The Circle Dwellers Podcast

In this Circle Dwellers Podcast episode, hosts Matt Krell and Timothy Krell share their raw first reactions to Greta Gerwig’s Magician’s Nephew trailer from The Chronicles of Narnia, explaining why it misses the mark for dedicated C.S. Lewis readers and Narnia fans. The hosts break down the trailer’s mismatched rock music, Meryl Streep’s Aslan roaring rather than singing the world into existence, the off-key casting of Digory and Uncle Andrew, the jungle-like Wood Between the Worlds instead of its orderly, garden-like atmosphere, and the overall Doctor Who-style aesthetics that turn Lewis’s story of dangerous magic, intentional creation, and spiritual depth into something that feels more like superficial modern fantasy chasing emotional beats. For Christian pastors, laypeople, and anyone seeking stories that honor substance over contemporary updates, this Magician’s Nephew trailer reaction explores why faithful adaptation matters and why the original books remain unmatched.

In this episode of the Circle Dwellers Podcast, Matt Krell and Timothy Krell discuss Akira Kurosawa’s Ran (1985), the Japanese director’s samurai retelling of Shakespeare’s King Lear, and why the film’s beauty and bleakness still matter. Drawing on Matt’s Arts and Culture presentation from their Sunday gathering, they trace Lord Hidetora Ichimonji’s decision to divide his domain among three sons, the banishment of the blunt youngest son Saburo, the color-coded siege in which the old lord walks out of a burning castle unable even to die with honor, and the final shot of the blind Tsurumaru dropping an image of Amida Buddha from a ruined cliff. They compare Kurosawa’s changes to the play: the fool survives, the blinded man is a victim of Hidetora’s own conquests rather than later court intrigue, and there is no Edgar—the figure in King Lear who works, in disguise, toward a remnant of hope. Kurosawa, they note, has the gods grieving and powerless while people destroy one another; the hosts contrast that vision with a Christian claim that human evil is real and freely chosen, yet not the last word. For pastors and laypeople who want serious film, Shakespeare, and questions of loyalty, fate, suffering, and redemption taken seriously, this is a close look at one of cinema’s great tragedies.

In this episode of the Circle Dwellers Podcast, hosts Matt Krell and Timothy Krell ask why people apostatize and whether someone who has truly come to Christ can fall away. Continuing their series on open theism, foreknowledge, and salvation, they examine provisionism—a Baptist-rooted answer to Calvinism that says God has provided every means of salvation but does not cause anyone to believe—and its claim that apostasy is impossible because those who fall away were never really regenerated. Drawing on Gordon C. Olson’s moral government theology and his book Sharing Your Faith, they define apostasy not as ordinary sin or a bad week, but as a final, willful rebellion in which a person resists further light until God withdraws his gracious pursuit. They set “once saved, always saved” texts such as John 10:27–29, John 5:24, Romans 8:38–39, and Ephesians 1:13–14 beside Ezekiel 18:24, Revelation 3:5, the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18, John 15, Hebrews 3, 6, and 10, and the case of Judas, who they argue was sent out with the disciples and later crossed a line. The hosts contend that a forensic, legal theory of the atonement creates the apparent contradiction, while a relational, governmental view of the cross—Christ making it possible for God to forgive without violating moral order—keeps both Scripture and free will after conversion. For pastors and believers tired of systems that promise security while thinning out a living walk with God, the episode presses a practical claim: salvation is continued faith and repentance in relationship with Christ, not a transaction that ends free will at the moment someone gets saved.

In this introduction to biblical symbolism, the hosts draw on Matthieu Pageau’s work (alongside Jonathan Pageau’s Symbolic World) to show how a modern materialist mindset—focused only on “how it works” and “what it’s made of”—blinds us to the spiritual truths Scripture actually embodies. Using examples from Narnia’s Prince Caspian, medieval cathedrals, and the dualities of heaven (meaning without matter) and earth (matter without meaning), they unpack the ancient dendrocentric worldview that Genesis and the rest of the Bible assume. For Christian pastors and laypeople dissatisfied with shallow church life and a Gospel reduced to “getting saved,” this episode reframes the good news as joining the people of God as a new family, while practical symbolic thinking helps move from practical atheism into embodied faith, shared life, and a real, close relationship with God. If you’re seeking re-enchantment, deeper Scripture reading, and authentic Christian living beyond mere head knowledge, start here.

Greta Gerwig’s Netflix Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew has announced Meryl Streep as the voice of Aslan, a David Bowie–inspired lion design, a 1950s reset, and a start with Lewis’s prequel instead of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe—and in this Circle Dwellers Podcast episode, hosts Matt Krell and Timothy Krell argue that those choices are not small “wait and see” details but a test of whether Hollywood will adapt C.S. Lewis or treat a sacred idea as raw material. Using Lewis’s own letters, they insist Aslan is not “just a lion” or a “deity of sorts”: he is Lewis’s imaginative supposal of the second Person of the Trinity incarnate in a world of talking beasts, a figure whose masculinity, kingship, and atmosphere belong to the story’s meaning. If you are a pastor or lay Christian who still loves Narnia, distrusts thin church-as-event Christianity, and wants stories that still point to Christ rather than to the adapter’s private vision, this conversation is for you. Subscribe to the Circle Dwellers Podcast, and find Matt’s novel Twin Suns Burning on Amazon.

