Let the Bird Fly!

In this Wingin' It session Wade discusses the next section from his book An Uncompromising Gospel: Lutheranism’s First Identity Crisis and Lessons for Today. This section deals with a fight about stuff that supposedly wasn't supposed to matter--adiaphora. How did a fight about supposedly indifferent things show some serious fault lines in the theology of many of Luther's colleagues and friends, what are true adiaphora, and when do adiaphora cease to be adiaphora, or indifferent? These are some questions, among others, explored in this session.

Peter interviewed Wade on his book in Episode 12, so if you haven't listened to that yet, it will provide a broader view of Wade's book. And, as promised in that episode, Wade gives a more in-depth view of one aspect of his book in this Wingin' It session. If you'd like to listen to Wade's other Wingin' It episodettes on his book head on over to our Wingin' It page, where you'll find them all.

Stay tuned for more Wining' It sessions on Wade's book!

Attributions for Music Used in this Episode:

“The Last One” by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.

“Not Drunk” by The Joy Drops is licensed under an Attribution 4.0 Intern

00:00 - Introduction

03:28 - Scripture Narrative (Galatians 5:16-26)

12:56 - Free-for-all (“Would you rather…”)

27:42 - Main Topic (Witchcraft in the Atlantic World)

On episode FIFTEEN of Let the Bird Fly! we welcome Dr. Aaron Palmer, who holds his M.A. in History from Marquette University and his Ph.D. in History from Georgetown University. Dr. Palmer has been teaching a course entitled “Witchcraft and Culture in the Atlantic World” for about 10 years, and that’s exactly what we get him to discuss on this episode of Let the Bird Fly! Before arriving at the main topic, though, Oliva attempts to pang Wade’s conscience by creating new rules (SPOILER ALERT: it doesn’t work, he’s just too calloused). Then Wade reminds us that sorcery and witchcraft are frowned upon in Scripture, and eventually we move on to a how-to workshop on witchcraft discussion of witchcraft (and witch hunts) from the early modern period in Europe through the colonial period as Europeans cross the Atlantic, ending with an extended discussion of the Salem witch trials. We also find out that Dr. Palmer is not ashamed to admit that he’s read the Harry Potter series...multiple times.

If you’d like to find out more about Dr. Palmer and what he’s up to, you can find his faculty profile here, or you can check out his 2014 book A Rule of Law: Elite Political Authority and the Coming of the Revolution in the South Carolina Lowcountry, 1763-1776 (Early American History - the American Colonies, 1500-1830) (now that’s an academic book title!). We are extremely grateful to Dr. Palmer for taking the time to talk with us and our listeners. And even if he didn’t make us sorcerers, he definitely managed to give us a great conversation.

If you enjoy the show, please subscribe, rate, and review us on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or TuneIn Radio. You can also like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. And, of course, share us with a friend or two!

If you’d like to contact us we can be reached at [email protected], or visit our website at www.LetTheBirdFly.com.

Thanks for listening!

Attributions for Music Used in this Episode:

“The Last One” by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.

“Horses to Water” by Topher Mohr and Alex Elena

“Gib laut” by Dirk Becker

In this Wingin' It session Wade discusses Luther's  On the Bondage of the Will, which is the second of the two key writings of Luther that Wade dealt with in the his book An Uncompromising Gospel: Lutheranism’s First Identity Crisis and Lessons for Today. Wade hits upon the main arguments of Luther's opponent, Desiderius Erasmus, and Luther's responses to them, as well as the chief theological thrusts of the Bondage of the Will, revealing the nature of both the law and the gospel and the heart and core of Luther's biblical teaching.

Peter interviewed Wade on his book in Episode 12, so if you haven't listened to that yet, it will provide a broader view of Wade's book And, as promised in that episode, Wade gives a more in-depth view of one aspect of his book in this Wingin' It session.

Stay tuned for more Wining' It sessions on Wade's book!

Attributions for Music Used in this Episode:

“The Last One” by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.

