Untangling Christianity Podcast

In this episode John begins by voicing concern that his current “infatuation” with N. T. Wright may be misplaced: is Wright as good as he sounds (and as right as Gregg seems to think he is)? John explains that he went looking for criticisms of N. T. Wright and found several such podcasts, and so […] The post 76: Plug Me Into the Bible Matrix appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg continue their discussion about the relationship between the covenant with Moses and the promise made to Abram (Abraham) in Gen 12:1-3, to bless all the nations through Abraham and his offspring. John wonders how Gregg would present the gospel, and this past week Gregg spent a number of hours […] The post 75: Covenant, Promise and Mystery appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg return to their discussion of the Christmas story (from Episode #73) and the notion that “the gospel” does not begin with Christmas or Jesus’ birth but, essentially, with a promise that God made to Abraham and the reality that the gospel is also the culmination of God’s interaction with […] The post 74: The Gospel Doesn’t Start at Christmas appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg discuss several Christmas events that John attended over the holidays. John reads sections from the printed material from these events and then John and Gregg discuss this content. The first piece is a concert program with a welcome message. John is struck by the end of this message which […] The post 73: The Wrong Kind of Mystery appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg discuss a post, “Are we supposed to balance love and truth?” on Gregory Boyd’s blog. John is surprised to learn that Gregg has hesitations about the article’s view. Gregg explains that while evangelicals tend to fix truth over love, this article fixes love over truth. Yet in his view […] The post 72: Too Much Love and Mumbo Jumbo appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg again discuss “God meeting our needs,” and God doing so within the context of furthering / in order to further God’s kingdom (as discussed in episode 68). John is particularly uncertain how Gregg is able to hold this view given the parental sexual abuse that Gregg experienced in his […] The post 71: Does God Act Individually or Personally? appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John enquires into the result of Gregg’s 6 month stay in Switzerland, at Swiss L’Abri.  Gregg recaps his time by noting that his writing has been very productive, and especially his most recent topic: “everyday” experiences versus exceptional experiences (particularly, ‘experiencing’ God). Gregg is concerned not only to lay out the content […] The post 70: Eminence or Evidence | Expectations Around Experiencing God appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

John poses a question to Gregg about his lack of “experiencing God,” but first begins by explaining his personal routines and how this question came about through a book called The MIracle Morning. John shares about his morning and evening routines, both of which include an aspect of reflection and journaling. In his evening routine, […] The post 69: Why Didn’t I See God Today? appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg discuss a recent conversation Gregg had with a person at Swiss L’Abri concerning their expectations that God should “meet their needs.” John’s sees the idea of “God meeting our needs” as one that was over-sold in his Christian experience. John feels this way because he felt that God has […] The post 68: Hot Dogs & Tow Trucks | Does God Meet Our Needs? appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg go further on the topic of “rigor,” which they initially discussed in episode # 64.  In that episode they discussed rigor specifically in the context of reading and interpreting the Bible. In this episode they expand that discussion as Gregg suggests that rigor applies broadly to our entire lives. […] The post 67: Enjoying All of Life appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg discuss feedback from a listener wanting to understand how to continue being part of / partnering with a church where one holds different views from that church’s?  John identifies three questions out of this situation: a) What is the church?  b) What is a Christian’s responsibility to the church? c) […] The post 66: Church Challenged | Listener Feedback appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg consider a comment by listener Melinda to episode #35, Love is more than grace.  Melinda makes three points/questions: That internalizing God’s love seems crucial, but sermons and the Bible often don’t seem to support this Gregg expressed that “grace is that mode of expression by which God most truly […] The post 65: Self Love and the Ten Commandments appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg discuss Donald Miller’s Sept 25 blog post.  While John usually appreciates Donald’s posts, John is critical of Donald’s view that Jesus valued people who blindly trusted him: that we should trust without reasons to do so (or even against having other reasons not to). Gregg had similar thoughts and […] The post 64: Applying Rigor appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg discuss Gregg’s recent lecture at Swiss L’Abri, where Gregg began lecturing on his graduate thesis.  Gregg explains that his thesis concerns a problem within recent, biblical hermeneutics, on the part of several evangelical scholars, and that this problem is twofold. First, some Christian scholars have preferenced the positive effect of […] The post 63: Tension Not Principles appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg discuss Gregg’s view of love and how / to what degree he believes that experiencing God’s love is necessary to embracing Christianity. Gregg notes that through some of his interaction at Swiss L’Abri he is coming to see several things more clearly.  First, that he needs to do more […] The post 62: Love as a Promise appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg complete their discussion of Darin Hufford’s book The Misunderstood God.  John notes that both he and Gregg decided not to discuss all the chapters, while Gregg notes that the same themes are recurring in different chapters (and under different topics). John gives the book three out of five stars […] The post 61: Concluding The Misunderstood God by Darin Hufford appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg discuss listener feedback from Evan in Virginia.  Evan appreciated the recent podcast on Love and Biblical Illiteracy while posing several questions. First, can one’s love of biblical doctrine impact how we love others, whether positively or negatively?  Next, Evan wonders how valuable the church’s tradition are and whether we lose […] The post 60: Love of People or Doctrine | Listener Feedback appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg discuss Chapter 11 of Darin Hufford’s Misunderstood God.  John notes, after having read to this point, that the book does not seem to have any continuity between chapters, which makes it harder to follow.  John also sees interesting connections between this chapter and Episode #33: “God is Not an Idiot.” Gregg […] The post 59: Understanding Love By Being Loved | Chap 11 of Misunderstood God appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg discuss two questions.  First, a podcast John has been listening to raised the issue of how much study and learning one needs in order to know God? Second, John questions whether memorizing scripture holds the potential problem that one may not have the right interpretation of those verses (and so risks misapplying them)? The jumping off place for […] The post 58: What I Get From the Bible is What it Means appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg discuss Chapter 9 of Darin Hufford’s Misunderstood God.  Gregg comments that he has never had a book that he has liked more and likes less at the same time.  He identifies certain ‘nuggets’ of gold yet finds certain formulations or presentations of the material that seem so incorrect that […] The post 57: Loved By and In Love With | Chap 9 of The Misunderstood God by Darin Hufford appeared first on Untangling Christianity.