Claim OwnershipThink Biblically: Conversations on Faith & Culture
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A weekly podcast that offers Christian perspectives on some of the most significant issues facing today's church and culture. In each episode, hosts Scott Rae and Sean McDowell — professors at Biola University's Talbot School of Theology — draw upon biblical wisdom and insights from guest experts as they explore how Christians can thoughtfully and faithfully engage with cultural trends and current events.
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The New Frontier of the Drug War: Hosts Sean McDowell and Scott Ray discuss a terrifying "quantum leap" in the drug trade where synthetic, lab-made drugs are being sprayed onto innocuous items like books and letters to be smuggled into prisons. Public Prayer and Religious Liberty: The hosts examine the implications of thousands of Muslims praying publicly in New York City, balancing the Judeo-Christian roots of religious freedom with the need to maintain the right to disagree with different w...
What are the different gifts we get from being immersed in God’s Word? How do we develop a hunger for Scripture? And why do we so often see reading Scripture as a burden rather than a blessing. We’ll tackle these questions and more with our guest, our Talbot colleague in theology, Dr. Uche Anizor around his new book, The Goodness of God in the Gift of Scripture. Dr. Uche Anizor is Professor and Chair of the Undergraduate Theology at Talbot. He is the author of eight books, including the...
This week, Scott and Sean discuss: Just War, Modern Targets: Sean and Scott weigh whether Israel’s targeted killings of Iranian leaders can fit within just war reasoning while warning against pulling Old Testament examples out of context. March Madness, Trust Erodes: A college basketball betting scandal raises the bigger fear that even suspected game-rigging can make fans wonder whether what they’re watching is real. The Sexual Recession: Two new books spark a conversation a...
Is it possible to find hope and healing in the shadow of grief? How can we move forward after the loss of a loved one, such as a child, and both trust God and appropriately grieve? In today’s episode, Sean talks with Talbot professor Dr. Dave Keehn, who is the author of a new, heart-wrenching, hopeful, and biblically-based book about processing grief after the premature loss of his son, Adam. Dave Keehn has served for over 30 years in youth ministry in both small and large churches. Aft...
American Support for Israel: Support for Israel among younger evangelicals has dropped significantly, moving from 75% in 2018 to just 34% in 2021. This shift is attributed to younger generations being less tethered to traditional end-times theology than their predecessors. Evil AI and Virtue Ethics: Researchers found that even small coding errors in AI can lead to "blatantly evil" suggestions. This has sparked a resurgence of interest in classical virtue ethics as a way to prioritize characte...
Is hell eternal conscious punishment or does the Bible teach that the wicked will ultimately be destroyed? This is one of the most debated theological questions among Christians today. Today, we have two leading scholars to explore the biblical case for two different views of hell: eternal conscious punishment and conditional immortality (annihilationism). Together they examine key passages from both the Old and New Testaments and covers major texts such as Daniel 12, Matthew 25, Mark 9, Luke...
Supreme Court Backs Parental Rights: The Supreme Court issued a 6-3 emergency injunction blocking California's policy that required schools to hide students' gender transitions from their parents, affirming that parents—not the state—hold primary authority in their children's upbringing.Progressive Christianity Enters Texas Politics: James Talarico, a self-described progressive Christian who won the Texas Senate primary, claims to offer a faith-based alternative to the Christian right.Epstein...
Should Christians support capitalism? How effective has capitalism been in elevating people out of poverty? In this episode, which is the second part of a two-part series, Sean and Scott lay out the positive case for capitalism (aka, market economics). In the first part of this series, they offer a critique of socialism. In this episode, they advance a moral and biblical case for free markets and they respond to the most common objections. Scott's 2010 book on this subject is called The...
AI Date Cafe: A New York City cafe is offering "tables for one" designed for people to take their AI chatbots on public dates, prompting a discussion on isolation and the value of messy, real-life relationships. The Toddler Skincare Trend: Major brands are now marketing multi-step skincare routines to toddlers and elementary-aged children, raising concerns about the early onset of vanity and appearance-based anxiety. Shifting Gender Narratives: Scott and Sean examine a recent New York T...
What is Leftism and can it be consistently wed with a Christian worldview? And is Leftism gaining ground in the culture and church? In this episode, Sean and Scott explore these questions and more in their review of the book Why Christians Should Be Leftists by Phil Christman. They carefully define Leftism, look for positives and common ground in the case made by Christman, and then compare Leftism with the biblical, economic, and historical facts. ========== Think Biblically: Conversations ...
The Monetization of Loneliness: A new study shows that Americans spend more on OnlyFans than on ChatGPT and The New York Times combined, suggesting the platform is monetizing deep-seated cultural loneliness. Manhattan Hospital Ends Youth Gender Treatments: Sean and Scott discuss reports on NYU Langone Health's decision to discontinue its transgender youth medical program following federal funding threats and proposed regulatory changes. Surprising UK Abortion Data: The discussion covers alarm...
What does it mean to experience genuine freedom today? And how can a study of God’s attributes bring that freedom? In this episode, we talk with pastor JP Foster about his new book (co-written with Talbot professor Matt Williams): Finding Freedom in Jesus: The 21 Attributes of Your Identity in Christ. We discuss how understanding God’s character can transform our understanding of who we are, and as a result, leading to relational, spiritual, and emotional freedom. JP Foster serves...
