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

On this episode of the podcast, we talk with Dr. Fellipe do Vale about his book Gender as Love. Gender is a topic of ever-increasing complexity, and that complexity requires a guide who can take us into the weeds with conviction and compassion. Among the topics we discuss:

• What it means to pursue a non-reductive account of gender, that takes the body seriously as well as the ways we live socially and culturally.
• Why it is attractive but also problematic to see gender purely as a social construct
• Why solidarity and justice requires some sort of gender essentialism
• How the category of love can help organize the way that we think about identity, gender, and social goods
• Whether disability is an adequate category for dealing with difficulties in gender
• On what it might mean to move towards "friendship" with our bodies in the midst of the forces of sin and death

Get the book: https://bakeracademic.com/p/Gender-as-Love-Fellipe-do-Vale/516474

More on Dr. Fellipe do Vale: https://www.redeemer.ca/resound/god-at-the-centre/

On this episode of the podcast, we talk with Kaitlyn Schiess about her book The Ballot and The Bible: How Scripture Has Been Used And Abused in American Politics and Where We Go from Here. Among the topics we discuss:

• Distinguishing between better and worse ways of reading ourselves into the biblical story
• Uniquely American habits of reading the nation into the biblical story, taking every promise or command as directed towards national life.
• Worries about the wide range of political perspectives that are credited to the Bible
• What we might learn from comparing presidents' speeches at the National Prayer breakfast
• What it means to cite Scripture in a diverse, religiously pluralistic society
• The faithful use of politics in the pulpit and in public life

Get the book: https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/492154

Follow Kaitlyn Schiess: https://kaitlynschiess.com/