Theology in the Raw

In this episode, I talk to Karen about all things related to immigration. What does the Bible say? How theologically/ethically important is it? How should the biblical story on immigration shape our current Christian imagination when it comes to current political issues about immigration? How should Christians respond to undocumented immigrants? Karen Gonzalez is a speaker, writer, storyteller, an...

Tom Wright is Research Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Early Christianity at St Mary’s College in the University of St Andrews and Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. Prior to serving at Oxford, Tom has held a variety of both academic and chaplaincy posts at Oxford, Cambridge, and McGill University, Montreal. He was Canon of Westminster in 2000, before serving as Bishop of Dur...

Complementarians believe that the Bible affirms the full equality of women and men, but that God only allows men to be elders and teachers in local churches. Dr. Tom Schreiner is one of the most well known and widely published (and respected) scholars who holds to this view. In this episode, Tom sums up his position and then responds to several counterarguments I throw at him.  Tom is James Buchan...

Dr. Vincent Bacote is an Associate Professor of Theology and the Director of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL. He is the author of the The Political Disciple: A Theology of Public Life (2015), The Spirit in Public Theology: Appropriating the Legacy of Abraham Kuyper (2005), and has contributed to books including On Kuyper (2013), Aliens in the Promised Land...

Dr. Gregory Coles is senior research fellow at The Center for Faith, Sexuality & Gender , and is the author of Single, Gay, Christian: A Personal Journey of Faith and Sexual Identity (IVP, 2017) and No Longer Strangers: Finding Belonging in a World of Alienation (IVP, 2021). He holds a PhD in English from Penn State and works as a writer, speaker, and worship leader. His fiction and expository...

In this podcast, Mark gives a different perspective about the “discovery” of America and some of the profound problems when Christians go to be with the Empire. Mark Charles is a speaker, writer, and consultant. The son of an American woman (of Dutch heritage) and a Navajo man, Mark teaches the complexities of American history regarding race, culture, and Christendom in order to help forge a path...

Mark is a Born and bred Texan. He came to Jesus at age 22 and will celebrate his 50th anniversary of being “in Christ” on February 17, 2022. He’s been married to Vicki for 47 years, 2 children, 6 grandchildren, and he practiced oil and gas law for 45 years and retired in December of 2020.  Mark’s daughter came out as a lesbian over a decade ago and they’ve maintained a wonderful, loving relationsh...

Myles Werntz (PhD, Baylor University) is associate professor of theology and director of Baptist studies at Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas. He is the author or editor of several books, including Bodies of Peace and A Field Guide to Christian Nonviolence . David C. Cramer (PhD, Baylor University) is managing editor at the Institute of Mennonite Studies, sessional lecturer at Anabapt...

I received a ton of questions from my Patreon supporters, many of which I answered through Patreon, but some of which I address out loud in this podcast. Questions addressed on this episode: How do you know if you’re called to marriage? What does the Bible say about masculinity and femininity? How will I handle my growing platform? Is it wrong to smoke weed? Drink alcohol? Should Christians have a...

Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov has been hailed as one of the greatest novels of all time. I just got done reading the book and have been mulling over its multilayered meaning ever since. So I invited my friend Tom Velasco to come on the show to talk about. Tom has read the book at least 10 times (which, at 776 pages is not an easy feat) and has been teaching the book to highschool stud...

Hannah Barefoot is a theatrically trained actress, singer, and dancer originally from Cody, Wyoming. Her first leading role role in the cult favorite, 'The Falls: Testament of Love,' earned her a reputation as a raw and vulnerable dramatic actress early on, while her work in improv developed her comedic chops. She has since starred in many movies and TV shows including King Richard, CSI, Chicago M...

Kristin Kobes Du Mez is a New York Times bestselling author and Professor of History and Gender Studies at Calvin University. She holds a PhD from the University of Notre Dame and her research focuses on the intersection of gender, religion, and politics. She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Religion News Service , and Christianity Today , and has been interviewed...

David is from Sydney, Australia where he studied journalism and then international relations. He moved to Oxford to pursue his studies in theology and train as an apologist from a skeptical, atheist background as an anti-Christian gay activist. David now holds undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in theology from Oxford, a master’s degree in theology from the University of St Andrews, Scotland,...

