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God‘s story is the story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. But it‘s also humanity‘s story, the story of a world fallen and blown apart and of a world reshaped and restored. It‘s the beginning of all beginnings and the end of all ends. Join Brent Siddall and the Rev Ian ‘Reido‘ Reid as they explore God, time, salvation and the cosmos. Explore the stories of Western culture as they pivot and interact with the main narrative of salvation history.
Episodes
Wednesday Jun 22, 2022
Wednesday Jun 22, 2022
Sick and tired of struggling in a toxic workplace? How can we best create flourishing workplaces where people thrive and love what they do?
Brent and Ian talk with Al Lopus, the author of ‘Road to Flourishing – Eight Keys To Boost Employee Engagement and Well-Being’ published by IVP America.
Al is the CEO and co-founder of the Best Christian Workplaces Institute which provides research-based measurement tools and strategic advisory services with a vision to create the most effective workplaces in the world.
Al served for over 20 years in leadership roles with Watson Wyatt where he built programs for clients like Boeing and Alaska Airlines. Al currently serves on the Christian Leadership Alliance's advisory council.
- (1:20) Why so many workplaces are toxic;
- (2:40) A work culture is an organization’s soil;
- (3:40) How you change a workplace culture;
- (6:50) People leaving toxic jobs;
- (8:34) How the Best Christian Workplaces Institute came into being;
- (11:20) What makes a fantastic work team;
- (13:55) Conflict in staff teams and how to deal with it;
- (14:35) Why work needs to be meaningful;
- (16:14) How workplace culture is changing. The millenials;
- (17:46) Talent and why some employers undervalue it;
- (19:20) Growing talent in the workplace;
- (20:10) What makes an inspirational manager?
- (23:30) Why organizations fail to communicate to employees.
Links mentioned in this episode:
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Thanks to our sponsors, Liquid Edge Creative who take care of the technical stuff behind the scenes.
Saturday Jun 18, 2022
Saturday Jun 18, 2022
What is the heavenly rose? How does Dante present heaven as a sort of cosmic symphony? We find out about the great medieval poet and his greatest work ‘The Divine Comedy’.
Jason Baxter is associate professor of fine arts and humanities at Wyoming Catholic College in the States.
His book, ‘A Beginner’s Guide To Dante’s Divine Comedy’ is published by Baker Academic, a division of Baker books in the States.
- (0:47) Who was Dante?
- (1:57) How politics affected Dante in his lifetime;
- (4:43) The Divine Comedy as the greatest work of the Western imagination?
- (8:31) What happens in the Divine Comedy? A man finds himself in the middle of a wood and can’t remember how he got there. But then… a journey into deep hell and into heaven. A vision of the Trinity and a ride in the driveshaft of the universe. A medieval space story.
- (13:35) Medieval views of the cosmos;
- (18:18) Dante’s Beatrice;
- (21:42) Dante’s vision of heaven. Do souls in heaven fall more deeply in love? Falling in love gets to go to heaven;
- (27:10) What is the heavenly rose?
- (29:15) Jason’s Dante translation.
Links mentioned in this episode:
A Beginner's Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy : Jason M. Baxter : 9780801098734 (bookdepository.com)
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Thanks to our sponsors, Liquid Edge Creative who take care of the technical stuff behind the scenes. https://liquidedge.co.nz/
Wednesday Jun 15, 2022
Wednesday Jun 15, 2022
Does life have a meaning? If so, where do we find it?
Os Guinness is the author or editor of more than 30 books. He’s a frequent speaker and prominent social critic and has addressed audiences worldwide from the British House of Commons to the US Congress to the St. Petersburg Parliament. He is a senior fellow at the Oxford Center for Christian Apologetics and was the founder of the Trinity Forum.
His book, ‘The Great Quest – Invitations to an Examined Life and a Sure Path to Meaning’ is published by IVP America.
- (1:40) Our extraordinary modern world;
- (2:25) The modern West has cut itself off from the past;
- (3:16) Cultural ‘suicide’ in the West;
- (4:40) Why the ‘left’ has become so predominant. Cultural Marxism;
- (5:45) We all want meaning or a storyline;
- (8:00) The Great Quest is humanity’s storyline;
- (8:50) What makes a good seeker after truth;
- (9:40) Pointers to the existence of God. Signals of transcendence;
- (13:50) Where people look for answers;
- (15:24) How the great religions have led to civilizations;
- (16:30) How the Christian faith differs from the other faiths;
- (18:08) The evidence for Christianity. G.K. Chesterton and C.S. Lewis;
- (21:18) Is faith rational?
- (22:14) How do we come to know and love God?
Links mentioned in this episode:
Os Guinness 'The Great Quest: Invitation to an Examined Life and a Sure Path to Meaning'
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Thanks to our sponsors, Liquid Edge Creative who take care of the technical stuff behind the scenes.
Saturday Jun 11, 2022
Saturday Jun 11, 2022
We’re often told that the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4 was a sinner and an adulteress. But what are we missing in the story? And what difference does our interpretation of this passage make for women and men in the church?
Caryn Reeder is Professor of New Testament and coordinator of the Gender Studies Program at Westmont College in California.
‘The Samaritan Woman’s Story – Reconsidering John 4 After #ChurchToo’ is published by IVP America.
- (0:58) The #ChurchToo movement. Abuse in the church;
- (2:28) Why is there such a climate of abuse in the church?
