Forging Ploughshares

In this opening discussion of the theme of Romans Matt, Tim, Allan, Austin, and Paul discuss the real world difference of being made right in regard to sin, death, and desire. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton Preaches - After Constantine the cross is completely changed in meaning. Instead of a reviled instrument of torture and representative of a nonviolent sacrifice, it is made into an emblem of war and the official sign of Empire. Constantinianism changes Christianity and we must be able to discern this change to understand the New Testament faith. Sign up for our class "Living in the Kingdom" starting March 8th. https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/offerings Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In this second lecture on Romans Paul Axton sets aside the pervasive notions of a contractual understanding which have obscured access to Paul's depiction of the human predicament and its resolution in Christ. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton Preaches - As Christians who believe the peace of Christ is a central teaching of Christianity, how do we read the Old Testament depiction of God as if he is a warrior deity, promoting genocide and killing? The New Testament teaches us how to read these sections of scripture as applying spiritually. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In this continuing PBI course discussion on Romans Matt, Tim, Austin and Paul discuss how it is that death is obscured or denied in the salvation systems of this world which deal in death. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In this PBI course discussion Tim, Austin, Matt, and Paul discuss Romans 5 and I Corinthians 15:56 and the universal tendency to transpose sin and death. The universal mistake is definitive of sin and recognizing it is an opening to rightly understanding salvation. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In this first in a series of talks on Romans, Paul Axton introduces the theme of Romans - the human predicament and its resolution - as it revolves around the problem of shame and death and as it is resolved in righteousness. This is contrasted to the typical Augustinian approach that misappropriates this language.

In the PBI course discussion Tyler, Matt, Trenton, Jason, Tim, & Paul, discuss how the image of God in humans is simultaneously an ontological reality for all people but one completed or corrupted by being joined to either the the work of Christ (resurrection life) or a destructive story like redemptive violence.

Jon, Megan, and Paul discuss the post-apocalyptic science fiction novel A Canticle for Leibowitz by American writer Walter M. Miller Jr. Set in a Catholic monastery in the desert of the southwestern United States after a devastating nuclear war, the book spans thousands of years as civilization rebuilds itself. The topic turns to this present moment and the nature of hope in the midst of dystopia.

Paul Axton Preaches - Christ directly contradicts elements of the Law, along with the Old Testament portrayals of God as violent. The defenders of this mistaken understanding were those who killed him, so that he died in exposing and correcting this difference. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In this PBI course discussion Tim, Austin, David, and Paul discuss the practical ways to engage both church and culture with the non-violent peaceable Gospel. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton Preaches - James 3 describes the characteristics constituting wisdom and presumes a capacity to achieve righteousness characterized by peace and love are among the key ingredients of this wisdom. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In this PBI discussion Alan, Matt, and Paul discuss the real world revelation of the immanent Trinity in Jesus, who is the Cosmic Christ. The definitive sign of having encountered Christ is the passage from violence to Peace. To miss this is to potentially mistake the devil for God. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In Part 2 of their discussion, Megan, Jon, Jason, and Paul spell out ways of breaking down the barriers which have arisen with belief in conspiracy theories and identity politics, and focus on the attitudes and theological answers that might heal this present moment. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In Part I of this two part discussion, Megan, Jon, Jason, and Paul come to grips with why people are taken in by conspiracy theories, identity politics, and the theological failure and theological answers that might explain this present moment. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton Preaches: The recent attack on the Capitol and the religion that supports this nationalism has parallels to German Christian thought and the rise of Hitler. Paul is describing the defeat of this death dealing orientation. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In this PBI discussion, Jon joins Matt, Tim, and Paul in a continued conversation of how to get beyond modernist, Hegelian, dialectic thought and hermeneutics by returning to the early church's approach to Scripture. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In a PBI Course discussion, Tim, Matt, and Paul discuss a reading of Scripture that harmonizes Old Testament violence with the peace of Christ by focusing on a theological reading or a return to the early church hermeneutic. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In a PBI discussion, Tyler, Matt, and Paul, discuss a Christian form of knowing which is neither supersessionist nor modern foundationalism. Using the psychoanalytic poles of perversion and hysteria, they lay out a third way of knowing. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton Preaches - Mary's Song and story opens human interiority and depth to world-changing consequences for human choice. Out of this realization evolves the modern sense of human interiority. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton Preaches - Darkness is interwoven into the light of the Christmas story which heightens the meaning of its sublime beauty and purpose. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Jon and Paul continue their discussion of the critical realism of Ben Meyer and Bernard Lonergan and discuss how subject/object duality is the specific form of subjectivity overcome in Christ and how this might conflict with or fit into an apocalyptic theological understanding. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Jon and Paul discuss the critical realism of Ben Meyer and Bernard Lonergan and how this might conflict with or fit into an apocalyptic theological understanding. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton Preaches - The advent of the light breaking into the world is not dependent on human decision. It is a matter of what God is doing. To focus on the mediation of law, on the mediation of history, or to picture faith as a mediation, is to miss the act of God in Christ. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In this lecture, Paul Axton fully engages contemporary critiques of Sigmund Freud but suggests that in the second phase of his work and in the broad parameters of his project there is a potential theological understanding that needs to be utilized. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton pits the salvation historical approach of N. T. Wright or the Quest for the Historical Jesus against the apocalyptic revelation of being found "in Christ" as in Galatians. Transference out of slavery to freedom does not depend primarily on history or time but a shift in relationship. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton describes a horseback journey to Adobe Walls on the old XIT Ranch which completes the story of his recent blog on the role of our own creation of memory as it plays out in our reading of the Gospels. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

