Ezra Institute Podcast for Cultural Reformation

The connection between all these themes becomes clear in this special guest episode with Dr. Vishal Mangalwadi. He explains the Third Education Revolution movement, the role of technology, and the historic impact that the gospel has had, through education, on the family, church, and all other spheres. Vishal is currently on a lecture tour of…

Joe Boot explains the biblical understanding of penology - the study and practice of punishing crime. Despite modern objections about the harshness of biblical justice, the penology outlined in God's law is in fact true justice, and its practice leads to a more just and free society.

In this previously unaired interview, Joe Boot and Andrew Sandlin discuss the ideology of cultural Marxism, explaining how it differs from original Marxism, and how it mimics Christian doctrines of worship, eschatology, and the kingdom of God.

This week we pause our series in the Ten Commandments to reflect on the shooting at Covenant School in Nashville. In a de-christening culture, those who worship the true and living God should expect to suffer hatred and violence, even unto death, from those who worship the false god of self. But the Christian's hope is the promise of light and life dispelling darkness and death.

In this episode Joe Boot discusses the narrow and broad definitions of adultery in light of both Moses and Christ, explaining how sexuality is much more than the modern notion of consent. Contrary to contemporary thinking, sexual activity outside of the blessed structure of covenant marriage has drastic personal and social consequences.

Kyle Thompson of the Undaunted Life podcast joins us for a discussion of the commandment "You shall not murder." We talk about war, self-defense, and the failure of the state to properly prosecute justice on murderers, as well as the responsibility of the individual to defend his family and neighbor.

We begin this episode by examining the biblical definition of murder, and looking at cases where the taking of life is prohibited, where it is permitted, and the single situation where it is required by God. We also consider how our society's rejection of God is evident in legalized murder in the form of abortion and euthanasia, as well as Jesus' teaching about murderous talk and attitudes that break this commandment.

We take a short recess from the Ten Commandments series to talk about drag queen story hour protests, global Anglicanism, and other important news from around the world. And is the Ezra Institute going to be on the CBC?

In this episode Joe Boot and special guest, pastor Joel Webbon, discuss the fifth commandment, how it applies not only to young children, but to everyone, and how a worldly mindset has led us to neglect this commandment when it becomes uncomfortable or burdensome.

Sabbath rest is a biblical principle that seems to invite a level of controversy: how often, when, who, and in what ways are is the Sabbath to be observed. Joe Boot discusses the connection between work, rest, and worship, why Sabbath-breaking was a capital offense in ancient Israel, and the difference that Christ makes to the form of our observance.

In this episode Ezra Institute Fellow Michael Thiessen discusses what it means to take the name of the Lord, both rightly and wrongly, in the church, in politics, and in any other sphere. We also talk about the nature of oaths and authority, the Sermon on the Mount, what it means for something to be damned by God, and door-to-door sales. NOTE: we do not use language flippantly, but this episode contains language that parents may not want your children to hear.

Idolatry takes any number of forms at the individual, church, and national levels, but its temptation is always the same: you shall be as God. And the results always lead to death. As churches capitulate to antichristian cultural pressures, they often keep their outward form, but lose the power and vitality that ought to sustain and animate them. The Lord reserved some of His hardest words for those who led their people in this apostate way.

We continue our series in the Ten Commandments with the command against idolatry. In this episode, Joe Boot discusses the root of idolatry in the heart, and deals with some listener questions about the possibility of making work or family into an object of worship. We conclude by examining idolatry within the church itself.

We're officially underway with our series on the Ten Commandments. In this first episode, Joe Boot explains why this section of Scripture begins with the Lord declaring who He is, and why the commandments are ordered in the way that they are. If you've never thought about what our worship has to do with law, don't miss this one.

In this episode Joe Boot pulls illustrations from throughout Scripture to demonstrate the enduring validity of God's law in the era of Christ's resurrection. If Christ took the law seriously, and if we are to be imitators of Him, then it behooves us to take the law seriously as well.

We're kicking off the new year with a new series, dealing with ethics and law generally, and the Ten Commandments specifically. In this episode, Joe Boot talks about the distinction between laws and norms, the fact that we live in a universe designed by God that is made to work according to His instruction, and what love has to do with fulfilling the law.

On this episode Joe Boot and Ezra Institute Fellow Aaron Rock discuss the themes, issues, and ideologies related to the contemporary environmentalism movement. For those who didn't get their questions answered during the conference Q&A session, we deal with several more of those questions here.

We bring our series in Thomas Aquinas to a close by restating six significant differences between Thomistic thought and the reformation worldview that we believe is more consistent with Scripture. On the question of origins, nature and grace, ontology and anthropology, apologetics and Christian philosophy, the medieval thought of Aquinas falls short of the biblical position.

This Christmas season, Joe Boot reflects on the staggering reality of God's glory revealed to His people as he takes up residence, or tabernacles, among us. This fact ought to be a great source of strength for Christians, greater than any hardship we could ever experience.

This Christmas season, we talk about the question of public, national worship, and the state in direct relation to God.

In this episode Joe describes the influence that Thomas Aquinas has had on the field of Christian apologetics, and discusses the areas where the Thomistic approach falls short of vindicating the full Christian doctrine of God.

Ezra Institute Fellow Dr. James White joins us this week to talk about the Protestant fascination with Aquinas, and the path that leads from Thomism to Roman Catholicism. Dr. White explains some of the reasons why Protestants are induced to follow Thomas, the fundamental issue of authority that is at stake, and what Thomas would have thought of the current Pope.

Joe Boot addresses the realm of medicine and healing, and demonstrates how much of the contemporary thinking surrounding medicine has been reduced to mere biology. In contrast, the Christian should think of health in terms of wholeness - both wholeness of the created reality, and wholeness in the sense of health.

In this episode Joe Boot discusses the thought of Thomas Aquinas as it relates to the Christian understanding of history. To speak of history is inescapably to speak about God's relation to and activity within His creation.

This week in the thought of Thomas Aquinas, we examine the idea of natural law, and conclude that, as articulated by Aquinas, it is an idea that gives unwarranted scope to human reason, and effectively makes God equal with His law. In contrast, Scripture teaches that God is the source of all definition, and that human law must be positivized in an historical context.

We could have also titled this episode How the Reformation delivered us from ecclesiocracy. Here we discuss Aquinas' political philosophy, the problem with his adoption of Aristotle's teaching that man is a political animal, and the need for an utterly transcendent authority.

There is a common assumption in Christianity that at the fall, man lost a supernatural gift of grace, but retained his natural faculties intact and unscathed - including the faculty of reason. In this episode, Joe Boot explains that the biblical distinction is not nature and grace, but wrath and grace: those who belong to Christ and those who war against Him.

We have new music and a new theme as we get rolling in Season 6. In this episode we begin a short series on the life, thought, and influence of Thomas Aquinas, the medieval scholastic philosopher and theologian, introducing his person and major works, and considering why there seems to be a recent revival of…

Aaron Rock joins the podcast this week to discuss the scheduled expiry of Canadian border restrictions and the ArriveCan app. We also discuss Canada's latest Federal Action Plan to advance LGBTQ rights, and the inescapability of religious commitments.

In this episode Joe Boot reflects on the funeral ceremonies of Queen Elizabeth II, the historic role of the English monarch as "Defender of the Faith," and the error of contemporary Two Kingdoms thinking.

In this episode we reflect on the legacy of Elizabeth II, the role she played in influencing culture, and the Christian virtue she exhibited as a monarch who was self-consciously under the authority of God. Scripture has much to say about thrones and kingdoms, and Joe Boot discusses some of the major passages for how a king is to rule.

We're back with a brand-new season of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation! Joe, Nate, and Ryan discuss the recently published Frankfurt Declaration of Christian and Civil Liberties, and the relationship of the Cultural Mandate and Great Commission. In its most basic formulation, we tend to see Christians desiring to conform to culture or to escape culture, though the biblical calling is for God's saints to transform and build culture.

Ezra Institute Fellow Andrew Sandlin responds to listener questions on prayer: why it is difficult to develop a habit of prayerfulness, how to pray boldly and faithfully, and what happens when we pray.

A distinctly Christian way of thinking means returning to the Word of God as the source of all true knowledge and insight, and building an understanding of the world from that foundation. It is our starting point that makes all the difference. Register for the Christianity and Culture Colloquium, October 18-21. This episode originally aired…

Where do we locate the starting point for human thinking? Descartes famously identified human nature with thought: "I think, therefore I am." However, the "I" who thinks must find its foundation in something prior to thought. The Christian perspective locates the root of thinking in the heart, which makes a religious choice about the origin of all things.

