Theology in the Raw

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What happens when the story you grew up believing meets the people whose voices were missing from it?

Peter Beinart joins Preston to discuss how spending time with Palestinians challenged his understanding of Israel, Jewish identity, and the relationship between safety and freedom. They explore his experience of October 7, the history of Palestinian displacement, his comparison with apartheid South Africa, and why he believes the conflict is bigger than Hamas. Peter also reflects on the personal cost of challenging his community’s assumptions and why he argues that nationalism can become a form of idolatry.

Peter is Professor of Journalism and Political Science at the Newmark School of Journalism at the City University of New York, a contributing opinion writer at The New York Times, Editor-at-Large of Jewish Currents, an MS NOW political commentator, and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace. He writes the Beinart Notebook newsletter on Substack. His latest book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning, is a New York Times bestseller and winner of the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction.

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction
• 08:00 Peter’s experience of October 7
• 10:35 Rethinking Israel after meeting Palestinians
• 13:52 The history Peter grew up believing
• 18:44 Understanding 1948: Independence and the Nakba
• 23:43 Grieving October 7 and opposing Israel’s response
• 26:40 Why this conflict is bigger than Hamas
• 32:01 Lessons from apartheid South Africa
• 35:05 Why Peter calls Israel’s system apartheid
• 40:59 America’s role and support for Israel
• 45:19 The personal cost of speaking out
• 48:19 Judaism, Zionism, and nationalism as idolatry
• 52:47 Is there hope for equality and freedom?
• 56:29 Extra Innings: American evangelicals and Israel

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What happens when immigrants who came to the U.S. legally lose their status and face deportation? And what happens to their American-born children when the country their parents could be sent to is considered too dangerous to visit?

Matthew Soerens joins Preston to unpack some of the biggest questions and misconceptions surrounding immigration. Why don’t immigrants just come legally? Do undocumented immigrants take American jobs? What does the evidence say about immigration and violent crime? And how should Christians weigh respect for the law alongside the biblical commands to love our neighbors and welcome strangers?

Matthew Soerens is World Relief’s vice president of advocacy and policy and is the co-author of three books: Welcoming the Stranger (InterVarsity Press, 2018), Inalienable (InterVarsity Press, 2022), and Seeking Refuge (Moody Publishers, 2026), which just released a second edition. Matt also serves as the National Coordinator for the Evangelical Immigration Table, a coalition that advocates for immigration reforms consistent with biblical values.

Chapters:

0:00 Haitian families and the danger of separation

0:44 How should Christians think about immigration?

5:15 Starting with Scripture, not party talking points

10:34 Romans 13 and changing legal status

12:38 What’s happening to Haitian families in Springfield?

18:51 Why was temporary protected status withdrawn?

21:25 What can churches do for affected families?

23:58 Can people with temporary status apply to stay?

26:42 Why don’t immigrants just come legally?

35:54 Do immigrants take American jobs?

41:46 What about undocumented immigrants and the economy?

48:36 A proposed path to make things right

51:00 Do immigrants commit more violent crime?

55:25 What would mass deportation mean for the church?

58:26 What do evangelical Christians actually believe?

1:00:54 Seeking Refuge and the global refugee crisis

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Is the Book of Revelation a roadmap to the future, or was it meant to help Christians see their own world more clearly?

New Testament scholar David deSilva joins Preston to walk through Revelation from the seven churches to the New Jerusalem. They discuss why John wrote to real communities living under the Roman Empire, what the throne room reveals about Jesus’ authority, and how the seals, trumpets, and bowls speak to suffering, judgment, and faithful witness.

They also explore Revelation’s critique of empire and political allegiance. What did “Babylon” mean to John’s first readers? What does it mean to “come out of Babylon” today? And which parts of Revelation should Christians understand as future hope?

Dr. David deSilva is an ordained elder in the Florida Conference of the GMC and has served as Professor of New Testament and Greek at Ashland Theological Seminary since 1995. He is the author of forty books, including Seeing Things John's Way and his recently released Archaeology and the Revelation of John.

Chapters

0:00 Introduction

5:12 Who Was Revelation Written For?

10:21 Who Was John?

12:11 Jesus and the Seven Churches

16:19 Prophecy and John’s Authority

20:40 The Real Cities Behind the Seven Churches

26:49 Revelation, Empire, and Political Allegiance

35:19 Speaking Prophetically to Our Own Political Side

40:25 The Throne Room: Who Is Really in Charge?

