Forging Ploughshares

In this first in a series with Jordan Daniel Wood, Matt and Paul interview Jordan and discuss his journey from the Restoration Movement and a Bible College in Missouri to his groundbreaking work on Maximus the Confessor. Jordan, Matt, and Paul, share the overlap and development of their journey and discuss the present state of the academy and church, and Jordan introduces why Maximus is the theologian for this age of expanding knowledge. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - Imitation of Christ is the very substance of salvation. Apart from imitating his life there is no gospel, no tradition and no faith, yet this crucial motif supporting the language of discipleship, being in Christ, walking as Christ walked, is obscured by "faith alone" and theories of atonement focused on payment. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - The power of coercion, the power of command and control, or power over other people is the power of death and violence that is universally recognized. Resurrection power redefines the meaning of power, linking it with the love and unity of being joined to Christ. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Jim, David, Austin, Drew, Brian, and Paul discuss Luther's approach to faith and reason as building upon a nominalist understanding which leads to his focus on forensics and his notion of a necessary and continuing dialectic between law and grace. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - The blindness of sacrificial religion, of idolatry, of cultural hostility, creates a fabricated reality described as a process of externalization, objectivation, and internalization in which the origins of human culture create a necessary blindness or mystery which Christ exposes and displaces. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - Creation ex-nihilo poses the possibility of evil as a return or defeat of the fulness of creation in redemption and participation in the divine. Thus we are co-participants in our own creation, willing the fulness of our completion in Christ through our echoing the "Yes" of Christ the the Father and the Spirit. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Brad, Brian, Matthew, Drew, Jim, Austin, Matt, and Paul conclude their discussion of Maximus the Confessor and his notion of theosis and take up possible problems and implications. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Matt, Jim, Brian, Brad, Drew, Matthew, and Paul examine together the Christo-logic of Maximus the Confessor found in his formula “The Word of God, very God, wills that the mystery of his Incarnation be actualized always and in all things.” The radical implications and potential issues with this understanding are discussed. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - The holistic cosmic vision of Ephesians also details how this integrated vision defeats the partial vision of sin, in which the finite is invested with ultimate meaning. The genealogy of the desire of the flesh, involves investing the flesh with a semantic load it cannot bear or satisfy. The antagonism this creates is resolved in the Body of Christ. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Matthew, Rob, Matt, Brian, Drew, Brad, and Paul conclude their discussion on Augustine's departure and contrast to Origen and develop the practical difference this will make in reading the Bible. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - Paul's notion of Christ's "summing up" of all things (Eph. 2:10) is taken by Irenaeus and the early church as descriptive of the economy of salvation and the means of defeating evil. Where this economy of participation is lost there is a simultaneous loss of a real world defeat of evil and a loss of a coherent frame explaining being "in Christ." Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Jim, Brian, David, Matthew, Drew, Rob, Matt, and Paul, discuss the shift that occurs with Augustine's rejection of Origen's apocatastasis and his turn to a dualism and notions of language and interiority that will come to define the modern in its nihilism and secularism. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

