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Broken Planet with Sharon Dirckx

Dr. Sharon Dirckx

Broken Planet is the title of a new book by Sharon Dirckx (PhD, Cambridge) with InterVarsity Press (2023). The subtitle describes the question she hopes to address: If There’s a God, Then Why Are There Natural Disasters and Diseases?  She joins David Capes on The Stone Chapel Podcast to talk about her most recent book.

To hear the podcast (approx 20 minutes) click here.

Who is Sharon Dirckx, author of Broken Planet?

Sharon Dirckx is a freelance speaker and author who occasionally teaches courses for OCCA, The Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics.  She has been with us before on this podcast and has lectured at the Lanier Theological Library in Houston in November 2022. Links to those episodes and to her other books are below.

While her PhD from Cambridge is in brain imaging, Dr. Dirckx has turned her attention to our broken planet. She and her husband live in Oxford, UK.

Are we living on a Broken Planet? 

A great deal of suffering is caused by natural disasters: tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, pandemics, and other catastrophes. How do we account for such disasters if there is a God who is all powerful?  Is our planet broken or is this the best of all possible worlds as some regard it?

It is one thing to make a case for the origin and impact of moral evil or “man’s inhumanity to man.”  But it’s quite another to talk about the planet itself as being our home and our nemesis.

Dirckx mixes her own style of apologetic argument with stories of people who suffered and survived to create a compelling book. This podcast captures a bit of her book and aims to help readers deal with those tragedies not caused by humans.

Click here to watch Sharon Dirckx’s lecture at the Lanier Theological library, on her second book, Am I Just My Brain.

Watch a short video here of Sharon discussing the topic, Can you be a credible scientist and believe in God.

For Sharon’s Podcast’s on her book, Am I Just My Brain, click here.

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The Romans Road with N. T. Wright

Tom Wright

N. T. (“Tom”) Wright, Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University, joins David Capes on “The Stone Chapel Podcast” to talk about his June 2022 lecture: “The Romans Road: Through the Dark Valley.”  

After recounting a bit of his early life, Wright describes what many evangelical Christians know as “The Romans Road.”  It is a way of sharing key verses from Paul’s letter to the Romans to help people find salvation.  But Wright thinks “salvation” for Paul means something different than what moderns mean by it, that is, going to heaven when we die.

To read Romans well and in context means that we continue to Romans 8.  For Wright the story of salvation is a truly human story which includes going through the dark valley.

To hear the podcast (20 minutes) click here.

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The Good News in Isaiah with Ingrid Faro

Dr. Ingrid Faro, Northern Seminary

Dr. Ingrid Faro is Visiting Professor of Old Testament at Northern Seminary in Lisle, IL, and also teaches at the Scandinavian School of Theology in Sweden. Among other things, she is the author of Evil in Genesis: A Contextual Analysis of Hebrew Lexemes for Evil in the Book of Genesis. She tells of how she learned modern Hebrew in Israel, separately experienced the deep pain of relational abuse and loss, and eventually studied both ancient Hebrew and Greek. From that learning, she draws out the aspects of meaning appreciated through a knowledge of the Hebrew wording of Isaiah 61:1-3, the passage Jesus applied to himself in Luke 4.

To hear the podcast (12 minutes) click here.

“Exegetically Speaking” is a weekly podcast of the friends and faculty of Wheaton College, IL and The Lanier Theological Library. Hosted by Dr. David Capes, it features language experts who discuss the importance of learning the biblical languages—Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek—and show how reading the Bible in the original languages “pays off.” Each podcast lasts between seven and eleven minutes and covers a different topic for those who want to read the Bible for all it is worth.

If you’re interested in going deeper, learn more about Wheaton’s undergraduate degree in Classical Languages (Greek, Hebrew, and Latin) and our MA in Biblical Exegesis. 

You can hear Exegetically Speaking on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. If you have questions or comments, please contact us at exegetically.speaking@wheaton.edu. And keep listening.