Banned Books

Featured text: "The Mystery of Christ and Cosmic Restoration" — John Kleinig Cosmic Debris. In this episode, we read Dr. John Kleinig on Christ and cosmic restoration. We then discuss how and why Christians confuse mysteries with secrets, what happened to the mystagogues, and why the mystery of the Christian faith has to do with the hidden presence of Christ with us here on earth and our restorati...

Featured text: "Tolkien's Liturgical Imagination" — J.R.R. Tolkien Lent in Middle-earth. In this episode, we discuss the Lenten subtext, language, and images in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Return of the King." What can Christians learn from fiction authors about the faith, devotional reading, understanding the world outside the churches through the view of the cross, and how all of reality is bent towar...

Featured text: "The Discarded Image" — C.S. Lewis A Church as Big as the Cosmos! In this episode, we enter into Lent with a reading from C.S. Lewis' The Discarded Image. We discuss the medieval understanding of life, the universe, and everything— how it can help the churches today deepen their "vision" of how God orders the universe, the church, and the human being. We converse about the Grail leg...

Featured text: "The End of Education" — Neil Postman We Don't Need No Education. In this episode, we read The End of Education by Neal Postman, discussing the mechanisms of public education, religious catechesis, the influence of the Enlightenment and psychoanalysis on contemporary learning, and what happens when fiction replaces truth as the basis of meaning. This and much, much more on today's s...

Featured text: "Sermon of the Wolf to the English" — Wulfstan Hungry Like The Wolf. In this episode, we read a sermon from 11th-century bishop Wulfstan. The main themes in the Sermon of the Wolf to the English (also often referred to by its Latin title, Sermo Lupi ad Anglos) are corruption and sin. These themes are apparent as Wulfstan chastises the English people for their corruption and warns of...

Featured text: "Between God and Satan: The Temptation of Jesus and the Temptability of Man" — Helmut Thielicke Fight the Power! In this episode, we learn from pastor and theologian Helmut Thielecke about the gods we worship, the God that encounters us, and what technology actually does to us. What do Satan's temptations teach us about Jesus, God's Word, piety, and making sense of mystery? Is Chris...

Featured text: "God in the Dock" — C.S. Lewis The Hangman's Nous. In this episode, we read an excerpt from The Maniac, by G.K. Chesterton, followed by Myth Became Fact, from C.S. Lewis' book of essays, "God in the Dock." The primary question we discuss, then, is whether men and women can live a healthy and sane life with mystery, without myth, and without higher truth. What has happened to modern...

Featured text: "The Role of the Holy Spirit in the Divine Service" — John Kleinig In this episode, we learn about the Holy Spirit and the Divine Service from Dr. John Kleinig. In particular, we discuss how Christ gives the Spirit to the church through his word, how Christ institutes the divine service and empowers it with God's Spirit, and how the church receives the Holy Spirit by faith in God's...

Featured text: "History of the Dissolution of the Old Liturgical Forms in the Evangelical Church of Germany" — Paul Graff Who Made Who. In this episode, Gillespie takes the wheel and steers us into tradition, liturgy, worship styles, and the various "-isms" that have sprung up within the churches over the centuries. What's the purpose of the Divine Service? What is the fundamental meaning of Chris...

What's the Frequency, Kenneth? In this episode, we gather for a post-Christmas, post-New Year pastoral debrief. We talk about symbols and meaning, Christmas and holidays, signs and seasons, and how modern churches quietly cleared the path for culture to push Christ out of Christmas without much resistance. We explore the strange and largely arbitrary ways the world measures time, along with the ol...

Featured text: "On Christmas" — G.K. Chesterton Going Cold Turkey at Christmas? In this episode, we read G.K. Chesterton's essay, On Christmas, wherein he discusses celebrating Christmas too early, vivisection, vegetarians versus turkeys, and what to do about the poor at Christmas. It's another curmudgeonly Christmas episode with one of our favorite British apologists and satirists. SHOW NOTES:  ...

Featured text: "What Christmas Means to Me" — C.S. Lewis I'm Wasted, and I Can't Find My Way Home. In this episode, we again invite C.S. Lewis to teach us about Christmas. We also discuss the early church fathers, worship, symbolism, mystery, Freud and Jung's influence on modern Christians, consumerism and gift-giving, and, of course, Christmas: all this and much, much more on this episode of the...

Featured text: "A Christmas Sermon for Pagans" — C.S. Lewis In this episode, we read C.S. Lewis' "A Christmas Sermon for Pagans." SHOW NOTES:   A Christmas Sermon for Pagans https://ia601205.us.archive.org/24/items/c.-s.-lewis-a-christmas-sermon-for-pagans-1946/C.%20S.%20Lewis%20-%20A%20Christmas%20Sermon%20for%20Pagans%201946_text.pdf     More from 1517: Support 1517 Podcast Network: https://www....

