Forty Facets of the Ascension, Sarah's new book, is coming to Kickstarter in mid-March! Sign up now to be notified the moment it launches.

In this episode, Dad and I discuss whether Jesus was a rocket ship, a hot air balloon, a cosmonaut... or maybe just the risen Lord whose bodily existence is integral to gospel proclamation! We look at some of the differences between Luke 24 and Acts 1's version of the Ascension (be prepared for some surprises) and the many things Luke had to argue against in order to argue for Jesus. If the Ascension has left you perpetually perplexed or scientifically stressed, fear not! This episode is for you.

Notes:

1. Once again, folks, that's Forty Facets of the Ascension coming to you on Kickstarter in mid-Marcy 2025!

2. Also, Transfiguration is sneaking up on you soon (March 2)! If you didn't already get Seven Ways of Looking at the Transfiguration, you can get it instantly in ebook or audiobook, or order a print copy right now.

3. If you count among that exalted elite who need good fiction and good theology at the same time, you'll be raptured over my novel A-Tumblin' Down. You can also sign up for my Substack for more theologically luminous storytelling.

4. Related episodes: Luke Part 1, Luke Part 2, The First Two-Thirds of Acts, The Last Third of Acts

5. Hans Frei, The Eclipse of Biblical Narrative

We're in our SEVENTH year!

From Seven Ways of Looking at the Transfiguration, Sarah reads the first chapter, "Metamorphosis : Jesus." Keep listening, or read by getting your copy at Thornbush Press, Audible, Amazon, or Bookshop.org!

How often do you celebrate the 1700th anniversary of anything? 2025 marks the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea, which gave us most (though not quite all) of the Nicene Creed (completed and perfected at the Council of Constantinople in 381, but frankly, nobody wants to say "The Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed"). Dad and I talk you through what's at stake in the trinitarian assertions of this Creed, compare and contrast it with the Apostles' Creed, and strongly urge you to make it a centerpiece of your preaching and teaching in this year of grace!

We're in our SEVENTH year!

Notes:

1. Phillip Cary, The Nicene Creed (if you read only one theology book this year, make it this one)

2. Hinlicky, Divine Complexity (this is your second theology book of the year: tracing the movement of New Testament witness to conciliar trinitarian confession)

3. Related episodes: Baptism, Infant and Otherwise; Athanasius Against the World; Gregory of Nazianzus; Islam

Sarah makes her third appearance on the fantastic All About Agatha podcast! With host Kemper Donovan she discusses Agatha's short story "Promotion in the Highest."

Happy new year!

We have a quick look over our stats for 2024, and unveil some big news about 2025!

Click here to be notified when Sarah's Kickstarter for a book on the Ascension goes live (~March 2025)!

Here for her Transfiguration book in case you missed it the first time around... Transfiguration Sunday is only a couple months away!

Subscribe here to Sarah Hinlicky Wilson Stories on Substack!

And if none of those moved you, then just hop on over to Patreon to express your appreciation for the Queen of the Sciences podcast!

The first of a series of five episodes in which Sarah discusses I Thessalonians with John Drury of the Fresh Text podcast. Remarkably apt for the end of one church year and the beginning of another!

Subscribe to Fresh Text to listen to the next four episodes with Sarah and John!

It's the ultimate smackdown! In this episode we discuss the covert work done by theories and doctrines of history, in church and saeculum alike, and why we can't stop theorizing about history once we've noticed it. We also drill down on two particular approaches to time and history within Christian discourse, what they mean, what they imply, and how (and how not) to deploy them.

Hoping for a SEVENTH year of Queen of the Sciences?

Notes:

1. Related episodes: Second Peter and the Second Coming, Unbaptized God, Technique and Propaganda with Jacques Ellul, The Bible in One Hand and the Newspaper in the Other?, Buddhism, Our Democracy?, Hegel

2. Augustine, Confessions (specifically, the second half on time that you always skip over)

3. Hinlicky, Luther and the Beloved Community

You may have missed the recent U.S. presidential election, since it was kinda inconsequential and nobody was paying any attention to it. Oh wait... In today's episode, Dad and I take up the topic of "our democracy" as it has been talked about in the U.S. during this grueling election year, why Christians have an investment in flourishing democratic government (especially considering the alternatives), how the distinctions between church and state, and God's two kingdoms, play out in a democratic nation, and what we can faithfully do in our callings as Christians and citizens. Plus, Sarah reminds you that you are not Bonhoeffer.

Six years of top-quality theological podcasting... Show your support by becoming a Patron!

Notes:

1. Related episodes: Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Howard Thurman, Martin Luther King Jr, Two Kingdoms 16th Century Edition, Two Kingdoms 20th and 21st Century Edition

2. Tocqueville, Democracy in America

3. Heise, The Gates of Hell (on the elimination of the Russian Lutheran Church during the Soviet period)

4. Bonhoeffer, Ethics and Letters and Papers from Prison, plus DeJonge's Bonhoeffer on Resistance

5. Hofstadter, "The Paranoid Style in American Politics"

Many religions are historically entangled with one another, but no relationship is as close, fraught, or dangerous as that between Judaism and Christianity... kind of like a pair of biblical brothers, in fact. In this episode Dad and I discuss the enormous number of things these two have in common, why that makes the not negligible difference of assessment about Jesus so explosive, how we might learn from one another, and how we might learn to wait for God to confirm our faith, one way or another.

Notes:

1. Related episodes: Islam, World Religions, Unbaptized God, On Hamas's Attack on Israel, Before Auschwitz, Galatians 1, Galatians 2, Nehemiah, Luther and the Jews, The Relationship of the Old and New Testaments

2. Nostra Aetate

3. Cohen, Everyman's Talmud

4. Levenson, The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son

Six years of top-quality theological podcasting... Show your support by becoming a Patron!

What's that story about the medieval monk who tried to find peace through religious good works, got wise to the power and corruption of the religious establishment, had a breakthrough to trust in the mercy of the transcendent one who became immanent for our salvation, and as a result left the monastery, got married, had children, and worked among ordinary folks? No, not Luther. Shinran! In this episode, Dad and I explore the rather startling parallels between the True Pure Land school of Buddhism in Japan and Lutheran Christianity, then discuss what the implications of these overlaps may, or may not, mean from our theological perspective.

Notes:

1. Related episodes: Islam, World Religions, Justification by Faith, The Certainty of Faith, Justification by Faith Revisited, Faith Just Faith, Japanese Theologian Kazoh Kitamori

2. Most of the information in this episode I drew from Jodo Shinshu: A Guide; you might also be interested in Taitetsu Unno, River of Fire, River of Water: An Introduction to the Pure Land Tradition of Shin Buddhism

3. Armstrong, Buddha

Six years of top-quality theological podcasting... Show your support by becoming a Patron!