My special guest was Bridget Nelson of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax fame. We talked about the 1955 Charles Laughton film The Night of the Hunter, highlighting what it says about religious hypocrisy and religious sincerity, the danger of unchecked authority, and God’s unique concern for the weak and “little things.”

Bridget can be found at www.rifftrax.com, on Twitter at @bridgetjnelson, and her podcast Instead of Tweeting can be found on iTunes.

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Music:

I was recently invited to come in and give a short presentation on the cosmological argument for God’s existence to a college apologetics class and I wanted to try it out first here and to share it with a broader audience as well. In the presentation (where I am joined by my lovely wife, Raven, who keeps me from getting too jargon-y), I discuss how 20th century influential atheist Bertrand Russell attempted to refute the argument and some of the reasons why his refutation falls short. To see the slides along with the audio, check out the presentation on Youtube via www.cantus-firmus.com

I was excited to have Dr. Robert M. Price back on as a guest to discuss Gnostic themes in last year’s hit television series Twin Peaks: The Return. Fans of the show may find this discussion helpful to understanding the show’s more obscure plot points while students of ancient and church history will find the show’s application of Gnostic ideas to be fascinating and perhaps clarifying.

Dr. Robert Price has received doctorates in both systematic theology and New Testament from Drew University and a former fellow of the Jesus Seminar. He is also a scholar at the forefront of the Christ myth movement which denies the existence of a historical Jesus, having written books on the subject such as The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man. You can find a number of his books related to biblical studies on Amazon and even hear him as the host of The Bible Geek podcast. He’s also written extensively in the field of H.P. Lovecraft studies and co-wrote a book about the rock band Rush with his wife Carol entitled Mystic Rhythms: The Philosophical Vision of Rush. He can be found at http://robertmprice.mindvendor.com

Transcript:

I also want to let everyone know that I have a new book out on Amazon called Post-Enlightened: Reflections on Two Hundred Years of Anti-Christian Writing from Thomas Paine to Richard Dawkins. It’s in paperback and Kindle and I’ve kept the price pretty low on it. Apologist Tom Gilson was kind enough to write the foreword.

Apart from that book, all of my other books are currently free on Kindle until January 17th. And if you have Kindle Unlimited, you can read all of my books for free as part of your subscription. I’ve got a book on systematic theology and recapitulation called A Second Adam, a book on the open source software movement’s parallels with the church called Open Source Jesus, a book on the resurrection called The Gospel of the Resurrection, and a couple more related to apologetics issues. You can find them by searching my name–Cody Cook–on Amazon, or by checking the top post at www.cantus-firmus.com

I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas and I’m looking forward to having some excellent conversations on the podcast in 2018. I hope you’ll stay with me and invite anyone else along who you think might enjoy what I’m doing here. If you do, please write a review on iTunes or drop me a line at [email protected]

Thanks!

I invited atheist New Testament scholar and all-around fascinating person Dr. Robert M. Price to discuss the 1999 film The Matrix. We highlighted its Gnostic influences, questions about epistemology (the philosophy of knowledge), and its New Testament connections. A deep and provocative conversation!

Dr. Robert Price has received doctorates in both systematic theology and New Testament from Drew University and a former fellow of the Jesus Seminar. He is also a scholar at the forefront of the Christ myth movement which denies the existence of a historical Jesus, having written books on the subject such as The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man. You can find a number of his books related to biblical studies on Amazon and even hear him as the host of The Bible Geek podcast. He’s also written extensively in the field of H.P. Lovecraft studies and co-wrote a book about the rock band Rush with his wife Carol entitled Mystic Rhythms: The Philosophical Vision of Rush. He can be found at http://robertmprice.mindvendor.com/

For this special Christmas episode, I asked Dr. Myk Habets on to discuss how God taking on flesh in Jesus Christ (also known as the incarnation) was in and of itself a “redemptive act.”

Dr. Myk Habets is the Dean of Faculty at Carey Baptist College in Auckland, New Zealand. He’s also lecturer in systematic theology and the author of a number of books. Dr. Habets’ book that formed the backdrop of our conversation is Theosis in the Theology of Thomas Torrance, and can be purchased here:

The music in this episode was performed by Kyle Cogburn and Matt Marnocha, whom I borrowed from the worship team of The Village Church in South Lebanon, Ohio.