DiscoverThe Christ Centred Cosmic Civilisation
The Christ Centred Cosmic Civilisation
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The Christ Centred Cosmic Civilisation

Author: Paul

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Christ is the One in Whom in all things consist and humanity is not the measure of all things. If a defining characteristic of the modern world is disorder then the most fundamental act of resistance is to discover and life according to the deep, divine order of the heavens and the earth.  


In this podcast we want to look at the big model of the universe that the Bible and Christian history provides.


It is a mind and heart expanding vision of reality.


It is not confined to the limits of our bodily senses - but tries to embrace levels fo reality that are not normally accessible or tangible to our exiled life on earth.


We live on this side of the cosmic curtain - and therefore the highest and greatest dimensions of reality are hidden to us… yet these dimensions exist and are the most fundamental framework for the whole of the heavens and the earth.


Throughout this series we want to pick away at all the threads  of reality to see how they all join together - how they all find common meaning and reason in the great divine logic - the One who is the Logos, the LORD Jesus Christ - the greatest that both heaven and earth has to offer.


Colossians 1:15-23

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144 Episodes
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Divine perfection has been misunderstood for millennia. Through ancient Greek philosophical lenses, we've defined God's perfection as maximum power, knowledge, and immutability. But what if Jesus had something radically different in mind? This episode completes our journey exploring divine immutability by examining "perfect being philosophy" - a tradition stretching back to Plato and Aristotle that attempts to conceptualize the absolutely perfect being. At its core lies the distinction betwe...
Diving into the complex theological waters of divine immutability, this episode challenges common misconceptions about what it means for God to be unchanging. While traditional "Perfect Being Philosophy" suggests that any variation or change would introduce imperfection into God's nature, biblical revelation presents a more nuanced picture. The living Trinity—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—engages in countless activities, relationships, and even experiences emotions like grief without compromis...
Have you ever wondered what it means when the Bible says "God does not change"? Does this make God static and unresponsive to our world? Or is there a deeper truth that offers profound security in our chaotic lives? The immutability of God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—serves as an unshakable foundation for Christian faith. Unlike philosophical abstractions that portray God as timeless and unmoved, Scripture presents a living God who acts dynamically throughout history while remaining perfect...
What does it truly mean when we say "God does not change"? This profound question takes us on a journey through ancient philosophy, biblical revelation, and the very nature of creation itself. We begin by examining a fascinating dialogue between Socrates and Cebes about what things are made of, and how this relates to decomposition and change. For Plato and his followers, composite things inevitably decay, while simple things remain unchanging. This philosophical framework eventually led man...
What does it mean when we say God doesn't change? Behind this seemingly straightforward theological statement lies centuries of philosophical speculation that many Christians have never examined. In this thought-provoking exploration of divine immutability, we uncover the ancient philosophical roots of the doctrine that God cannot change. While many assume this teaching comes directly from Scripture, we trace its development through Platonic philosophy and medieval scholasticism. At the hear...
Does God have conversations? It seems like a simple question with an obvious biblical answer, yet it opens up one of the most profound theological tensions in Christian thought. The concept of divine immutability—that God does not change—has traditionally been linked with the philosophical idea that God exists outside of time altogether, in an "eternal moment" without sequence, without before and after. But this raises a crucial question: how do we reconcile this timeless vision of God with ...
A sealed prophecy said to come from Adam. Royal visitors who call a newborn “true God” without hesitation. A blade that cannot cut divine flesh. From the first minute, we dive into the Armenian Infancy Gospel’s startling claims and the older currents that shaped Christian imagination: a six-thousand-year promise, the symbolism of the sixth day, and why timekeeping itself becomes a theological thread in the Nativity. We walk with Joseph as he hides the Magi’s gifts and quietly provides for th...
Trumpets shake a hillside, silk shimmers in torchlight, and three rulers from far-off kingdoms kneel before a child in a cave. That’s where our journey leads: Ethiopia, Central Asia, and the Far East converge on Bethlehem, not with tidy legends but with layered history, vivid colours, and a cascade of gifts that fill the air with spice and smoke. We follow an Armenian infancy tradition, likely rooted in Syriac sources, and read it alongside Bede to sketch not just who the Magi were, but how t...
