Extra Credit Podcast

This week we turn our attention to the second table of the Ten Commandments which are about love of neighbor. The perennial temptation of the church is to split the two tables of the Ten Commandments apart. This causes us to imagine that we occupy two different realms or spheres: God on the one side and the world on the other. The split filters into every area of life: religion and politics, churc...

The Ten Commandments, or the Ten Words, are typically divided into two tables (#1-3 and #4-10). The first table is about loving God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind; the second table is about loving our neighbors as ourselves. This week we look at the first table which is, as Luther said, about faith. Faith has to do with the future ( Heb. 11:1 ). How do we deal with the onrush of the...

The title of this series, “Ancient-Future Discipleship,” is an homage to the work of Robert Webber . Webber argued that the future of the church is ancient. We need to recover our ancient foundation not to reproduce the past, but to resource ourselves for current and future challenges. The church is an odd institution in that it began in the past, but has its roots in the future. In Ephesians 2:20...

Last week we discussed the fraught history of the church and sports. This week we turn to a more positive theology of sports grounded in the doctrine of creation. Is sport a consequence of the fall (Genesis 3) or can it be grounded in God’s good creation (Genesis 1)? In this two part teaching I’ve been closely following the argument of a wonderful book by Lincoln Harvey entitled “ A Brief Theology...

In A Brief Theology of Sport Lincoln Harvey argues that throughout its history the church has often failed to think theologically about sports. That isn’t to say it hasn’t thought about sports, though. Over the centuries the church has oscillated between a complete rejection of sports to a blind/naive acceptance. Harvey identifies a (clashing) “chord with three notes” that has been consistently st...

Genesis 4 is dense and deep and yet it is sparse with its language. It’s like a riddle. The narrator gives us very few words, but those few words suggest and evoke interpretation. Novelist Ernest Hemingway famously made a wager that he could write a short story using less than ten words. He only needed six: “For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.” That is brief but suggestive. It sets your imagination...

The last ten verses of Genesis 3 are typically referred to as “the curses.” Adam and Eve have taken and eaten the fruit of the tree that God commanded them not to eat. God finds them hiding in the Garden of Eden, questions them, and then lays out the consequences of their actions. But, unlike us, God’s curses always carry within them his promises. There is a hidden secret in all the threats of God...

This week we discuss God’s conversation with Adam and Eve after they have taken and eaten the fruit ( Genesis 3:8-13 ). We look particularly at the problem of Adam’s and Eve’s blame shifting (which is our problem), and the way Christ overcomes the problem. Christ is the one who takes responsibility for the world. He is the one who bears the guilt of the world—yet without sin. And as the body of Ch...

This week we turn our attention to Genesis 3:1—7 where we meet “the pious Snake” ( Bonhoeffer ). He’s pious because he seems to be interested in God and God’s word. In fact, he even knows something behind God’s word. I asked everyone to unhook our usual identification of the Snake with Satan just for the class because Genesis makes no such identification. It is true that the prophets/Revelation la...

Just a few notes: * If you have any thoughts or questions, please use the comment section here ! I’d love for the conversation to continue. * I had a few people ask me about the resources I’m using to teach and a few others who have asked about further resources I would recommend. If you’re interested in finding resources about anything in particular, leave a comment and we can discuss it. * You c...

Hi everyone! A couple of notes: My goal will be to post the recording from each week’s class the following Thursday or Friday. Please use the comment section to ask questions or make a comment! I’d love for this to become an additional space for us to interact and to keep the discussion going. You can also share the audio of the teaching with friends/family and invite them into the conversation he...