Real Bible Rob: Affirming Christianity Podcast Real Bible Rob - Inclusive Christianity Discussions Real Bible Rob | PCUSA Min
Rob Christ
75 episodes
2 days ago
Send us a text In this episode, we explore the trajectory of the Emergent Church movement within modern Christian faith, examining its promises, challenges, and ongoing relevance. As an affirming Christianity and PCUSA ministry perspective, we discuss influential voices like Diana Butler Bass, Brian McLaren, and Phyllis Tickle, alongside the rise of patriarchal movements and the contrasting growth of inclusive Christian traditions such as the Eastern Orthodox and Episcopal churches. We reflec...
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Send us a text In this episode, we explore the trajectory of the Emergent Church movement within modern Christian faith, examining its promises, challenges, and ongoing relevance. As an affirming Christianity and PCUSA ministry perspective, we discuss influential voices like Diana Butler Bass, Brian McLaren, and Phyllis Tickle, alongside the rise of patriarchal movements and the contrasting growth of inclusive Christian traditions such as the Eastern Orthodox and Episcopal churches. We reflec...
Send us a text In this episode, we explore the trajectory of the Emergent Church movement within modern Christian faith, examining its promises, challenges, and ongoing relevance. As an affirming Christianity and PCUSA ministry perspective, we discuss influential voices like Diana Butler Bass, Brian McLaren, and Phyllis Tickle, alongside the rise of patriarchal movements and the contrasting growth of inclusive Christian traditions such as the Eastern Orthodox and Episcopal churches. We reflec...
Send us a text All major religions explore the concept of ego death, or transcendence, with Buddhism being a clear example. Within the context of affirming Christianity and inclusive Christian theology, this idea is foundational and deeply present in the writings of Christian mystics over centuries. In this episode, we delve into the concept of kenosis—the self-emptying nature of Christ as described in Philippians 2:7—and how it serves as the core of modern Christian faith and spirituality. W...
Send us a text In this episode, we deeply explore the challenges of systematic theology and the problematic aspects of Calvinism. As an advocate for affirming Christianity and inclusive Christian faith, I share my skepticism about traditional theology, especially how it can sometimes be used to control rather than uplift believers. Drawing on influential works like Richard Rohr's "The Universal Christ" and D. Stephen Long's "The Sovereignty of God Debate," this conversation critiques rigid bi...
Send us a text Explore the importance of the temple in the biblical narrative and its impact on modern Christian faith in this episode of the Affirming Christianity Podcast. Discover how the temple's role shaped Judaism and how Jesus' prophetic words in Luke 21:5-8 reflect the spread of the Jesus movement beyond Jerusalem. As a Presbyterian USA minister committed to inclusive Christianity, we delve into how these themes challenge our views on orthodoxy, reform, and the spreading of the word. ...
Send us a text "What the world needs now is love sweet love." If you are a certain age, you can hear Dionne Warwick singing Burt Bacharach's beautiful 1965 song. Love makes the world go 'round. Love hurts. These can sound trite or like silly platitudes, but love is at the very heart of human existence and the central theme of the Bible. Yet, the number one thing you hear from deconstructing Christians is how they were gaslighted into a stingy and exclusive version of love. What looked s...
Send us a text Welcome to the Real Bible Rob podcast. I am delighted to welcome Charmella today. She speaks on TikTok about American history, religion, race, and politics in such an insightful way. What really caught my attention was her realism about our moment coupled with a sense of optimism. With all the terrifying changes we are going through, how can we see any of this change as good? With old and young alike pining for days that never were, can we grasp what's really happening. It's re...
Send us a text I have been shocked at how Jesus has been used in recent years to cover hate. I recently said, "The Jesusing of Charlie Kirk is neither about Jesus nor Charlie Kirk." His assassination and raising him to be a martyr is completely genuine for some and completely cynical for most. And we know this by how Christian nationalists have latched on to him. The casual use of Christianity to hurt people who aren't Christians, or even Christians of a certain type is very old. But it is sh...
Send us a text The "gospel of peace" in Ephesians 6:15: How can this sit in the midst of descriptions of weapons and warfare? This is the paradox of Spiritual Warfare. It is not against flesh and blood but it is against rulers and principalities. It is ideas over brute force. I go in and out of love for various scriptures. I spent years fighting against the terrible use of Ephesians 6, especially to support slavery, patriarchy and Christian Nationalism which are inextricably linked. But whene...
Send us a text The best antidote for a nightmare is to turn the lights on. When you screamed in the middle of the night, nothing was more comforting than mother coming in cradling you in her arms. We’ve been living with a 2400 year long nightmare of Satan and devils. It’s time to turn the lights on and dispel the myths that have propped up religious bullies for so long. Satan was a vague Hebrew word meaning Adversary but it didn’t take on a personality until it became The Satan in the Persian...
