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Did Adam actually exist? Were Adam and Eve literal people living in a literal garden of Eden? How do we understand the first 11 chapters of Genesis? How do they align with so many other origin narratives from the Sumerian King List to the Eridu Genesis and Gilgamesh? Does it really matter whether we literalise our Genesis understanding or not?

How does science on the other hand, understand the origins of human life? Is it possible that all humankind originated from the seemingly narrow gene pool of two people? How does modern genetics understand the biblical claim of an historical Adam and Eve? Could it be that Adam was alone in being created first, or was he simply a Chieftain representing a far larger number of people?
 
 Understanding the historical and theological relevance of Adam has always posed a great struggle for Christian thinkers and theologians. This week the Curious team are joined by Professor Jack Collins as they reflect on his book, “Did Adam and Eve Really Exist?” Together they examine all the difficult questions from an historical Adam, confronting origin narratives, and the age of the earth. To how we understand monogenesis and the genetic challenge. They also reflect on the implications our conclusions bring to bear on the broader understanding of the fall, theology and redemption
 
Join the team this week for what promises to be a very enlightening and fascinating conversation.

Further Reading
 Here’s a bit of homework for you….we’ve included some articles that compliment this episode….

Understanding the First and Last Adam - Crossway.org

Four Views on the Historical Adam - TheGospelCoalition.org

Why I Think Adam was a Real Person - Biologos.org

What we’re reading?
 As a feature to our notes, we are adding the book or books that we’ve browsed related to this episode…enjoy! 
 
 C. John Collins — Did Adam and Eve Really Exist? Who They Were and Why You Should Care
 
 Ed: Matthew Barrett and Ardel Caneday — Four Views on The Historical Adam
 
 William Lane Craig — In Quest of The Historical Adam: A Biblical and Scientific Exploration

Send your questions or thoughts to: [email protected]

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The believers relationship with Church is often fraught with great hazards and difficulties. Despite the friendship, use, joy and blessing that comes from connecting to a community; there is also the unfortunate experience of disappointment, manipulation and in some cases even abuse. There are Christians who love the church but will not attend, and those who have been hurt by the church who have found their way back. For all its greatness, and at times misery, the local church remains God’s idea, his ordain means of transforming lives, and his chosen vehicle through which He touches and revives a dying world.

This week the Curious team take an honest look at the place of church in the individual Christian’s life; it’s meaning, it’s struggle, it’s beauty and it’s significance. They explore how the church matters more than we think. That 2000 years of church history has shown that no individual Christian has ever thrived and developed in complete isolation. Yet they also recognise the failure and the abuse and the struggle that many have suffered at the hands of the church. In spite of remaining God‘s plan A, his divine intention; the church has nevertheless been placed into the hands of failing humans.

Join the team in this weeks episode as they explore the thinking of Christian writers and reformers, reflecting on the beauty as much as the ugliness of Church.

Further Reading
Here’s a bit of homework for you….we’ve included a couple of articles that compliment this episode….

Why the Church is Vitally Important for Every Christian - Crossway.org

Why God Made You for Membership - DesiringGod.org

What we’re reading?
As a feature to our notes, we are adding the book or books that we’ve browsed related to this episode…enjoy!

Barnabas Piper & Ray Ortlund — Belong: Loving Your Church by Reflecting Christ to One Another

Robert H. Thune — The Gospel-Centered Community

Megan Hill — A Place to Belong: Learning to Love the Local Church

Send your questions or thoughts to: [email protected]

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Every Christian knows the reality of the battle within. Paul defines as the flesh fighting against the spirit, the old you, combating with the new you, under grace. But how aware are we of the nature of this inner beast? How serious should we take it? How ferocious and proactive is our darker nature? What sinister potential does it hold of totally destroying us? And how are we to get any kind of guarantee that we will eventually end up on the winning side?

