The McKrakenCast

Part 5 - Scots Confession, History & Theology (final installment)

This is the 5th and final part in a series of adult education (Sunday School) classes that I taught at St. Charles Presbyterian Church (USA) in the early months of 2020. It provides a fairly thorough discussion of the Scots Confession's history and theology targeted (hopefully, effectively so) at the generally educated churchgoer. Part 5 continues exploring the background of the Scots Confession. It deals with life and times of John Knox, the principal author of the Scots Confession, cover his departure from England in 1554 to avoid the reign of "Bloody Mary" Tudor, his time in Geneva and Frankfurt, his return to Scotland in 1559, and his legacy. It also explores chapters 21 - 25 in the confession itself, addressing topics like the purpose of the sacraments, the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper, the Holy Spirit's work in the sacraments, government and civil authority, and the two gifts given to the church.This is Part 5 in a 5-part series. You can find the series index here. Click here for the blog post corresponding to this episode, and click here to access this content on YouTube.
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I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach. 

Karl Barth: Spiritual Writings - A conversation with the editors

Join me for a conversation with Dr. Ash Cocksworth (Twitter, University of Roehampton) as we talk about our recently released co-edited volume, Karl Barth: Spiritual Writings, in the Paulist Press Classics of Western Spirituality series. We discuss how Ash and I got to know each other and came to work together on this volume, what our favorite things about the book are, who should read the book, how politics relates to spirituality, and much more. Marmite even comes up at one point and a brilliant bit of wordplay by yours truly falls totally flat. It was a fun conversation.Ash and I were joined by my friend, Dr. Kate Hanch (Twitter, First St. Charles United Methodist Church), who functioned as our special guest host and moderator for the conversation. Once you’ve ordered your copy of Karl Barth: Spiritual Writings, head over to Fortress Press to pre-order Kate’s forthcoming book, Storied Witness: The Theology of Black Women Preachers in 19th-Century America.
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I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach. 

Reflecting on the Lectionary Texts for the Third Sunday in Lent (RCL Year C)

This is the third of what has been a three part series of adult spiritual formation / education (Sunday School) classes that I recently finished teaching at St. Charles Presbyterian Church (USA), here in March of 2022. The date for this particular recording was March 20, 2022. During this series, I lead discussion of the Revised Common Lectionary texts for these Sundays in Lent. Many thanks to my sisters and brothers who joined in the conversation. 
This Sunday's readings were:
Isaiah 55:1-9
Psalm 63:1-81
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Luke 13:1-9
You can access these readings here.
We discussed things like:
Spiritualizing vs eschatological / apocalyptic approaches to the Judeo-Christian tradition in these texts
More on Judaism, Christianity, and the perils of supercessionism
A God-inspired vision of what the world could be if we could "buy...without money" and not "labor of that which does not satisfy"
God's people as attracting the interest of the nations and drawing them in rather than a geographically expansionist view
A moral interpretation for God's thoughts and ways being different than ours
Allegorical interpretation in Paul even if the Reformers didn't much care for it as an interpretive strategy
Bad things don't happen to you because you're a bad person
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I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach. 

Reflecting on the Lectionary Texts for the Second Sunday in Lent (RCL Year C)

This is the second of what should be a three part series of adult spiritual formation / education (Sunday School) classes that I'm currently teaching at St. Charles Presbyterian Church (USA), here in March of 2022. The date for this particular recording was March 13, 2022. During this series, I will be leading discussion of the Revised Common Lectionary texts for these Sundays in Lent. Many thanks to my sisters and brothers who joined in the conversation. 
This Sunday's readings were:
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
Psalm 27
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 13:31-35
You can access these readings here.
We discussed things like:
Abram / Abraham's 318 "trained men" and what he could possibly have to be afraid of
Suzerain treaties 
Genesis 15:6 and its influence on the Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, Islam)
Depictions of Jesus's relationship with the Pharisees and the place of Jesus-following Pharisees in the early days of what would become Christianity
The apocryphal Lives of the Prophets
Feminine imagery for God / God and gender
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I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach. 

