The Tentative Apologist: Recent Episodes
The Tentative Apologist
Home of progressively evangelical, generously orthodox, rigorously analytic, revolutionary Christian thinking (that's what I'm aiming for anyway)
In this video, I reflect on the death of my father to Alzheimer's in theological perspective while interacting with the eulogy I delivered at his memorial service in April 2019. The lesson: A Christian worldview should equip you to view life, suffering, and death in the light of hope, grace, and the cross.
Unfortunately, the audio/video of the eulogy service doesn't perfectly align in this video. With that in mind, I have included an audio track as well for those who don't need video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndPq9zATuXc&feature=youtu.be
In this video, I address the popular story that compares theological claims about God to claims about an invisible gardener. I point out that the objection applies equally to atheistic claims such as the popular theory of naturalism. I also note that it simply misunderstands the nature of theorization.
Since this video has no visual accoutrements and I ain't George Clooney, I have included an audio link below in case you want to imbibe the content without the demand of sitting in front of a screen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5Ez3QZc4Q8&feature=youtu.be
This time on The Tentative Apologist Podcast I’m delighted to introduce two guests, Andrew Murtagh and Adam Lee. Andrew is a Christian apologist who blogs at Soapbox Redemption on the Patheos platform. He is also the author of the 2013 book Proof of Divine.
Adam Lee is an atheist and writer living in New York. He has written articles for Alternet, Salon, Free Inquiry among other sources and he regularly blogs at Daylight Atheism also on Patheos. Adam is also the author of the 2012 book Daylight Atheism. And how’s this for an interesting factoid: one of Adam’s articles was referenced positively in Richard Dawkins bestselling book The God Delusion.
Some years ago Andrew and Adam developed an unlikely friendship which led to them coauthor a book of dialogue and debate titled Meta: On God, the Big Questions, and the Just City. Meta is a lively book which presents a conversational exchange on life’s biggest questions. But it does so while retaining a friendly, irenic spirit, one which is all too rare in this age of loud voices and hardened opinions.
There are two things I really appreciate about Andrew and Adam. The first is the above-mentioned commitment to generous and friendly conversation despite some formidable ideological differences. The second is their concern to find unity in concrete ways, particular with a commitment to joint work on social justice, specifically to end human trafficking.
If I may give a personal example, my own blog is the site of debate between atheists and Christians and we sponsor a lending team at Kiva, a micro-lending agency. And this is our slogan: We loan because... Debating the existence of God and the meaning of life means little if you don't lend a helping hand to those in need. (Psst, you can join us here!) That is a point on which Andrew, Adam, and I all surely agree. So on that note of agreement, we can turn to our wide-ranging discussion.
You can order a copy of Meta here.
It's hard to believe but it has been four 1/2 years since The Tentative Apologist Podcast was launched in May 2013. Since then a lot of water has flowed under that bridge. Now for this, our 100th episode, I invite my first guest, Dr. Denis Lamoureux, back to continue our conversation on evolution, the Bible, and Christian faith. (You can listen to that first episode, dubious production values and all, right here.)
Dr. Lamoureux is Associate Professor of Science and Religion at St. Joseph's College, at the University of Alberta. He is the author of many academic journal articles as well as several books including Evolutionary Creation: A Christian Approach to Evolution, and I Love Jesus and I Accept Evolution. In this episode, our conversation is guided by Dr. Lamoureux' latest book, Evolution: Scripture and Nature Say Yes!
And here's the really good news. In celebration of our 100th episode, Dr. Lamoureux has kindly donated three autographed copies of his new book. If you live in North America, you are eligible to win a copy. All you need to do is email me (you can contact me through my website) or tweet me (@RandalRauser) by November 30th. We will have a drawing to identify the three winners on December 1st.
And while we can't give everyone a free book, we do have something just as good: a free course. You see, Dr. Lamoureux is currently offering a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) through the University of Alberta. "Science & Religion 101" is free and open to all who are interested, so follow the link and register for the course.
And now without further ado, let's turn to our conversation.
Randal Rauser (that's me!)
There are few questions as basic and important as this: how do you hear the voice of God? How do you discern God's will for your life? How does one seek divine guidance in the day to day?
Is divine guidance a matter of hearing a literal voice from heaven? Or is it simply a matter of baptizing our own decisions with a nod to the divine? Or something else?
