Theology Nerd Throwdown

Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Theology Nerd Podcast with the Dr. Tripp Fuller. This is a shorter Q&A episode, where your friendly, local internet theologian answers questions submitted by you.

In this episode, Tripp picks up where he left off last time and addresses some more questions surrounding evil:

• doesn’t the problem of evil change throughout scripture?
• aren’t there different answers to it?
• how does the move towards monotheism in Judaism (not to mention Christian monotheism) change our understanding of evil?

Tripp explains the problem of evil for monotheism compared to polytheism, how the question for a henotheistic concept of God is not can you do anything about evil, but will you, and how a monotheistic concept of God widens the scope of the problem of evil to a cosmic scale.

Plus, what do you do with all the different answers the Bible gives? and what are we saying ‘no’ to when we affirm platitudes like, ‘God is in control’?

There are lots of ways you can submit a question for Tripp to answer: go to trippfuller.com and click the “send voicemail” button on the right (near the scroll bar); you can also leave us a 5-star review on iTunes with your question as the review; you can tweet @trippfuller; or you can send an email with your question to [email protected]

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Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Theology Nerd Podcast with the Dr. Tripp Fuller. This is a shorter Q&A episode, where your friendly, local internet theologian answers questions submitted by you.

We got lot of questions about evil, suffering, and divine power. There is the classic philosophical question about evil, and then there is the theological question about evil. How do you even begin to answer these questions? do you deny the goodness of God? do you deny the reality of evil? or do we reject God’s divine omnipotence?

But before he even gets to those questions, Tripp address the two trajectories in the questions asked:

• What is scripture’s actual answer to question of evil and suffering?
• Does doing theodicy even make sense when you look at the history of slavery and racism in America?

Sometimes we answer theological questions in a way that abstracts our lived experience. So Tripp, in this Q&A, wants to affirm the experiences that generate these questions, while also trying to situate them in the broader context of the theological and philosophical questions about evil.

There are lots of ways you can submit a question for Tripp to answer: go to trippfuller.com and click the “send voicemail” button on the right (near the scroll bar); you can also leave us a 5-star review on iTunes with your question as the review; you can tweet @trippfuller; or you can send an email with your question to [email protected]

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Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Theology Nerd Podcast with the Dr. Tripp Fuller. This is a shorter Q&A episode, where your friendly, local internet theologian answers questions submitted by you.

Today’s question: is the canon open or closed? how would communities decide what new texts should be considered to be part of an ongoing living bible or canon?

In this episode, Tripp explains what the the canon is, and gives 3 reasons to open the canon, and 3 reasons to keep it closed. Plus, Tripp shares what he would add to the canon.

There are lots of ways you can submit a question for Tripp to answer: go to trippfuller.com and click the “send voicemail” button on the right (near the scroll bar); you can also leave us a 5-star review on iTunes with your question as the review; you can tweet @trippfuller; or you can send an email with your question to [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Theology Nerd Podcast with the Dr. Tripp Fuller. This is a shorter Q&A episode, where your friendly, local internet theologian answers questions submitted by you.

Today’s question: did the early Christians believe the Bible was inerrant?

The short answer is no. But it’s a little more complicated than that.

Tripp explains what is even meant by inerrancy, how inerrancy is a product of the Enlightenment, the fights the early church had about the authority of scripture, the challenges the early church faced in interpreting scripture, and the tension between the limited Hebrew response and the Gnostic tendency to decontextualize Jesus. Plus, three rules for interpreting scripture from some early church fathers.

If you’re interested in learning more, check out this book.

There are lots of ways you can submit a question for Tripp to answer: go to trippfuller.com and click the “send voicemail” button on the right (near the scroll bar); you can also leave us a 5-star review on iTunes with your question as the review; you can tweet @trippfuller; or you can send an email with your question to [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Theology Nerd Podcast with the Dr. Tripp Fuller. This is a shorter Q&A episode, where your friendly, local internet theologian answers questions submitted by you.

This week’s question: What do I do with 4 different, contradictory, gospel stories?

In answering, Tripp wants to convince you that you should be glad the gospels don’t line up. He shares about that time he discovered his bible was broken, the gifts that allowing the gospels to be different brings, the heresy of Tatian and where it creeps up today, and why it is significant that we have canonized four different gospels.

There are lots of ways you can submit a question for Tripp to answer: go to trippfuller.com and click the “send voicemail” button on the right (near the scroll bar); you can also leave us a 5-star review on iTunes with your question as the review; you can tweet @trippfuller; or you can send an email with your question to [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Theology Nerd Podcast with the Dr. Tripp Fuller. This is a shorter Q&A episode, where your friendly, local internet theologian answers questions submitted by you.

In this episode Tripp tries to tackle two questions:

• How did the early church see the relationship between religion/faith and reason/science?
• How has contemporary science impacted the way Christians read scripture?

Learn about Augustine’s 4 rules for negotiating faith and reason, the multiple layers of meaning in scripture, and how this battle between faith and reason has been internalized.