“Not Drunk” by The Joy Drops is licensed under an Attribution 4.0 Intern

00:00 - Introduction

04:23 - Scripture Narrative (Jeremiah 29:5ff)

08:37 - Free-for-all (City vs. Country Living)

21:47 - Main Topic (A Tale of Two Synods)

On episode FOURTEEN of Let the Bird Fly! we welcome Dr. Mark Braun back to discuss Lutheranism in America, and especially the split between the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (and, as Professor Teigen would point out, the split also involved the Evangelical Lutheran Synod). It just so happens that this is the topic of Dr. Braun’s book A Tale Of Two Synods: Events That Led to the Split between Wisconsin and Missouri, so he knows a thing or two about the topic. The episode kicks off, however, by the “meme-master, self-certified child-genius, and internet-celebrity,” Nicholas Johnston (who also happens to be Wade’s oldest son). After some debate about whether city or country living is to be prefered (a discussion that splits the room and gets a bit ideological), we make our way into the main topic. Dr. Braun once again offers a fascinating conversation, this time on the split between the synods (if you haven’t heard his previous conversation with us, do yourself a favor and head over to Episode 5, where we discussed his book Time Between the Testaments: Connecting Malachi to Matthew).

After listening to Dr. Braun’s discussion, we’re certain that you’ll want to get a copy of his book for more information. We’d encourage you to do so, and we’ll even help one lucky person out with another BOOK GIVEAWAY! So head over to our book giveaway page and sign-up for your chance to win a SIGNED copy of Dr. Braun’s A Tale of Two Synods. And if you don’t happen to be the lucky winner, you can always purchase a copy here. After reading the book, send us your questions/comments and we’ll do our best to pass them along to Dr. Braun and maybe even have him discuss them on a Wingin’ It episodette.

In fact, Wade proposed that Dr. Braun consider doing a few Wingin’ It episodettes to dive a bit deeper into some of the topics covered, so help us make this happen! If you’re not familiar with our Wingin’ It series, head over here to check them out. They are shorter, interepisode episodettes that cover a variety of topics and are often less polished than our regular weekly episodes (if you can call our episodes “polished”).

Quite a few links for this episode, so here they are in a list:

Books and articles by Dr. Braun:

A Tale Of Two Synods: Events That Led to the Split between Wisconsin and Missouri

Time Between the Testaments: Connecting Malachi to Matthew

“Those...

In this Wingin' It session Wade discusses Martin Luther's Heidelberg Disputation, which he covers in his book An Uncompromising Gospel: Lutheranism’s First Identity Crisis and Lessons for Today. Peter interviewed Wade on his book in Episode 12, and as promised Wade gives a more in-depth view of one aspect of his book here.

Stay tuned for more Wining' It sessions on Wade's book!

Attributions for Music Used in this Episode:

“The Last One” by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.

“Not Drunk” by The Joy Drops is licensed under an Attribution 4.0 Intern

00:00 - Introduction

04:51 - Scripture Narrative (Luke 15 - The Prodigal Son)

15:05 - Free-for-all (Kids and Cell Phones)

34:05 - Main Topic (Fatherhood)

On episode THIRTEEN of Let the Bird Fly! the guys are all back together again with a couple of Wade’s children joining them in the studio. Although a couple of days late for Father’s Day, the guys discuss the role and vocation of fathers. Wade mentions is recent blog post about being a father, Peter recounts bringing his oldest daughter home from the hospital, and Ben shares his confidence in the power of the “BABY ON BOARD” car sign. Wade also mentions a recent post on wanting sinners in heaven (seriously, if you’re not visiting LetTheBirdFly.com at least a few times a week, you’re missing out on some great content Wade’s been producing). Before getting that main topic, however, Wade walks through the familiar parable of the Prodigal Son and the guys discuss when children should be given a cell phone (if at all). Peter brags a little bit on his own phone, but Ben puts him in his place. So with Father’s Day not too far in the rearview mirror, here are some of our thoughts on the blessings and challenges of being fathers.

If you’re listening in the first few days after Episode 13 releases, make sure to head over to our BOOK GIVEAWAY and enter to win a SIGNED copy of Wade’s book An Uncompromising Gospel.

If you enjoy the show, please subscribe, rate, and review us on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or TuneIn Radio. You can also like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. And, of course, share us with a friend or two!

If you’d like to contact us we can be reached at [email protected], or visit our website at www.LetTheBirdFly.com.

Thanks for listening!

Attributions for Music Used in this Episode:

“The Last One” by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.

In this session of Wingin' It Wade discusses our series of devotions on Galatians and gives some background and context for this letter from St. Paul. If you'd like to check them out, you can do so here.

 

Attributions for Music Used in this Episode:

“The Last One” by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.

