In All Things Podcast

TEACHING Christianly with David Mulder (ep. 65)

On this episode of the podcast, we bring you a live interview in collaboration with the co-hosts of the Hallway Conversations podcast. Our featured guest is Dr. David Mulder, who has written a new book: Always Becoming, Never Arriving. This episode is a conversation about the craft of teaching and what it means to "teach Christianly". Among the topics we discuss:

• Some of the biggest misconceptions and surprises about teaching
• What it means to develop a "teaching imagination" and to say that teaching is a calling.
• The relationship between play, improvisation, and technique in the classroom
• How to take our work seriously without taking ourselves seriously
• How to teach "who we are" while also taking into account what students need and what the material requires
• Why most definitions of what it means to teach Christianly are incomplete

Even if you're not working in Christian education, it's a great opportunity to look over the shoulder of a master teacher who is passionate about his craft. 

Get the book: https://www.drdavemulder.com/teaching-is-a-journey/ 

David Mulder's website: https://www.drdavemulder.com/ 

 

CONTINUING Calvin's Institutes with Dordt's Faculty (ep. 64)

On this special bonus episode, I'm joined by two other members of the theology faculty to update our listeners on the Calvin's Institutes project, in which about 60 faculty and staff are spending the academic year reading through The Institutes of Christian Religion. At the midpoint of the journey, we took some time to reflect on our experiences thus far and to encourage readers to keep going. Among the topics we discussed: 

• What has stood out to us and our groups as we've read Calvin together
• The most under-appreciated aspects of Calvin's theology
• Why Calvin is known primarily for the doctrine of predestination even though it hasn't shown up yet in the reading
• Favorite passages thus far
• How Calvin's ideas show up concretely in Reformed churches and institutions
• Encouragement for those who are finding the reading difficult to keep going

Additional resources:

Our original podcast discussion before starting the Institutes

Our reading schedule: https://shorturl.at/Yow8x 

Calvin's Institutes (2 volume Battles edition) 

Calvin's Institutes (1 volume Beveridge edition)

Calvin's Institutes online edition (CCEL/Beveridge)

HOPING in the Dark with Norman Wirzba (ep. 63)

On this episode of the podcast, I talk with Dr. Norman Wirzba about his new book, Love’s Braided Dance: Hope in a Time of Crisis. It’s a conversation about the nature of hope, especially in the midst of darkness, where no hope can seem to be found, and how learning to love moves us forward. Among the topics we discuss:

• Why asking "what gives you hope?" may not be the best question and why "what do you love" is a better one
• Why it is so important that hope reckons with evil in its most disheartening forms
• Where joy might be found in the midst of the brokenness of the world
• How we can fight the impulse of paralysis or exhaustion
• The importance of recognizing our interdependence within creation
• What it means to say that love is "improvisational" and a "dance"

Get the book: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300272659/loves-braided-dance/

CONTEXTUALIZING Tim Keller with Collin Hansen (ep. 62)

On this episode of the podcast, I interview journalist and author Collin Hansen about his new book titled Tim Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation. The conversation explores a prominent model of evangelism and cultural engagement by a Reformed pastor in contemporary times. Among the topics we discuss:

• The process of writing a different sort of biography of Tim Keller, focused on the people who influenced him
• Notable influences on Keller's ministry, with familiar and unfamiliar names (Kathy Keller, Jonathan Edwards, C.S. Lewis, R.C. Sproul, Elizabeth Elliot, Ed Clowney, Jack Miller, Barbara Boyd)
• What to make of the (recent) online backlash against Keller
• An updated assessment of the "young, restless, and reformed" movement from the person who helped coin the term
• The relationship of "Reformed" and "evangelical" and how they could be a source of renewal for each other
• How the work of journalism might be redeemed as a way of telling stories about the way that God is at work in the world.

Get the book: https://www.zondervan.com/9780310128700/timothy-keller/ 

RELOCATING Calvin with Ruben Rosario Rodriguez (ep. 61)

On this episode of the podcast, we talk with Dr. Ruben Rosario Rodriguez, about his new book Calvin for the World. Dr. Rosario makes what might be to some a surprising argument: that beyond the smaller circles where Calvin is revered, the real Calvin casts a capacious vision for our troubled times. Among the topics we discuss:

• Dr. Rosario's story of his life with Calvin, and how Calvin made a difference growing up in Puerto Rico, studying in NY, pastoring in a rural community, and now teaching at a Jesuit University.
• Assessing Calvin's legacy and responding to his detractors 
• "Liking" Calvin vs. respecting and appreciating Calvin
• The parallels and divergences between Calvin and liberation theology
• Calvin (and Calvinism) responding to the experience of exile and the phenomenon of refugees
• Calvin's transnational ecclesiology and what we can learn from him today