Jacob Reaume, pastor of Trinity Bible Chapel, joins us to talk about an upcoming documentary he is producing, Antichrist and His Ruin, dealing with the life and witness of John Bunyan, the biblical teaching on the doctrine of antichrist, and the call to the church for courage and faithfulness.

This episode started out with John Cooper asking Joe Boot about pacifism, and became a wide-ranging dialogue on what it means to be an image-bearer of God, and the implications that reality has for war, self-defense, and living in a state that is hostile to God. We also discuss the descriptions of God in Scripture as a warrior and the fact that the obligation to give honour and obedience is always qualified except when it is due to God.

In this episode, we discuss Edmund Burke and the origins of modern conservative ideology; we consider the validity of the sentiment that there is a crisis in conservatism, as well as the historic connection between conservatism and Christianity. Joe Boot explains how the contemporary attempt to distinguish between fiscal and social conservatism is a practical impossibility.

On this week's episode we consider the biblical conditions necessary for human flourishing, which always manifests in economic prosperity. Jonathan Wellum, CEO of Rocklinc Investment Partners, shares how a biblical approach to economics handles inflation and private property, and how contemporary theories and policies cause the greatest harm to the world's poorest people.

Dale Partridge joins us as a guest this week to discuss how his organization is working to fulfill the Great Commission on a national and international scale. We also discuss the masculinity of Jesus, and the eschatological hope that motivates our evangelistic efforts.

What does the recent Dobbs decision of the US Supreme Court mean for the practice of abortion? We discuss why it's fitting for Christians to loudly celebrate this ruling, as well as the reason we must approach issues related to life in terms of God's standard, for any other standard is ultimately arbitrary and subject to change.

Andrew Sandlin joins us from the Runner Academy to talk about the nature of God's covenant with man, how the new covenant relates to earlier covenants, and what the covenant has to do with our responsibilities as citizens of the kingdom of God.

At the conclusion of the 2022 Runner Academy, Joe Boot explains why the Ezra Institute exists and why we run training programs. We explore what it means for man to be made in the image of God, and how we are to steward creation and build culture for the sake of the kingdom of God.

In this episode, we investigate the worldview and origins of proto-feminism as well as first-wave feminism. This movement often gets tacit approval from Christians because of things like universal suffrage, but at its root, this movement, led by figures like Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Stanton, and Margaret Sanger, is a self-centred, resentful ideology that opposes the family and fosters a bigger state.

In this week's episode, we dive into a few recent news stories as we work to discover meaning in a world that has increasingly abandoned truth and reason. We consider some of the causes and responses to the recent Texas school shooting, as well as the growing realization that the biggest victims of the Sexual Revolution have been women.

We conclude our introduction to Critical Theory by identifying some of the key personalities responsible for this school of thought and their major ideas. You may have heard of some of these men: Georg Lukacs, Antonio Gramsci, Herbert Marcuse, Wilhelm Reich, and Erich Fromm. From their own writing, it is clear that Critical Theory is more than an analytical tool, but is in fact a self-consciously religious worldview, complete with doctrines of sin, justice, and salvation.

Many Christians have heard of Critical Theory, but are unclear what it is and what it entails. In this first episode of a short series, we introduce the nature of Critical Theory, its Marxist origins in the Frankfurt School, and how it uses language to set itself up in opposition to the Christian worldview of the Bible.

Our newest Fellow, Dr. Ben Merkle, joins us on this week's episode. Dr. Merkle is President of New Saint Andrews College, and we talk about the current state of higher education, the need for foundational worldview formation in critical thinking, and the fact that half the students in universities don't need to be there.

On this episode we conclude our overview of Joe Boot's newest book, Ruler of Kings, and explain how the concept of heresy applies to political and social life outside of the church. We also lay out the difference between theocracy and ecclesiocracy, and describe how every society, from revolutionary France to modern North America, has a god-concept that demands ultimate allegiance.

On this episode we discuss Joe's newest book, Ruler of Kings. Joe explains why he felt compelled to write such a book at this time, and what the reign of King Jesus means for the way we understand and relate to civil government.