Author

  1. 436: Schuldheisz - Luther and the Lion

    book
    04/17/26
    12 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley | Sam P. Schuldheisz
    The Lutherans, the Lion, and the gifts of Narnia. In this episode, we talk with Pastor Sam Schuldheisz about his forthcoming book, Luther and the Lion: A Narnian Catechism. We discuss how Lewis (and other Inklings) can help us catechize children and adults, how stories lead us deeper into the biblical narratives, and vice versa. How can great myths and stories be employed in Christian apologetics when seen through Christian liturgy and sacraments? Now is the best time to reintroduce great Christian authors, great myths, and great stories, and the best of all stories — the gospel of Jesus Christ — can carry us out of our churches into a world that’s wounded and can’t find true healing that only Christ can give.
    436: Schuldheisz - Luther and the Lion

  2. 428: Postman - A great narrative... has sufficient credibility, complexity, and symbolic power to enable one to organize one's life around it

    book
    02/14/26
    12 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley
    We Don’t Need No Education. In this episode, we read The End of Education by Neal Postman, discussing the mechanisms of public education, religious catechesis, the influence of the Enlightenment and psychoanalysis on contemporary learning, and what happens when fiction replaces truth as the basis of meaning. This and much, much more on today’s show!
    428: Postman - A great narrative... has sufficient credibility, complexity, and symbolic power to enable one to organize one's life around it

  3. How Education Problems Affect Handing Down the Faith

    book
    12/30/25
    4 mins
    By Caleb Keith | Scott Keith | Adam Francisco | Bruce Hillman
    Reading and education outcomes in the United States have been declining for decades. In this episode, the Thinking Fellows examine how these trends have impacted Christian education and what Christians can contribute to America’s education crisis.
    How Education Problems Affect Handing Down the Faith

  4. When Christians Contradict Themselves

    book
    12/01/25
    6 mins
    By Caleb Keith | Bruce Hillman | Adam Francisco | Scott Keith
    The Thinking Fellows examine the Ligonier 2025 State of Theology Survey. They identify a major recurring theme: Christians are contradicting themselves.
    When Christians Contradict Themselves

  5. 418: Luther - God will not deal with us except through his external Word and sacrament

    book
    11/28/25
    8 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley
    Son of a Preacher Man. In this episode, we conclude our study of Martin Luther’s Smalcald Articles, discussing the office of the keys and confession. We go through and sum up the previous episodes — the gospel, the mass, repentance, sin, and the law — then sit with the function and power of the forgiveness of sin. What is the office of the keys for? Where does it come from? Who gets to use the keys? Then, we talk over confession and its consequences for pastoral care and its effect on the churches.
    418: Luther - God will not deal with us except through his external Word and sacrament

  6. 417: Luther - A deep, evil corruption of nature that reason does not comprehend

    book
    11/21/25
    8 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley
    How Deep Is Your Love! In this episode, we continue our reading of the Smalcald Articles, focusing our attention on sin and the law. What is sin? What does it do to us? What are its effects? And, in following, what is the relationship of the law to sin? Does the law empower us to sin less? Can the law produce good works and good fruits? What is the function of pastoral care in relation to sin and the law? All this and much, much more on this episode of the podcast.
    417: Luther - A deep, evil corruption of nature that reason does not comprehend

  7. 416: Luther - To this office of the law, however, the New Testament immediately adds the consoling promise of grace through the gospel

    book
    11/13/25
    9 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley
    Don’t Look Back in Anger. In this episode, we continue reading Martin Luther’s Smalcald Articles, focusing on contrition, repentance, and freedom. Why does the law need to terrify and leave us hopeless? How does attention to the self lead us into death and hell? What happens when belief is preached as something “we do” rather than something “done to” us? Likewise, when repentance is self-activated and self-actuated, what are the consequences for our daily lives? This and much, much more on this episode of the show.
    416: Luther - To this office of the law, however, the New Testament immediately adds the consoling promise of grace through the gospel

  8. 415: Luther - The Mass is a dangerous thing, fabricated and invented without God’s Word and will

    book
    11/07/25
    9 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley
    Mass Effect. In this episode, we continue our reading of The Smalcald Articles, focusing on Luther’s critique of the Roman Mass and all its consequences for the churches and Christian life. We discuss mimetic desire, sacrificial religion, the exclusive work of Jesus.
    415: Luther - The Mass is a dangerous thing, fabricated and invented without God’s Word and will

  9. 414: Luther - God is extravagantly rich in His grace

    book
    10/31/25
    9 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley
    An Arm-Twisting Confession. In this episode, we read Martin Luther’s Smalcald Articles on the gospel, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. Why did he have to have “his arm twisted” to write them? What is he trying to teach the churches about the gospel? How does the gospel circumscribe and define the Church, worship, and Christian life? Why does something written in the 1530s matter today? We look to answer all these questions and more on this episode of the Banned Books podcast.
    414: Luther - God is extravagantly rich in His grace

  10. Thursday, June 19, 2025

    book
    06/19/25
    15 mins
    By Dan van Voorhis
    Today on the Christian History Almanac, we remember the Council of Nicaea in 325 and what did, and didn’t, happen there.
    Thursday, June 19, 2025

  11. 389: The Power and Primacy of the Pope

    book
    04/24/25
    8 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley
    Over And Done With. In this episode, we read Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope and discuss the validity of the papacy’s claims to divine authority, the response of Lutherans and Protestants to the death of Pope Francis, how to love one’s neighbor while disagreeing them, the distinction between heterodoxy and heresy, and much much more.
    389: The Power and Primacy of the Pope

  12. Gregory of Nyssa

    book
    11/26/24
    5 mins
    By Caleb Keith | Adam Francisco | Bruce Hillman
    The Fellows discuss St. Gregory of Nyssa's Catechetical Discourse, a series of objections and answers to confessions of the Christian faith.
    Gregory of Nyssa