The Areopagus

The Areopagites compare the Pentecostal/Charismatic concept of “the anointing” with historic Christian anointings and show how trading out the latter for the former leads to disaster. 0:00 - Cold open 0:40 - Intro 9:52 - Updates 26:13 - Storm clouds brewing over the Charismatic world 36:18 - "The Anointing" 49:25 - Anointing in Orthodox Christianity 1:11:11 - Impartation 1:26:49 - Spectacular spiritual gifts 1:43:02 - Good leadership requires holiness

In 2009, Michael “The Internet Monk” Spencer predicted the collapse of American Evangelicalism within 10 years. Using this frame of reference, Dcn. Seraphim Rohlin joins the Areopagites to discuss a 2024 Christianity Today article titled “The Loosening of American Evangelicalism.” What is going on with this most visible of American religious groups?

Back from their pilgrimage to Scotland and Northumbria, the Areopagite pilgrims reflect on the holy people and places they encountered. They also answer an email from an ardent fan.

While riding a train on pilgrimage to the holy island of Iona in Scotland, the Areopagites are joined by Fr. Jacob Siemens and Dcn. Seraphim Richard Rohlin to talk about their hopes for their pilgrimage and what the point of it even is.

A muscular, aggressive Christianity has emerged into public life. The Areopagites tackle this question by comparing it to historic Christianity, especially to what is taught in the Scriptures.

The Areopagites (one of whom can’t believe he’s doing this) take a look at the demonology and soteriology of the runaway Netflix hit “KPop Demon Hunters.” Could its popularity have something to do with the way it portrays the human fall into sin as participation with the demonic?

The Areopagites discuss the wild world of Christian apologetics on the Internet, comparing and contrasting it with historical apologetics from the early Church.

The Areopagites tackle the recent revival, return, reaction, resurgence – whatever you want to call it – that is bringing more people into churches all over the world.

What’s the deal with Holy Saturday? Is it a time of doubt and awkward waiting? The Areopagites reference a Christianity Today article about Holy Saturday to talk about what’s going on and how disconnection from tradition and scripture lead to psychologizing Biblical texts.

What myths are holding up the roofs of society? Our sense of religiosity? What happens when those pillars get knocked out and the roof caves in? The Areopagites discuss all this and give some updates of their last few months' adventures.

The Areopagites take a look back on their 2024, giving lightning reviews of (among other things) books they've read, movies they've seen, places they've been, and songs that are tugging at their hearts.

What hath Taylor Swift to do with Ganesh and the two-party American political system? The Areopagites take on some (metaphorical) idolatries of our time -- political, ecclesial, and cultural.

The Areopagites welcome Fr. Stephen De Young to talk about the foundations of the Reformation in a now centuries-old misreading of St. Paul and how his new book 'Saint Paul the Pharisee' aims to bring us back to the apostle’s original context. Get the book here: https://store.ancientfaith.com/saint-paul-the-pharisee-jewish-apostle-to-all-nations/

A lot has happened since our last episode, and we’re going to tell you all of it. Okay, some of it. But it will be the good stuff.

Richard Rohlin joins the Areopagites again to talk about the remarkable news that Southern Baptists are considering adopting the Nicene Creed. How can that even be possible within Baptist history and tradition? Richard takes us on a whirlwind tour of the Baptist tradition, including the infamous Trail of Blood.

The Areopagites welcome Fr. Brandon LeTourneau, an Anglican priest at a parish in California, to talk about the role of beauty in worship: What does beauty accomplish? Is it a hindrance or aid? How does one beautify worship spaces with the resources one has on hand? What is the specific character of the beauty of Christian art?

How are people meeting Christ? What part can apologetics play? Is it always necessary? Is a non-intellectual conversion an honest one? The Areopagites are once again joined by Richard Rohlin, and together they wrestle with these questions and more.

The Areopagites talk about Lenten devotional practices, especially focusing on non-liturgical traditions that adopt practices from liturgical traditions. How does that work, and how does it transform those practices when they are re-contextualized?

Dr. Cyril Gary Jenkins makes his triumphant return to the Areopagus, and this time he’s got a book. The Areopagites chat with him about his newly-published “A Perilous Realm: Confronting Dragons, Angels, and Saints in the Ordering of the Soul.”

The Areopagites do their year-in-review episode, discussing things they’ve accomplished, books they’ve read, places they’ve been, people they’ve lost and things they’ve learned.

The Areopagites take email and voice questions from listeners, discussing issues such as whether social media is worth using, how to talk to Evangelical friends about Orthodox services, the true nature of schism, and the rotating Guamanian pope statue.

