In this episode Chad Rhodes and Charlotte Elia discuss the relationship between Christian identity and national identity. Are these even compatible allegiances? What is American civic religion? How do we recognize it, and why is it so insidious? In what ways does it compete or conflict with the gospel? You’ve seen those t-shirts that mix...

Charlotte Elia offers a reflection on Luke 14:1, 7-14. “When something needs to be said, there’s no time like the present. There’s no time like now in the kingdom of God. If you take nothing else with you today, see if you can’t pick up a little bit of the audacity of Jesus. Speak and...

Charlotte Elia offers a reflection on Luke 13:10-17. You might hear this as just another story about Jesus finding controversy by healing on the Sabbath, but that issue was never really up for debate and seems like a distraction. The far more interesting, and unfortunately common, event here is that a religious leader witnessed an...

In this episode Chad Rhodes and Charlotte Elia discuss a recent post Chad wrote for our Round Table Substack entitled, “What Is the Bible?” You’d think it would be easy to tell the difference between scripture and Jesus, and yet some folks seem to offer the Bible the reverence and to give it the authority...

In this episode Chad Rhodes and Charlotte Elia discuss the resurrection of the body. What could it be like? Is it really physical or purely spiritual? What does it mean to have a perfected body? Will we still look like us? Will we recognize others? Listen as your hosts first look at some relevant Old...

In this episode Chad Rhodes and Charlotte Elia chat about heaven. What does scripture actually say, and what does the tradition invent? Are paradise, the eternal city, and the throne of God distinct heavenly states or are these various images all seeking to describe the same perfection? What will we do in heaven? And what...

On this episode Chad Rhodes and Charlotte Elia tackle hell. It’s bad, y’all, but maybe not as bad as you think. Join us as we look at the following questions: What does scripture say about hell? Who is in charge of hell? Who goes to hell and what happens there? Also, is hell forever or...

Chad Rhodes and Charlotte Elia discuss what we do and don’t know about what happens when we die. Do we face judgement in that instant or do we sleep for a while? Would we even notice a difference? Are there some folks like the martyrs and saints who are immediately taken into heaven? Are we...

Charlotte Elia offers a reflection on Mark 7:1-8. “Too often American Evangelicals have pointed to verses like this in support of their’“culture wars,’ to denounce any acceptance of marginalized peoples as ‘novel,’ ‘new,’ an addition to the gospel. They teach that ‘the commandment of God’ is that set of Pharisaical restrictions that Jesus directly challenges,...

Charlotte Elia offers a reflection on Luke 10. “We are called to love, and we are called to love in specific ways, through very specific tasks. There isn’t a compromise here. We can’t allow the words of Jesus to be watered down into meaningless platitudes meant to satisfy the tastes of those opposed to the...