Sheila has written seven books including award-winning book The Good Girl’s Guide to Great Sex and the forthcoming The Great Sex Rescue , which she coauthored with her daughter, Rebecca Lindenbach. Both Sheila and Rebecca speak and write about a Christian view of sex, often correcting problems created by a purity culture approach to sex.  The Great Sex Rescue https://amzn.to/3zvrYda Sheila’s blog:...

Aimee Byrd is a speaker, author, blogger, wife, and mom. She’s the author of several books including Why Can’t We Be Friends , No Little Women , her most recent book Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood , and the forthcoming The Sexual Reformation . Learn more about Aimee on her website: https://aimeebyrd.com Theology in the Raw Conference - Exiles in Babylon At the Theology in the Raw c...

Len is a true Renaissance man. Author of more than seventy books and 1500+ published sermons, Leonard Sweet’s recent publications include groundbreaking textbooks on preaching (Giving Blood), evangelism (Nudge), ecclesiology (So Beautiful) and discipleship (I Am A Follower). The second volume in his Christmas trilogy with Lisa Samson is just out ( St. As ). Len and co-author Lisa Samson are workin...

Peter McGowan is one of the founders of PlainJoe and Storyland Studios. He is a champion of bringing clients’ unique stories to life by broadening their visual vocabulary beyond words and helping shape the cultural influence of their organizations. Having worked with large-scale corporate clients such as Infinity, Nissan, IBM and Johnson & Johnson, as well as creative pioneers including Disney...

Happy new year! In this episode, I talk about the analytics of the podcast, which has grown like crazy over the years, my heart behind the podcast, its history and future, how I handle criticism, some of the most popular episodes, and I walk through the TITR mission, which is: “To help believers think Christianly about theological and cultural issues by engaging in curious conversations with a div...

Jeremy is the founding pastor of Commons Church in Calgary, BC--a rather unique church that prioritizes intellectual honesty and the centrality of Jesus above tight-knit doctrinal statements. I found Jeremy on Twitter and was fascinated by his ecclesiology, so I invited him to come talk about it on the show. We ended up talking quite a bit about belonging, sexual ethics, polyamory, LGBTQ inclusion...

Dr. Russell Moore is Public Theologian at Christianity Today and Director of Christianity Today’s Public Theology Project. Dr. Moore is the author of several books, including The Courage to Stand: Facing Your Fear Without Losing Your Soul , Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel and The Storm-Tossed Family: How the Cross Reshapes the Home . A native Mississippian, he and his wife M...

In this fourth and final episode in our “scandal of Christmas” series, New Testament scholar Dr. Joey Dodosn walks us through parallel birth narratives in the Greco-Roman and Jewish environment of the New Testament. Reading the biblical birth narratives in these contexts helps us read the story in HD, or through a 3D lens, so that we can better understand the author’s intention in how he’s telling...

In this third part of our four part series, New Testament scholar Dr. Lynn Cohick walks us through the significance of women in the birth narratives. We talk a lot about Mary, Elizabeth, Jesus’s genealogy (which contains 5 women), how the appearance of women in the genealogy has been misunderstood, and we also discuss the woman at the well in John 4 and how she was not a sexually promiscuous woman...

We often think of Luke 1-2 and Matthew 1-2 when we think about the Christmas story. But what about Revelation 12? Is this angle a strange, fringe way of looking at the birth of Jesus, or is a primarily lens? In this episode, Dr. Bird and I look at this less-than-familar way of reading the Christmas story. It’s an angle where the bird of a peasant-King is a battle against the socio-political powers...

I’ve invited 4 different New Testament scholars on the podcast to talk about the Christmas story. In this opening episode, I talk with world renown NT scholar Dr. Craig Keener about Luke 1-2, the politics and sociological scandal of Christ’s birth, his earthly vocation (as a tekton ...woodworker? mason? None of the above?), the location of Christ’s birth, Matthew 1-2 (and the differences between L...

Aaron is gay and so is Liz. They’ve been married for over 15 years and have had an interesting journey. Both are solid Jesus followers and have done a fantastic job helping the church engage LGBTQ related issues with truth and grace. In this podcast conversation, Liz and Aaron share their story and talk about what it’s like being in a queer marriage--a term they prefer over “mixed orientation marr...