In this episode Charlotte Elia and Chad Rhodes discuss the tools and perspectives used by Origen, Cassian, and Augustine in the interpretation of scripture. Chad: The thing that impresses me most and has really kind of changed the way I think about the scriptures is this idea that you see in the early church that...
Charlotte Elia offers this sermon on Matthew 22:1-14, commonly referred to as the Parable of the Wedding Feast. “This is a parable that like Jesus’ teachings, a parable that like Jesus’ life, shows the absurdity, the lies, the ultimate ineffectiveness of supposed power. Power seeks only to maintain power, and power is maintained through cruelty,...
Join Charlotte Elia for a time of guided contemplation and centering prayer for spiritual rest and renewal. Put on some comfy clothes, settle onto a mat or bed, and give your breath, your body, and yourself to God. During our practice you will be invited to focus on an intention, for healing or wholeness, for...
On this episode Charlotte Elia and Chad Rhodes discuss the relationship between faith and science. What threats might they pose to each other? Could they possibly enhance one another? Are there even ways that science might bring us to a deeper understanding of faith? And what might we do when faith and science seemingly come...
In this episode Charlotte Elia and Chad Rhodes discuss creation care. Why have so many Christian absolved themselves from the dominion mandate or chosen to interpret it in a destructive way? What’s lost in relationship to the faith when parts of creation are marred or destroyed? And why aren’t we in constant lament for the...
In this episode Charlotte Elia and Chad Rhodes discuss apokatastasis, a form of Christian universalism prevalent in the early centuries of the faith. What are some primary features of apokatastasis? Why was it championed by so many leading figures in the early church? Charlotte and Chad consider these questions and others as they exam a...
In this episode Chad Rhodes and Charlotte Elia discuss recent actions by the Southern Baptist Convention to further suppress women. They then look at the scripture most often used to justify this misogyny and consider some of the absurd non-biblical arguments raised. Chad: Here’s the thing: Paul is writing letters; he doesn’t see himself as...
In this episode Chad Rhodes and Charlotte Elia discuss a recent church service in Nuremberg, Germany that was organized and led by ChatGPT, and that leads them to muse on the nature of preaching, our capacity for creativity, and what it means to be human. Chad: I mean, the computer is just a program. I...
In this episode Chad Rhodes and Charlotte Elia talk about Jesus’ sayings in Matthew and Luke regarding the “sign of Jonah.” Here they revisit the story of Jonah, investigate how it illuminates Jesus’ work, ponder how Jesus might have understood Jonah’s story, and ask what bearing these comparisons have on the work of biblical interpretation....
In this episode Chad Rhodes and Charlotte Elia chat a bit about the doctrine of the Trinity, what they most value there, some challenges it presents, and their favorite analogies of the Trinity. Chad: There’s something about the idea of this perfect identity of diversity in unity that hits a lot of high notes for...