Cantus Firmus

I took the Corona virus quarantine as an opportunity to create a live video chat on the topic of the biblical book of Lamentations and what it says to us in the time of COVID-19. Should we feel afraid or anxious, perhaps like God is punishing us? These questions and more are hashed out among myself and four guests–four of us Christians with an educational background in theology and one of us a physicist and skeptic.

Audio:
http://www.cantus-firmus.com/Audio/20200325-LamentationsPandemic.mp3

Video:
https://youtu.be/MP81g3qnlus

Music:
“The Itis” by Polyrhythmics. Licensed under CC BY 3.0
http://www.needledrop.co/wp/artists/polyrhythmics/

My interview with Keith Giles gave me an opportunity to clarify the arguments made in his book Jesus Unbound: Liberating the Word of God from the Bible. Keith takes the position that sometimes the Old Testament gets God wrong and that Jesus corrects these mistaken pictures. Since I’m interacting with his work in my upcoming book about unhitching the Old Testament from the Christian faith, I wanted to make sure I understood him correctly. Thankfully, he was kind enough to take the time to lay out his position and subject himself to scrutiny.

You can learn more about Keith here: www.keithgiles.com

Audio download:
http://www.cantus-firmus.com/Audio/20200318-UTOTEp4-KeithGiles.mp3

Music:
Denso by Macchiato Funky

My interview with Dr. A. Philip Brown II centers around how we should define and understand biblical inspiration, how the New Testament both modifies and builds on Old Testament teaching, and whether unhitching the Old Testament makes it easier to defend the faith.

Dr. A. Phillip Brown is the Graduate Program director and teacher of New Testament Greek, Biblical Hebrew and a vast assortment of Bible and theology classes at God’s Bible School & College at Cincinnati, Ohio. He’s also the editor of Zondervan’s A Reader’s Hebrew Bible. You can find out more about him at
http://www.apbrown2.net

Audio download:
http://www.cantus-firmus.com/Audio/20200219-UTOTEp3-APBrown.mp3

Music:
Denso by Macchiato Funky

Some time back I had started a Patreon and part of the benefits that subscribers got was a Patreon-exclusive podcast. That Patreon has been closed for awhile now but there was some really cool content left over that only a few people got to hear. Here is a collection of film analyses I did organized around the theme “Monsters & Madmen,” including discussion of The Shining, Labyrinth, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, and Clifford. Themes discussed include white privilege, coming of age, bearing someone else’s guilt, class resentment and the never-ending cycle of revenge, and forgiveness.

Audio:
http://www.cantus-firmus.com/Audio/20200211-CFATM-Ep18-FilmFest2.mp3

Music:
“Octagon Pt 2” by Polyrhythmics. Licensed under CC BY 3.0
http://www.needledrop.co/wp/artists/polyrhythmics/

“Kitchen Suite” by Spiedkiks.

Ruth is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University (BA, History) as well as Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (MA, Intercultural Studies) and the University of Notre Dame (MTS, History of Christianity). She has previously published with The Libertarian Christian Institute, The Foundation for Economic Education, The Federalist, and the academic journals Worship and the Christian Libertarian Review, where she is the assistant editor.

Download:
http://www.cantus-firmus.com/Audio/20191215-CFBC-Ep5-TheDayTheRevolutionBegan.mp3

Music:
“Liam Rides a Pony” by Polyrhythmics. Licensed under CC BY 3.0
http://www.needledrop.co/wp/artists/polyrhythmics/