How have the various political ideologies become idolatries? We have David Koyzis on to guide us through the strengths and weaknesses of each of them - Liberalism, Conservatism, Nationalism, Democracy, and Socialism. This is a crash-course in political science during the election season from one of our generation’s best thinkers on the subject.

David T. Koyzis earned his Ph.D. in government and international studies from the University of Notre Dame. He has taught undergraduate political science for thirty years.

The new second edition of his highly acclaimed book, Political Visions & Illusions: A Survey & Christian Critique of Contemporary Ideologies came out last year, published by InterVarsity Press. 

It is the very best book Bob’s ever read about politics from a Christian worldview. This is a book with a broad international and historical perspective, so it is not bogged down with the punditry that infects so many books. It is not only an equal-opportunity critique but is also a book of hope -- that we can move beyond the ideologies that divide us in our civil and public life. 

Thanks for listening!

Go to re-integrate.org for several years’ worth of articles on reintegrating your callings with God’s mission, online resources for further learning, links to the Reintegrate YouTube channel, and more.

On Reintegrate’s podcast page, you’ll find ways to email us or call us to comment on this podcast.

Please consider purchasing this book from our friends Beth and Byron Borger, independent bookstore owners of Hearts and Minds Bookstore.

2020 has been an incredible year of turmoil. It is the first year of a decade that promises to have lots of challenges. 

Tom Sine and Dwight Friesen are the authors of a fresh new book, 2020s Foresight: Three Vital Practices for Thriving in a Decade of Accelerated Change.

Brendan and Bob discuss with them how these three vital practices can prepare young people, ministry leaders, and marketplace Christians for a decade that promises to be incredibly challenging. How can Christians be on the front lines, changing challenges into opportunities to serve and to show the love of Christ? 

Tom Sine is what we might call a futurist. He is co-founder, along with his wife Christine, of Mustard Seed Associates. For three decades, he has consulted countless churches and organizations to help them forecast and innovate for the challenges of the future. They live in an intergenerational community in Seattle where they seek to model a new way of living for the 2020s called the Mustard Seed House. He encourages and equips who he calls the New Changemakers. http://www.newchangemakers.com/about/

Dwight Friesen is a professor of practical theology at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology. He has been a leading innovative church leader for years which has led him to initiatives like Parish Collective, a global movement of Christians reimagining church in, with, and for the neighborhood as well as the Inhabit Conference, a gathering of Christian leaders who share a common vision for seeing the transformation of the church through their participation in their neighborhoods. Born & raised in Canada, he now lives in Washington State with his wife Lynette. http://dwightfriesen.com/

Thanks for listening!

Go to https://www.re-integrate.org/ for several years’ worth of articles on reintegrating your callings with God’s mission, online resources for further learning, links to the Reintegrate YouTube channel, and more.

On Reintegrate’s podcast page, you’ll find ways to email us or call us to comment on this podcast. https://www.re-integrate.org/reintegrate-podcast/

Please consider purchasing this book from our friends Beth and Byron Borger, independent bookstore owners of Hearts and Minds Bookstore.

https://www.heartsandmindsbooks.com/booknotes/

We are experiencing disunity in ever-increasing ways. We are feeling it especially in 2020. How did we get here?

According to Genesis, God created an integrated world, where we could live in harmony. But sin has dis-integrated everything. Sin breaks these loving relationships.

Therefore, what is the grand plan of God?

“To unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth!” (Eph 1:10)

The cross of Christ not only provides individual forgiveness and eternal life, but it also breaks down the wall of hostility and unites formerly divided peoples!

Dr. Mark Roberts, the Executive Director for the Max De Pree Center for Leadership at Fuller Theological Seminary, wrote a new commentary on Ephesians.

He shares with us what Ephesians says the gospel accomplishes: The gospel reintegrates all things, which includes the reintegration of the human race.