“Not Drunk” by The Joy Drops is licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International Licen

On episode TWELVE of Let the Bird Fly! Peter takes the reigns and welcomes into the studio professor, pastor, softball coach, and author Wade Johnston to discuss Dr. Johnston’s recently published book An Uncompromising Gospel: Lutheranism’s First Identity Crisis and Lessons for Today. After an annoying little shtick where Peter pretends that Wade isn’t the host and Wade (for some inexplicable reason) plays along, the guys get to discussing Wade’s book. Wade also plans to release some Wingin’ It episodettes on different parts of the book, so stay tuned (and make sure to subscribe) for more information on An Uncompromising Gospel. The guys go far and wide during the (aptly named) free-for-all, but pretend that they’re discussing crazy summer schedules. Peter and Wade also find a way to turn the “7-10 minute” Scripture Narrative into something more closely resembling a complete episode. Well, we hope that going long doesn’t detract from your listening enjoyment!

We mention in the episode that we would be giving away signed (by Wade) copies of An Uncompromising Gospel, so be sure to ENTER OUR GIVEAWAY HERE. The more you share, the more times you'll be entered. (Who knows, we may even announce the winners on a future episode...but we’ll make sure it’s okay to use your name first.)

Since this episode went a bit long, here are the rough time markers for the various sections (feel free to skip around...we won’t be offended, mostly because we won’t know).

00:00 - Introduction

07:48 - Scripture Narrative (John 9)

24:02 - Free-for-all (Crazy Summer Schedules...sort of)

43:34 - Main Topic (Wade’s book An Uncompromising Gospel)

If you enjoy the show, please subscribe, rate, and review us on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or TuneIn Radio. You can also like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. And, of course, share us with a friend or two!

If you’d like to contact us we can be reached at [email protected], or visit our website at www.

On episode ELEVEN of Let the Bird Fly! the guys make a first pass at that central question of Christian theology: Law and Gospel. The guys are without a guest to keep them honest, and even worse they are at Peter’s house, so that can mean only one thing: PBR time. Wade starts things off with a recounting of the story of the Rich Young Man from the Gospel according to St. Mark, chapter 10. This leads the guys down the path of attempting to sort through the role of Law and Gospel in Christian doctrine. Before they get in too deep, however, Wade professes his love for trains and Ben agrees that trains are wonderful...but mostly when they’re carrying crude oil from Canada! Wade insists that despite the inefficiency (both in time and money) of much public transportation in the United States he LOVES TRAINS! (It may be that Wade has listened to his favorite song too many times...choo, choo, Wade, choo, choo. Whatever the reason, he turned into this kid...but on the bright side, he got a song written about him.) After Ben and Wade debate whose vehicle gets worse gas mileage (spoiler alert: Wade wins), the guys move on to their first official attempt at discussing the central doctrine of Law and Gospel. The distinction between Law and Gospel is a topic that has certainly been touched on already in a number of episodes, and it is one that we are sure to come back to, but here is our first official pass on the topic. Let know what you think (our email inbox has grown lonely lately: [email protected]).

If you enjoy the show, please subscribe, rate, and review us on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or TuneIn Radio. You can also like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. And, of course, share us with a friend or two!

If you’d like to contact us we can be reached at [email protected], or visit our website at www.LetTheBirdFly.com.

Thanks for listening!

Attributions for Music Used in this Episode:

“The Last One” by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.

“Horses to Water” by Topher Mohr and Alex Elena

“Gib laut” by Dirk Becker is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License.

In this episode Wade discusses some biographies, older and more recent, that those interested in Luther and the Reformation might find interesting or helpful as we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

Books Wade Discusses:

Martin Luther: A Life by James A. Nestingen

Luther the Reformer: The Story of the Man and His Career by James M. Kittleson

A Short Life of Martin Luther by Thomas Kaufmann

Luther: Man Between God and the Devil by Heiko A. Oberman

Three Volume Set by Martin Brecht:

Martin Luther: His Road to Reformation 1483-1521

Martin Luther: Shaping and Defining the Reformation 1521-1532

Martin Luther: The Preservation of the Church 1532-1546

Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther by Roland H. Bainton

Martin Luther: Visionary Reformer by Scott H. Hendrix

Brand Luther by Andrew Pettegree

Martin Luther: Renegade and Prophet by Lyndal Roper

 

Attributions for Music Used in this Episode:

“The Last One” by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.

“Not Drunk” by The Joy Drop...