- (5:40) Why interpretations of John 4 have been so focused on the Samaritan woman’s alleged sexual sin;
- (6:36) The Samaritan Woman’s background and her mental history;
- (8:14) The length of marriage in the Roman Empire – about 15 years;
- (9:00) Divorce in the Roman Empire;
- (10:20) Marriage as a business arrangement. Women were married at an early age;
- (12:00) Jesus and the Samaritan woman;
- (14:30) The symbolism of wells in biblical history;
- (16:00) Jesus overturns racial and sexual barriers;
- (16:41) The Samaritan woman as a model of discipleship;
- (18:22) Early church interpretations of John 4
- (21:02) How our biblical interpretations impact on women in the church.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Caryn A. Reeder 'The Samaritan Woman's Story: Reconsidering John 4 After #ChurchToo'
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Thanks to our sponsors, Liquid Edge Creative who take care of the technical stuff behind the scenes.
Wednesday Jun 08, 2022
Wednesday Jun 08, 2022
Who was Abraham Kuyper and why are his Stone Lectures so important?
The gospel in the whole of life.
Robert is associate professor of politics and international studies and the founding director of the Center for Christian Scholarship at Redeemer University College in Canada.
Robert is the co-editor with Jessica Joustra of a new book from IVP America called ‘Calvinism for a Secular Age: A Twenty-First- Century Reading of Abraham Kuyper’s Stone Lectures’.
- (1:15) Who was Abraham Kuyper?
- (2:56) The importance of the Stone Lectures;
- (4:25) The significance of Princeton Seminary;
- (5:22) Why the lectures were so controversial;
- (7:20) The gospel for the whole of creation;
- (11:20) Our times are reminiscent of Kuyper;
- (16:20) How to live together in diversity;
- (18:40) Kuyper and the Christian state?
- (21:33) Kuyper’s pluralism;
- (26:25) Kuyper’s view of history. Christianity versus secularism;
- (29:00) Contributors to the book
Links mentioned in this episode:
Jessica R. Joustra 'Calvinism for a Secular Age'
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Tuesday Jun 07, 2022
Tuesday Jun 07, 2022
Was Jesus Mad, Bad or Lord? What is the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?
Brent and Reido examine Mark 3:20-35.
- (1:30) Jesus – Mad or Bad?
- (4:00) An investigation;
- (5:55) A delegation. Jesus accused of being evil;
- (7:00) What is the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?
- (8:50) The family of God.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Grace Presbyterian Church of New Zealand
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Wednesday Jun 01, 2022
Wednesday Jun 01, 2022
Brent and Reido continue their study of Mark’s gospel. We meet the lost and lonely and see how Jesus restores their humanity.
- (1:10) Jesus and ‘outsiders’;
- (3:23) Religious leaders and their opposition to Jesus;
- (4:20) A tax collector;
- (6:33) Jesus and the sea;
- (9:59) The Pharisees;
- (12:00) The social outcasts become the insiders;
- (15:15) Bridegroom and wedding imagery in Mark;
- (17:38) Jesus as Lord of the Sabbath;
- (20:10) Jesus our rest and Sabbath;
- (27:30) The 12 apostles and the mountain.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Grace Presbyterian Church of New Zealand
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Saturday May 28, 2022
Saturday May 28, 2022
Brent and Reido continue their exploration of Mark’s gospel. In this episode, we see echoes of the Creation account in Genesis and how Jesus has total authority over sin and sickness.
- (1:40) Mark and the Kingdom of God;
- (3:25) Jesus and the wilderness;
- (7:25) Mark’s gospel and evil;
- (9:51) Leprosy;
- (13:45) What sort of king is Jesus going to be?
- (18:10) Mark as a detective novel? Who is Jesus?
Links mentioned in this episode:
Grace Presbyterian Church of New Zealand
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Wednesday May 25, 2022
Wednesday May 25, 2022
Brent talks with James Salladin, the rector of Emmanuel Anglican Church in New York about the great 18th century theologian and preacher Jonathan Edwards.
Who was Edwards and what did he believe about grace?
James Salladin’s book ‘Jonathan Edwards and Deification – Reconciling Theosis and the Reformed Tradition’ is published by IVP America.
- (0:52) Who was Jonathan Edwards?
- (1:40) Edwards and revival in America;
- (3:48) Edwards’ writings on revival;
- (5:17) Theosis and Scripture;
- (9:17) The divine fullness and divine essence in the Eastern tradition;
- (11:00) Was Edwards familiar with the Eastern tradition?
- (13:10) Edwards’ theology of special grace;
- (18:52) Edwards on divine fullness;
- (22:40) How we reconcile Edwards’ views with the Reformed tradition;
- (29:35) Edwards and slavery.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Jonathan Edwards and Deification: Reconciling Theosis and the Reformed Tradition
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Saturday May 21, 2022
Saturday May 21, 2022
How well do arguments for atheism stand up in a courtroom? Do atheistic frameworks give a satisfactory answer for understanding human existence?
Brent talks with Mark Lanier a trial lawyer and founder of the Lanier Law Firm. Mark was voted 2013 Top Class Action Attorney in America by US News and World Report’s Best Lawyers.
Mark’s book ‘Atheism on Trial: A Lawyer Examines the Case for Unbelief’ is published by IVP America.
- 1:05) What constitutes evidence in the legal arena?
- (2:17) Burden of Proof;
- (4:12) Definition of atheism and agnosticism;
- (5:55) The arguments for atheism and agnosticism;
- (7:15) The evidence for atheism;
- (9:08) Arguments for atheism and burden of proof;
- (12:15) What is the case for atheism founded on?
- (14:10) Is the existence of evil and suffering a valid argument against the existence of God?
- (16:50) Logical fallacy arguments;
- (19:10) Agnosticism;
- (21:11) Is a belief in God inconsistent with modern science?
Links mentioned in this episode:
Mark W. Lanier 'Atheism on Trial: A Lawyer Examines the Case for Unbelief'
Leave some feedback:
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