Get the book: https://bakeracademic.com/p/calvin-for-the-world-rub-n-rosario-rodr-guez/553612 

 

CLAIMING the Courageous Middle with Shirley Mullen (ep. 60)

On this episode of the podcast, we talk with Dr. Shirley Mullen about book Claiming the Courageous Middle: Daring to Live and Work Together for a more Hopeful Future. Drawing from over four decades of experience in Christian higher education, Dr. Mullen explores what it means to be called to the middle, especially in times of deep polarization. Among the topics we discuss:

• What it means to say that the middle can be a place of courage, imagination, and hope
• When "not fitting anywhere" can be a gift and a calling
• Christian universities as middle spaces and the responsibility to steward trust while embracing complexity
• Counsel for teachers in the classroom and for the local church 

Get the book: https://bakeracademic.com/p/Claiming-the-Courageous-Middle-Shirley-A-Mullen/542817

BECOMING by Beholding with Lanta Davis (ep. 59)

On this episode of the podcast, we talk with Dr. Lanta Davis about her new book, Becoming by Beholding: The Power of the Imagination in Spiritual Formation. It’s a conversation about art, beauty, and the riches of the Christian tradition – about how we might put ourselves in a place where we can be surprised and transformed. This conversation was a treat since we were able to do it live and in-person, which gave the conversation a special energy. Among the topics we discuss:

• Why the imagination is so powerful and why it's not enough to turn away from bad inputs
• How our neglect of the imagiantion weakens our powers of discernment
• Examples of the riches of the Christian imaginative tradition
• On medieval bestiaries and the importance of learning the names of things
• The balance between meeting people where they are and taking them to strange new places
• Why transformation doesn't happen magically and how we might become more attentive to what is forming us.

Get the book: https://bakeracademic.com/p/becoming-by-beholding-lanta-davis/542815

More from Lanta Davis: https://www.lantadavis.com/

 

BREATHING in Beauty with Wesley Vander Lugt (ep. 58)

On this episode of the podcast, we talk with Dr. Wesley Vander Lugt about his new book, Beauty is Oxygen. It’s a conversation about how our souls crave beauty, and how we need beauty both to help us breathe and to help us build. Among the topics we discuss:

• What it means to say that "beauty is oxygen"
• The way beauty meets those who are "buffered", "battered", and "bored"
• Criticisms of the concept of beauty as too narrow
• The relationship between the beauty of the world and the beauty of God (or, why John Piper might be wrong about it)
• The relationship of beauty and justice
• How we might grow in attentiveness and awe 

Get the book: https://www.eerdmans.com/9780802883254/

More on Dr. Vander Lugt: https://www.wesleyvanderlugt.com/

 

 

READING Calvin's Institutes with Dordt's faculty - BONUS EPISODE (ep. 57)

On this special bonus episode, a group of theology faculty discuss a project that we’re about to start here at Dordt University, in which we spend the academic year reading through John Calvin’s Institutes of Christian Religion. To orient everyone for the well-over thousand page journey that is the Institutes, we talked a bit about:

• Calvin's biography
• Our first exposure to Calvin and the Institutes
• Common (mis)conceptions about Calvin - on TULIP, austerity, and the execution of Servetus
• A brief history of the Institutes, how they are organized and introduced
• Helpful tips for reading the Institutes

If you are interested in reading along during this academic year, here are some resources:

Our reading schedule: https://shorturl.at/Yow8x 

Calvin's Institutes (2 volume Battles edition) 

Calvin's Institutes (1 volume Beveridge edition)

Calvin's Institutes online edition (CCEL/Beveridge)

 

DIGNIFYING Work with David Bahnsen (ep. 56)

On this episode of the podcast, I talk with David Bahnsen, author of the book Full Time: Work and the Meaning of Life. Bahnsen argues that rather than seeking to “balance” work with life, we should see work as a vital component of life, something be received and offered as a gift for the good of neighbor and the glory of God. Among the topics we discuss:

• Why we operate with a low, transactional view of work
• The effects of the fall on the way we experience work
• The relationship of money and meaning, and of success and significance.
• What it means to say that all honest work is "full time ministry" or "kingdom service"
• The relationship of work to ambition and to rest
• The future of work, especially in light of emerging technologies

More about the book: https://www.fulltimebook.com/