A star that vanishes in Jerusalem, three emperors commanding twelve kings, and a caravan of twelve thousand soldiers converging on a baby in Bethlehem—this is not your mantelpiece nativity. We open the Armenian Infancy Gospel and find an ambitious attempt to harmonise early traditions about the Magi, weaving sources that echo the Infancy Gospel of James and the Revelation of the Magi into a single, vivid narrative. We break down the hierarchy that reconciles “three” and “twelve,” showing how...
A pillar of light leads the way, the star comes to rest, and the cave glows as the Magi step inside. That’s where our journey turns: not to a cosy stable or a tidy guest room, but to an unworked space that echoes the altar “not made by human hands.” We explore why so many early sources—Syriac, Armenian, and beyond—place Jesus’ birth in a cave and how caravanserai archaeology and ritual purity make this setting historically plausible. Along the way, we revisit Luke’s timeline through the Mishm...
What if a single word could reshape the Nativity you think you know? We take a hard look at where Jesus was born by following the trail most people skip: the language Luke used, the way travellers lodged near Jerusalem, and what the earliest Christian witnesses actually said. Instead of projecting modern village life back onto Bethlehem, we test the claims with first-century evidence, from the Theodotus inscription’s "kataluma" to the ritual purity demands that made running water and s...
A secret cave. Seven trees circling a spring. A pillar of light that outshines the sun. We follow an ancient Syriac tradition—the Revelations of the Magi—to uncover a world where time is kept by the moon, gifts are guarded for generations, and a living star carries heaven’s message to earth. We start on the mountain of victories, where the Magi purify themselves on the twenty-fifth day, pray at the cave on the first, and examine the treasures on the third. This ritual rhythm isn’t filler; it...
A forgotten Syriac text claims the Magi told their own story—and it doesn’t fit neatly into our Christmas cards. We open the vault on Revelations of the Magi, exploring how a star from “beyond the world,” Adam’s written mysteries, and a guarded cave of treasures might knit the nativity to the earliest layers of Christian memory. Along the way we weigh dating clues from Syriac grammar, trace why the West lost track of these traditions, and map the surprising influence this narrative had on Arm...
Wonder thrives where truth is told straight. We kick off a Magi series by refusing the flat, joyless habit of “debunking Christmas” and turning instead to Scripture, Church memory, and a fierce defence of the incarnation. With PJ from the Global Church History Project, we bring Leo the Great out from under the shadow of misreadings and show how his Epiphany sermon can restore both awe and clarity to the season. We trace how a bad translation of Leo’s Tome fed Nestorian confusion, splitting C...
Imagine discovering a hidden music under stories you thought you knew by heart. We dive into Michael Ward’s provocative claim that each Narnia book resonates with a different planet from the medieval cosmos—Jupiter’s regal generosity, Mars’s chivalric heat, Sol’s bright clarity, Luna’s shifting enchantment, Mercury’s quicksilver wit, Venus’s fertile harmony, and Saturn’s austere ending. As we map the seven chronicles to seven heavens, we show how colours, moods, images, and character arcs cre...
What if the world began with a voice so beautiful it hurt to hear? We open The Magician’s Nephew and step into a cosmos where stars ignite on cue, animals rise from the soil, and a Lion sings meaning into matter. From London attics to the Wood Between the Worlds to the ruined hush of Charn, we follow Digory and Polly as wonder expands and the stakes sharpen. Aslan’s creation anchors our journey: creation as music, not accident. We connect the scene to the great scriptural chorus—Genesis’ spe...
A donkey in a lion’s skin shouldn’t fool anyone—yet when we forget the true Lion, costumes start to look convincing. We close our Narnia arc with The Last Battle, following the trail from deception and power-grabbing religion to judgment that clarifies everything and a new creation that feels more real than stone underfoot. Along the way, we meet Shift’s manipulative theatre, Puzzle’s naive complicity, and the dwarfs’ tragic cynicism, and we press into why Lewis insists Aslan and Tash cannot ...
A runaway boy, a noble girl, and two talking horses cross deserts and courts while a cat comforts and a lion pursues—yet nothing is as it seems. We dive into The Horse and His Boy to uncover how C. S. Lewis weaves providence through apparent accidents, turning fear into formation and coincidence into care. When Shasta finally meets Aslan and hears “I was the lion… I was the cat…,” memory itself is baptised; the scattered pieces of his journey lock into place and reveal a patient, purposeful l...
A lamp is not a sun—and yet in the dark, it’s tempting to believe the smaller light. We journey through The Silver Chair to face the ways enchantment works on the mind and how memory, obedience, and courage break its spell. With Eustace and Jill, we track Aslan’s four signs from an easy beginning to a decisive act, showing how spiritual growth moves from encouragement to direction, from perspective to bold obedience. Along the way we meet Puddleglum, whose brave, foot-scorching stomp and stub...
A painting becomes a portal, a ship cuts the waves, and suddenly we’re charting a voyage that maps the soul as much as the sea. We stay with Caspian, Edmund, Lucy, and Eustace, but our real subject is the inner life: transformation that costs, temptations that reveal, and a homesickness for a country where the sea grows sweet. This is a story about sanctification that refuses to be cosmetic—because dragon skin doesn’t peel off with effort—and a pilgrimage that doesn’t mistake arrival for star...
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