Ezra Institute Podcast for Cultural Reformation

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.

Today Canada passed Bill C4, asserting that the basis of human dignity consists in radical autonomy from any tradition or authority. Such legislation should leave no doubt whether politics is a moral issue - it is something that Scripture speaks about, and something that ministers ought to speak on both in public and in the pulpit.

The issue of theonomy has been a perennial question - how do we understand, interpret, and apply the law of God in its original context, as well as the present day? Beginning with the basics, Joe Boot examines the origins and assumptions of the theonomic perspective, explaining that at its root, theonomy is a view of Christian ethics that seeks to take the whole Word of God seriously.

Pastor Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church, Calgary, joins us to talk about his experience with Alberta Health Services and the reason he persisted in gathering his church together. Andre Schutten considers some of the legal implications and precedents surrounding Tim's case, and the nature of the relationship between the church and the civil magistrate.

Tracking the development of Western thought from the Reformation and forward into today, we notice that several contemporary dominant ideas that have their root in self-conscious opposition to God and His Word, and to the idea of man as the image-bearer of God. Chief among these in our own time is the modern green movement. What does a biblical approach to climate stewardship look like?

As we reflect on the anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, Joe Boot addresses the common perception that the Reformation was a movement limited to the church. Rather, the recovery of biblical authority had and continues to have implications to every area of our life and work.

We revisit two of our favourite themes - Sphere Sovereignty and Modal Aspects - and explore how these two models emerged from the Reformation and how they identify and give expression to the way the world is necessarily organized.

The biblical starting point for all human activity - including academic reflection - is the character of God as revealed in the Bible, the incarnate Son, and the created world. For man to begin with anything else is necessarily to respond in an idolatrous fashion.

Contrary to unbelieving philosophy which places some aspect of human experience on the throne of the universe, and contrary to earlier Christian philosophy which seeks to elevate theology above all other spheres of science, is the Reformational view. On this view, the self-attesting revealed Word of God is the basis for every subsequent theory about the universe.

This episode introduces the idea that aspects of reality hang together like pearls on a thread, and explains how philosophical assumptions inform and direct our everyday activities.

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.

Season Five of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation kicks off with a brief review of the Canadian Federal election and begins a discussion that we will develop throughout this season on how and why a fully formed Christian worldview accounts for reality, even in the midst of tumultuous cultural circumstances.

On this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Marcus Pittman describes the present state of Christian representation in mainstream arts and entertainment, and what he is doing to improve it. We discuss the Christian calling to be the best storytellers, because the Christian story is the greatest story in the world.

Christian orthodoxy is antithetical to utopian illusions. Since God governs history, the Christian, in faith, obedience, and confidence, moves toward God’s predestined future. The triune, sovereign Lord, who by His providence and power sustains all things at every moment, is the one in whom the Christian trusts.

In order to achieve the visions of liberation and environmental justice it is necessary to shape the hearts and minds of the rising generation. One of the main planks in the radical environmentalist platform is to ensure the children have been indoctrinated regarding the ‘facts’ about climate change and understand their own negative impact on the earth as analogous to a virus infecting a host.

Throughout the green movement, many are promoting a culture of death in the name of life, health and eco-justice. Whereas the God of Scripture says, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it”, and tells us that children are a heritage and reward from Him, this new religion tells us that children are a threat to planetary life and large families a disease.

The liberating identity of those in the covenant of grace transcends skin color and ethnic origin and refuses to look at the world in terms of us and them, oppressors versus oppressed, but grasps all reality in light of our Creation, Fall, and Redemption as a human race.

The idea of structural oppression and the need to be liberated from it is not new. It is a religious motive, with its own doctrine of God, man, sin, and redemption. It has taken specific aim at the evisceration of Christianized culture, and it has recurred again and again, especially since the French Revolution.

When it comes to human culture, the question is not whether we will shape culture, but what kind of culture will we cultivate. That is to say, as image-bearers of God, we are inescapably cultural creatures. We have been placed in this world as in a garden, to tend, develop and care for it.

Joe Boot explains how intellectuals are informed by one worldview or another, which always underlies their efforts to account for either physical or social phenomena, informing the solutions they offer.

