On this episode of the podcast, we talk with Dr. Ruben Rosario Rodriguez, about his new book Calvin for the World. Dr. Rosario makes what might be to some a surprising argument: that beyond the smaller circles where Calvin is revered, the real Calvin casts a capacious vision for our troubled times. Among the topics we discuss:

• Dr. Rosario's story of his life with Calvin, and how Calvin made a difference growing up in Puerto Rico, studying in NY, pastoring in a rural community, and now teaching at a Jesuit University.
• Assessing Calvin's legacy and responding to his detractors
• "Liking" Calvin vs. respecting and appreciating Calvin
• The parallels and divergences between Calvin and liberation theology
• Calvin (and Calvinism) responding to the experience of exile and the phenomenon of refugees
• Calvin's transnational ecclesiology and what we can learn from him today

Get the book: https://bakeracademic.com/p/calvin-for-the-world-rub-n-rosario-rodr-guez/553612

On this episode of the podcast, we talk with Dr. Shirley Mullen about book Claiming the Courageous Middle: Daring to Live and Work Together for a more Hopeful Future. Drawing from over four decades of experience in Christian higher education, Dr. Mullen explores what it means to be called to the middle, especially in times of deep polarization. Among the topics we discuss:

• What it means to say that the middle can be a place of courage, imagination, and hope
• When "not fitting anywhere" can be a gift and a calling
• Christian universities as middle spaces and the responsibility to steward trust while embracing complexity
• Counsel for teachers in the classroom and for the local church

Get the book: https://bakeracademic.com/p/Claiming-the-Courageous-Middle-Shirley-A-Mullen/542817

On this episode of the podcast, we talk with Dr. Lanta Davis about her new book, Becoming by Beholding: The Power of the Imagination in Spiritual Formation. It’s a conversation about art, beauty, and the riches of the Christian tradition – about how we might put ourselves in a place where we can be surprised and transformed. This conversation was a treat since we were able to do it live and in-person, which gave the conversation a special energy. Among the topics we discuss:

• Why the imagination is so powerful and why it's not enough to turn away from bad inputs
• How our neglect of the imagiantion weakens our powers of discernment
• Examples of the riches of the Christian imaginative tradition
• On medieval bestiaries and the importance of learning the names of things
• The balance between meeting people where they are and taking them to strange new places
• Why transformation doesn't happen magically and how we might become more attentive to what is forming us.

Get the book: https://bakeracademic.com/p/becoming-by-beholding-lanta-davis/542815

More from Lanta Davis: https://www.lantadavis.com/

On this episode of the podcast, we talk with Dr. Wesley Vander Lugt about his new book, Beauty is Oxygen. It’s a conversation about how our souls crave beauty, and how we need beauty both to help us breathe and to help us build. Among the topics we discuss:

• What it means to say that "beauty is oxygen"
• The way beauty meets those who are "buffered", "battered", and "bored"
• Criticisms of the concept of beauty as too narrow
• The relationship between the beauty of the world and the beauty of God (or, why John Piper might be wrong about it)
• The relationship of beauty and justice
• How we might grow in attentiveness and awe

Get the book: https://www.eerdmans.com/9780802883254/

More on Dr. Vander Lugt: https://www.wesleyvanderlugt.com/

On this special bonus episode, a group of theology faculty discuss a project that we’re about to start here at Dordt University, in which we spend the academic year reading through John Calvin’s Institutes of Christian Religion. To orient everyone for the well-over thousand page journey that is the Institutes, we talked a bit about:

• Calvin's biography
• Our first exposure to Calvin and the Institutes
• Common (mis)conceptions about Calvin - on TULIP, austerity, and the execution of Servetus
• A brief history of the Institutes, how they are organized and introduced
• Helpful tips for reading the Institutes

If you are interested in reading along during this academic year, here are some resources:

Our reading schedule: https://shorturl.at/Yow8x

Calvin's Institutes (2 volume Battles edition)

Calvin's Institutes (1 volume Beveridge edition)

Calvin's Institutes online edition (CCEL/Beveridge)

On this episode of the podcast, I talk with David Bahnsen, author of the book Full Time: Work and the Meaning of Life. Bahnsen argues that rather than seeking to “balance” work with life, we should see work as a vital component of life, something be received and offered as a gift for the good of neighbor and the glory of God. Among the topics we discuss:

• Why we operate with a low, transactional view of work
• The effects of the fall on the way we experience work
• The relationship of money and meaning, and of success and significance.
• What it means to say that all honest work is "full time ministry" or "kingdom service"
• The relationship of work to ambition and to rest
• The future of work, especially in light of emerging technologies

More about the book: https://www.fulltimebook.com/

On this episode of the podcast, I talk with Professor Nancy Pearcey about her new book, The Toxic War on Masculinity: How Christianity Reconciles the Sexes. It’s a rich conversation that draws on a wealth of social scientific and historical research about masculinity. Among the topics we discuss:

• The diagnosis of "toxic masculinity" and when the diagnosis itself becomes an attack on men
• The cultural perception of what it means to be a "good man" vs. a "real man"
• The significant divergence of research findings when it comes to committed Christian men and nominal Christian men
• Historical roots of the masculine crisis in industrialization and social Darwinism
• The significance of the rise of "alpha male" influencers like Andrew Tate
• Counsel for families, parents, and pastors in addressing the crisis of masculinity

Get the book, The Toxic War on Masculinity: https://www.amazon.com/Toxic-War-Masculinity-Christianity-Reconciles/dp/0801075734

More on Professor Pearcey: Nancy Pearcey's latest book is The Toxic War on Masculinity: How Christianity Reconciles the Sexes. Her earlier books include Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions about Life and Sexuality, The Soul of Science, Saving Leonardo, Finding Truth, and two ECPA Gold Medallion Award Winners: How Now Shall We Live (coauthored with Harold Fickett and Chuck Colson) and Total Truth. Her books have been translated into 20 languages. She is professor and scholar in residence at Houston Christian University. A former agnostic, Pearcey has spoken at universities such as Princeton, Stanford, USC, and Dartmouth. She has been quoted in The New Yorker and Newsweek, highlighted as one of the five top women apologists by Christianity Today, and hailed in The Economist as "America's pre-eminent evangelical Protestant female intellectual."

On this episode of the podcast, we talk with Dr. Abigail Favale about her book The Genesis of Gender. It’s a conversation that seeks clarity about contested questions including feminism, womanhood, and gender identity. Among the topics we discuss:

• Dr. Favale's story of her journey from conservative evangelicalism to gender studies scholar to Catholic convert
• What it might mean to be a "feminist" and the distinctive characteristics of the four "waves" of feminism
• A clear definition of what it means to be a woman
• What it might mean to disagree with the gender paradigm while also caring for persons who have adopted it
• Wrestling with the contemporary issue of pronoun use
• What Dr. Favale would say to young women in contemporary society

Get the book: https://ignatius.com/the-genesis-of-gender-ggp/

Follow Dr. Favale: https://abigailfavale.wixsite.com/home