Forging Ploughshares

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.

In this opening series on the Gospel of John Jim, Janice, Brian, Tim, Matt, Dan, and Paul, discuss the prologue of John and the meaning of the Logos, not as the pre-incarnate Christ but as the historical Jesus, and the difference this makes to conceptions of God, salvation, and the meaning of creation. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - God's Word is world constituting, self-authenticating, and a repetition of God while the human word may attempt to constitute a world in its own self-authenticating repetition - inducing human failure. God's Word is the cure for this failure. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Jim, Janice, Matt, David, Brian and Paul discuss how gender, race, ethnicity, or simply language can become an oppressive tool of the culture or of the symbolic order and how the Christian community is defined by its suspension of this cultural oppression. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - Donald Trump has promoted the big lie that he did not lose the election, but this lie is a type of the big lie challenged and exposed by Christ which pictures the human, the political, this world as God's truth. Christ as truth exposes the big lie. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Janice, Jim, Brian, David, and Paul discuss how the theory of Rene Girard fits with the Bible, but how it points to the benefits of sacrificial religion over uncontrolled violence, and how the end of scapegoating leaves open the possibility of total violence. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton Preaches - The truth of the Trinity, or Truth, unfolds historically with the realization of God as Father, the incarnation and recognition of the Son, and with the giving of the Holy Spirit and full human participation in God. This marks three possible errors: God as Father apart from the Son and Spirit can be confused with law or power, God as Son, apart from the Spirit and Father can be equated with the historical, and God as Spirit, apart from the Son and Father can be equated with the individual interiority and experience. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Jim, Janice, David, Brian, Matt, Dan and Paul discuss the various ways that the matrix of bondage grips us (e.g., through capitalism, sexism, religion, ontotheology, dualism, psychology, and time) and how Christ, specifically in the resurrection breaks open this matrix and frees us. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - The now and not yet of the process of salvation can be split and made static and exclusive, missing the unfolding of entering this rest on a daily basis. This failure gives rise to all "not yet" (on the right, Christian fascism) or all "now" (on the left, Christian Marxism and liberalism), two forms of nihilism which can only be remedied by maintaining the tension of Christian hope. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - In this second sermon developing an allegorical reading, the specific displacement of a violent God through the God of peace revealed in Christ, including freedom from the law of sin and death or emancipation from the reign of violence is developed in conjunction with a spiritual hermeneutic. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - There is a spiritual or allegorical reading of Scripture which interprets through Christ and there is the fleshly reading concentrating on the letter or on history, which according to Paul, misses Christ and leaves one enslaved. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Matt, Jim, Janice, David, Brian, Dan and Paul discuss the origin of evil in the human unconscious and the presumption of life through the law apart from the body - the lie displaced through participation in the Trinity. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - In John atonement or salvation is new creation, a new humanity, a new birth, a redirected desire, a reorientation to death, recapitulation, Christus Victor, or simply creation completion. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Jim, Janice and Paul review the psychoanalytic, philosophical, and biblical picture of death denial as constituting sin and discuss how the Cross of Christ defeats death denial through death acceptance. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton preaches - The trial of Jesus is the centerpiece of John, and the entire Gospel is framed as a trial, with witnesses and evidence presented against God/Christ and against the world, echoing the trial in Isaiah, in which salvific judgment is the verdict. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Matt, from an Eastern Orthodox tradition, and Jon, from an Episcopalian tradition, and Paul, discuss the spiritual life, prayer, and the experiential difference available in active spiritual practices and living life from a spiritual perspective. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.

Paul Axton Preaches - In the so-called cleansing of the Temple is the depiction of the theme of John: Christ is true Temple and true Passover Lamb, and there is a fulfillment of a Jewish order now destroyed (subsequent to 70 A.D.) as the cross marks the true defeat of death and the tomb now marks the spot of revelation and life previously assigned to the Holy of Holies and the Ark of the Covenant.

Jim, Matt, David, Brian, and Paul discuss how the idolatrous scene illustrates the shame/pride condition and the fear of death and how Christ's dissolution of death is illustrated in the transformation of the tomb into a similitude of the Ark of the Covenant. Become a Patron! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work.