With this episode we begin another two part Rainy Day Conversation. These are quarterly conversations with smart and gracious people whose wisdom is brought to bear upon life and ministry and the church. 

The focus of this conversation, with Dr. Trey Martin, is how we as Christians and as pastors think about our affections in the wake of the late Dr. Tim Keller’s helpful, but potentially confusing, teaching about idolatry. Are we over or under applying this teaching? 

I’m grateful to Dr. Martin, a man who has thought deeply about this, for joining in this conversation.

The question is how the concept of idolatry can be helpful, and at times unhelpful, personally as we live our lives before God and pastorally as we lead our congregations to love and follow Jesus. 

In some quarters of the church it has become popular to label many things as ‘idols’. But are they? What might be gained, or lost, by seeing them in that way?

How ought we to understand our affections? Can we love a thing without it being a god in place of God? 

In this first half of the conversation, we’ll lay the groundwork for the practical application which will come in the second.

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EPISODE NOTES

Notes and resources relevant to this episode:

For an explanation of the name and intention of these occasional interviews, read this, or listen to it here or here.

Dr. Trey Martin 

The article that stimulated this conversation: A COUNTERFEIT IDOL: RESIGNATION AND FAITH IN TIMOTHY KELLER’S COUNTERFEIT GODS, by Dr. Trey Martin.

Used by the kind permission from Covenant Theological Seminary. For information about the academic-pastoral journal Presbyterion, go to https://www.covenantseminary.edu/publications.

Timothy Keller, The Reason for God

Timothy Keller, Counterfeit Gods

Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling

C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

Sinclair Ferguson, The Whole Christ

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Podcast music provided by Cool Hand Luke and used with permission.
Intro: “Holy Vanguard” / Lyrics
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