Forging Ploughshares

Paul Axton preaches on I Corinthians 9, where the apostle Paul's ideal of authority and leadership is contrasted with that of the Corinthians and contemporary notions of leadership. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Hayden Hagerman and Paul Axton discuss Wittgenstein's and Augustine's understanding of language and how this can result in two different theological understandings. Part 1 of 2. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton concludes his series on Anselm: Anselm works out the necessity of the death of Christ as part of the logic, already developed in his other arguments, of a pure reason. The necessity of the death of Christ is a violent logical necessity in his closed system of the human mind. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton Preaches: Paul is teaching the Corinthians of an alternative knowing - a self-awareness that must include a sensitivity to persons. It is not simply a matter of knowing a set of facts – idols are nothing and God is something. It is a matter of knowing persons – some are weak some are strong – and the principle found in Christ is that of a loving personal knowledge. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton connects Anselm to Hegel and Heidegger and to Lacanian psychoanalysis in tracing the turn to a reified language as a form of salvation. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton explains how Anselm reasons from ordinary differences to an absolute difference so as to attain to the thought of God and cross the ontological divide which separates the divine and human. To cross this divide using reason is an ultimate act of the will which will require the Cross. All of this depends upon an essentializing or absolutizing of human interiority. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton explains how Anselm gives us an alternative theory of atonement based on an alternative anthropology which depends upon pure reason. Mysticism and rationalism are seen to be fused and necessary in this key thinker who stands behind Western Christianity and Western thought. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton preaches: Salvation as Paul applies it in I Corinthians pertains to how we do marriage, how we regard sex, how we negotiate our social station, or how we negotiate identity. Clearly Paul’s message is not that you have now accepted Jesus into your heart and so you are going to heaven when you die – and everything else is secondary. Rather he says you have been bought with a price and what you have been bought out of is a world where sexual gratification, social station, or ethnicity or family may be thought to be the primary point of human existence. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton preaches: Anxiety is created by putting too much importance on the world of marriage, social status and ethnicity. Paul may be using end of the world language metaphorically so as to relativize worldly things but certainly he means these concerns to not have a definitive grip. The way we suspend this anxiety producing grip is to be found in Paul's phrase "as if not." If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton Preaches: The arc of Scripture contains a confrontation with the tragic that is an occasion for what Kierkegaard called the comedic. The Christian is in on the humor if it is not obstructed by bad theology. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton preaches: To get the freedom of sex in marriage correct one must sort out the principle of the flesh from the reality of the body. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