Send us a text There's a common question among pastors: "What's the most unbiblical thing your congregation believes is biblical but isn't?" Some are quite funny, but I think the most harmful one is the Rapture. It is a theology developed by John Nelson Darby in 1833 based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the Greek word "harpazo." Modern dispensationalists (Darby's theology) claim harpazo proves the Rapture is true. I discuss the use of this word. I also discuss why Paul used the imagery ...
Send us a text Einstein famously said, "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." This is a topic I am comfortable with. Why? Because I studied Thermodynamics and Randomness in college and I have been pondering it ever since. If you know how these work in biology and nature, then you quickly realize that all the arguments of "Creation Science" are nonsense. Rather than debating point by point, which is pointless with creationists who are driven by ideology and n...
Send us a text One way to tell how people approach religion is to express your admiration for another belief. I certainly admire Judaism, not just in the way of supersession like more Christians, but as a way of getting to know God. Over the years I have become much more aware of Islam and more recently Hinduism. But none of these impacted me like getting to know more about Buddhism, through great authors and discussion. I can confidently say that the Buddha saved my faith in Jesus. This may ...
Send us a text I'm excited to welcome Rev. Rebecca Craig to the Real Bible Rob podcast today! Rebecca is a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, an Artist, and an Author. She has a terrific new book called "Through Her Eyes" telling the stories of women in the Bible in a creative new way. It gives a narrative of 26 different women from their perspective and then several insightful study questions for each. It's a fascinating approach to understanding their stories. Refe...
Send us a text My New Testament professor Dr. Nijay Gupta has written much about Galatians and is endlessly fascinated by Paul's letter. I didn't exactly understand why this angry letter was so important. Like many Christians, I usually favored Ephesians and Philippians, maybe Timothy, but Galatians? Why? It is pivotal as an early window into the first major crisis in the early church in which Paul had to intervene: the relationship between Jewish and Gentile Christians. My friend Rev. Adina ...
Send us a text Something’s seriously wrong with America and we all know it. What was the long path toward equality of men and women, of the races in civil rights, of religious people integrating progress into theology has faced ever-increasing headwinds. In many ways we can rejoice especially when we remember how women and minorities were treated in the 1960s and 1970s. I’ve spoken about the rise of the religious right during the late 70s and on into the Reagan era. Much of that was overt but...
Send us a text Let's talk about 17th century England. Why? Because so much about American Protestant beliefs and culture come from it. The King James Bible was a political stake in the ground. The Westminster Confession was an Act of Parliament during the English Civil War. It was a compromise between Anglicans and Presbyterians to oppose radical Puritans and Catholics. The 1689 Second London Confession legitimized the Baptists as a result of the Act of Toleration passed by Parliament as part...
Send us a text Does God express emotions? This is a more central question than it seems. It’s a significant clue to how you see the sovereignty of God, whether God changes, and whether God is affected by prayer. If God shows the emotion of regret, does that mean God is weak? To illustrate these differences, I do a deep dive into two verses that feature the Hebrew word Neecham. The theological bias of Bible translations are revealed in what words are used for Neecham: repent, relent, regret, f...
Send us a text Today I am excited to welcome Elle, who goes by @LiterallyTheBible on TikTok and YouTube. She is reading the Bible from cover to cover as a non-religious gal. Her approach to Bible reading chapter by chapter is so insightful and refreshing. I've been really impressed with her analysis, her questions, and her response to comments. I think it is a great example for how we can approach Bible reading. Now that she has made it through the 50 chapters of Genesis and now into Exodus, ...
Send us a text I am thrilled to welcome Dr. Lynn Huber, Professor of Religious Studies at Elon University and an expert on the Book of Revelation. I have been following her on TikTok, and I was intrigued by her commentary about queer perspectives on Revelation. She brings a sense of excitement and love for the book, which many people approach with a sense of fear and retribution. I don't shy away from Revelation like many Presbyterians do, and I have preached several times about the many ways...
Send us a text Christians love Replacement. Replacing Judaism with the New Covenant. Replacing the Jewish people as the Chosen people of God. Replacing Islam in the Holy Land during the Crusades. In America, replacing indigenous people with white Christian people. Replacing native religions around the world with missionaries. Lately, replacing the words of Jesus with nationalism and political tribalism. It has a long history, when the Roman Empire subsumed Christianity into the empire. Later,...
Real Bible Rob: Affirming Christianity Podcast Real Bible Rob - Inclusive Christianity Discussions Real Bible Rob | PCUSA Min
Send us a text In this episode, we explore the trajectory of the Emergent Church movement within modern Christian faith, examining its promises, challenges, and ongoing relevance. As an affirming Christianity and PCUSA ministry perspective, we discuss influential voices like Diana Butler Bass, Brian McLaren, and Phyllis Tickle, alongside the rise of patriarchal movements and the contrasting growth of inclusive Christian traditions such as the Eastern Orthodox and Episcopal churches. We reflec...