The video of Bob leading a group of college students in a Bible study of Ephesians 1 can be found here: https://youtu.be/k0hhQz3iG0s

Before his current position at Fuller, Mark Roberts was the Senior Director of Laity Lodge in Texas where he also served as their Executive Director of Digital Media. Bob Robinson worked for him as a Content Editor for their website, The High Calling for three years.

With a Ph.D. in New Testament from Harvard, he has written eight books and has been teaching at Fuller Seminary, most recently in his Doctor of Ministry cohort on “Faith, Work, Economics, and Vocation.” Mark is married to Linda, and they have two grown children.

Thanks for listening!

Go to https://www.re-integrate.org/ for years’ worth of articles on reintegrating your callings with God’s mission, resources for further learning, links to the Reintegrate YouTube channel, and more.

On Reintegrate’s podcast page, you’ll find ways to email us or call us to comment on this podcast. https://www.re-integrate.org/reintegrate-podcast/

If you like this podcast, please subscribe and write a quick review at Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app to encourage others to listen too!

How do we reintegrate the Christian faith with how we watch movies? We can go to the movies to just be entertained or escape for a couple hours, or we can look closer and dig deeper. What do the stories and characters in today’s movies tell us about the human condition? How can art teach us things that God wants us to grasp that we may not understand in any other way?

Dr. Craig Detweiler (MFA, University of Southern California’s School of Cinema/TV and Ph.D. in Theology and Culture, Fuller Theological Seminary) has thought and wrote about these things for years and helps Bob and Brendan to wrestle with the messages of many of today’s best movies.

Movies Discussed in this Podcast:

• The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
• Mean Streets (1973)
• Silence (2016)
• The Tree of Life (2011)
• The Witch (2015)
• A Quiet Place (2018)
• Get Out (2017)
• The Invisible Man (2020)
• Black Panther (2018)
• 42 (2013)
• Da 5 Bloods (2020)
• Lady Bird (2017)
• Little Women (2019)
• The Vast of Night (2019)
• Palm Springs (2020)
• Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
• Arrival (2016)
• Les Misérables (2019)
• Snowpiercer (2013)
• Parasite (2019)
• Shoplifters (2018)
• Moonlight (2016)

Craig Detweiler is a filmmaker and author. He has written or co-written many books on Christian engagement with pop culture, media, and technology. Check them out:

Selfies: Searching for the Image of God in a Digital Age

iGods: How Technology Shapes Our Spiritual And Social Lives

Halos and Avatars: Playing Video Games with God

Into the Dark: Seeing the Sacred in the Top Films of the 21st Century

A Matrix of Meanings: Finding God in Pop Culture

Deep Focus: Film and Theology in Dialogue

Purchase these books from independent booksellers Beth and Byron Borger at Hearts and Minds Bookstore!

Craig’s cultural commentary has been featured on ABC’s Nightline, CNN, NPR, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. He’s served as a professor at Biola University, Pepperdine University, and Fuller Seminary (where Bob took a class from him on a theology of pop culture for his doctoral degree). 

Craig is the co-founder of the Windrider Forum, an approved and sanctioned event that takes place during the Sundance Film Festival. Windrider is an immersive experience for 200 students from 25 Christian universities and seminaries and leaders from film, media, business, academia, ministry, and journalism. They invite Sundance’s cutting-edge filmmakers into the Windrider Forum, where Craig leads a Q&A time with them to honor their craft, listen to their stories, and find thoughtful, spiritual themes in their work.

Thanks for listening!

Go to https://www.re-integrate.org/ for years’ worth of articles on reintegrating your callings with God’s mission, resources for further learning, links to the Reintegrate YouTube channel, and more.

On Reintegrate’s podcast page, you’ll find ways to email us or call us to comment on this podcast. https://www.re-integrate.org/reintegrate-podcast/

If you like this podcast, please subscribe and write a quick review at Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app to encourage others to listen too!

In this podcast, we continue our discussion with Dr. John Fea. Professor of American History at Messiah University. He provides a historical framework for understanding the rise of the Religious Right and the political environment that led to evangelicals embracing Donald Trump in the 2016 election.

We discuss the political playbook of the Religious Right that has limited the strategy to overturning Roe v Wade with Supreme Court justices. This framework for political engagement doesn’t ask wider questions like, What can we do to reduce abortions to the point that women no longer see a need to have one? or How can Christians best live and witness for Jesus in a pluralistic society?

Dr. John Fea received his Ph.D. in American History from Stony Brook University. He is a sought-after writer and speaker and has written for several publications, including The Atlantic, Christianity Today, The Washington Post, USA Today, Fox News, Vox, Religion News Service, and several other publications. He has appeared on NBC News, CNN, C-SPAN, MSNBC, NPR, and dozens of radio programs across the country.

Dr. Fea has a popular daily blog called “The Way of Improvement Leads Home” which offers reflections on the intersection of American history, religion, politics, and academic life.

https://thewayofimprovement.com/

He also hosts a podcast with the same name.

https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/the-way-of-improvement-leads-home?selected=ADL6403914481

His books include the book he named his blog and podcast after, The Way of Improvement Leads Home: Philip Vickers Fithian and the Rural Enlightenment in Early America.

He has also written a college textbook Why Study History?: Reflecting on the Importance of the Past and the history book we discussed on the previous episode, Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?

In this podcast, we discuss some of the ideas he shares in his latest book, Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump, of which Publishers Weekly wrote, “Clear, concise, and convincing… Fea uses his training as a historian to trace a chronology of the evangelical attraction to political power…and offers an alternative way (relying on hope and humility) for evangelical leaders to think about their relation to power.”

https://believe-me-book.com/

Please consider purchasing these books from our friends Beth and Byron Borger, independent bookstore owners of Hearts and Minds Bookstore.

https://www.heartsandmindsbooks.com/booknotes/

Thanks for listening!

Go to https://www.re-integrate.org/ for years’ worth of articles on reintegrating your callings with God’s mission, resources for further learning, links to the Reintegrate YouTube channel, and more.

On Reintegrate’s podcast page, you’ll find ways to email us or call us to comment on this podcast. https://www.re-integrate.org/reintegrate-podcast/

If you like this podcast, please subscribe and write a quick review at Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app to encourage others to listen too!

The idea that America was founded to be a Christian nation is a presumption that many evangelical Christians have. It is no wonder, since so many conservative preachers and teachers perpetuate the myth, including Robert Jeffress, Eric Metaxas, and David Barton.

Dr. John Fea, Distinguished Professor of American History at Messiah University, wrote a detailed history book on the subject and provides insight and analysis on what the founders actually believed and what they were attempting to do in the founding of the United States.

He says that Christians should be seeking the truth about history, and not allow those with political agendas to use the past for their purposes. If we are going to have a positive influence in our country, it should not be based on a foundational myth.

Dr. John Fea received his Ph.D. in American History from Stony Brook University and before that his Master of Arts in Church History and Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is a sought-after writer and speaker and has written for several publications, including The Atlantic, Christianity Today, The Washington Post, USA Today, Fox News, Vox, Religion News Service, and several other publications. He has appeared on NBC News, CNN, C-SPAN, MSNBC, NPR, and dozens of radio programs across the country.

Dr. Fea has a very popular daily blog called “The Way of Improvement Leads Home” which offers reflections at the intersection of American history, religion, politics, and academic life.

https://thewayofimprovement.com/

He also hosts a podcast with the same name.

https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/the-way-of-improvement-leads-home?selected=ADL6403914481

His books include the book he named his blog and podcast after, The Way of Improvement Leads Home: Philip Vickers Fithian and the Rural Enlightenment in Early America. He has also written a college textbook Why Study History?: Reflecting on the Importance of the Past.

The book we discuss in this podcast is Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?, written in 2011 and revised in 2016 (WJK).

https://www.wjkbooks.com/Products/066426249X/was-america-founded-as-a-christian-nation-revised-edition.aspx

Please consider purchasing these books from our friends Beth and Byron Borger, independent bookstore owners of Hearts and Minds Bookstore.

https://www.heartsandmindsbooks.com/booknotes/

Thanks for listening!

Go to https://www.re-integrate.org/ for years’ worth of articles on reintegrating your callings with God’s mission, resources for further learning, links to the Reintegrate YouTube channel, and more.

On Reintegrate’s podcast page, you’ll find ways to email us or call us to comment on this podcast. https://www.re-integrate.org/reintegrate-podcast/

If you like this podcast, please subscribe and write a quick review at Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app to encourage others to listen too!

Now that I know what I know (about myself, this world, and God), what am I going to do with my life?

According to Dr. Steven Garber, this is the essence of the word, “Vocation.” For decades, Steve has been thinking and writing on the deep things of vocation, on finding a vision for life, responding to the call of God, and how to live wisely so that our ordinary lives are filled with meaning and purpose.

Steve discusses these topics with Brendan Romigh and Dr. Bob Robinson, providing insights for people Bob’s age (in his mid-life crisis) and Brendan’s age (in his quarter-life crisis) and everyone in between.

• What is the difference between "vocation" and "occupation?"
• Do you have a vision for life that shapes what you will do day-by-day, year-by-year?  
• As you live in a “dis-integrated” and frustrating world, how do you “re-integrate" so that all of life has meaning and purpose?
• What does it look like to live in light of God's wisdom?

Dr. Steven Garber has been the wise sage of the faith-and-work movement for decades. He started The Washington Institute for Faith, Vocation and Culture, has mentored scores of pastors and marketplace leaders, served as a consultant for foundations, corporations, and universities, has taught at seminaries and colleges, and has written amazing articles and fantastic books. His wife is Meg and they have five children and several grandchildren.

His latest book is The Seamless Life: A Tapestry of Love & Learning, Worship & Work from InterVarsity Press.

https://www.ivpress.com/the-seamless-life

Two of his earlier books have made a deep impression upon Bob and his way of life and of doing ministry: The Fabric of Faithfulness: Weaving Together Belief and Behavior, and the second is Visions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good, both also published by InterVarsity Press.

https://www.ivpress.com/the-fabric-of-faithfulness

https://www.ivpress.com/visions-of-vocation

Please consider purchasing these books from our friends Beth and Byron Borger, independent bookstore owners of Hearts and Minds Bookstore.

https://www.heartsandmindsbooks.com/booknotes/

Links to things discussed in the podcast:

Washington Institute for Faith, Vocation and Culture:

https://washingtoninst.org/

Steven Garber, “Making Peace with Proximate Justice”:

https://www.cardus.ca/comment/article/finding-our-way-to-great-work-even-in-politics-making-peace-with-proximate-justice/

Walker Percy, The Second Coming:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780312243241

JI Packer, Knowing God:

https://www.ivpress.com/knowing-god-paperback

Thanks for listening!

Go to https://www.re-integrate.org/ for years’ worth of articles on reintegrating your callings with God’s mission, resources for further learning, links to the Reintegrate YouTube channel, and more.

On Reintegrate’s podcast page, you’ll find ways to email us or call us to comment on this podcast. https://www.re-integrate.org/reintegrate-podcast/

If you like this podcast, please write a quick review at Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app to encourage others to listen too.

Sure, God “loves” me… but… Does God LIKE me?

So many of us Christians feel that God is angry with us, or disappointed in us, or even disgusted with us. We are grateful for Jesus Christ, who acts as some sort of go-between, a shield from a God who does not like us but has to “love” us because of the cross.

In this podcast, Cyd and Geoff Holsclaw explain to us that this is a severely warped understanding of who God is, what God has been doing and continues to do in our lives, and how we are meant to relate to God.

God not only loves us, but actually wants to be with us, and he wants us to work with him in the “family business.”