If Paul's gospel is summed up by Ephesians, this means the Lutheran or Protestant focus on Law versus grace or faith over and against works does not figure. This recentering of Paul's gospel entails a different perspective on Judaism (based on covenant and not contract) and also the understanding that Christ fulfills the covenant and does not meet the obligations of a contract, and this is God predestined plan for the cosmos. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Brian, Austin, and Paul discuss how Origen's Christology constitutes a metaphysics. In describing the relation between the Son and the Father Origen establishes his first principle, the foundation of the Christian worldview. (Sign up for our next class Philemon and Ephesians: Forgiveness and Reconciliation in Paul https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/offerings) Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - The mystery revealed in the Gospel pertains to creations end and beginning, to salvation from sin and the defeat of the Prince of the Power of the Air, to cosmic peace and reconciliation, and according to Origen, to the logoi or arche laid in the foundation of Christ. (Sign up for our next class Philemon and Ephesians: Forgiveness and Reconciliation in Paul https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/offerings) Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Brian, Matt, David, Austin, Drew, Matthew, Brad, and Paul discuss the key and foundational role, in spite of his condemnation, played by Origen of Alexandria. (Sign up for our next class Philemon and Ephesians: Forgiveness and Reconciliation in Paul https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/offerings) Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - At the baptism and transfiguration of Christ are revealed the transforming power of God found in God's presence in Christ, in Scripture, and in the communion of the Saints. (Sign up for our next class Philemon and Ephesians: Forgiveness and Reconciliation in Paul https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/offerings) Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Brian, Brad, David, Matthew, Drew, Jim, Allan, Matt, Rob, and Paul discuss how Irenaeus' recapitulation as salvation/hermeneutic is taken up by Origen in his book, On First Principles, as the first theology spelling out how Christian logic departs from Greek philosophy. (Sign up for our next class Philemon and Ephesians: Forgiveness and Reconciliation in Paul https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/offerings) Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - John describes the antichrist as denying the humanity of Christ and Karl Barth concludes the antichrist of the German church has also displaced Jesus as mediator with the world (in the form of the führer, the analogy of being, the state). There is a direct identity between Christ and the believer which brings together Creator and creation, flesh and Spirit, God and man, which is illustrated by Melchizedek and extended to Christ and all believers which directly counters the antichrist. (Sign up for our next class Philemon and Ephesians: Forgiveness and Reconciliation in Paul https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/offerings) Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Austin, Brad, Brian, Matt, Drew, Matthew, Allan, Jim and Paul, discuss the work of the early church father, Irenaeus, and his approach to both his reading of the Hebrew Scriptures and the economy of salvation, including cosmic salvation, through the summing up (recapitulation) of all things in the Gospel. (Sign up for our next class Philemon and Ephesians: Forgiveness and Reconciliation in Paul https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/offerings) Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - Isaiah depicts a world of darkness broken open by the light of the Messiah. The depth of the violence, oppression, and meaninglessness of this darkness must be appreciated so as to apprehend the world-changing nature of God conjoined to the world in the light of Christ. (Sign up for our next class Philemon and Ephesians: Forgiveness and Reconciliation in Paul https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/offerings) Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Matt, Jim, Allan, Rob, David, Brian, Brad, Drew, and Paul discuss the Gospel as answering the question, "Who do you say that I am?" Identifying Christ comes with the presence of Christ in the one answering the question. This Gospel encounter, not history, nor Scripture, nor church, is the central and primary authority from which all of these authorities are derived. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - The kingdoms of the world would determine reality through manipulation of life through death while Christ's kingdom defeats death and establishes a kingdom of life and peace. Though the Jewish notion that the Messiah would defeat Rome through violent insurrection was mistaken, it was not a mistake to understand that the Messiah would usher in a different kingdom and a different order of truth and reality. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

In this first in a series on reading the Bible Allan, Jim, Trenton, Matt, Brian, Drew, Matthew and Paul discuss the early church hermeneutic connected to the Gospel of peace and its connection to an embodied ethic, soon set aside in the Constantinian shift. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - In the United States and many places throughout the world Christianity is being tied to fascism and authoritarianism. There is a failed form of Christianity that becomes a platform for the worst forms of abusive authoritarianism, yet where Christianity is correctly understood Fascist Christian, Nazi Christian, or perhaps German Christian or American Christian should be oxymoronic. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

In this interview with Australian Pastor and Peace Activist Michael Wood, Michael describes how the struggle of being a peaceful Rector (head - the one in charge) led him to realize the depth of violence by which we are surrounded and the need to implement and practice peace structurally and strategically in church and throughout life. (You can find Practicing Peace at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1666792241?ie=UTF8&n=133140011 Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - the anthropic principle may accord or point to a Christian understanding, but Paul goes far beyond this in describing Christ as the motive force - the means and reason - for creation and creation's completion in redemption. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Catherine Totty interviews Paul in regard to his story in missions and his journey and experience in Japan. They discuss the role of mission organizations, the notion of contextualization, mission strategy, and training leadership. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - Christ as the truth resolves the trouble of dialectic through identity and difference. Maximus the Confessor describes Christ, based on the Chalcedonian formula, as a new form of rationality, bringing together absolute transcendence and immanence in the person of Christ - redefining all of these categories in the process. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

In this final podcast on the book of John, Jim, Matt, Brian, Tim, David and Paul, discuss the atonement theory of John - and whether atonement is the right word - and the meaning of dying with Christ or being inflicted with the sickness unto death (or the incapacity to die with Christ). Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - "God became man that man might become God." Maximus takes Athanasius' formula as summing up God's purposes for creation. The Christian becomes Christ, who is God. Rather than Luther's imputed righteousness Maximus holds to an unfolding deification in which "creation is incarnation."