The battle of personal holiness is a lifelong struggle from which there is no relief. In this weeks episode the curious team take the unusual step of drawing wisdom from a 400 year-old book written by perhaps one of Britain’s most outstanding Puritans of the 17th century. John Owen was 40 years of age when he wrote, “The Mortification of Sin” in 1656, as a means of teaching young ministers. The great emphasis of this classic work was, in Owen’s words, “be killing sin , or it will be killing you”

In the four centuries that have passed since the book, there have been few if any that have rivalled Owen’s insight, pastoral observations and spiritual encouragement in terms of our battle with inner sin. Taking a number of principles from Owen’s thinking, the Curious team unpack what it means to understand sin, to renounce it, to develop a right perspective of it, and to embrace the power of God’s Spirit in the conquering of it. Join them this week for a very insightful and challenging episode.

Further Reading
Here’s a bit of homework for you….we’ve included a couple of articles that compliment this episode….

The Mortification of Sin - TheGospelCoalition

On The Mortification of Sin - DesiringGod.org

Mortification of Sin - APuritansMind.com

What we’re reading?
As a feature to our notes, we are adding the book or books that we’ve browsed related to this episode…enjoy! (We’d strongly recommend all three of Owen’s outstanding trilogy below)

John Owen—
The Mortification of Sin in Believers
Of Indwelling Sin in Believers
Of Temptation

Kevin DeYoung—
The Hole in Our Holiness

J. I. Packer—
Rediscovering Holiness
Keep In Step With The Spirit 

Send your questions or thoughts to: [email protected]

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What happens when lines of communication break down between us and God? How do we reconnect when such lines die? Is there always a way to reconnect beyond our ability to discern such paths? What role does grace and God’s Spirit play in steering us back to a better understanding and commitment?

This week, the Curious team take a look at how we disconnect from God. Looking at the deteriorating effects of busyness, of , neglect, of the things we do not confess, of the unanswered and misguided reliances; all of which feed into separating us from the conscious awareness of God’s blessing. The team also take a deep dive into what Jesus meant when he said “abide in me”; and how that works out in day-to-day life. En route they also reflect on the difficulty and yet power of seasons of dryness that inevitably can lead to rediscovery.

Join the Curious team this week as they look at the dangers of disconnecting and some practical steps to reconnection and personal restoration

Further Reading
Here’s a bit of homework for you….we’ve included a few articles that compliment this episode….

Strategies to Reconnect with God When You're Feeling out of Touch - Crosswalk.com

How I learned to Reconnect with God - IBelieve.com

How to Reconnect with God - AVirtuousWoman.org

What we’re reading?
As a feature to our notes, we are adding the book or books that we’ve browsed related to this episode… enjoy! 

Matthew C. Bingham — A Heart Aflame for God: A Reformed Approach to Spiritual Formation

Dane Ortlund — Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers 

Sinclair B. Ferguson — Devoted to God: Blueprints for Sanctification

Send your questions or thoughts to: [email protected]

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Resolutions and commitments are commonplace this time of year. But the idea of restarting, or starting over, is often a difficult one. Perhaps it is because it is never easy. Is progress in the Christian life really down to just trying harder, making better choices, and having a stronger willpower? Or is there an empowering and a shaping that grace offers to the individual life?

How do we understand the cultural myth of self reinvention in light of developing a better us? Can we start over from scratch? Is our identity self-made as opposed to inherited? Is transformation always and endlessly possible, and do we owe nothing to the old story about us? How does 2 Corinthians 5:17 feed into this understanding? What does it mean to say that the “old has passed” and the “new has come”?

In this episode, the Curious team examine what it means to restart and to get our lives back on track. They examine the understanding of ‘reset’, we can fix it; and ‘rebirth’, God remakes it. The discussion examines the role of repentance, of small acts of obedience, of God’s endless mercies, and the need to engage in the vital elements of grace’s provision.

Join the team this week as they examine kickstarting our spiritual journey for 2026


Further Reading
Here’s a bit of homework for you….we’ve included a few articles that compliment this episode….