Podcaster and musician Jim Lovelady of Serge (formerly World Harvest Mission) joins the Areopagites to talk about his pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain as well as the work he does with missionaries and pastors.

Fr. Andrew and Pastor Mike talk about their two very different experiences this summer as Fr. Andrew details his return to Lithuania and Pastor Mike walks through his father’s passing.

The Areopagites welcome Fr. Christopher Rowe, the Assistant Director of Development for the Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC), talking about the foreign missionary work of the Orthodox Church as well as Christian mission in general – why, how, and how not to do foreign and local evangelism.

Discussing the confusing, conflicting definitions in play for “ecumenism,” the Areopagites talk about ecumenical history, what the Church Fathers say about relations with other Christians, and finally reveal their own true feelings about the Pan-Heresy of Ecumenism.

The Areopagites talk about the good side of church leadership, basing their discussion on the enthronement speech of Metropolitan Saba, the new leader of the North American Antiochian Archdiocese. Jack Chick and Joel Osteen also make appearances.

The Areopagites greet each other (and you) with the resurrection of Christ and then delight in commenting on incoherent and heretical takes on the feast.

In February 2023, tens of thousands participated in a religious revival at Asbury University in Kentucky. What is the context of the Asbury revival? How can people outside the Wesleyan/Methodist tradition understand the Asbury revival? Can revival outside our boundaries even be a real thing? The Areopagites welcome Fr. Symeon Kees, an Orthodox priest from Appalachia with a Wesleyan background who studied at Asbury Theological Seminary – right across the street from the university.

Are in men in crisis? How did that happen? What does authentic men’s ministry look like? What are good and bad ways to do it? What does all this have to do with priesthood? The Areopagites welcome Michael Baclig, president of the Antiochian Men of the Diocese of Miami and the Southeast, to talk about ministry to men. Meanwhile, Fr. Andrew fills us in on wacky Lithuanian pre-Lenten rituals.

The Areopagites embark on an epic journey into the strange, millenarian world of Jack Chick.

Christian Gonzalez and Steven Christoforou show up for one last Pop Culture Coffee Hour crossover with the Areopagus. They talk about the origins of PCCH, what they hoped to accomplish when they started in 2015, and how they feel about its 200 episodes. They and the Areopagites also share the stories they’re into lately in a bald-faced attempt by the Areopagites to commandeer all 13 of PCCH’s listeners.

The Areopagites host Anglican priest Fr. Wesley Walker to talk about how he sees the problems of deconstructionist Exvangelicalism, to talk disenchantment in the Evangelical world within which he was raised, and to share Raleigh in-jokes, but not before Fr. Andrew reveals his weird hobby of researching episcopi vagantes – and how they seem to be following him.

The Areopagites hone in on revivalism – its origins, how it functions, how it distorts church and culture, and how it’s made its way into nearly every facet of American life – bracketing the episode with clips from a couple of their favorite films.

For their fifth anniversary, the Areopagites do a self-indulgent retrospective episode, looking back at their five years of making the second-greatest podcast in existence. Fr. Andrew tells about his upcoming big pilgrimage, Pastor Mike reveals his Lenten secrets, both struggle to remember how this all started, and they do an MST3King of the first five minutes of the Areopagus. Fr. Andrew reveals the ur-podcast of Fr. Stephen De Young, and Pastor Mike tries not to cry. This retrospective does not include Pentatonix, but includes the Pentaverate and… wait, David Bowie?

Steven Christoforou joins the Areopagites in the Emmaus studio to do a post mortem on 2021. Now that it’s in the past even for the Old Calendarists, what did these three guys learn about life and ministry over the past year? And what judgy things can they say to each other about those lessons? Pastor Michael tries not to cry.

Author and podcaster Dr. Nicole Roccas of AFR's Time Eternal podcast joins the Areopagites to return to the Christianity Today podcast The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, which wrapped up this month. They give their assessment of the podcast, asking why it was valuable and why it got millions of downloads, including bringing to bear Nicole's newly-acquired trauma-informed training. She repeatedly surprises the Areopagites with her wit, Fr. Andrew reminisces about radio dramas from his childhood, and Pastor Mike tells the story of how he was given a gun to wear in church.

The Areopagites welcome Fr. Patrick Cardine and Dr. Cyril Jenkins to discuss the phenomenon of Anti-Westernism in Orthodox discourse and writings. What is it? Is the standard polemic against “The West” damaging to our faith and evangelistic witness? If so, how? And what would a proper approach to the Western Christian past and present look like?

