In this episode Ian and I cover the vices of gluttony, fornication, and avarice. Respectively these are the love of food, the love of sensual pleasure, and the love of money. These vices are the root vices and deal primarily with overindulgence in excess and the desire for possessions. We hope our conversation will bless you.

The Bible isn't like other books, at least, not if you are a confessing Christian. So, how do we go about reading it? This is the final installment of a seven-part series on the Bible and how we read it. Here, I interview scholar (and genuinely awesome guy) Daniel Trier. Dr. Trier is Gunther H. Knoedler Professor of Theology at Wheaton College in Wheaton Illinois. He is the author of numerous books, including Introducing Theological Interpretation of Scripture: Recovering a Christian Practice, which we discuss in this interview.

The Bible reveals God and is full of his presence in a special way, but when we die and hopefully go to heaven, we won't spend our time worshipping the New Testament. Heaven heaven doesn't need a Bible because heaven is where God is. In this episode we talk about an ancient form of contemplation called the four senses, which was both a way of reading the Bible and a way of thinking about the world in order to see God's heavenly presence in it.
Alec's thesis: https://www.academia.edu/86755575/The_Four_Senses_%CE%B8%CE%B5%CF%89%CF%81%CE%B7%CF%84%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%B7_in_John_Cassian

John Cassian's The Conferences: https://www.amazon.com/John-Cassian-Conferences-Ancient-Christian/dp/0809104849/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=john+cassian+institutes+and+conferences&sr=8-2&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.006c50ae-5d4c-4777-9bc0-4513d670b6bc

In this episode we talk with theologian Brad East about what Scripture is, where it came from, and what it is for. While that might sound simple, for those of us who believe that the Church chose the books of the Bible that God co-authored through his many human authors for his mission to save the world through Jesus, things get deep fast. This is an episode well worth a second listen and we hope it blesses you.

Link to our new website: https://greattraditionpodc.wixsite.com/thegreattradition

Link to The Doctrine of Scripture: https://www.amazon.com/Doctrine-Scripture-Brad-East-ebook/dp/B09FYJ141P/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=1UGGLQ2ZOUW51&keywords=brad+east+doctrine+of+scripture&qid=1678500472&sprefix=brad+east+the+%2Caps%2C302&sr=8-1

Modern readers often approach the Bible with a sort of "scientific method" approach, but the ancient church read it differently.  On this episode we talk about the four ancient assumptions about the Bible that caused them to read it differently than us, as well as how to take advantage of ancient and modern methods of reading. 

All Christians read the Bible when studying God, but that begs the question: why do we sometimes disagree?  The reality is, we all use other sources of knowledge to understand God as well. In this episode we talk with author and professor Dr. Steven Cone about four categories we all use for understanding the Christian God: Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience.

For many Christians, "tradition" is a bad word.  We disagree.  In this episode, we talk about how tradition is Biblical, tradition is inevitable, and tradition helps us better understand God.