4 Ways to Approach the New Year with Jesus - TheGospelCoalition.org

New Year's Resolutions for God's Glory, Not Our Own - Ligonier.org

New Year's Bible Verses - ThePioneerWoman.com

What we’re reading?
As a feature to our notes, we are adding the book or books that we’ve browsed related to this episode… enjoy! 

Jared C Wilson — Gospel Wakefulness 

Kevin DeYoung — Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God’s Will

Send your questions or thoughts to: [email protected]

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Beyond the tinsel and the presents and the turkey and the mistletoe; beyond the wisemen and the Shepherds, the manger and Bethlehem; there lies a richer, deeper, and more mysterious message of Christmas.  The Bible does not simply paint a picture of the first Christmas being for people then and now; book for the whole cosmic and natural world .

Incarnation lies as one of the great mysteries and profound truths of scripture. CS Lewis defined it as the, “central miracle” of scripture, while Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck referred to it as the “Central fact” in all revelation.

This week the Curious team go back before the manger, in an attempt to open up the cosmic and eternal reality of the Christmas story. Grappling with the profound nature of Colossians 1:15–20, defining Jesus as “the first born of all creation”, who was “before all things”; to the majestic Philippians 2 of Christ humbling and emptying himself, the team reflect on the cosmic ripple of Christmas

Join them this week as they reflect on the eternal and timeless value of the Christmas story
.
Further Reading
Here’s a bit of homework for you….we’ve included a couple of articles that compliment this episode….

The Christmas Miracle of the Incarnation of the Omnipresent Word - DesiringGod.org

The Miracle of Christmas - AnneGrahamLotz.org

What we’re reading?
As a feature to our notes, we are adding the book or books that we’ve browsed related to this episode…enjoy! 

Timothy Keller — Hidden Christmas 

Adam Hamilton — Incarnation: Rediscovering the Significance of Christmas

Send your questions or thoughts to: [email protected]

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Christian orthodoxy has insisted that it is a monotheistic faith. It believes in one God. And yet it speaks and holds to this one God as being three! If God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, then how can Christians continue to insist He is but one God? Why is it that no other world religion adheres to such an understanding of God—even the traditionally monotheistic religions of Islam and Judaism! Where did this understanding of God come from? After all, we find no where in the Bible where the word “trinity” is mentioned; so how do we know it’s a Bible based truth? Has the church always believed this? What did the early church say about it? 

In this weeks episode, the curious team dig in to what is meant by the “threeness” of God. Looking back into the earliest accounts of the church fathers, and the understandings of the various church councils over the centuries, and the Bibles own presentation of God and His salvific purposes; the team seek to define what is meant by a three in one God. Along the way, they touch on historical attempts to define this triune being, (modalism, subordinationism and tritheism) that ultimately proved to be faulty and were collectively rejected. They also explore the concepts of diversity, unity and perichoresis! 

Join the team this week as they dig deep into this historically significant bedrock of Christian orthodoxy

Further Reading
Here’s a bit of homework for you….we’ve included a few articles that compliment this episode….

The Holy Trinity - Christianity.com

Can We Explain the Trinity? - DesiringGod.org

Alister McGrath: Thinking About the Trinity - Christinity.org

What we’re reading?
As a feature to our notes, we are adding the book or books that we’ve browsed related to this episode…(including Michael Gaitley’s from within a more Roman Catholic framework)…enjoy! 

Robert Letham — The Holy Trinity 

Edited by John Thompson — Modern Trinitarian Perspectives 

Michael Gaitley — The One Thing Is Three: How the Most Holy Trinity Explains Everything

Send your questions or thoughts to: [email protected]

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Can God really be pleased with me even if I don’t believe? If I live with good intentions, and perform good deeds, will it draw the favour of God to me? Does the Bible infer that one’s behaviour can draw the attention of heaven? What about Cornelius in Acts 10? Wasn’t he brought to God‘s attention through his good works? Is the goodness of God contingent on the level of acceptability he offers to individuals? How do we understand common grace in the broader context of the goodness and justice of God? Think about Matthew 25, the sheep and the goats. Doesn’t it teach us about the power of good actions? Can good works in of themselves create a space in which God reveals himself to people who may not explicitly believe? How does justice and mercy work together?