46:21 What Does the Scroll Represent?

49:05 The Seals, Trumpets, and Bowls

55:17 Is Reading Revelation as Prediction Overrated?

58:34 How Should We Read Revelation Today?

1:02:44 Babylon and the Roman Empire

1:10:14 What Does “Come Out of Babylon” Mean?

1:13:23 The New Jerusalem and Revelation’s Future Hope

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Fariza Gulomikova grew up in a Shia Ismaili family in Tajikistan. As a child, she saw how much a person could lose by leaving Islam. Then her cousin became a Christian, and the kindness she encountered at his church challenged everything she thought she knew about Christians.

In part three of our Understanding Islam series, Fariza tells Preston about her childhood, her encounter with Jesus at age 11, her family’s response to her conversion, and the challenges of starting over in the United States. She also shares what she wishes Christians understood about their Muslim neighbors.

Chapters

0:00 Fariza’s decision to become a Christian

0:32 Introduction to part three of Understanding Islam

2:23 Growing up in Tajikistan during a civil war

5:31 Sunni, Shia, and Fariza’s Ismaili background

12:22 Growing up as a girl in a Muslim majority country

17:47 The pressures and dangers Fariza saw women face

26:41 Fariza’s people, language, and culture

29:10 Her childhood view of Christianity

31:34 The cousin who changed her view of Christians

33:32 The kindness that drew her toward Jesus

34:30 Fariza’s encounter with Jesus at age 11

36:45 What she was taught about Jesus in Islam

38:44 Fariza’s advice for Christians talking with Muslims

43:39 How her family responded to her conversion

47:33 Starting over in America

52:28 Islam, terrorism, and stereotypes

55:28 Searching for belonging in Christian communities

58:41 Fariza’s final word to Christians

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How does the Qur’an compare to the Bible? Do Muslims read it the way evangelical Christians read the Bible? And if the Qur’an is Islam’s sacred text, why are the Hadith so important for understanding what Muslims believe and how they live?

In part two of our series on Islam, Preston sits down with Dr. Gabriel Said Reynolds, a Catholic Qur’an scholar and the Crowley Professor of Islamic Studies and Theology at the University of Notre Dame. He earned his Ph.D. from Yale University and is the author of The Qur’an and Its Biblical Subtext, The Qur’an and the Bible, and Christianity and the Qur’an.

Together, they explore how Muslims understand the Qur’an, where it came from, how it took shape, and how its form and use compare with the Bible. They also discuss Muhammad’s relationship to the Qur’an, the early Islamic conquests, passages concerning violence and women, and why reading the Qur’an by itself does not necessarily tell you how Muslims will interpret or apply it.

Gabriel’s books explore how the Qur’an engages earlier scriptures and what that relationship can tell us about the emergence of Islam. His latest book, Christianity and the Qur’an, was published by Yale University Press in 2025.

You can find more of Gabriel’s work on his YouTube channel, Exploring the Qur’an and the Bible.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Why reading the Quran alone isn’t enough

00:42 Introducing Dr. Gabriel Said Reynolds

02:15 How Gabriel began studying Islam

05:31 What is the Quran?

09:03 Where did the Quran come from?

12:24 Did Muhammad write the Quran?

14:13 How does the Quran compare to the Bible and Psalms?

19:13 The biggest differences between the Quran and the Bible

21:42 Violence and the early Islamic conquests

27:10 How early Muslims treated Christians and other conquered peoples

32:29 Does the Quran command violence?

39:32 How Muslims interpret difficult Quranic passages

43:28 Is Islam inherently violent?

47:25 What does the Quran say about women?

49:58 Polygamy and the disputed passage about striking wives

52:29 Modesty, honor, and women in Muslim societies

59:07 What are the Hadith, and why do they matter?

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Join the Theology in the Raw community to listen to my "Extra Innings" response to my conversation with Javad.

What do Christians misunderstand about Islam? Is it inherently violent? Was it spread by the sword? What do Muslims believe about Christians, Sharia, women, the Quran, and the Hadith?

In the first episode of our three-part series on Islam, Preston sits down with Dr. Javad Hashmi, a Muslim scholar and PhD candidate in Islamic Studies at Harvard University.

The conversation explores the origins of Islam, what historians can know about Muhammad, the development of the Quran and Hadith, Sunni and Shia Islam, Sharia, early Muslim-Christian relations, Islamic empires, religious violence, ISIS and al-Qaeda, the treatment of women, and how Muslims view Christians and Americans.