As image-bearers of God, human beings occupy a privileged place within creation. The wonder of man is that he occupies a kingly position as the religious center of the temporal cosmos. Christ Jesus emphasized the central place of man not only by His own incarnation, but by the relative value he placed on human beings and the responsibility we have to care for and cultivate other parts of creation.

At the 2021 Runner Academy, Joe Boot and faculty introduce the work and reformational vision of Evan Runner, and respond to delegates' live questions on law, politics, theology, and the Canadian justice system.

Scripture clearly connects the activities of creation and redemption as a unified totality in Jesus Christ, pointing to the ultimate destiny of redeemed humanity in resurrection life. In Colossians 1:15-20, Paul affirms that all things in the entire cosmos, visible and invisible, including all powers and authorities, both heavenly and earthly, were created through and for Christ. Nothing exists by itself or for itself – including man – but consists in an unbreakable coherence with all other things by virtue of creation.

The biblical command to love our neighbour is one of the most frequently repeated sentiments, used by both believers and unbelievers. But it is important to understand the command to love in its proper context of the law of God, otherwise we risk reducing love to an elastic term that we can fill with whatever content we want.

The good news of the gospel message has profound consequences beyond personal salvation. The gospel is the power of God to extend His Kingdom rule over residential schools, closed churches, and godless legislation.

In this workshop session originally delivered to Christian medical professionals, Joe Boot explains the full scope of the meaning of health, and what the gospel of Jesus Christ means for the health of society.

Joe Boot explains the importance to culture of a uniquely Christian approach to education, and the role of education in planning for and shaping the future.

In this episode we discuss Bill C10, along with some of the foundational cultural assumptions and commitments that brought us to this point. Joe Boot explains why freedom of communication is a gospel issue.

John Calvin was referred to as the theologian of the Holy Spirit, and many who follow his theology would benefit from a greater appreciation of the power and role of the Holy Spirit in the world and the life of the believer.

Joe Boot explains the connection between work, culture, and healing in the Christian vision of reality, and the importance of the balance between work and rest in life and in healthcare.

Our true character is shown when we are put under pressure. In order to respond to the needs of our time with faithful Christian action, we must first be established in a faithful Christian mind.

Economic life, like every other area of life, is motivated by inescapably religious assumptions. As the people of God, it is important that we cultivate a biblical set of economic assumptions. In this week's episode, Joe Boot addresses a class at Regent University on the question of justice and economics.

The great need of our generation is the recovery of a uniquely Christian mind, which will include a thoroughly Christian approach to language. In our minds, speech, and action we are to be submitted to the authority of Jesus, the Word of God.

How do we balance bad news with a confidence in the victory of the gospel, and how should a Christian live and work in this climate?

The idea of ultimate authority is an inescapable concept, which is clearly on display in our vision of politics. Any claim to authority rests on an idea of sovereignty - it all depends which god you believe in.

We return to the second half of our interview with Jonathan Burnside, discussing the concept of humble government, beginning with the understanding that the earthly king is himself under a higher law and Sovereign. Music graciously provided by Jacob Moon. Get Joe Boot’s book, The Mission of God.

Tim Dieppe is Ezra Institute Fellow for Public Policy and Head of Public Policy at Christian Concern. He joins us to discuss the recent landmark victory for freedom of the church in Scotland and the historic relationship of church and state.

Ezra Institute Fellow Jonathan Burnside introduces the obvious political implications of the Bible. As a holy nation and a nation of priests, Israel was meant to stand before God in regard to all the nations of the world. By embodying and holding forth the gift of Torah, they were to be a light to all the nations.

All law requires an agreed-upon standard of authority; to speak of theonomy is to speak literally of ‘God’s law.’ But how has that law been applied in different societies throughout history? And how, if at all, does the law of God apply to contemporary society?

Apologetics includes a defense of the Christian philosophy of life. Michael Thiessen of the Liberty Coalition Canada joins us to discuss an apologetic for the limits on the authority of the state and the ultimate authority of the kingdom of God that only a Christian worldview can account for.

As Western culture has shifted away from a broadly Christian consensus on basic beliefs of human identity, life, sexuality, history and more, Christian apologetics - the work of defending the Christian philosophy of life - will look different than it did in previous generations.