Jason Meyer, lead pastor of Urban Refuge Church in Minneapolis, MN, joins the podcast today to tell us about his journey towards becoming a pastor theologian. After serving eight years as a pastor at Bethlehem Baptist, Jason shares what he learned about his own calling, and the identity of a "pastor." This and more on today's episode!
CPT board member Doug Sweeney joins the podcast today. He previews his topic for the 2025 CPT Conference, Good Shepherds: Pastoral Identity and the Future of the Church. What are good Christian pastors supposed to be like? On the other hand, what malformative models of pastoral identity are common in our culture today? Doug also tells us about his 2024 book, Substance of Our Faith: Foundations for the History of Christian Doctrine. Check it out on today's episode!
Casey Hough joins us to talk about his recent book,When Poets Were Warriors: Retrieving a Biblical Vision of Masculinity (B&H Publishing, 2025). “Masculinity” is an increasingly popular subject for public discourse. Drawing on his experiences as a pastor and father, Hough argues that Christians ought to return to the complex and challenging example of Jesus, instead of relying on cultural stereotypes, to form our vision of masculinity. If we consider Jesus Christ to be a model for masculinity, how do we then think about femininity, and any differences or similarities between the two? What should pastors consider as they shape their discipleship ministries? This and more on today’s episode!
What is culture, and what is our relationship to it as Christians? Dennis Greeson joins the podcast today to talk about his recent book The Way of Christ in Culture: A Vision for All of Life (Lifeway 2024), coauthored with Benjamin T. Quinn. In the book, the authors provide a framework for knowing one’s time in God’s story, one’s place in creation, and following wisdom. He also shares about the Alexandrian Institute, a cohort-based model for theological education focused on engaging Scripture and confessional traditions and the wisdom of previous generations of Christians, and sending students to engage their context.
This week, James Arcadi joins the podcast to talk about his latest book, Holiness: Divine and Human (2023). He also shares about his dual calling to both pastoral ministry as a full-time Anglican rector, and to academic theology as a guest professor at Wheaton College. What is the relationship between abstract ideas and practical application? What does it mean for something to be "consecrated" or "holy"? This and more on today's podcast!
How is God at work in our stories and our suffering? How does human will relate to divine will? Dr. Mark Talbot, Professor of Philosophy at Wheaton College, joins the podcast to share his story, including suffering a major, paralyzing accident as a young man and going on to study philosophy as a Christian. Dr. Talbot also discusses his book When the Stars Disappear, the first in a four-book series on suffering and the Christian life.
On this episode we are joined by Steven Sandage, Professor of Psychology of Religion and Theology at the Boston University School of Theology. Dr. Sandage consulted with the CPT for a meeting of one of our ecclesial theologian fellowships on virtue formation and hope. In this conversation we discuss the relationship between hope, lament, and pastoral ministry.
We're joined on this episode by CPT Fellow Neil Martin, who serves as Ministry Assistant at Oxford Presbyterian Church and as the Director of B Less Oxford. Neil tells the story of growing up, studying at Cambridge, and beginning a promising career in marketing design in London. A sudden, unexplained illness debilitated Neil, setting him on a new trajectory for his life.
Our March bonus episode on books we're reading. We are joined by CPT fellow Paul Morrison. We discuss the following:
Dale Allison – The Resurrection of Jesus (2021)
Chinua Achebe – Things Fall Apart (1958)
Adonis Vidu – The Same God Who Works All Things (2021)
Michael Budde – Foolishness to Gentiles (2022)
We discuss the life and thought of Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck in part 1 of this conversation with CPT fellows Gayle Doornbos and Gray Sutanto. What was Bavinck's ecclesial context? How did political dynamics in the Netherlands influence his life, and how do these movements related to the broader Reformed movement, Calvinism, and its popular understanding within American evangelicalism? Gayle serves on the faculty of Dordt University and Gray serves on the Faculty of Reformed Theological Seminary.
We are joined on this episode by Dr. Preston Hill, Assistant Professor of Integrated Theology at Richmont Graduate University. Preston discusses his work on trauma, abuse, and trinitarian theology, as well as his soon-to-release co-authored book, Dawn of Sunday. How is the Trinity foundational for our understanding of human relationality? How can pastors create trauma-safe spaces for community and healing in their congregations? All this and much more on this week's episode.
We are joined on this episode by Dr. Emily Beth Hill, who serves in the ministry of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. She tells the story of switching careers after working for 10 years in business marketing and analysis. What are the theological assumptions about human beings built into capitalistic marketing strategies? What things should churches consider when having conversations about branding? How do market-based approaches to ministry subtly put our faith in things other than the Spirit's work among God's people?
On this episode we hear CPT fellow Andrew Ray Williams's story of becoming a pastor theologian. Growing up in a Foursquare pentecostal tradition provided Andrew with unique challenges and opportunities in his theological journey. What is the theological identity of pentecostalism? What should a pentecostal view of the sacraments look like? What is the relationship our experience of God and our theology and ministry practice? All this and more on this week's episode.
We are joined this week by on the podcast by Dr. Michael Bird, a Lecturer in Theology at Ridley College in Melbourne, Australia. We discuss how Dr. Bird selects and pursues his various research interests. He also shares his thoughts on how American evangelicalism is distinct from global expressions of evangelical Christian faith. What is the influence, for better or worse, of American evangelicalism on the rest of the world? How can American Christians benefit from expanding their perspective beyond their borders?
Our February bonus episode on books we're reading. We are joined by CPT co-founder Gerald Hiestand. We discuss the following:
Krister Stendahl: Paul Among Jews and Gentiles (1976)
John Meyendorff: Christ in Eastern Christian Thought (1975)
Colson Whitehead: The Underground Railroad (2017)
Eric Nelson: The Theology of Liberalism: Political Philosophy and the Justice of God (2019)
ARTICLE: Life Is Hard, Be Humble: Thomas Aquinas on Humility
NATHAN BARCZI
PODCAST: Feed My Sheep
DOUGLAS SWEENEY
ARTICLE: Christians and the Virtues
BENJAMIN BURKHOLDER
NEWS: Announcing Two New Learning Cohorts
CPT NEWS UPDATE