This conversation is not intended to settle every question or present one definitive account of Islam. It is an attempt to listen carefully, understand Islam’s internal diversity, and ask difficult questions without reducing an entire religious tradition to slogans or stereotypes.

This is Part 1 of our series, Understanding Islam.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Does the Quran Promote Violence?

00:43 What Is Islam, Really?

05:21 Introducing Dr. Javad Hashmi

06:32 How to Understand Any Religion

12:41 Muhammad and the Origins of Islam

23:40 Early Muslim-Christian Relations

29:16 Was Islam Spread by the Sword?

42:30 Sunni, Shia, and Sufi Islam

49:50 Core Beliefs and Sharia

55:46 The Quran Versus the Hadith

1:04:36 Islam, Violence, and Terrorism

1:15:41 Islam and Women

1:27:03 How Muslims View Christians and Americans

1:32:22 Closing

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Who decided what a “good woman” should look like?

Long before social media, paintings, sculptures, religious images, and other forms of visual culture were shaping our expectations of women. Those images did not merely reflect society. They helped define beauty, sexuality, motherhood, virtue, and even what Christians imagined a godly woman should be.

Dr. Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt is an art historian (Ph.D. from Washington University) and is a professor of art and art history at Covenant College. She’s also the author of two books: the award-winning Redeeming Vision: A Christian Guide to Looking at and Learning from Art (Baker Academic 2023) and her recent book Look Like a Lady: Five Visual Tropes of Womanhood and How to See Ourselves Differently (Brazos 2026), which forms the basis of our conversation today.

Chapters:

00:00 The Desire to Be Desirable

00:41 What Is a Woman?

03:39 Meet Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt

06:16 How Art Shapes Christian Theology

09:58 Why Medieval Jesus Looks Like a Little Man

14:22 Five Images of Womanhood

15:20 The Venus Trope and Sexual Desirability

18:10 Why Women Learn to See Themselves as Objects

23:21 Purity Culture and the Objectification of Women

28:37 Mary, Elizabeth, and a Better Way of Seeing

33:35 The Myth of the Perfect Mother

38:02 How the Reformation Changed Womanhood

43:44 Are Women Competing for God’s Love?

46:27 Infertility, Motherhood, and Female Identity

49:30 “Is Something Wrong With Me?”

52:24 Do Fathers Get More of a Free Pass?

54:45 How Women Become “Monsters”

59:47 Does the Church Still Vilify Women?

63:45 Shaped by Trauma, Not Defined by It

65:36 A Bigger Vision of Christian Womanhood

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Are parents accidentally making their kids more anxious by protecting them from discomfort?

Dr. Chinwé Williams joins Preston to explain why anxiety, depression, loneliness, and social avoidance have risen among young people. They discuss the role of smartphones and social media, the disappearance of real-world community, constant exposure to frightening news, trauma, pornography, and the pressure many kids feel to avoid failure.

Dr. Chinwé Williams is a Licensed and Board-Certified therapist with expertise spanning a variety of domains, including youth and family mental health, parenting & and trauma recovery. Chinwé has served in academic, corporate, school, and faith-based work settings. She’s also the co-author of the best-selling book Seen: Healing Despair and Anxiety in Kids and Teens Through the Power of Connection and her latest book is: Calm, Courageous, and Connected: A Parent's Guide to Raising Emotionally Resilient Kids

Chapters:

0:00 Avoidance Is Feeding Kids’ Anxiety

2:20 Is the Youth Mental Health Crisis Real?

5:30 What Is Causing the Mental Health Crisis?

8:08 What Social Media Is Taking Away From Kids

9:32 Why Kids Need “Third Spaces”

12:41 Are Kids Becoming Afraid to Take Risks?

16:54 Why Teens Struggle With Social Anxiety

20:04 How Avoidance Makes Anxiety Worse

21:15 Building Grit and Emotional Resilience

23:58 How Parents Accidentally Reinforce Anxiety

26:22 How Parents’ Childhood Wounds Shape Their Parenting

29:57 Fear, Bad News, and the “Milk Carton Generation”

35:10 Trauma, Sexual Abuse, and Pornography

43:30 How Parents Can Help Anxious Kids

44:04 Co-Regulation and Connection Before Correction

48:30 Teaching Kids Cognitive Flexibility

51:12 The “Grace Check”

52:42 Healthy Smartphone and Social Media Boundaries

55:41 Who Could Your Teen Call at 2 A.M.?