A brief conversation with Vangie Rodenbeck, developer of Ploughshares Bible Institute’s newest course: THE 250 Marginalization and Restorative Justice. The course is a practical and thought-provoking application the peaceful Gospel message at the heart of Forging Ploughshares’ mission to issues of power and inequality among traditionally marginalized groups. Vangie shares how her experiences raising a child with a documented disability have influenced her theology and her ideas about the justice offered by the powerlessness of Jesus’ cross. The course will be open for registration by the 14th of January. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In this introduction to Kierkegaard, Paul Axton compares Kierkegaard's Sickness Unto Death with Lacanian psychoanalysis. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton continues his examination of the life and theology of John Howard Yoder. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton exams an absolute and Christian notion of Freedom and suggests our age is characterized by a pursuit of a false freedom giving rise to the sickness of the age. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton talks about John Howard Yoder, one of the premier theological thinkers of the 20th century who suffered from a sexual perversion. Since he consciously developed his theology to include the fullness of personality the test here is to work out how this failure is reflected in the theology of John Howard Yoder. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton poses the question, "Do Christians have recourse to the law when so-called Christians are abusing them sexually or financially?" If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton weaves the thought of Wittgenstein with his personal journey in order to set the stage for understanding his philosophy. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton preaches: The apostle Paul deals with the origin and depth of evil and explains to the Church in Corinth how to insure the power of the Passover Lamb applies to them. Part of what needs to be gotten rid of is the notion that law and love are opposed. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton explains that Ludwig Wittgenstein shifted philosophy and with it theology to a new appreciation of the embodied nature of language and thus the embedded contextual nature of being human. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton preaches on I Corinthians 4, where the apostle Paul says he does not judge anyone nor even presume to judge himself. He is describing a relinquishment of judgmentalism achieved by presuming responsibility as a servant and not a legislator of over the church. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton preaches: The Church is an ethic, a form of spiritual worship constituting the presence of Christ. It does not simply have these things or do these things as if there is a gap of separation between them an the Church. This is definitive of the Church. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Scott McNay and Paul Axton discuss the influence of Eugene Peterson and the point of being a pastor through reflection on the book of Corinthians. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In this sermon, Paul Axton suggests that Christ is the foundation of the cosmos in that he is creator and sustainer and this understanding accords with recent science but also goes beyond it and beyond the fundamental principles of reason available in a closed cosmos. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton lectures on the importance of the singular foundation through Niemöller and Bonhoeffer. Paul pictures Christ as the One foundation in I Cor. 3 and indicates even though we may build on this foundation our life may be a futility. The work of the Church at certain periods in history may come to nothing - this is illustrated in the life of Martin Niemöller and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton preaches: Rhetoric, philosophy and law or debaters, philosophers, and scribes is Paul's way of describing the talk and talkers which are of this age. A fullness of speech marks a different age, a different identity, and a different orientation to language. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton introduces I Corinthians. He argues Paul is employing something like Austin's notion of a speech act - his "word of the cross" is deployed to create a unified community where the logos of wisdom is creating dis-community. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton preaches on I Cor. 2:6-8 - Human wisdom is responsible, according to Paul, for the death of Christ and those who killed him were blind to what they were doing. The Bible traces human religion and understanding to a death dealing lie and this is what the wisdom of Christ exposes and displaces. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton preaches: With sexual abuse by both Catholic Priests and Protestant clergy reaching epidemic proportions there is the necessity to pose the possibility the church is incubating evil. Corinthians addresses and provides an alternative to illicit desire and sexuality. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Michael Hines has written and studied the history of Islam and we discuss the various possibilities as to the identity of Muhammad, the difference in the view of God between Islam and Christianity, the historical development of Islam and the influences which may have shaped this faith. Join the discussion hosted by Paul Axton. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton preaches on the opening section of I Corinthians. in which Paul calls them "saints," "sanctified," the "called out" holy ones, is the point of unity to which he is calling this divided community. God's holiness, his innermost unity, is the mode in which the Corinthians and all of us are to find unity. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In this conversation Paul Axton and Ryan Hemmer discuss philosophy of science as it impacts theology and as worked out by Bernard Lonergan. Ryan also recently started his own podcast, Systematically. Part 3 of 3 If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton preaches: In the 1960’s and into the 70’s – with the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, women’s liberation, the rise of the drug culture – what we call the cultural revolution – a phenomena called the Jesus People came about. Youth Culture meets the Church. We are not at the end of this cultural clash but can assess it through Corinthians. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In this introductory sermon to I Corinthians, Paul Axton compares the measure of the cross to the health and wealth gospel and the philosophy of church growth as a measure of success. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton interviews Ryan Hemmer who is completing a major work on Bernard Lonergan. Here are his insights into this key theologian of the 20th century. Lonergan provides the basis for theology to forge ahead into previously uncharted territory and Ryan explains why. Ryan also recently started his own podcast, Systematically. Part 1 of 3 If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Jason Rodenbeck and Paul Axton discuss the newest course available on PBI. Matthew: Gospel of Kingdoms is an in-depth, theologically reflective reading of the book of Matthew which allows Jesus' life and teaching to challenge all of our ideas about the way life is supposed to work in this world. We see Jesus' Kingdom vision as truly as we can and learn to imagine what it was he saw as he taught it. Learning how it defied the expectations of the first-century people awaiting the Messiah helps us see how our own contemporary expectations aren't much different and how Jesus is as shocking today as he was 2000 years ago. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In part three of this discussion, Paul Axton and Megan Kenyon talk about the failures and inadequacies of Utopian societies and attempt to describe the ideal understanding of the Christian community - especially as it relates to the embodied human condition and the need to meet the entirety of human needs. As a female artist, Megan describes the particular struggle of women in the Church. Part 3 of 3. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton preaches: Persons were a minority among people of first century Rome. Onesimus and Jesus did not qualify as Persons according to Roman law. Christ, by becoming a slave, overturns the valuation system of the world and in the process redefines what it means to be a person. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In part two of this interview, Megan Kenyon describes the blossoming of art in its relation to the renaissance and reformation, and then the fragmenting of thought and theology as reflected in modern art. Part 2 of 3 If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton quotes two poets, Woodie Guthrie and Jason Rodenbeck, to make the point that bad theology fused with capitalism enslaves. We are to be about the work of redemptive creation care in all of our labors. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In part one of this interview, Megan Kenyon and Paul Axton discuss the role of art in the life of the Christian and the theology of art. Part 1 of 3 If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton preaches: Is slavery a metaphor for sin and not itself sin or is slavery a type of sin? How we answer this question not only determines our reading of Philemon but determines if we recognize that economics and socio-political forces are part of what enslaves us and constitute a part of what Christ frees us from. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton explains Zizek and the core of Lacanian theory as it overlaps with the apostle Paul. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

In this sermon, Paul Axton suggests that the manner in which slavery is subverted by Paul is the mode in which the Kingdom is made a reality. Radical subordination enacts the subversion of the City of Man and marks the City of God. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton preches: Christendom held out the promise of an enduring social structure impacted by Christ. Christendom failed and every form of this faith is bound to fail. So what are we left with? If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton preaches by depicting engagement with the truth of Christ and contrasting it with the detachment of the alternative understanding characterized by idolatry but also by any focus on religious experience. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton preaches: An examination of biblical idolatry as an example of the problematic nature of the pursuit of religion on the basis of an uncritical desire and experience. Christ exposes the misdirected religious pursuit of human religion. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton interviews Eric Miller, who stands in the unique position of forming an Anabaptist like communion from within the Restoration movement. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton preaches: Our tendency is to fly free from the mortal condition but in doing so we isolate ourselves from human relationships. The question we are asked each Sunday, "Are you one of Us?" grounds us in the fellowship of the crucified. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound

Paul Axton preaches: Christian belief intervenes in a passive, disconnected orientation to the law and to the world so as to overcome the gap between mind and will. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound