Ezra Institute Podcast for Cultural Reformation

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.

Reflecting on the Easter season we've just come through, Joe Boot discusses the significance of the garden theme throughout Scripture, pointing to Christ as both the gardener and the king, and to the calling of his people to live in submission to him, holding forth dominion over the created world to tend and keep it. And if you've ever been unsure what Joe means by vice-gerent, we clarify it today!

On this week's episode we're joined by Ezra Institute Fellow for Biblical Economics, Graeme Leach. Graeme explains why the realm of economics is frequently neglected or misunderstood by Christians, how a biblical vision for economic life, that emphasizes property rights, proportional taxation, and voluntary welfare, leads to a more free and prosperous society, and how Christians can take action to order our economic lives to the

As we wrap up the third chapter of a discussion on theonomy, law, and the Kingdom of God, we look at some historical cases where biblical law was applied to and positivized in the laws of the nations other than Israel, including Britain, the United States, and Canada. Because law is an inescapable condition of life, if we will not be governed by God's law, we must necessarily be governed by some other law. Which one do we want for our nation?

We resume the conversation from last week on the place of God's law in society, and interact with listener questions. We also examine the New Testament teaching on the law of God, and address the reality that all law is coercive, by its very nature.

The literal meaning of theonomy is simply the law of God. However, it has come to be used as a pejorative term by many who have not interacted with or understood the work on the subject. Pastor Norm Millar of Redemption Bible Chapel in London raised some common objections to theonomy in a recent sermon, and we respond to some of them in this episode.

Ezra Institute Fellow Andrew Sandlin joins us on the show this week to talk about the current state of the West, demonstrating how we have become an anti-Christian culture. Andrew then explains the Christian calling to transform, rather than abandon, culture, and finally exhorts God's people to exercise godly dominion in building Christian culture.

After a stretch of current events commentary, we return to the main themes of this season: worldview and informational thinking. As the world around us seems to devolve at an accelerating pace, it's important to think and act from a principled and self-consciously Christian perspective.

Last week we talked about the nature, origins, and features of totalitarian states, and ended with a promise to discuss practical tactics for Christians to use in response. This episode highlights some of those responses, beginning with the often overlooked and undervalued weapon of prayer.

In this episode we examine and define totalitarianism- its meaning, origins, and some historic examples. We look at the ancient roots of this ideology as expressed by Aristotle and implicitly adopted by Thomas Aquinas and the Roman Catholic church. As we witness the continued push toward totalitarianism in Canada in particular, what were the assumptions and commitments that brought us to this point?

Aaron Rock, Ezra Institute Fellow and Pastor of Harvest Windsor, joins us on this episode to talk about how to understand Christian unity, and what our view on unity and division say about the gospel. Disunity is rooted in differing theological understandings of what it means for Christ to be Lord. We also touch on the Great Schism, marriage and sex, eschatology, the church, and the current state of emergency in Canada.

John Cooper of Skillet joins us to talk about their recent album, Dominion, about the experience of writing music in a dark and confused cultural moment, and about the importance of Christians participating in civil life.

The dispute over the meaning and extent of rights and freedoms is on display in the Canadian truckers' ongoing protest in Ottawa, and the response to it from media and elected officials. But this dispute is also rooted in an older and deeper philosophical system known as Critical Theory. As ever, the solution is ultimately and only found at the cross of Jesus Christ.

What a man avoids saying is often more telling than what he does say. As a 70-kilometer-long truck convoy approaches Ottawa in opposition to mandatory vaccinations, we have an opportunity to reflect on some of the reasons that evangelicals have seemed hesitant to publicly and clearly declare, from a scriptural foundation, what they oppose.

In a Christian worldview, every area of life and experience is to be brought under the lordship of Jesus the King. Another way to say this is that as God's vice-gerents, human beings are called to exercise God-honouring dominion over the earth. Special guest Allie-Beth Stuckey joins us to talk about the Christian calling to faithfulness in the sphere of politics and media.

As Canada faces a legal context that is increasingly hostile to Christian belief and practice, the church has an opportunity and an obligation to speak prophetically to our civil authorities, reminding them that they are ministers under authority of Jesus Christ, the Ruler of the kings of the earth.

Jesus Christ is gathering His inheritance from all the nations of the earth, reconciling and restoring what had been handed over to the devil. Christians have graciously been given a role to play in this restoration process.

From the creation of the very first people in the garden of Eden, human beings were called to develop the earth to create all kinds of wealth and riches that lay hidden and undeveloped in creation. This development was not and is not easy. There are three ways by which wealth can be built: hard work, inheritance, or theft.

For this Christmas week episode, we examine a recent tweet from Tim Keller submitted by a listener on the nature of the cross and of power. To understand what Christ was accomplishing and demonstrating on the cross, we need to consider why He came to earth as a baby in the first place, and what He has called His people to in the time before His incarnation as well as after His ascension to the Father.

This week's episode deals with the recent hustle of Bill C4 through the Canadian senate, to become law early in the new year, describing how Christian counselling has effectively and explicitly been made a criminal offense. We also get a chance to respond to some listener questions on the relationship between law and gospel.