American Christian nationalism conjoined with Christian Zionism strangely reduplicates the false teaching Paul identifies with the false gospel in Galatians. The only antidote to the pervasive spread of this false teaching is still the prescription Paul gives - the true gospel message. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton Preaches - The gospel inaugurates a new world order with its own understanding and reason. The argument of Galatians is that the gospel is its own foundation and does not depend on law, rhetoric, reason, religion, or anything else, as it is the speech act of God in which the Christ event continues to unfold. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In this lecture Paul Axton distinguishes the manner in which true experience of God includes the created order, while the counterfeit experience (inclusive of forms of reason) excludes the world and thought itself. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Several passages in the Bible depict humans as reflecting the image of God, and by extension the entire creation bears the mark or image of the creator. The implication is that creations purpose is fulfilled in this image bearing which embraces the role of all of creation and our own story in the created order. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Jon and Paul discuss the history of biblical interpretation, critical approaches to Scripture, and the recent role of "cultural interpretation" as a means of arriving at a peaceable hermeneutic. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton Preaches - There is a definitive description of the experiential reality of God in which one world system with its morality and apriori presumptions melts away. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Jason discusses the unique perspective and insight of the art of Corby Blem with the artist. View the accompanying video to go along with the discussion of this unique artist. https://youtu.be/D7DFTBoo_B0 Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton Preaches - The Christian experience of the sublime is the simultaneous recognition of the overwhelming power unleashed into the world and the existential recognition that this power is unleashed in our own life in resurrection faith. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In this lecture Paul Axton examines the insights and problems with the three reigning understandings of religion. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In this lecture on the Holy Spirit, Paul Axton depicts the communion of God within the immanent Trinity as the ground of human communion. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton, in a course at the Carpenter's House, explains the failure of modern thought as it is connected to natural philosophy and proposes a morally and aesthetically engaged understanding in a narrative or imaginative understanding. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton Preaches - In philosophy of religion and apologetics the moral and religious arguments for God proceed from the universality of religious beliefs or morality to the conclusion that God must exist. But is what we call God or the “moral law” in these arguments perhaps, nothing more than our own projection or the law of sin and death. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton Preaches - The revelation of the two-part name of God to Moses is fulfilled in the divinity and humanity of the incarnate Christ. The implication is that creation is a fit dwelling for God and Jesus is the story of God. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Jason and Paul, in discussing the course (Imaginative Apologetics) starting October 19th, discuss how philosophical arguments, such, as the moral argument, have given rise to radical evil as a concept and a reality. Register now at Ploughshares Bible Institute: https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/about Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton Preaches - Paul, in Ephesians, describes the Christian life as seeing everything differently, a seeing from the heart or waking up to the light. C. S. Lewis described his baptism as a baptism of the imagination and his Narnia tales illustrate what this waking up or conversion of the imagination entails. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Jason and Paul indicate how the philosophical arguments play into a failed psychology and point to the need for a fuller and more robust recognition of the Gospel as part of an apologetic. Our course Imaginative Apologetics will begin on October 19th. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton Preaches - The events of history bear the truth of Christianity so that this truth invites a redefinition, not only of truth, but of legitimate human sovereignty, justice, and reason. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Jason and Paul discuss the approach of imaginative apologetics in contrast to the traditional approach to natural theology. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton Preaches - Deploying the three most famous apologies or trial defenses in history (the trial of Socrates, Jesus and Paul), the contrast between a defense grounded in this world order (law, reason, power) and one grounded in the Kingdom of God, is used to illustrate the apocalyptic (world disrupting) nature of a proper Christian apologetic. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Vangie, Jason, and Paul discuss the existential threat posed by surveillance capitalist companies such as Facebook and Google but to which we have long been subject in the age of mass media. The manufacturing of consent and consumption is the lie of the principalities and powers in its modern guise. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton Preaches - The work of Christ, is one of the most contested aspects of Christianity. Bad theories of the atonement have obscured the simplicity of the New Testament summed up by Romans 8:2, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death” (Romans 8.2). Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In this lecture on Jacques Derrida, Paul Axton explains Derrida’s philosophical project of “deconstruction,” aimed at understanding how self-consciousness is divided or already conceived in difference, which is the root problem of violence. Derrida's development follows and aids Paul's conception of the law. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton Preaches - In the recapitulation view of the atonement, Christ is seen as the new Adam who succeeds where Adam failed. In psychoanalysis there is a similar diagnosis in which people live according to a fantasy or lie about themselves and the world and part of the goal of psychoanalysis, as with Christianity, is to traverse or expose and correct this fantasy. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound