Page 10 of 126

Posted on

The Gender of God, Part 1, with Amy Peeler

To hear the podcast (18 min) click here. 

There is a lot of talk about gender today.  Some people introduce themselves along with their pronouns (in my case: he, him).  The pronouns give you a sense of how people understand their genders.  According to some websites, there are over fifty genders.

Well, what does this focus on gender have to do with God?  Does God have a gender too? 

In the Bible, the pronouns of God are rendered masculine because it does reflect the original languages of the Scriptures: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.  But does God really have a gender?

In this podcast we explore the concept of “The Gender of God.”  This is part one of the podcast.  Our special guest is Dr. Amy Peeler. 

Who Is Amy Peeler?

Amy Peeler is an Associate Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College.  She has been in that position twelve years.  Dr. Peeler is well known as a wonderful researcher and writer. 

Amy has spent a good deal of time writing about the book of Hebrews.  She is also a minister at an Episcopal Church near Wheaton, IL.  

Recently she wrote a book entitled Women and the Gender of God.  It has attracted a lot of attention.  She hopes to help women find a more meaningful place in the Church today.

The Gender of God

The audio for this podcast is taken from a radio show co-hosted by David Capes called A Show of Faith on AM 1070 The Answer Houston. 

On this show are David and two co-hosts Father Mario Arroyo, Catholic priest, at St. Cyril of Alexandria Catholic Church in Houston, and Rudy Kong, a millennial theology student who works in the space industry. 

This episode is focused on the book written by Dr. Peeler which deals with the question of gender as it relates to God. 

She dives deeply into the Christian tradition, across the ages, in order to construct a productive way toward thinking about God. 

Is God male or is God genderless?  Might God be beyond gender?  Is God the fullness of  both genders? 

In this podcast Father Mario mentions another book by Abigail Favale, The Genesis of Gender  Published by Ignatius Press, 2022.  It is written from the Catholic perspective.  Both books seem like marvelous studies of the topic. 

Stay tuned for Part Two next week!

More Resources

The weekly radio show A Show of Faith”has its own podcast on Spotify.  Click here to access it.  It presents the whole hour radio show, unedited, with commercials and “bump” music.

Want more Stone Chapel Podcasts on some great topics? Just click here.

You can get information on upcoming lectures at Lanier Theological Library by clicking here.

Posted on

No Inn in Which to Have No Room, with Ben Witherington III

Dr. Ben Witherington III argues passionately against burnishing the nativity stories of Luke and Matthew with unfounded speculation and mistranslations. He gives particular attention to the story of Jesus’ birth in Luke 2:7. Prof. Witherington is the Jean R. Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary and is an emeritus professor of New Testament at St. Andrews University, Scotland. He has published widely including commentaries on every book of the New Testament. Two of his books won the Christianity Today annual top biblical studies book award: The Jesus Quest: The Third Search for the Jew of Nazareth and The Paul Quest: The Renewed Search for the Jew of Tarsus. His Biblical Theology; The Convergence of the Canon (Cambridge) won the Prose Prize National Book of the Year award in 2020 for books in religion and philosophy.

To hear the podcast (12 min) click here.

Posted on

Lord Jesus Christ, with Dan Treier

To hear the podcast click here.

Recently, David Capes was on the campus of Wheaton College in Wheaton IL.  He had the chance to sit down with Dr. Dan Treier, head of the PhD program in Biblical and Theological Studies at Wheaton College. 

Dr. Treier has written a terrific new book entitled Lord Jesus Christ in a new series by Zondervan Academic. The series is called New Studies in Dogmatics. We welcome Dan for his first appearance on The Stone Chapel Podcasts.

Who Is Dan Treier? 

Dan Treier grew up on a farm in Ohio and memorized thirteen books of the Bible in his teenage years.  Not little books mind you.  But big ones like Romans, John, Matthew and 1 Corinthians.  Dan confesses that this one discipline has been formative in his life. 

His did his PhD under Kevin VanHoozer at Trinity Evangelical Theological Seminary in Deerfield IL.  For twenty-three years he has taught Theology at Wheaton College.  He’s the author of other books, which you can find under “More Resources” below. 

Lord Jesus Christ

Like any good book, this one has been in process for several years.  It is a contemporary, reformed reading of biblical Christology. 

So Dan begins with exegesis.  He selects ten of the most important passages for Christology in the New Testament. He reads them through the church fathers, the reformation, and theological insights of the church. 

Dan writes this book for pastors, students, and anyone interested in understanding how we arrived at the Orthodox Christology of Nicea and beyond. 

Though Dan did not hear much emphasis on Christology in preaching in his early years, he is convinced that Christology is very “preachable.” 