56:29 Calm, Courageous, and Connected

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Hey friends,

Check out the top voted questions from my September Q & A! For the full episode, join the Theology in the Raw Patreon Community at https://www.patreon.com/theologyintheraw

Here's the full list of Questions:

• 00:59 Isn’t it unfair to consider gay-affirming Christians “outside the fold” when pro-war Christians have an equally unbiblical view, but are not treated as such?
• 09:15 Prophecy of male birth aside, could Jesus have been female and still died for the sins of the world?
• 13:21 Assuming a view of Jesus with literal brothers, sons of Mary, why do you think Jesus at the cross entrusted the care of Mary to John and not to his literal brothers?
• 15:45 My mother-in-law is a hospice nurse and had a patient request that she be present at their medically assisted suicide. My mother-in-law would not administer anything, but should she go?
• 17:40 Are David and Jonathan and Ruth and Naomi good biblical kinship examples of modern same-sex celibate partnerships?
• 20:11 I really appreciated your two discussions of biblical masculinity. Any further thoughts or takeaways after you’ve had some time to mull over the conversations?
• 24:11 How is it that believers, all with the Spirit guiding them, come to such opposing conclusions? How can we be confident we know what God is actually saying or leading us to?
• 27:03 After a decade at a fast-growing church, should I be concerned that I don’t feel rooted or have a role, while later arrivals become deacons and become known by the leaders?
• 28:11 Do Job’s speeches function as valid lament for Christians, or are they out of bounds? Some of his statements are pretty intense.
• 31:09 Would you ever consider having a Christian polygamist on your show? I’ve seen a lot more recently. I strongly disagree, but would love a real back-and-forth.
• 33:27 How would you explain the doctrine of the Trinity to a nonbeliever or a child? How does it make sense that the Son doesn’t know the day or time of the end?
• 37:33 Is communion in the Bible always done with the group eating from a common loaf and drinking from a common cup? If so, should that be the standard practice today?
• 42:18 Is Satan God’s enemy or just ours? If we fail a test, is it Satan’s fault or the proctor’s fault? Was Satan upset when Jesus and Job passed the test? Is the Satan of Job and Matthew 4 the same as Revelation?
• 44:22 In thinking about friendship as an intimate relationship, what is the place of physical affection? What is cultural versus biblical, especially for men? How do we get there?
• 47:32 What do you think of Greg Boyd’s cruciform hermeneutic of Old Testament violence described in The Crucifixion of the Warrior God?
• 50:35 My son asks what we know about angels and archangels from the Old Testament versus pop culture. What do Judaism and Christianity say about ranks, personhood, and the reason for their creation?
• 53:59 Does a Genesis-first hermeneutic in Matthew 19 imply Christians should be vegetarian as New Eden people, like Adam and Eve? Also, Isaiah 11.
• 58:37 Do Jews and Christians worship the same God, or does the incarnation fundamentally change who God is? I still feel unclear.
• 1:00:40 In 1 Timothy 3:2, one of the qualifications for an elder is “able to teach,” which doesn’t appear for deacons or women. Is this a good argument against women teaching?
• 1:04:19 What’s the likelihood that Paul was married and subsequently widowed or divorced? I’ve heard that to be a Pharisee, he would have had to be married. Is this true?

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What if Christian unity doesn’t mean agreeing about everything?

Pricelis Perreaux-Dominguez joins Preston to discuss the difference between genuine Christian unity and the false peace created by forced agreement. Drawing from her new book, False Peace, Pricelis explains why sameness can silence people, erase meaningful differences, and prevent churches from addressing conflict honestly.

They discuss political and theological disagreement within the church, pastoring a diverse congregation in the Bronx, creating a church culture that welcomes criticism, and deciding which doctrines Christians should divide over.

In the Patreon-exclusive Extra Innings segment, Preston and Pricelis continue the conversation by discussing women in church leadership, Pricelis’s journey toward becoming an ordained pastor, and how she maintains meaningful relationships with Christians who strongly disagree with her.

Join the Theology in the Raw Patreon community to listen to Extra Innings: https://www.patreon.com/theologyintheraw

Learn more about Pricelis and her book, False Peace: How to Reject the Lie of Sameness, Embrace Difference, and Embody True Unity: https://www.pricelispd.com/my-books

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