Jim, Matt, David, Janice and Paul discuss the trial motif in the Gospel of John and the trial of Jesus as it directly confronts the problem of evil. The focus of discussion becomes the question of the nature of evil and its defeat in Christ. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - Origen, following Paul, held that the relation between the Father and the Son found in the incarnation is the eternal truth about God and creation. There is no other biography of God than that found in Jesus Christ, yet this simple Gospel understanding has been obscured in part due to the condemnation of Origen's development of it. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Matthew, Jim, Brian, Matt, Tim, Janice, and Paul, consider the book of John in terms of a cosmic trial in which Judas and all who hand Jesus over are witnesses for the prosecution and Jesus and all those who witness on his behalf throughout the book are witnesses for the defense. The verdict has cosmic implications. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - Paul, in Ephesians, says all things are summed up in Christ. This doctrine of summing up or recapitulation, according to the church father Irenaeus, is at once the salvation and hermeneutic that constitutes the Gospel. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Jim, Matt, and Paul discuss the apocalyptic shift of Christ as truth and life. The tomb of Christ becomes the true ark of the covenant collapsing hades and sheol. The lamb who takes away the sin of the world, John's theological summary, is focused on the power of life as inherently defeating death, and this is the meaning of the two goats of the day of atonement. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - The identity of Christ (the Gospel), is inclusive of the presence of Christ in the one answering the question of identity. The identity of Christ is the primary authority, not the authority of history, Scripture, or Church, which derive their authority in his identity. Like early heresies, missing the identity of Christ, is to miss his presence in the inner person answering the question. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Matt, Brian, Jim, Janice and Paul discuss our after death experiences and the experience of abiding in the peace and presence of Christ, and how this ties in to the doctrine of salvation in John, and the picture of Christ as true Temple and true abiding place. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Tim, Matthew, Janice, Brian, Matt, and Paul discuss John the Baptists phrase "Behold, the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world" as an interpretive frame for understanding the nature of salvation, the meaning of the cross, and the problem of darkness as presented in John's Gospel. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - The rule of faith refers to apostolic authority, the canon or rule determining scripture, the rule which the apostles applied to one another and the Hebrew Scriptures, and the ethic and mindset the Christian. The Christian is to put on as the mind of Christ and the mode and goal of this rule or mindset is peace - the unity of the faith. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Mathew, Jim, David, Matt, Brian, and Paul examine how the Jewish and Greek worldview and sensibility is undone in the crucifixion of Christ. The return to a premodern understanding allows for Christ as foundation. Specifically, crucifixion was the destiny of Haman, the curse of the wicked, the annihilation of personhood and Christ's crucifixion and harrowing of hell empties out Jewish and Greek absolutes and establishes an alternative frame of understanding (escaping the modern dilemma). Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - A key part of the rule of faith is the peace that can resist the violence of torture, a type of the violent regime of "truth," which the peace of Christ deposes. Christ's peace is an interpretive rule for reading scripture and the world which is included in the mind of Christ the believer puts on. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - The Apostle Paul uses the picture of the "analogy of faith" or the "rule of faith" and pictures it as part of having the mind of Christ. This rule is the measure of the canon of scripture, so that we go from Gospel to scripture both historically (in the formation of the canon) and in our interpretation of scripture. (To register for our next class “Reading the Bible in Community” starting the week of September 26th and running through November 18th register at https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/offerings) Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

In this interview with Old Testament scholar Eric Seibert, Paul and Eric discuss his most recent book Enjoying the Old Testament (https://www.amazon.com/Enjoying-Old-Testament-Encountering-Scripture). Eric explains the value of the Old Testament as a pointer to Christ, and as training in righteousness and maybe even a counterexample to the teaching of Christ. (To register for our next class “Reading the Bible in Community” starting the week of September 26th and running through November 18th register at https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/offerings) Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Jim, Brian, Matthew, Janice, David, Matt, and Paul discuss how it is the force of human law that explains the source of evil which Christ encountered and defeated. The work of Walter Benjamin, critical race theory, and natural and positive law are discussed in their connection to forms of violence exposed by Christ. (To register for our next class “Reading the Bible in Community” starting the week of September 26th and running through November 18th register at https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/offerings) Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - The satanic version of theosis is not displacement of God with self but a loss of self under the weight of sin sickness, violence and fear. True freedom does not pertain to religion or irreligion per se, but to suspending the weight of the sickness unto death through Christ. (To register for our next class “Reading the Bible in Community” starting the week of September 26th and running through November 18th register at https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/offerings) Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

In this discussion of Hans Jonas' picture of Gnosticism, Jim, Tim, Janice, Brian, David, and Paul consider how the Gnostic problem characterizes the human tendency toward dualism expressed in modern nihilism, deism, and existentialism and how John's Gospel addresses the problem. (To register for our next class “Reading the Bible in Community” starting the week of September 26th and running through November 18th register at https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/offerings) Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - The early church term, found in Ignatius, Irenaeus, Dionysius the Areopagite, and Maximus the Confessor, for being partakers of God, or being made God, is theosis, which is another way of describing salvation or being incorporated into Christ. (To register for our next class “Reading the Bible in Community” starting the week of September 26th and running through November 18th register at https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/offerings) Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Tim, Brian, Matt, Mathew, David, Dan, Janice, Jim, and Paul discuss the key difference between a gnostic and Christian conception of the Logos and tie in the gnostic antagonism to the darkness described in John and defeated by Christ. The discussion concludes with an examination of how faith defeats gnostic nihilism. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - Jesus quotes Psalm 82, "You are Gods," to explain his own claim to deity and his extension of eternal life to his disciples, which restores humankind to the reign assigned to Adam and which Peter pictures as a "participation in the divine nature." Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.