He is concerned that many evangelical churches today have a deficient understanding of Jesus’ person and work.  When that is lacking, so many other aspects of Christian faith will be lacking as well. 

Scholars review Lord Jesus Christ

Here is what Daniel Hill of Truett Seminary, Baylor University, has to say about Dr. Treier’s book:

“Christian theology, if it is worth anything at all, must continually return to the scandalous claim that Jesus Christ is Lord. Daniel J. Treier’s Lord Jesus Christ is an outstanding and illuminating examination of Christology in light of Holy Scripture’s dramatic arc from God’s life in himself to creation’s eschatological communion with God.

Rooted in a series of characteristically brilliant theological expositions of the names of Christ, this is a book you will find yourself reading and rereading to great benefit. It is a book that will drive you to the text of Holy Writ to hear anew its affirmation of the risen Lord. One would expect nothing less from a theologian of his caliber.”

More Resources

Click here for a transcript of this podcast.

See Dan’s award winning (2020) book Introducing Evangelical Theology.

With Dr. David Lauber Dan wrote Trinitarian Theology for the Church: Scripture, Community, Worship

Want more Stone Chapel Podcasts on some great topics? Just click here.

You can get information on upcoming lectures at Lanier Theological Library by clicking here.

Posted on

“We Are All Evangelicals” with Vince Bacote

Vince Bacote

David Capes was recently at Wheaton College to record podcasts with their faculty for Exegetically Speaking.  While there, he managed to record a few segments with faculty who were working on interesting projects.

Vince Bacote joins him on The Stone Chapel Podcasts to discuss a documentary he is working on about black evangelicals, tentatively called We Are All Evangelicals.  It should release in 2024.

To hear the podcast (21 minutes) click here.

Who Is Vince Bacote?  

Dr. Vince Bacote is Professor of Theology and Director of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL.

He has authored a number of books including Reckoning with Race and Performing the Good News: In Search of a Better Evangelical Theology (2020) and The Political Disciple: A Theology of Public Life (2015).

Now he adds another skill to his resume: documentary creator and presenter.

“We Are All Evangelicals”

A number of years ago Dr. Bacote came up with an important idea: an oral history of black evangelicals.

But over time the project has morphed to become a documentary film, co-sponsored by Wheaton College and Christianity Today.  

If you analyze the theology of black churches, it overlaps in many ways with evangelical theology.  But black “evangelicals” have had an uneasy relationship with white evangelicals, especially in the last decade.

Despite their similarities, both groups have been spiritually formed in separate arenas.

In this film, Dr. Bacote explores that story in a series of chapters which are designed to consider the past, present, and future of that relationship.

The film will likely debute in 2024.  So look for it!

Email Dr. Bacote at vincent.bacote@wheaton.edu and he will send you a link to the trailer.

Dr. Bacote was on an earlier Stone Chapel Podcasts. To hear that click here.

To watch Dr. Bacote on a panel discussion at the Lanier Theological Library, click here. The topic of the panel is How to Have Difficult Conversations When You Know You Disagree.

More Resources

Want more Stone Chapel Podcasts on some great topics? Just click here.

What’s more! You can get information on upcoming lectures at Lanier Theological Library by clicking here.

Posted on

“Righteous AI” with Gretchen Huizinga

To hear the podcast (22 min) click here.

Dr. Gretchen Huizinga joins us on The Stone Chapel Podcast to talk about an area of interest to many. She has worked in the developing fields of technology and AI, artificial intelligence, for some time.

Dr. Huisinga was at the Lanier Theological Library to participate in a panel discussion as part of our lecture weekend on the subject of AI. You can find the link to watch the panel below.

Gretchen recently finished a PhD at the University of Washington. And the title of her dissertation was Righteous AI, the Christian Voice in the AI Ethics Conversation.

Her background is varied and includes being an English teacher, working in media production, and serving as a podcast host.

What is Righteous AI?

Dr. Huizinga tells us that people have written and spoken on the benefits of AI technology and the vision that it is part of the redemptive work of Christ.

Tech companies are working to establish ethical guidelines for the use of AI but the work is in its infancy. Some companies call it AI for Good, Responsible AI or Ethical AI. But the big idea is to determine how we situate AI systems that are benevolent, beneficent, robust, but still good.

Gretchen has coined the term “Righteous AI” as a way to view this type of beneficial AI through the Christian worldview and through the nature of God.

More Resources

To watch the panel discussion on AI, click this link.

Click here to read an interview with Gretchen by AI and Faith.

For a transcript of today’s podcast, click here.

Gretchen hosts a number of podcasts on technology, and you can find her website at: www.gretchenhuizinga.com.

Want more Stone Chapel Podcasts on some great topics? Just click here.

What’s more! You can get information on upcoming lectures at Lanier Theological Library by clicking here.