In this Circle Dwellers Podcast episode, Matt Krell and Timothy Krell of Life Mission Fellowship explain why dynamic omniscience makes more sense than exhaustive foreknowledge, Molinism, or simple foreknowledge—and why that changes how you pray, live, and relate to God. If you are a pastor or layperson weary of a church that treats the gospel as a private “get saved” transaction instead of joining the people of God, and hungry for the church as a real family rather than a program, this conversation walks through Calvinism and the problem of evil, whether God can still respond if the future is already settled, John Sanders’ “Mary, Paul, and Mark” prayer puzzle, biblical prophecy as conditional or God-determined rather than a locked timeline, and texts like Genesis 22 (“now I know”). Open theism does not shrink God; it says the future is not yet an ontological thing, so some events are definite and others are genuine possibilities—leaving room for give-and-take with a Triune God who waits on your choices, invites adventure, and wants a close relationship rather than a predetermined script.

Dinesh D'Souza’s recent critique of Calvinism and predestination—sparked by R.C. Sproul on whether saving faith is our choice or God’s gift—set off a wave of Reformed pushback from James White and others; in this Circle Dwellers Podcast episode, hosts Matt Krell and Timothy Krell (open theists at Life Mission Fellowship) walk through D'Souza’s Arminian case that divine foreknowledge does not cause the future, then argue why that solution still leaves God bound to an unchangeable script. They contrast consistent Calvinism (God loves the elect, not everyone), classical Arminianism’s appeal to mystery, and open theism’s claim that the future is real possibility and that the real watershed is whether God allows Himself to be affected by His creatures. Along the way they take up Romans 8’s “golden chain,” limited atonement and John Owen’s trilemma, the character of God, and why they think theological determinism muddies the gospel and harms how Christians live. If you are a pastor or layperson tired of system-first religion and looking for a God you can actually relate to, this is a clear entry into the free-will vs. predestination debate without the usual Twitter slogans.

Tired of a thin “get saved and go to church” version of the Gospel and hungry for a real relationship with God inside the people of God—the church as a new family rather than a weekly event? In this Circle Dwellers Podcast conversation, hosts Matt Krell and Timothy Krell of Life Mission Fellowship walk through how Protestant monk and indie author Matt Krell spent six years writing his handcrafted Christian sci-fi fantasy novel Twin Suns Burning, now available on Amazon. Drawing on C.S. Lewis’s Planet Narnia structure and “Meditation in a Toolshed,” Matthieu Pageau’s biblical symbolism, and themes of death, immortality, and rebirth, Matt explains how a story can help readers inhabit Christian truth instead of only arguing about it from the outside—how Ellis the underground slave, Anubis the archangel of death, and a planet of supposedly immortal space elves become a path toward seeing mortality and salvation as joining God’s people. He also shares the unglamorous craft of writing an indie novel: stubborn weekly discipline, early and honest feedback from a writing community, killing your darlings so the work can take on a life of its own, and why he refused to let AI write the book. Listen if you want practical Christian living, richer imagination, and a story that points beyond escape toward the strange, costly beauty of the Gospel.

We rank the best and worst period dramas in this Circle Dwellers Podcast episode as hosts Matt Krell and Timothy Krell of Life Mission Fellowship go through 25 titles they have actually watched together in their intentional monastic community, placing S-tier classics such as the 1995 Pride and Prejudice, BBC Bleak House, North and South, Little Dorrit, David Copperfield, Our Mutual Friend, Sense and Sensibility, The Way We Live Now, and the Romola Garai Emma above later Downton Abbey seasons, The Other Bennett Sister, and Bridgerton. These stories of honor, nobility, family loyalty, class responsibility, pride, and moral transformation give pastors and lay Christians tired of a fragmented modern church a clearer picture of the Gospel as joining the people of God rather than isolated “getting saved,” and of the church as a new family that forms character through shared life instead of Marvel-style entertainment. Watch for practical recommendations on household viewing, why the great ones reveal the true, the good, and the beautiful in everyday manners and community bonds, and then tell us in the comments which period dramas you would rank differently.

In this episode of the Circle Dwellers podcast, the hosts unpack Johan Kurtz’s provocative Substack essay arguing that modern sports spectatorship is spiritually corrosive—like pornography, a hollow simulation that satisfies the craving for play and vigor without building real strength, virtue, or community. Drawing on the historic Western tradition in which physical excellence trained citizens for adversity, forged civic bonds, and honored the body as God’s temple, they contrast today’s rootless professional leagues and parasocial fandom with the genuine call for Christians to reject voyeuristic consumerism and instead cultivate embodied excellence through sports they actually practice, especially combat disciplines. Ideal for pastors and lay believers weary of a shallow gospel reduced to individual “salvation,” this conversation points toward a thicker vision of the church as a new family and of practical Christian living rooted in nobility, place, and the pursuit of holiness in body and soul.