The Nothing Human Podcast

Michael explains the important distinction between good/evil as affectional categories and righteousness/wickedness as moral categories. He explores the problem of evil, common grace, the last petition of the Lord’s Prayer, and numerous other biblical texts, recovering an understanding of how the moral and material are on a trajectory toward distinct union in the new heavens and new earth.

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The Problem of Evil has an “Evil” Problem, by Michael Minkoff, Jr.

Michael takes you on an exegetical journey into the biblical significance of bones as a lasting memorial of a person awaiting the resurrection. Find out about the curious burial of the bones of Joseph, terebinth oaks as memorials of the dead, the connection of land inheritance and honorable burial, and the significance of Jesus’ secondary burial, or lack thereof.

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Ossuary for Ossilegium

Philo of Alexandria

“Secondary Burials in Palestine,” by Eric Meyers

Synecdoche

“Why Did God Choose Circumcision?” by Peter Leithart

“Under The Oak And Terebinth Trees,“ by Jonathan Lipnick

“The Bones of the Paschal Lamb,” by Julian Morgenstern

Michael investigates the distinction of physical vs. spiritual, exploring its Platonic roots and destructive consequences. Michael then discusses other, more strictly biblical distinctions, beginning with “heaven and earth.”

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Review: What is the Mission of the Church?, by Michael Minkoff, Jr.

Goethe’s Theory of Colors

Where does the soul come from? Is it created by God or does it come from our parents and ultimately from Adam? Michael explores Creationism and Traducianism as it relates to the origin of the human soul, explaining them along the way.

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Ep. 16: Body and Soul, Flesh and Spirit

Traducianism

“Creationism,” from Systematic Theology, by Charles Hodge

“Against Two Letters of the Pelagians,” by Augustine

“Human Nature in its Fourfold State,” by Thomas Boston (drawing from Augustine)

Michael investigates our misconceptions concerning the body and soul, exploring the Platonic and NeoPlatonic influences on Christian thought, which has produced dualistic and body-dismissing conceptions of human nature and the source of sin. Some of this relies on our misunderstanding of the Apostle Paul’s use of the word "flesh," which Michael explores in detail. He considers also the immortality of the soul. In sum, he drives at a more biblical understanding of body and soul.

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“Did C.S. Lewis really say ‘You don’t have a soul’?”

“The Body in Calvin's Theology,” James C. Goodloe IV

The Great Chain of Being

“Incarnational Evangelism: Preaching the Word to a Words-Weary World,” by Michael Minkoff, Jr.

Michael unpacks how the three powers relate to trauma by drawing from the book Redeeming Heartache: How Past Suffering Reveals Our True Calling, by Dr. Dan Allender and Cathy Loerzel. Allender and Loerzel helpfully categorize trauma into three biblical categories: the traumas of orphan, stranger, and widow. They then go on to connect these trauma categories to the three offices of prophet, priest, and king, claiming that the path to healing your core trauma is by pursuing the redemptive calling that trauma reveals. Michael integrates and clarifies their insights with three powers categories, revealing in this integration what Michael thinks are gaps and mistakes in Allender’s and Loerzel’s mostly productive analysis.

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Redeeming Heartache: How Past Suffering Reveals Our True Calling, by Dr. Dan Allender and Cathy Loerzel

The Allender Center

Brian Regan, Standing Up, “Kids” (~7:25–8:14)

The Prayer of St. Francis

Michael digs deeper into the internal and external standards for all three powers, discussing how we set or discern values of good, right, and true, and how we achieve equilibrium between individual and collective values.

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Nominalism vs. Realism

The Structure of Scientific Revolution, by Thomas Kuhn

“Aliens Cause Global Warming,” by Michael Crichton (where he condemns the idea of “consensus science”)

At your request, Michael explores the affections a little more deeply, particularly concerning the “ordering” of the affections. After establishing some foundational axioms for affective change, Michael explores some baby steps to processing and ordering the affections, particularly as modeled in the Psalms and Job.

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Western Wind: An Introduction to Poetry, by David Mason and John Frederick Nims

“The Sentimentality Trap," by Benjamin Myers

“We Sin Because We Have Bad Taste,” by Michael Minkoff, Jr.

Shame and Attachment Loss, by Dr. Joseph Nicolosi

AEDP Institute (founded by Dr. Diana Fosha)

“Preface to the Commentary on the Psalms,” by John Calvin

“We All Want to See God Suffer,” by Michael Minkoff, Jr. (see comments for mentioned discussion with pastor)

Renew the Arts

Michael explains how the gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in the Bible relate to the three powers of the human spirit. He explains how the offices of Jesus—of prophet, priest, and king—continue to be represented in the church’s verbal and embodied witness through the diverse gifting of the Holy Spirit in individual members. Michael goes on to describe how this variety and diversity can contribute to discord and hierarchies within churches and denominations, yet God’s intention and desire in giving these gifts is to build up and unify the church.

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“What is the Mission of the Church?" by Michael Minkoff, Jr.

Michael explores the importance of self-awareness and the difficulties we have in self-awareness because of the way the powers often overlap each other. He then provides some language for articulating these overlaps or agreements between the three powers. Particularly, he talks about how desire marks the overlap of the will and the affections, plan marks the overlap of the will and the intellect, and dream marks the overlap of the intellect and the affections. He then discusses the standards for these overlaps, habit for desire, conviction for plan, and taste for dream.

Here’s a visual guide to make it a little easier to follow:

This episode functioned much more as an experiment in naming things, and there is so much more to explore here. Help me do that by leaving your comments and questions.

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