Reflecting on the Lectionary Texts for the First Sunday in Lent (RCL Year C)

This is the first of what should be a three part series of adult spiritual formation / education (Sunday School) classes that I'm currently teaching at St. Charles Presbyterian Church (USA), here in March of 2022. The date for this particular recording was March 6, 2022. During this series, I will be leading discussion of the Revised Common Lectionary texts for these Sundays in Lent. Many thanks to my sisters and brothers who joined in the conversation. 
This Sunday's readings were:
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
Romans 10:8b-13
Luke 4:1-13
You can access these readings here.
We discussed things like:
My complicated relationship to the liturgical year and lectionary
Lent, Zwingli, and the origins of the Reformed tradition
How maybe Ash Wednesday should come before Mardi Gras
How we should treat "aliens" / immigrants
How observation of the Sabbath is explained differently in Exodus 20 compared to Deuteronomy 5
How the Jewish and Christian traditions identify God and God's people by telling stories / recounting history
The protoevangelium in Genesis 3:15 and the Reformed tradition's problems with replacement theology / supercessionism
Calling on the name of the Lord and why LORD shows up in all capital letters in the Old Testament 
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I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach. 

Part 4 - Scots Confession, History & Theology

This is Part 4 in a series of adult education (Sunday School) classes that I taught at St. Charles Presbyterian Church (USA) in the early months of 2020. It provides a fairly thorough discussion of the Scots Confession's history and theology targeted (hopefully, effectively so) at the generally educated churchgoer. Part 4 continues exploring the background of the Scots Confession. It deals with life and times of John Knox, the principal author of the Scots Confession, from the history of Scotland leading up to his birth to Knox's departure from England in 1554 to avoid the reign of "Bloody Mary" Tudor. It also explores chapters 16 - 20 in the confession itself, addressing topics like the marks of the church, universal salvation, the supersessionism in Reformed ecclesiology, the afterlife, and the authority of Scripture.
 
This is Part 4 in a 5-part series. You can find the series index here. Click here for the blog post corresponding to this episode, and click here to access this content on YouTube.
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I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach. 

Brief Reflections on Christian Atheism

This content lived on Youtube behind a privacy wall for a couple of years, but now I've released it into the wild. If you want to enjoy the video version, just click here. I talk about the martyrdom of Polycarp, an interview I once saw on TV between Stephen Colbert and Ricky Gervais, and why Christians need to have well-developed atheist muscles.
 
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I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach. 
 
 

Part 3 - Scots Confession, History & Theology

This is Part 3 in a series of adult education (Sunday School) classes that I taught at St. Charles Presbyterian Church (USA) in the early months of 2020. It provides a fairly thorough discussion of the Scots Confession's history and theology targeted (hopefully, effectively so) at the generally educated churchgoer. Part 3 continues exploring the background of the Scots Confession. It deals with John Calvin and the Swiss Reformation, including Calvin's teachings on the knowledge of God, as well as providing a very brief overview of the English Reformation. It also explores chapters 11 - 15 in the confession itself, addressing topics like Christ's intercession at the right hand of the Father, the afterlife, faith, "total depravity," "good" works and merit, and the Christian's ongoing struggle against sin.
 
This is Part 3 in a 5-part series. You can find the series index here. Click here for the blog post corresponding to this episode, and click here to access this content on YouTube.
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I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach. 

Barth's "Göttingen Dogmatics" - §4: Man and His Question

The androcentric nature of Barth's language notwithstanding, in this section he addresses the human condition and the "contradiction" at the heart of our existence, as well as reflecting on how it can be that God encounters us in the midst of that contradiction as "the answer to our question" (Diktatsatz).
This is part 5 of a multi-part series. You can find the series index here. Click here for the blog post corresponding to this episode, and click here to access this content on YouTube.
I begin the audio recordings by reading Barth’s Diktatsatz, so I will begin reproducing that here as well. The bold is mine and indicates where I find emphasis:
God's revelation, which is the basis of Christian preaching, is the answer to our question how we can overcome the contradiction in our existence, which we have to view not as our destiny but as our responsible act, and which we know that we cannot overcome. But we know ourselves in this regard only as God makes himself known to us. We would not ask about God had God not already answered us. Because of this, we can neither evade the question about God nor settle it in any sense.
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I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.

Part 2 - Scots Confession, History & Theology

This is Part 2 in a series of adult education (Sunday School) classes that I taught at St. Charles Presbyterian Church (USA) in the early months of 2020. It provides a fairly thorough discussion of the Scots Confession's history and theology targeted (hopefully, effectively so) at the generally educated churchgoer. Part 2 gets into the background of the Scots Confession. It surveys the state of the late medieval Christian Church as well as a number of reform movements (Francis of Assisi, Wycliffe, Hus, etc.) and gives a brief overview of Martin Luther's reformation and theology. It also explores chapters 6 - 10 in the confession itself, addressing topics like the incarnation, election, christology, atonement / salvation, and the creedal descent into hell.
 
This is Part 2 in a 5-part series. You can find the series index here. Click here for the blog post corresponding to this episode, and click here to access this content on YouTube.
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I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.