Forging Ploughshares

Paul Axton Preaches - The turn from Christ as ethical model also entails a turn from Christ as the full revelation of God. Abstractions about God's nature, apart from Christ, devolve to pure power and evil. The resolution is Christ's depiction of himself as revealing the will of God. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton untangles the problem of the mistranslation in the Latin Vulgate taken up and incorporated into Augustinian theology. A straightforward explanation of the reign of death, at the root of sin, and the defeat of this reign is set forth.

Jason and Paul look back over the past 5 years and 500 podcasts to the beginning of Forging Ploughshares and the founding of Ploughshares Bible Institute and discuss where we have been and plans for the future. In celebration we introduce our new intro and outro.

Paul Axton Preaches - The world challenging nature of the Gospel was itself challenged by the Constantinian shift, which seemed to have made the former enemy the support of the church. But the question is, if this Roman violentization of church and theology can be uncritically accepted? Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In this PBI course discussion Tim, David, Allan, Matt, and Paul discuss the impact of Constantinianism on what was presumed to be the unbiased consensus, the shared natural understanding, reached in the church councils. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton preaches - Mary demonstrates the human temptation to linger at the tomb. Human culture and religion, along with contractual theology, would reify death but the Easter story empties the grave and the law of sin and death. Only in turning from the tomb can we see the risen Jesus. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In this PBI course discussion Tim, Allan, Austin, Trenton, Matt, and Paul discuss how contractual or justification theory has captured the Western understanding of Romans interpreters and a practical alternative is discussed. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton Preaches - In the Triumphal Entry Jesus not only reverses the crowds nationalistic expectations but reverses the myth of death denial by which the Prince of this world enslaves. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In this lecture on Romans 4, Paul Axton depicts Abraham's faith as an organic reversal of universal death denial (sin) through the death acceptance of resurrection faith. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton Preaches - What sacrifice do you believe in, the sacrificial systems of this world inclusive of war and sin or the sacrifice of Christ which has ended the sacrifice of war and sin? Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton, in this lecture on Romans 3, applies the "faith of" Christ to being made right (righteousness) in regard to the incapacity for faithfulness created by the lie of sin. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton Preaches - To find where God is at work requires looking beyond the symbolic/law which determines significance in human values, to the value of the cross which suspends ("as if not") the principles and powers of this world. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In this third lecture on Romans Paul Axton deals with the difference between the "faith in" and "faith of" Christ and the difference between an objective cognitive faith as found in contractual theology and a holistic faithfulness, truer to the Greek and fitting the faithfulness of Abraham. The issue of available light and the mysterious Gentiles who have been true to the law are also dealt with. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton Preaches - Can you love someone and kill them? Most all Protestants answer, yes, in regard to killing in a just war, but this is a reversal of the teaching of Jesus. The problem is a separation of the life of Christ from his teaching and the resolution is to restore Jesus as model. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

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