This episode introduces the work of Martin Hägglund and his vision of secular faith. Religious faith, for Hägglund, focuses on some transcendent reality that means we really don’t have to care about this life. Eternity means we don’t have to care or love because nothing is lost. Secular faith, on the other hand, pushes us back to the finite nature of this world where love and suffering are deeply connected, and care meaning tending to things that can and will come to an end. What if Christian faith is really, at its core, about this finite reality? What if it has more in common with secular faith than it might seem? Give it a listen, and if you feel so inclined, buy a copy of my book by clicking here!

This podcast explores the introduction of my new book Unbelievers: Secular Faith and the End of the Culture War. It seems that spiritualizing everything from football to politics creates an “us vs. them” binary. It also makes it much easier to demonize those who disagree. What if the gospel actually demythologizes the world? Give it a listen!

In a Washington Post Op Ed, Carl Truman takes a shot at James Talarico’s faith. Truman claims Talarico’s Faith is “not the future of Christianity”. Truman’s concern, of course, is gender and sexuality. Is Truman’s version of Christianity the future of Christianity? I’m not convinced.

How does Bonhoeffer's Discipleship speak about the love the Christian community owes our immigrant neighbors? Bonhoeffer explores what he calls an "extraordinary love"—the love Christians must show, not only to our enemies, but to those who are different from us. Love for those who are like us—our families, our community, our nation—this is natural love. The love of God revealed in Jesus Christ is a cruciform love—it loves those who are different, those who hate us, those who are our natural enemies. In a time when empathy and compassion are seen as weak, it is important to be reminded by people like Dietrich Bonhoeffer about the true nature of love that reconciles us to our enemies, overcomes our differences, and calls to to a new way of life.

What does it mean to follow Jesus in this strange cultural moment in the U.S.? Should the Christian community use political power to support their way of life? Bonhoeffer interprets the sermon on the mount as the heart of Christian discipleship. The call to be merciful is a call to let go of honor, to let go of power, and to go to the margins with the poor and suffering. This episode explores what this means at a time when Christians seem to be struggling for political power as a way to secure honor and status.

The sermon on the mount is the heart of what it means to be a Christian disciple. For Bonhoeffer, this includes hungering and thirsting for God's justice. There are some who think Christians should not be concerned with justice, that somehow this is part of some woke liberal agenda. Yet, at the heart of the gospel is God's desire for justice--God's righteousness. To be a Christian means we must be concerned with justice because God is concerned with justice.

In chapter two of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer talks about the first steps of faith. Discipleship is about action, about leaving our nets or getting up from the table, and following Jesus. This is not a program or an idea, but an action. It’s recognizing the concrete reality of my neighbor and the call God makes upon my life. This episode explores Bonhoeffer’s understanding of discipleship not as religious or doctrinal principle, but decisive action in response to God’s call.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a letter to his grandmother in which he says, "The issue is really Germanism or Christianity". Today, it seems, the question for the church is: Americanism or Christianity? Beneath this conversation is the issue of cheap grace that baptizes our culture and way of life. It is a grace that allows religion and doctrinal belief to be used as a weapon against anyone who doesn't fit the cultural norm. The gospel calls us to costly grace, to a new way of life grounded in Jesus Christ. This episode continues our exploration of Discipleship by exploring the difference between cheap grace and costly grace.

Reading through Metaxas' Religionless Christianity: God's Answer to Evil, there are some things that Metaxas gets right. However, he misses something that central to Bonhoeffer's theology. This episode explores what Metaxas doesn't understand about Bonhoeffer's theology.

When you compare the book Religionless Christianity: God's Answer to Evil with Bonhoeffer's own writings, it raises questions about whether Metaxas and Bonhoeffer mean the same thing when they talk about the Kingdom of God. This episode compares Bonhoeffer's lecture Thy Kingdom Come! The Prayer of the Church-Community for God’s Kingdom on Earth with selections from Religionless Christianity: God's Answer to Evil.