Gravity Commons Podcast

Latest Episodes:

What About the Wrath of God? (with Jon DePue) Jul 30, 2024

Show notes

Today we start a new regular series on the podcast, based on our conversation a couple months ago with Jon DePue about Liberating the Gospel from Mere Justification. The paradigm shift in Beyond Justification: Liberating Paul’s Gospel (the book Jon co-authored with Douglas Campbell) is such a big one for most of us that we thought it'd be helpful to talk regularly with Jon about how to interpret specific scripture passages and theological ideas in this new "liberated" way.

Today we talk about the "wrath of God," especially at it appears in Romans. What does Paul mean when he talks about the "wrath of God" and how does it function in his theology and proclamation of the gospel of Jesus? How can we recover from the wrong uses of God's wrath? How should we think and talk and preach about "the wrath of God" today?

Jon DePue is a graduate of Duke Divinity School and has served churches as director of Christian education for several years. He currently works as a learning community support specialist for Indianapolis Public Schools.

Connect with Gravity Commons:

Leave us a message or ask a question about this or any other episode and we'll answer it on a future episode.
Join the Gravity Community to interact with other listeners, and get our list of curated links each week to all things edifying and interesting.
Are you interested in advertising on the Gravity Podcast? Contact us at podcast@gravitycommons.com.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

David W. Peters: How the Post-Traumatic Jesus Heals Our Wounds Jul 23, 2024

Show notes

After twenty years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, a global pandemic, protests against racial violence, and frequent shootings, more Americans than ever are living with the effects of trauma.

Our conversation with Army veteran and Episcopal priest David Peters helps us see the good news that Jesus was born and died in a traumatized world, and his story speaks forever to wounded people worldwide.

Peters' book Post-Traumatic Jesus: Reading the Gospel with the Woundedexplores Jesus' life story through the post-traumatic lens with which the Gospel writers first wrote it--as people who had seen their leader executed by the same oppressive government that had already shrouded their whole lives in anxiety and fear. Meeting the post-traumatic Jesus--the only Jesus the world has ever known--can be a balm to the wounds of modern Christians and spiritual seekers.

David W. Peters served as an enlisted Marine and Army Chaplain, who deployed to Iraq in 2005. He is the author of several books, notably Death Letter: God, Sex and War and Post-Traumatic God: How the Church Cares for People Who Have Been to Hell and Back, and Post-Traumatic Jesus: Reading the Gospel with the Wounded. Today he serves as the vicar of St. Joan of Arc Episcopal Church in Austin, Texas.

Connect with Gravity Commons:

Leave us a message or ask a question about this or any other episode and we'll answer it on a future episode.
Join the Gravity Community to interact with other listeners, and get our list of curated links each week to all things edifying and interesting.
Are you interested in advertising on the Gravity Podcast? Contact us at podcast@gravitycommons.com.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

How to Find a Church After Experiencing Church Abuse Jul 16, 2024

Show notes

Matt and Ben respond to a listener question about finding a place in the body of Christ after clergy sexual abuse.

Connect with Gravity Commons:

Leave us a message or ask a question about this or any other episode and we'll answer it on a future episode.
Join the Gravity Community to interact with other listeners, and get our list of curated links each week to all things edifying and interesting.
Are you interested in advertising on the Gravity Podcast? Contact us at podcast@gravitycommons.com.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Beau Underwood: How the Mainline Helped Build Christian Nationalism Jul 09, 2024

Show notes

In the face of the rising threat of Christian Nationalism to both church and democracy, Beau Underwood joins us to talk about how some of the hidden undercurrents are present not just among evangelical Christians, but in the mainline church, which is the theme of the book he co-wrote with Brian Kaylor, Baptizing America: How Mainline Protestants Helped Build Christian Nationalism.

Beau Underwood is the senior minister at Allisonville Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Indianapolis, a contributing editor for Word&Way, and is pursuing a doctorate in public affairs. He has graduate degrees from the University of Chicago in both religion and public policy. His writing as appeared in Sojourners, The Christian Century, and Religion and Politics.

Connect with Gravity Commons:

Leave us a message or ask a question about this or any other episode and we'll answer it on a future episode.
Join the Gravity Community to interact with other listeners, and get our list of curated links each week to all things edifying and interesting.
Are you interested in advertising on the Gravity Podcast? Contact us at podcast@gravitycommons.com.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Join Us For a New Online Book Club Jul 05, 2024

Show notes

We're starting a Book Club, and you're invited! We talk about why we wanted to do this, how you can be involved, and the first book we'll discuss: The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism, by journalist Tim Alberta.

The Book Club will be a weekly discussion on Fridays at 12pm ET starting August 2, 2024 (recordings available to all members). To participate, get yourself a paid membership to the Gravity Community.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Joel Looper: Why Evangelicals are Drawn to Christian Nationalism Jul 02, 2024

Show notes

Though evangelicals emphasize fidelity to the gospel above all else, many have fallen in step with "a different gospel" of Christian nationalism. Analyzing Scripture, church history, and current events in the United States and Russia, Joel Looper offers evangelicals a theological rationale for resisting Christian nationalism.

Joel Looper teaches at Baylor University where he serves as coordinator for Shalom Mission Communities, a network of international Christian communities. He's the author of Bonhoeffer's America: A Land Without Reformation and the book we talked about on this episode Another Gospel: Christian Nationalism and the Crisis of Evangelical Identity.

Show notes:

The article we referenced about the Texas school board member who disavowed the far-right platform she campaigned on: "A GOP Texas school board member campaigned against schools indoctrinating kids. Then she read the curriculum."

Connect with Gravity Commons:

Leave us a message or ask a question about this or any other episode and we'll answer it on a future episode.
Join the Gravity Community to interact with other listeners, and get our list of curated links each week to all things edifying and interesting.
Are you interested in advertising on the Gravity Podcast? Contact us at podcast@gravitycommons.com.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Andrew Rillera: Debunking Penal Substitutionary Atonement Jun 25, 2024

Show notes

There is no such thing as substitutionary death sacrifice in the Torah, which changes everything we thought we knew about Jesus's death. The consistent message throughout the entire NT is not that Jesus died instead of us, rather, Jesus dies ahead of us so that we can unite with him and be conformed the image of his death. It's not about substitution, it's about participation, and Andrew Rillera helps us see this in his book Lamb of the Free: Recovering the Varied Sacrificial Understandings of Jesus’s Death.

Andrew Rillera is Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies and Theology at The King's University in Edmonton, Alberta, in Canada.

Connect with Gravity Commons:

Leave us a message or ask a question about this or any other episode and we'll answer it on a future episode.
Join the Gravity Community to interact with other listeners, and get our list of curated links each week to all things edifying and interesting.
Are you interested in advertising on the Gravity Podcast? Contact us at podcast@gravitycommons.com.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Meredith Miller: Nurturing a Faith Your Kid Doesn't Have to Heal From Jun 18, 2024

Show notes

What if obedience is not the goal of Christian parenting? What if it's our job as parents to instead help our kids get to know God and discover that God can be trusted? In her book Woven: Nurturing a Faith Your Kid Doesn't Have to Heal From, pastor and parent Meredith Miller helps families nurture the kind of faith that can flex and grow, be broken and repaired. The kind of faith that can stand up to the life a child will live, the doubts they will encounter, and the questions that will come up along the way.

Meredith Miller is a pastor and a parent who has spent most of the past twenty years helping families follow Jesus. She has been involved with Fuller Youth Institute since 2007 and from 2014-2019 she was Curriculum Director for the children's ministry at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago, Illinois. Meredith holds a Master of Divinity degree from Fuller Theological Seminary, as well as a B.A. in Religious Studies and Spanish Language & Literature from Westmont College. She is pastor of Pomona Valley Church and calls Southern California home.

Connect with Gravity Commons:

Leave us a message or ask a question about this or any other episode and we'll answer it on a future episode.
Join the Gravity Community to interact with other listeners, and get our list of curated links each week to all things edifying and interesting.
Are you interested in advertising on the Gravity Podcast? Contact us at podcast@gravitycommons.com.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Sam Jolman: A Vision for Healthy Masculine Sexuality Jun 11, 2024

Show notes

Men today are starved for sexual formation. They've been failed by parents, churches, and culture alike, leading to widespread shame, confusion, and brokenness in the area of sexuality. We talked with therapist Sam Jolman about helping men reconnect their God-given sexuality with innocence, awe, and joy, and shows readers how to celebrate--instead of struggle against--the gift of sexual desire. Sam is the author of The Sex Talk You Never Got: Reclaiming the Heart of Masculine Sexuality.

Sam Jolman is a professional therapist with over 20 years of experience specializing in men’s issues and sexual trauma recovery. He seeks to help men and women heal, know their stories and find greater sexual wholeness and aliveness. He received his master’s in counseling from Reformed Theological Seminary and was future trained in Narrative Trauma car through the Allender Center at the Seattle School of Theology and psychology. Sam lives in Colorado with his wife an three sons. Together they enjoy exploring the best camping spots in a pop-up camper. Sam goes to therapy, loves fly fishing and can often be found trying to catch his breath on the floor of his local CrossFit Gym.

You can connect with Sam's work by subscribing to his Substack newsletter, and you can get his free e-book on how to give a sex talk by ordering his book and connecting on his website.

Connect with Gravity:

Leave us a message or ask a question about this or any other episode and we'll answer it on a future episode.
Join the Gravity Community to interact with other listeners, and get our list of curated links each week to all things edifying and interesting.
Are you interested in advertising on the Gravity Podcast? Contact us at podcast@gravitycommons.com.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Lee C. Camp: Cultivating Habits of Human Flourishing Jun 04, 2024

Show notes

Lee C. Camp joins us (again!) for a wide-ranging conversation about human flourishing, habits, ethics, politics, philosophy, and faith. This is Lee's second time on the podcast - we talked with him in 2020 about his book Scandalous Witness: A Little Political Manifesto for Christians.

Lee C. Camp is an award-winning teacher and Professor of Theology & Ethics at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. Lee is also the host of No Small Endeavor - an acclaimed podcast series exploring the habits, practices, and dispositions that facilitate human flourishing, a.k.a. the good life.

Connect with Gravity Commons:

Leave us a message or ask a question about this or any other episode and we'll answer it on a future episode.
Join the Gravity Community to interact with other listeners, and get our list of curated links each week to all things edifying and interesting.
Are you interested in advertising on the Gravity Podcast? Contact us at podcast@gravitycommons.com.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected