultural values of growth and success? CPT fellow Mike Niebauer joins the podcast to talk about his new book  Virtuous Persuasion...

What is leisure? What is the proper end of our intellectual pursuits and the life of the mind? What make the life of a scholar unique? How do intellectual pursuits relate to pastoral ministry? All this and more on this episode with CPT fellow Mickey Klink, featuring conversations on books by Zena Hitz and Luke Timothy Johnson. Join us at the CPT Conference

Daryl Ellis, executive pastor at Church of the Master and a member of the CPT St. Augustine Fellowship, joins the podcast to share his story about faith, his shift away from an Evangelical Free Church background, education, and how theology informs his administrative-oriented role. Along the way he discusses his adoption of an Augustinian and Thomistic approach to theology from a more Barthian und...

The Supreme Court of the United States has overturned Roe v. Wade.  What’s next for our nation and our churches? How do pastors approach ongoing differences of opinion on the decision itself and the means by which it came about? How can pastors commend holistic visions of justice and exhort their congregations toward Christian unity in an increasingly fractured society? Join us at the CPT Conferen...

Our June episode on books we're reading. We are joined by CPT fellow Paul Morrison.  We discuss the following: Scot McKnight & B.J. Oropeza, eds. – Perspectives on Paul (2020) St. Augustine – City of God (early 5th century) Graham Greene – The Power and the Glory  (1940) Francis Fukuyama – Liberalism and Its Discontents (2022) Join us at the CPT Conference

How does technology relate to our human desire for connection and relationship? What types of technology extend our human capacities and creativity? What types of technologies limit and compromise our humanity? How does this relate to the new world that God is making in Christ? We are joined on this episode by Andy Crouch to discuss his new book – The Life We're Looking For:  Reclaiming Relat...

CPT Fellow and Souther Baptist pastor Danny Slavich joins the podcast to discuss recent events and turmoil in the Southern Baptist Convention. We begin by discussing some of Danny's story of faith, education, and ministry, including his time serving as a pastor at a majority black church and the formative impact this had on him. We then pivot to discuss the recent report on sexual abuse and c...

What can pastors in America and in the West learn from house church pastors in China?  What place does the sermon hold in the history of theological reflection? What are the unique challenges and opportunities of ministry in the Chinese setting? Hannah Nation serves as the Managing Director of the Center for House Church Theology , an organization that publishes pastors and leaders in China’s urba...

How is God at work in our stories and our suffering? How does human will relate to divine will? Dr. Mark Talbot, Professor of Philosophy at Wheaton College, joins the podcast to share his story, including suffering a major, paralyzing accident as a young man and going on to study philosophy as a Christian. Dr. Talbot also discusses his book  When the Stars Disappear,  the first in a four-book seri...

On this episode we are joined by Steven Sandage, Professor of Psychology of Religion and Theology at the Boston University School of Theology. Dr. Sandage consulted with the CPT for a meeting of one of our ecclesial theologian fellowships on virtue formation and hope. In this conversation we discuss the relationship between hope, lament, and pastoral ministry. Join us at the CPT Conference

We continue our conversation with CPT fellow Neil Martin, picking up with his DPhil research at the University of Oxford. What was the Apostle Paul's attitude towards the Torah, paganism, and the differences and similarities between Jews and Gentiles? Neil's research seeks to reconcile and integrate emphases of traditional Protestant readings and the so-called New Perspective on Paul. Jo...

We're joined on this episode by CPT Fellow Neil Martin, who serves as Ministry Assistant at Oxford Presbyterian Church and as the Director of B Less Oxford. Neil tells the story of growing up, studying at Cambridge, and beginning a promising career in marketing design in London. A sudden, unexplained illness debilitated Neil, setting him on a new trajectory for his life. Join us at the CPT Co...

We continue our conversation about Herman Bavinck with Gayle Doornbos and Gray Sutanto. How did Bavinck's intellectual curiosity show in his writing? How did he work to produce and rearticulate Reformed theology for his own context? How did he wed orthodox theological confession with modernist and scientific movements of his day? What can pastors and theologians learn from how Bavinck on how...

Our March bonus episode on books we're reading. We are joined by CPT fellow Paul Morrison.  We discuss the following: Dale Allison – The Resurrection of Jesus (2021) Chinua Achebe – Things Fall Apart   (1958) Adonis Vidu – The Same God Who Works All Things  (2021) Michael Budde –  Foolishness to Gentiles (2022) Join us at the CPT Conference

We discuss the life and thought of Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck in part 1 of this conversation with CPT fellows Gayle Doornbos and Gray Sutanto. What was Bavinck's ecclesial context? How did political dynamics in the Netherlands influence his life, and how do these movements related to the broader Reformed movement, Calvinism, and its popular understanding within American evangelicalism? G...

We are joined on this episode by Dr. Preston Hill, Assistant Professor of Integrated Theology at Richmont Graduate University. Preston discusses his work on trauma, abuse, and trinitarian theology, as well as his soon-to-release co-authored book, Dawn of Sunday . How is the Trinity foundational for our understanding of human relationality? How can pastors create trauma-safe spaces for community an...

We are joined on this episode by Dr. Emily Beth Hill, who serves in the ministry of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. She tells the story of switching careers after working for 10 years in business marketing and analysis. What are the theological assumptions about human beings built into capitalistic marketing strategies? What things should churches consider when having conversations about brandi...

On this episode we hear CPT fellow Andrew Ray Williams's story of becoming a pastor theologian. Growing up in a Foursquare pentecostal tradition provided Andrew with unique challenges and opportunities in his theological journey. What is the theological identity of pentecostalism? What should a pentecostal view of the sacraments look like? What is the relationship our experience of God and ou...

We are joined this week by on the podcast by Dr. Michael Bird, a Lecturer in Theology at Ridley College in Melbourne, Australia. We discuss how Dr. Bird selects and pursues his various research interests. He also shares his thoughts on how American evangelicalism is distinct from global expressions of evangelical Christian faith. What is the influence, for better or worse, of American evangelicali...

Our February bonus episode on books we're reading. We are joined by CPT co-founder Gerald Hiestand.  We discuss the following: Krister Stendahl: Paul Among Jews and Gentiles (1976) John Meyendorff: Christ in Eastern Christian Thought (1975) Colson Whitehead: The Underground Railroad (2017) Eric Nelson: The Theology of Liberalism: Political Philosophy and the Justice of God (2019) Join us at t...

Historian and author Kristin Kobes Du Mez joins the podcast to talk about her book,  Jesus and John Wayne . How have books shaped our theological and ecclesial imagination in American Evangelicalism? What is the proper relationship and distinction between pastoral ministry and the academic discipline of history? How do the idiosyncrasies of the subculture we inhabit create challenges for disciples...