This oft-overlooked little epistle of the New Testament is very likely the first extant work of Christian literature—characterized by the apostle Paul's intense pastoral love for his congregation in Thessalonica and comforting hope in the return on the clouds of the Lord Jesus. In this episode Dad and I dig into both these themes, the abundance of family language (some of it startling, to say the least!), explore non-creepy ways to affirm the Parousia, and note early themes of Paul that will stay the course as well as undergo development on the way to his late Epistles. We're in our SEVENTH year! Show your support by becoming a Patron! Notes: 1. Sarah's book Forty Facets of the Ascension is available now! 2. Gaventa, First and Second Thessalonians 3. Malherbe, Paul and the Thessalonians: The Philosophic Tradition of Pastoral Care 4. Related episodes: Apostleship Envy, Triple Predestination, Galatians 1, Galatians 2, Philemon, Romans

There is plenty puzzling about the doctrine of the resurrection, no matter which way you slice it. But it's extra puzzling if you prioritize the immortality of the soul over the resurrection of the body, and if you prioritize the resurrection of the body over the resurrection of the dead. In this episode Dad and I warmly invite Cappadocian father Gregory of Nyssa and his accomplished sister Macrina the Teacher to show us all the good impulses toward a doctrine of the resurrection, along with all the bad ways to defend it. Sometimes theology is best helped by bold mistakes! We're in our SEVENTH year! Show your support by becoming a Patron! 1. Gregory of Nyssa, On the Soul and Resurrection 2. You can pre-order my book, Forty Facets of the Ascension! 3. Related episodes: Gregory of Nazianzus, Perpetua and Felicitas, Heaven Hell and the Life to Come, The Resurrection

Sarah talks with Tara Beth Leach and Mark Quanstrom of The Pastor's Table about hard-won lessons in gospel and ministry!

Sarah talks with the hosts of the Narrative Lectionary Podcast about the Book of Revelation, and especially the six lessons appointed for this year.

After our last episode on Pastoral Preaching, I had a brainwave. Dad and I talk about it.

Most church services include preaching... but why? What should be the focus of a sermon? For that matter, what should not be the focus of a sermon? And is any genre more or less compatible with law-gospel preaching? Plus: Sarah shares the worst sermon she ever heard. And a few other doozies besides. We're in our SEVENTH year! Show your support by becoming a Patron! Notes: 1. Iowa Preachers Project 2. Related episodes: Law and Gospel Part 1, Law and Gospel Part 2, How to Hack the Law, Reflections on Tokyo Ministry 3. Luther, A Brief Instruction on What to Look for and Expect in the Gospel 4. Crossings Community template for law-gospel preaching 5. Augsburg Confession Article 5 5. Seven narrative sermons by Sarah 6. Hays, The Faith of Jesus Christ 7. Zahl, The Holy Spirit and Christian Experience  

Dad and I are back on Enter the Bible to discuss whether and to what extent Christians are obligated to obey the laws found in Scripture.

Dad and I both moonlight on Enter the Bible to discuss whether faith is our work or God's work. Or maybe that's the wrong question...?

What's worse, a Christianity exceedingly well aware of the devil... or a Christianity totally unaware of it? What's worse, the devil you know or the devil you don't? Did the devil make you do it? or did God in disguise? In this episode Dad and I undertake a historical survey of Christian understandings of the devil, where it's gone wrong, and (if such a thing is possible) how to speak of the devil aright. We're in our SEVENTH year! Show your support by becoming a Patron! Notes: 1. Related episodes: Nenilava, the Blumhardts, Jacques Ellul, Powers and Principalities, Howard Thurman 2. Ziegler, God's Adversary and Ours 3. Žižek and Milbank, The Monstrosity of Christ

Luther's 1528 treatise is quite the diatribe against denials of Christ's bodily presence in the sacrament of his Supper. But it is also a deep exploration of the nature of meaning, what we mean when we speak, and above all what Christ means when he speaks. Plus, it'll set right anyone still misinformed enough to think that Lutherans teach "consubstantiation"! We're in our SEVENTH year! Show your support by becoming a Patron! Notes: 1. Related episodes: Holy Communion: Discipline, Holy Communion: Doctrine, Virtual Communion 2. Luther, Confession Concerning Christ's Supper, in Luther's Works 37 3. Uggla, Becoming Human Again: The Theological Life of Gustaf Wingren

A counterpart to our earlier episode on Bible to Doctrine (and Back Again), this one has us discussing Dad's forthcoming book, which is a theology of theology and an exegesis of exegesis! In particular we discuss the difference between starting with the incarnation vs. starting with the resurrection in christology, and all the downstream consequences of the respective decisions. We're in our SEVENTH year! Show your support by becoming a Patron! Notes: 1. Related episodes: Ellul, Tillich, Lindbeck, Jenson 2. Ziegler, Militant Grace 3. Mattes, Martin Luther's Theology of Beauty 4. Dahl, Jesus the Christ 5. Zahl, The Holy Spirit and Christian Experience 6. Zachhuber, Theology as Science in Nineteenth-Century Germany  

Or, how God took a burned, unwilling, and fearful pastor, and turned her into a joyful one. With, of course, a few bumps along the way. In this episode Dad and I reflect together on my six and a half years of missionary ministry in the world's biggest megalopolis, and what the very specific circumstances of church life here can teach us about renewing the church in the U.S. and elsewhere. We're in our SEVENTH year! Show your support by becoming a Patron! Related episodes: Japanese Theologian Kazoh Kitamori, Holy Communion: Discipline, Virtual Communion, The Inhumanity of Lockdown Also, if you haven't ever signed up for my e-newsletter, Theology & a Recipe, now's a good time to do so! I have recommendations for Japan-related books, and some upcoming main issues on Japan-related themes.

Dad gets interviewed on Wipf & Stock's Theology Mill podcast to talk about his book, Lutheran Theology: A Critical Introduction!

Sarah once again joins Kemper on the All About Agatha podcast to discuss Agatha Christie's very Christian (though also very weird) short story, "In the Cool of the Evening" ... and theology abounds!

We are theologians who read the Bible. That is not a self-evident statement. But let's back up further... why does Christianity have a Bible at all? And now that we have it, how do we read it? In this episode we explore how we as theologians depend on the discipline of biblical studies, our appreciations and critiques thereof, and how Bible gives rise to doctrine... or is it maybe the other way around?! We're in our SEVENTH year! Show your support by becoming a Patron! Notes: 1. Check out Sarah's Seven Ways of Looking at the Transfiguration 2. And Dad's Before Auschwitz and commentary on Joshua 3. As well as Dad's related articles: “Scripture as Matrix, Christ as Content: A response to Johannes Zachhuber and Anna Case-Winters” in Luther Refracted; “Prima Scriptura: Saving Sola Scriptura from Itself,” Dialog 55/3 (2016) 223-230; “The Lutheran Dilemma,” Pro Ecclesia VIII/4 (1999): 391-422. 4. Levy, Introducing Medieval Biblical Exegesis 5. Juel, Messianic Exegesis 6. Hill, Paul and the Trinity 7. Wright, Surprised by Hope  

FORTY FACETS OF THE ASCENSION: Kickstarter is LIVE! Right now! Hop on over and back Sarah's new book! In the meanwhile, Dad and I continue our discussion of the Ascension of Jesus in the New Testament: how John's entire Gospel is a cosmic parabola of descent and ascent, with a twist; why the Ascension is the crux of the matter for Hebrews's Day of Atonement interpretation of Jesus' sacrifice; and the apostle Paul's apocalyptic orientation to the ascended Lord. From there we look at the presence, not absence of the ascended Jesus in our midst: in the preached word, in the Lord's Supper, and in the very bodies of his baptized believers. Notes: 1. Hey, did I mention my Kickstarter is running right now for Forty Facets of the Ascension?? 2. Torrance, Space, Time, and Resurrection 3. Barfield, Poetic Diction and Saving the Appearances 4. Luther, Confession Concerning Christ's Supper in Luther's Works 37 5. Related episodes: Ascension in Luke and Acts, Holy Communion: Discipline, Holy Communion: Doctrine, Brain Mind Soul And just in case you missed it, the Kickstarter for my new Ascension book is happening right now!

Forty Facets of the Ascension, Sarah's new book, is coming to Kickstarter in mid-March! Sign up now to be notified the moment it launches. In this episode, Dad and I discuss whether Jesus was a rocket ship, a hot air balloon, a cosmonaut... or maybe just the risen Lord whose bodily existence is integral to gospel proclamation! We look at some of the differences between Luke 24 and Acts 1's version of the Ascension (be prepared for some surprises) and the many things Luke had to argue against in order to argue for Jesus. If the Ascension has left you perpetually perplexed or scientifically stressed, fear not! This episode is for you. Notes: 1. Once again, folks, that's Forty Facets of the Ascension coming to you on Kickstarter in mid-Marcy 2025! 2. Also, Transfiguration is sneaking up on you soon (March 2)! If you didn't already get Seven Ways of Looking at the Transfiguration, you can get it instantly in ebook or audiobook, or order a print copy right now. 3. If you count among that exalted elite who need good fiction and good theology at the same time, you'll be raptured over my novel A-Tumblin' Down. You can also sign up for my Substack for more theologically luminous storytelling. 4. Related episodes: Luke Part 1, Luke Part 2, The First Two-Thirds of Acts, The Last Third of Acts 5. Hans Frei, The Eclipse of Biblical Narrative We're in our SEVENTH year! Show your support by becoming a Patron!

From Seven Ways of Looking at the Transfiguration, Sarah reads the first chapter, "Metamorphosis : Jesus." Keep listening, or read by getting your copy at Thornbush Press, Audible, Amazon, or Bookshop.org!

How often do you celebrate the 1700th anniversary of anything? 2025 marks the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea, which gave us most (though not quite all) of the Nicene Creed (completed and perfected at the Council of Constantinople in 381, but frankly, nobody wants to say "The Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed"). Dad and I talk you through what's at stake in the trinitarian assertions of this Creed, compare and contrast it with the Apostles' Creed, and strongly urge you to make it a centerpiece of your preaching and teaching in this year of grace! We're in our SEVENTH year!(not quite our 1700th) Show your support by becoming a Patron! Notes: 1. Phillip Cary, The Nicene Creed (if you read only one theology book this year, make it this one) 2. Hinlicky, Divine Complexity (this is your second theology book of the year: tracing the movement of New Testament witness to conciliar trinitarian confession) 3. Related episodes: Baptism, Infant and Otherwise; Athanasius Against the World; Gregory of Nazianzus; Islam

Sarah makes her third appearance on the fantastic All About Agatha podcast! With host Kemper Donovan she discusses Agatha's short story "Promotion in the Highest." Happy new year!