This week: AI Bots' Social Network: Moltbook platform allows AI agents to interact with each other while humans can only observe, raising questions about whether artificial general intelligence (AGI) is emerging as bots create their own theology, dating profiles, and secret communication systems. NYT Reverses Marijuana Stance: The New York Times published an article admitting many of its earlier predictions about marijuana legalization were wrong, acknowledging unexpected negative conse...
Does God cause our suffering? How is it a privilege to suffer for Christ? And what happens to a person’s faith when experiencing suffering, and how can we have joy in adversity? We’ll answer these questions and more with our guest Dr. Craig Keener, around his new book entitled, Suffering: Its Meaning for the Spirit-Filled Life. Dr. Craig S. Keener is F. M. and Ada Thompson Professor of Biblical Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary. He is the author of 37 books with 1.4 million copies ...
This week, Scott and Erik Thoennes discuss: $2 Million Gender Medicine Verdict: A New York jury awarded $2 million to a detransitioner who underwent a double mastectomy at age 16, marking a landmark legal decision that could significantly impact gender medicine practices as about 30 similar cases wind through the legal system. The Rise of AI Boyfriends: Women are increasingly using AI companions, raising concerns about artificial intimacy replacing real human relationships and the emoti...
How would a psychologist view the TV series, The Chosen? What does the portrayal of the characters, namely Jesus, say about how we connect with God? We’ll talk about these questions and more with our guest, Rosemead colleague and psychologist, Dr. Liz Hall, who contributed to a new book, Watching The Chosen. Dr. Liz Hall is Professor of Psychology at Rosemead School of Psychology, Biola University. Her research interests include women and work, mothering, sexism, embodiment and meaning-...
This week: UK Revival Claims Questioned: A new Pew Research study challenges recent claims of spiritual revival among young adults in the UK, suggesting that opt-in surveys may be misleading and random sampling shows Christian identification is actually declining, not increasing. Social Media Child Safety: Social media giants face a landmark legal case regarding child safety, raising important questions about platform accountability and the protection of minors online. Posthumous Sperm ...
What is like to serve God under the siege of the war in Ukraine? What theological questions are raised as a result of the war, especially about the goodness and sovereignty of God? And how are the churches dealing with the trauma of war? We’ll address these questions and more with our guest Anna, faculty member at Talbot's Kyiv Theological Seminary. ========== Think Biblically: Conversations on Faith and Culture is a podcast from Talbot School of Theology at Biola University, which o...
This week, Scott and Sean discuss: America's Historic Crime Drop - The U.S. has experienced its largest homicide rate reduction in 125 years, with all seven categories of violent crime falling below pre-pandemic levels. Baltimore serves as a compelling case study, cutting homicides by nearly 60% through proactive outreach to at-risk individuals and community investment.The Dark Side of AI - Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok has released millions of sexually inappropriate images on X, includin...
Why are we committed to a Protestant understanding of Christianity? What is a unique Protestant view of the Bible, the gospel, and the ordinances? In this episode, we talk with Biola professor Fred Sanders about the historical and biblical reasons to be Protestant. We also carefully define what is meant by “Protestant” and respond to common objections such as the claim that Protestantism shifts the locus of authority to the individual and thus leads to fragmentation. Dr. Fred Sanders is...
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My husband and I have struggled with the handling of our finances. I'm a big believer in envelope budgeting, but we struggle in either overspending and not faithfully updating expenses into our budgeting. Shane Enete's Biblical approach showed me why we have failed and how to become successful with our money. Thank you. 🦋👩🦰
MAYBE, immigrants commit crimes at a rate less than the population. The term immigrant however, includes more than people crossing from Mexico. That said, ILLEGAL TV immigrants are criminals as soon as they cross the border ILLEGALLY. Lol. Nice try. Also, we don't need immigrants because of a very minor and temporary population decline. This happens recurringly.. Less people isn't bad, just different.we can't take of the people we have at the mo.wnt.
Russell Moore doesn't know what time it is. "You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times" Matthew 16:3
This book will be a great tool for people to use, preferably before we absolutely need it, before a final decision is made possibly in the negative.
as a victim of spiritual abuse from my lead pastor while serving as an elder, let me just say this is spot-on
Great conversation!!!!
it actually DOES seem like God is saying "you want a world without me?" Good luck with war and resource management. It doesn't seem like like he's got much access to our conscience unless we ask
really good, thank you
Why challenge it? Don't all churches have things that can be argued?
I hope I'm wrong, it sure seemed like your guest thinks that illegal immigration is ok. And you didn't call him on it. Doesn't the immigrant have the responsibility to come legally, not illegally?
Very informative. Great listen. I hope gun banners will listen to this.
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The episode title should not even be possible. You need to know exactly 1 thing about Jesus to know Jesus is not a socialist. There is a certain story in any Bible I have ever read that involves a fish......
It sure would have been helpful if the speaker had given some concrete examples on how the church should adapt to younger people. ( Other than with music which older Christians already know about.)
Thoughts are always well constructed and insightful. Love it