In this episode of The Tentative Apologist Podcast I share my perspective on this topic which I delivered at a recent youth conference. Inspired by the admirable concision of TED Talks, the conference stipulated that speakers should limit their topic to a 15 or 16 minute time slot. So no words are wasted!
And now, without further ado, let's turn to the matter of hearing the voice of God.
Julien Hammond
One suspects that October 31, 1517 dawned much like any other in the region of Saxony. And when an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther hammered up 95 theses for public debate, he could not have imagined that his action would be the catalyst for a schism within Christendom, one whose repercussions would be felt for centuries. And yet, here we are, five hundred years later, still dealing with the deeply ambiguous legacy of the Reformation.
On the one hand, had there been no Reformation there would be no Baptists, and I rather like being Baptist. Indeed, I believe being Baptist is a vocational call I have to a wider Christendom and the world. So the fact that I have this call and that Baptists exist is a fact for which I have gratitude.
On the other hand, had there been no Reformation, there would have been no schism, no fracture down the heart of the Church. Very likely there would have been no Thirty Years War, no long history of mutual hatred and misunderstanding across emerging denominational divides.
As I said, the legacy is ambiguous, and my response to it is thus rather ambivalent. Is there a way that Protestants and Catholics can recognize and celebrate our differences whilst moving some distance toward healing that schism and recognizing our common faith and identity as the body of Christ?
With that lofty goal in mind, in this episode of The Tentative Apologist Podcast we mark the Reformation by way of a conversation with Dr. Julien Hammond. Dr. Hammond is the Ecumenical and Interreligious Officer for the Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton and a sessional instructor at St. Joseph's College, the University of Alberta with a specialty in religious education. His passions include lay education in the Church and ecumenical dialogue across denominational lines in emulation of Christ's prayer "that all may be one" (John 17:21). And that prayer serves as the theme for this commemoration of Reformation Day.
This week I was pleased to be a guest yet again on one of my favorite podcasts, The Storymen Podcast, with JR. Forasteros, Matt Mikalatos, and Clay Morgan. The interview is a foray through evangelical Christianity, grace, salvation, and a healthy dose of pop culture. You can visit the podcast below.
http://www.norvillerogers.com/podcast/storymen/
Omar Khadr
The story of Omar Khadr is inextricably interwoven with that of Canadian identity in a post 9/11 world. For years his story occupied national headlines, often polarizing a nation as it embodied concerns about security and terrorism, Islam and the clash of civilizations, punishment and the promise of redemption.
As a public narrative, Omar's story begins in 2002 when he was working as a 15 year old with Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan. On July 27, he was seriously wounded in a fight with American soldiers after which he was sent to Guantanamo Bay. While in confinement at Guantanamo, Khadr, a Canadian citizen, pleaded guilty to killing U.S. soldier Sergeant Christopher Speer in the firefight.
In 2010 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the Canadian government's interrogation of Khadr had violated "the most basic Canadian standards of the treatment of detained youth suspects..." Finally, after ten years in Guantanamo Khadr was returned to Canada and later released from prison. After suing the Canadian government for violations under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Canadian government settled out of court in 2017 for a payment of $10.5 million along with an apology on behalf of the government.
Professor Roy Berkenbosch
For much of his unlikely journey, Khadr has been supported by the faculty and students of King's University in Edmonton, Alberta. And in this episode of The Tentative Apologist Podcast I sit down with Roy Berkenbosch of King's to discuss Khadr's case and the complex theological, ethical, and social implications that it raises.
Professor Berkenbosch is Director at the Micah Centre and Interdisciplinary Professor at King's University where he has taught since 1995. Previously he lived and worked in Bangladesh for several years and he continues to advocate on a number of important topics including global poverty, the status of indigenous peoples within Canada, and the complex case of Omar Khadr.
I've been on The Bob Dutko Show several times now. In this twenty minute interview we talk about the theme of my new book, What's So Confusing About Grace?
Ever wondered how to speak in tongues? Hey, born and raised in the Pentecostal Church, I should know. And what better day to share my secret than on Pentecost Sunday? This is a sermon I preached at Lendrum Mennonite Church in Edmonton, AB on Pentecost Sunday 2017. It ain't exactly "covfefe", but as Trump would say, "Enjoy!"