Featured text: "The Smalcald Articles" — Martin Luther Son of a Preacher Man. In this episode, we conclude our study of Martin Luther's Smalcald Articles, discussing the office of the keys and confession. We go through and sum up the previous episodes — the gospel, the mass, repentance, sin, and the law — then sit with the function and power of the forgiveness of sin. What is the office of the key...

Featured text: "The Smalcald Articles" — Martin Luther How Deep Is Your Love! In this episode, we continue our reading of the Smalcald Articles, focusing our attention on sin and the law. What is sin? What does it do to us? What are its effects? And, in following, what is the relationship of the law to sin? Does the law empower us to sin less? Can the law produce good works and good fruits? What i...

Featured text: "The Smalcald Articles" — Martin Luther Don't Look Back in Anger. In this episode, we continue reading Martin Luther's Smalcald Articles, focusing on contrition, repentance, and freedom. Why does the law need to terrify and leave us hopeless? How does attention to the self lead us into death and hell? What happens when belief is preached as something "we do" rather than something "d...

Featured text: "The Smalcald Articles" — Martin Luther Mass Effect. In this episode, we continue our reading of The Smalcald Articles, focusing on Luther's critique of the Roman Mass and all its consequences for the churches and Christian life. We discuss mimetic desire, sacrificial religion, the exclusive work of Jesus. SHOW NOTES:   The Book of Concord - Smalcald Articles https://thebookofconcor...

Featured text: "The Smalcald Articles" — Martin Luther An Arm-Twisting Confession. In this episode, we read Martin Luther's Smalcald Articles on the gospel, baptism, and the Lord's Supper. Why did he have to have "his arm twisted" to write them? What is he trying to teach the churches about the gospel? How does the gospel circumscribe and define the Church, worship, and Christian life? Why does so...

Featured text: "The Captivation of the Will: Luther Vs. Erasmus on Freedom and Bondage" — Gerhard Forde The Never-Ending Story of our Bound Will & Election. In this episode, we write an epilogue —so to speak— to our series on the Bondage of the Will and wrap up our thoughts about the Here We Still Stand Conference 2025. We ask, "From whence comes a preacher?" Where does one go for gospel-comfort a...

Featured text: "The Captivation of the Will: Luther Vs. Erasmus on Freedom and Bondage" — Gerhard Forde For What It's Worth. In this episode, we conclude our reading of Gerhard Forde's "Captivation of the Will." We discuss the conclusion of Luther's treatise on the bound will, arriving at Christ and election, which reveals Erasmus's fundamental error — his argument for the human will is actually t...

Featured text: "The Captivation of the Will: Luther Vs. Erasmus on Freedom and Bondage" — Gerhard Forde Master of Puppets. In this episode, we continue our exploration of the Bondage of the Will, with Gerhard Forde's book, The Captivation of the Will. We discuss the human will — what it is, what it does, what it wants — and why we are compelled to insist that we have free choice. We also talk abou...

Featured text: "The Captivation of the Will: Luther Vs. Erasmus on Freedom and Bondage" — Gerhard Forde Have You Herd? In this episode, we continue our reading of The Captivation of Will, discussing the problem of God, the death-ride of morality, scandalous election, the dilemma of sin and freedom and more sin, and the singular calling of Christ's preachers. SHOW NOTES:   The Captivation of the Wi...

Featured text: "The Captivation of the Will: Luther Vs. Erasmus on Freedom and Bondage" — Gerhard Forde Do You Understand the Words That Are Coming Out of My Mouth? In this episode, we read Gerhard Forde's monograph on Luther's treatise on The Bondage of the Will. We discuss scriptural exegesis, its internal and external clarity, how modern readers interpret texts, and why we often misread the Bib...

Featured text: "The Captivation of the Will: Luther Vs. Erasmus on Freedom and Bondage" — James Nestigen Dazed & Confused. In this episode, we continue our series on The Bondage of the Will (1525), by Martin Luther. We read Dr. James Nestingen's historical introduction to the treatise and delve into the ways two theologians differed in their exegesis of Scripture, their interpretation of Christian...

Featured text: "The Captivation of the Will: Luther Vs. Erasmus on Freedom and Bondage" — Steven Paulson In this episode, we begin our series commemorating the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's treatise, de Servo Arbitrio — The Bondage of the Will. We begin by reading Dr. Steven Paulson's theological analysis of what's at stake in Luther's treatise, as well as its sharp-edged consequences for c...