The Professor Parler: Recent Episodes
Branson Parler
In this episode, we talk about John Nugent's Endangered Gospel, and his discussion of how we as Christians are called to engage broader questions of vocation, mission, and power in our world today.
In this episode, we talk about how John Nugent's Endangered Gospel presents a view of the kingdom and gospel, and what that means for our life together as the body of Christ.
In this episode, we discuss the second part of John Nugent's description of the biblical narrative, including the question: what is the kingdom of God?
In this episode, we discuss John Nugent's Endangered Gospel and thinking through how he unpacks the biblical narrative.
In this episode, we discuss the first part of John Nugent's Endangered Gospel: How Fixing the World is Killing the Church. Nugent outlines different views of the church's mission--the heaven-centered, human-centered, and world-centered. We discuss those and his central thesis about the church's mission.
Should Christians try to transform culture? To change the world? In this episode, we talk about James Davison Hunter's To Change the World, and specifically think about the question of how culture changes and what that means for Christians.
In this episode, we talk about how to look at art through the lens of a Reformed worldview.
This is part 2 of our discussion of the contours of a Reformed worldview, building on the neo-Calvinist stream of thought that stems from Abraham Kuyper
This is part 1 of our discussion of the contours of a Reformed worldview, building on the neo-Calvinist stream of thought that stems from Abraham Kuyper
In this episode, we discuss what postmodern tribalism is, and how Christians should avoid becoming just one more political interest group.
In this episode, we dig into two worldviews--"new age," or more simply "spirituality"--and salvation by therapy.
We talk scientific naturalism, including topics like evolution, Richard Dawkins, transhumanism via contraception, medical technology and sexual ethics.
In this episode, we talk less about moral relativism and more about Charles Taylor's description of the "Modern Moral Order."
In this episode, we talk about how nationalism often affects American Christians, including practical questions like: should churches have a flag in their worship space?
In this episode, we talk about the hidden worldview of individualism and the way it is embedded in our culture.
In this episode, we unpack "Reformed worldview" in a bit more detail and have a discussion about the intellectual virtues.
How do we define worldview? And how is that intertwined with stories and culture? We dig into these questions in this episode.
In this podcast, I give an overview of the logical problem of evil and set the framework for this philosophical discussion. I also give a summary of a short work by "B. C. Johnson" (a pseudonym) titled "Why Doesn't God Intervene to Prevent Evil?"
How does Scripture engage the problem of evil? The book of Job deconstructs our expectations and reframes how we think about evil, suffering, and God.
In this episode, we dig into John Hick's "Soul-Making Theodicy" as a response to the problem of evil.
We discuss James Rachels' response to Ruth Benedict, engaging his critique of her argument and his own positive case for affirming certain universal moral principles.
We dig into the question of morality by discussing the writing of Ruth Benedict, a cultural anthropologist, who asserts that morality is nothing more than what a culture considers "normal."
In this episode, we talk about the work of Alvin Plantinga and Nicholas Wolterstorff and how it relates to the faith and reason discussion.
Another in-class session. In this episode, we discuss James' essay "The Will to Believe."
In this episode, we dig into Blaise Pascal's thought, including his wager, and the strict evidentialism of W. K. Clifford.
This is a recording of an in-class session, so it's a bit longer than the other episodes, and you can hear some good student questions and interactions as well.
What exactly is proved by the order we see in the world around us? We take on David Hume's devastating critique of the teleological argument and think about the limitations of arguments for God's existence.
We explore Book 11 of Augustine's Confessions, where he talks about time and eternity. So what was God doing before he created? We'll talk about why that's a bad question.
A brief introduction to philosophical arguments for God's existence and background on Aquinas' five ways.