Cyd and Geoff are the co-authors of Does God Really Like Me?: Discovering the God Who Wants to Be With Us (InterVarsity Press, 2020), a warm, engaging book, filled with clear teaching from the Bible, personal stories, and practical helps for their readers to find the joy of being God’s presence and working with him to bless the world.

https://www.ivpress.com/does-god-really-like-me

Geoff Holsclaw is Affiliate Professor of Theology at Northern Seminary in Lisle, Illinois. Cyd Holsclaw is a ministry and life coach and spiritual director. They are Associate Pastors of Youth and Family at Vineyard North in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They’ve been married for 20 years and have two teenage boys, Soren and Tennyson.

Check out more from Geoff Holsclaw: http://geoffreyholsclaw.net/

Thanks for listening! If you like this podcast, please write a quick review at Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app to encourage others to listen too.

Go to https://www.re-integrate.org/ for years’ worth of articles on reintegrating your callings with God’s mission, resources for further learning, links to the Reintegrate YouTube channel, and more.

On Reintegrate’s podcast page, you’ll find ways to email us or call us to comment on this podcast. https://www.re-integrate.org/reintegrate-podcast/

Please buy the book from our good friends Beth and Byron Borger, independent booksellers at Hearts & Minds Bookstore.

https://www.heartsandmindsbooks.com/booknotes/

We can’t even agree during a pandemic!

Brendan and Bob discuss how we can begin to overcome the venom in our discourse that we’ve learned from our contentious culture. Instead of mimicking what pundits on cable news do, dehumanizing their opponents, and giving in to fear and rage, we are to be what Jesus called the “peacemakers.”

Brendan and Bob discuss what the Scriptures have to say about this and consider strategies on how to better communicate on social media.

It’s an important topic, but they never take things so very seriously that they forget to have a fun and engaging conversation.

In the podcast, a study is cited called “America’s Divided Mind: Understanding the Psychology That Drives Us Apart” from Beyond Conflict, a research group that uses neuroscience and behavioral science to understand how conflict happens and ways to reduce it. The report says, “Americans incorrectly believe that members of the other party dehumanize, dislike, and disagree with them about twice as much as they actually do. In short, we believe we’re more polarized than we really are—and that misperception can drive us even further apart, (representing) a new degree of toxic polarization in America.”

Read the report here: https://beyondconflictint.org/americas-divided-mind/

Bible Passages:

Matthew 7:1-5; Matthew 5:9; James 1:9; Proverbs 15:18; Ephesians 4:29; Proverbs 19:11

Check out the podcast page for ways to connect with the show:

https://www.re-integrate.org/reintegrate-podcast/

Can we be dedicated Christians and still indulge in the pleasures of this earthly life? Can we go to the beach, eat at a great restaurant, watch an exciting movie, play our favorite video game or sport, and still be pleasing to God? How do we reintegrate our faith into every aspect of our lives, even the stuff that we don’t think of as the "spiritual" aspects of life?
Or as today’s guest phrases it, “Can you serve Jesus and still enjoy your life?”
That’s the subtitle of Mike Wittmer’s book, Becoming Worldly Saints: Can You Serve Jesus and Still Enjoy Your Life? (Zondervan, 2015).

Michael Wittmer is Professor of Systematic & Historical Theology and the Director of the Center for Christian Worldview at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary. He is the author of lots of articles and several books, including his first two books, Heaven Is a Place on Earth: Why Everything You Do Matters to God (Zondervan, 2009) and Don't Stop Believing: Why Living Like Jesus Is Not Enough (Zondervan, 2009).

Thanks for listening! If you like this podcast, please write a quick review at Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app to encourage others to listen too.

Go to https://www.re-integrate.org/ for years worth of articles on reintegrating your callings with God’s mission, resources for further learning, links to the Reintegrate YouTube channel, and more. 

On Reintegrate's podcast page, you’ll find ways to email us or call us to comment on this podcast. 

Purchase Mike Wittmer's books from a trusted independent bookseller, Byron and Beth Borger at Hearts and Minds Bookstore.