The Areopagites go full Q&A, addressing questions on parenting and prayer, finding spiritual profit from authors outside your tradition, how life changes when becoming Orthodox, singleness, keeping sane in the midst of Internet travails, profiting from criticism, what it means that the Orthodox Church is the “true church,” and what exactly is in their coffee cups.

The Areopagites say that there is a crisis of the gospel in the modern world. A lot of people have no idea what it even is. There are numerous versions being preached. And almost all of them are missing something -- demons. And Fr. Andrew promises he’s not trying to sell you a book. Really. No, really.

What happens when ministry success outpaces personal character? The Areopagites welcome fellow AFR podcaster Jamey Bennett to discuss the new Christianity Today podcast The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, which tracks the meteoric rise and collapse of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, led by Mark Driscoll. Far from looking only at Mark Driscoll himself and the particular story of his church, the CT podcast examines the context that made that kind of rise possible and draws out lessons for any who are in ministry or Christian leadership. Fr. Andrew reminds Jamey that he owes him a goat, Pastor Mike does his cartoon Tasmanian Devil impersonation again, and Jamey offers his help with creating Rap Knights.

Fr. Stephen De Young comes back to the Areopagus to talk disenchantment and re-enchantment within a fractured Christian world. How did we get here? And does spiritual warfare “work” outside the Orthodox Church? Fr. Andrew quotes Hamlet, Pastor Mike casts out ghosts, and Fr. Stephen Hulks out.

The Areopagites tackle the phenomenon of the “Exvangelical,” the (de)conversion of prominent Evangelical Christians away from traditional doctrines or from Christianity altogether, tracing it back to the iconoclasm of the Reformation. They launch into a discussion of what Christian culture is and what this has to do with ritual. And Pastor Mike tells the story of how he parted the waters at a charismatic church service by doing his best Tasmanian devil impression.

Icon carver and YouTuber Jonathan Pageau joins the Areopagites to talk about parasitic storytelling in popular culture -- pushing the outsider and the marginal into the inside -- and offering both critique to diversity as a core value and positive responses to this inversion of hierarchy in culture. The revolution of the culture is coming to its end, but what will be next?

Germanic philologist and Amon Sûl podcast co-host Richard Rohlin joins the Areopagites to talk about the good, bad, and ugly in how modern people deal with the past and incorporate it (or don’t) into their present, not to mention why English spelling reform is a terrible idea and why there is no such thing as an “incense holder.”

Fr. Anthony Perkins, archpriest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA living in the State of Georgia, mission pastor covering two parishes, AFR podcaster, Ph.D. student in political science at the University of Georgia, former US Army intelligence officer, and probably not secretly an operative of the CIA, FBI and NSA all at once, joins the Areopagites to talk UFOs, aliens, the paranormal, conspiracies, and whether it’s all just a big joke -- featuring special guest appearances by Fr. Anthony’s birds.

The Pseudo-Areopagite Dr. Mike Petrow returns to the podcast after a 2-year hiatus to talk friendship (especially in the midst of pandemic), where he’s been all this time, and with long but relevant detours into the Ralph Bakshi (and other renditions of) Lord of the Rings. Prominently featured is the leaking of nearly every other podcast Fr. Andrew has ever made into this one episode of the Areopagus.

Reformation historian Dr. Cyril Gary Jenkins returns to the Areopagus to talk politics -- not candidates or elections, but what it means for Christians to live under human governments, what the Bible says about government, and the spiritual realities that we face here in 2020 America. And Fr. Andrew makes a dumb joke about a centaur.

Former Pentecostal pastor and now Orthodox Christian priest Fr. Barnabas Powell joins the Areopagites to discuss the book he's writing about the relationship between Pentecostalism and Orthodox Christianity, how charismatic gifts function within the Orthodox tradition, and what Pentecostal experience means in the light of that tradition.

The Areopagites welcome podcaster, Biblical scholar and On-Site Holy Land Professor/Instructor (NOT "tour guide"!) Dr. Cyndi Parker to discuss sacred space and sacred place, with an emphasis on her scholarly focus of the book of Deuteronomy. But they begin with a deep dive into whether there can be sacraments or even church life at the Starbucks.

Fr. Andrew and Pastor Mike discuss prominent Christians falling from grace, including comedian John Crist and Liberty University president Jerry Falwell, Jr. They finish up with the “Don’t Go to Church, Be the Church” slogan during the present pandemic. But first they begin with a listener question about whether schisms ever heal.