God’s salvific relations to faith and our good works is a complicated and complex issue that gives rise to multiple questions. This week the curious team examine the difficult and at times contentious place our behaviour and deeds take in the overall salvific purposes of God. Was James in his epistle, truly offering an alternative to Paul or merely addressing a balance? How important is what we do in connection to what we believe? These difficult issues and more, the team dig into. Join us this week in what promises to be a rather interesting conversation.
 
Further Reading
Here’s a bit of homework for you….we’ve included a few articles that compliment this episode….

How Are Faith and Works Related When it Comes to Salvation? - EPM.org

Faith and Works - TheGospelCoalition.org

Is My Salvation an Event or a Process - DesiringGod.org

What we’re reading?
As a feature to our notes, we are adding the book or books that we’ve browsed related to this episode…enjoy! 

Thomas H. McCall, Caleb T. Friedeman & Matt T. Friedeman — The Doctrine of Good Works

Thomas R. Schreiner — Faith Alone: The Doctrine of Justification

Send your questions or thoughts to: [email protected]

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It is fair to say that the person of Jesus has probably sparked more conversation, intrigue and controversy than any other person in history. But where did he come from? Did he have a beginning or, as an ancient writers teach, he simply always was! In this episode, we step back before Bethlehem—before manger, straw, shepherd songs, or even the name Jesus itself—to ask who the Christ truly was before he walked among us. Was his divine identity something he discovered, revealed, or always knew? What does the mystery of the virgin conception tell us, and what misunderstandings does it sweep aside? 

Join the Curious team this week as they find themselves in conversation with American writer and theologian Stephen Wellum, around his fascinating book “God the Son Incarnate”. Together they explore the preexistence and uniqueness of Christ, pushing through the adoptionist and Arian detours to glimpse a deeper, older story—one that began long before the world did. Tune in to what promises to be a very thoughtful and enlightening episode 
 

Further Reading
Here’s a bit of homework for you….we’ve included a few articles that compliment this episode….

Before Time Began, Jesus Was - DesiringGod.org

Was Jesus Created? - Christianity.com

What we’re reading?
As a feature to our notes, we are adding the book or books that we’ve browsed related to this episode.
We’ve included two of Stephen’s books which we believe you’ll find wonderfully interesting…enjoy! 

Stephen Wellum — God the Son Incarnate
Stephen Wellum — Christ Alone
Tom Wright — Simply Jesus

Send your questions or thoughts to: [email protected]

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What did God do before He created anything? It’s a question that invites both wonder and mystery — and in this episode, we dive into how philosophers and theologians have wrestled with it for centuries. Is time something that flows on its own, as Newton imagined, or is it something that exists only in relation to God and creation? We explore whether God is timeless — dwelling in an eternal “now” as Boethius described — or everlasting, moving with time without being limited by it. Along the way, we consider what it means for God to sustain the universe, how divine immutability fits with action in time, and what “zero-time” might mean for a Creator who stands both outside and within His creation.

This week the Curious team dive into this mystery in the company of theologian and philosopher Alan Padgett. Relating to Alan’s book ‘God, Eternity, and the Nature of Time’; Alan and the team explore God’s relationship to time and eternity, and how God can remain changeless in an ever changing world. Join the team this week for a thoughtful and enlightening episode
 
Further Reading
Here’s a bit of homework for you….we’ve included a few articles that compliment this episode….

How Does God Relate to Time? - TableTalkMagazine

What is God's Relationship to Time? - Christianity.com

God and Time Theories - Reasons.org

What we’re reading?
As a feature to our notes, we are adding the book or books that we’ve browsed related to this episode.
We’ve included Alan’s book as well as a couple of others we think you’ll find interesting…enjoy!

Alan Padgett — God, Eternity, and the Nature of Time

Paul Helm — Eternal God: A Study of God Without Time

Edited by Gregory E. Ganssle — God and Time: Four Views

Send your questions or thoughts to: [email protected]

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