There are lots of ways you can submit a question for Tripp to answer: go to trippfuller.com and click the “send voicemail” button on the right (near the scroll bar); you can also leave us a 5-star review on iTunes with your question as the review; you can tweet @trippfuller; or you can send an email with your question to [email protected]

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Back by popular demand, Robyn Henderson-Espinoza sits down to talk with Tripp about Thanksgiving, the theology of nostalgia, and the politics of wholeness. They discuss:

• the postwar origins of Thanksgiving
• how do we reconcile the Christian rhetoric of gratitude and the founding of our country on the genocide of indigenous peoples
• appropriate (and inappropriate) holiday costumes for children
• what did the first thanksgiving look like? do we really know that story?
• the bad theology of nostalgia and the bad politics of wholeness
• how to develop practices of togetherness

Plus, Robyn and Tripp talk about a cool new #goactivisttheology project you won’t want to miss.

If you are also in North Carolina, you better get ready for two back-to-back live podcasts in December. On December 7th Tripp will be at Wake Forest University School of Divinity talking with Bill Leonard (author of the Homebrewed Guide to Church History) and on December 8th he will be in Cary, NC.

If you really want to make your advent great, join Tripp, Diana Butler Bass, and the folks from Crackers and Grape Juice in Washington DC on December 16th. You can get tickets and learn more here.

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Theologian and activist Timothy Murphy is on the podcast to talk about his new book, Counter-Imperial Churching for a Planetary Gospel. It’s part of the (Process) Theology Nerd Book Giveaway sponsored by Process Century Press and the Center for Process Studies

In this episode you’ll hear about Timothy’s interest not just in process, but in social justice and politics, the central questions driving this book, why we should not avoid conflict in the church, the challenges of addressing social justice issues with mainline Protestants, and about his work with Progressive Christians Uniting and how it influenced the direction of his work.

Plus,

• how the cosmology he develops in the book ends up connected to ecclesiology
• what is a planetary gospel?
• practicing differentiated solidarity and the spiritual practice of kenosis

No (process) theology nerd will want to miss out on this huge opportunity to build a process theology and philosophy library. The Center for Process Studies and Process Century Press are giving away 5, that’s right, 5 sets of 20 zesty books. A lucky grand prize winner will get an additional 15 books. Enter to win now!

Are you ready to end the war on Advent? Are you ready to Make Advent Great Again? Make Advent Great Again (#MAGA) is a pop-up community for holiday resistance and renewal. The cost? Contribute whatever you can to help make this possible for everyone. The suggested donation is $20, but no one is turned down for lack of funds. Each Monday-Friday you will get an email with a 5 minute Advent reflection; you will get access to a private Facebook group where you can discuss, share, and reflect; there will also be a LIVE session every Monday. Visit makeadventgreatagain.com to sign up and see who will be contributing.

Thanks to our new Homebrewed Community members! You can join the Homebrewed Community, get a sweet ecclesiastical title, get access to all sorts of zesty bonus material, and help support the podcast. Just go to homebrewedcommunity.com and join today!

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Get ready for all the freedom, liberty, and patriotic stuff you can handle! Jason Micheli and Teer Hardy from the Crackers & Grape Juice Podcast.

In this episode the Hauerwasian Mafia sent one of its Drill Sergeants, Jason, to talk about the predicament of faith, freedom, and the conflicting calls to allegiance that color the American landscape.

We hope your Independence Day grilling time enjoys this conversation. Word up.

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Welcome to a special episode of the Theology Nerd podcast. Today, the Good Doctor Daniel Kirk is talking to Jeffrey Pugh about his book,  The Homebrewed Christianity Guide to the End Times: Theology After You’ve Been Left Behind.

Hear about Jeffrey’s personal history with apocalyptic movements, the secret to the end of the world, the system of thought behind the dispensationalist beliefs, inerrancy and hermeneutics, the difference between apocalypticism and eschatology, the difference between literal and non-literally readings and how we know when to use which.

Plus, Daniel and Jeff talk about:

• what can apocalyptic literature teach us today?
• what role does Israel play in all of this?
• how do we tell life-giving narratives, rather than death-dealing ones?

#TheologyBeerCamp Summer Edition is coming to Denver and Oklahoma City this August. Head over to theologybeercamp.com to get your tickets. You won’t want to miss Tripp and Peter Rollins dueling in the process vs. radical theology battle of the summer. Plus, we might convince Pete to sing karaoke…

We will be starting a new High Gravity class for the Homebrewed Community Members: The Theology Nerd’s Guide to Reading the Bible. Current members will have access to the class, and non-members will be able to purchase the class soon. But the best way to get the class is to become a monthly Homebrewed Community Member. You will get access to all of the past High Gravity courses, #EPICReads, exclusive bonus content, and a network of other theology nerds to help you brew your own faith. Just visit homebrewedcommunity.com to sign up.

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