Bob Robinson
Bob is the Executive Director of Reintegrate. View his full bio here.
Bob is the Executive Director of Reintegrate. View his full bio here.
Truth be told, most Christians, even many pastors, don’t really have a firm understanding of what heaven is.
In this episode of the Reintegrate Podcast, we invite an expert to share his insights. Dr. Michael Wittmer is Professor of Systematic & Historical Theology and the Director of the Center for Christian Worldview at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary at Cornerstone University. He is the author of lots of articles and several books, including books that deal with the topic on this episode of the podcast: Anticipating Heaven (Our Daily Bread Publishing, 2019). Heaven Is a Place on Earth: Why Everything You Do Matters to God (Zondervan, 2009), and he just served as the editor of Four Views on Heaven (in the Counterpoints series, Zondervan, 2022).
As we read the news, we are being not just being informed but we are being formed. Our news consumption easily shapes our sense of belonging and it can grind our minds into little bits as we are engulfed by so much information. We certainly should know what’s going on around us and so we should seek to know and understand the news. But how should a Christian do so? In a media world filled with pundits left and right, how can a Christian’s consumption of news be different?
On this episode, our guest is Dr. Jeffrey Bilbro, the author of Reading the Times: A Literary and Theological Inquiry into the News (IVP, 2021), a book that won a 2022 Christianity Today Book Award of Merit. Jeff is Associate Professor of English at Grove City College.
What is God actually redeeming in us? What does it mean to be human? What is our mission in the world? Christians should seek the answers to these big questions. But we may lack the theological tools to answer. Our vision of the purpose of God and of us humans can be myopic because we haven’t steeped our minds in the truths about humanity found in the first chapter of Genesis, where it is revealed that we are created in the image of God.
Dr. J. Richard Middleton (Ph.D. Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam) is the author of The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1 (from Brazos Press, 2005).
He is Professor of Biblical Worldview and Exegesis at Northeastern Seminary. His most recent book is titled Abraham’s Silence: The Binding of Isaac, the Suffering of Job, and How to Talk Back to God (Baker Academic, 2021). Previous books include A New Heaven and a New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology (Baker Academic, 2014). He is also the co-author (with Brian Walsh) of The Transforming Vision: Shaping a Christian Worldview (IVP Academic, 1984) and Truth is Stranger Than It Used to Be: Biblical Faith in a Postmodern Age (IVP Academic/SPCK, 1995).
Whether we know it or not, our lives are formed by invisible habits, habits that create in us anxiety, frustration, depression, and exasperation. How do we lean into the promise of the gospel when we remain addicted to our technology, scrolling through our social media feeds, streaming tv and movies at any time and in any place, all the while hurrying to get our work done with increasing demands and deadlines?
Justin Whitmel Earley is the author of two books on creating healthy habits to yoke ourselves to Jesus, The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction (InterVarsity Press, 2019) and Habits of the Household: Practicing the Story of God in Everyday Family Rhythms (Zondervan, 2021).
Everything in Western society teaches us that we belong to nobody but ourselves. This sounds great! We can create our own identities, map out our own lives, and find significance in ourselves. This means that we are entirely responsible for ourselves. But Alan Noble says this overwhelmingly burdens us to try to justify our existence and to create and express our own identities. And society is more than happy to manipulate us as we do so. There is a lot of money to be had in people who are burdened with creating, sustaining, and projecting who they are.
Alan Noble (Ph.D., Baylor University) is Associate Professor of English at Oklahoma Baptist University. He is the editor-in-chief of Christ and Pop Culture, and the author of articles and books, including his latest, You Are Not Your Own: Belonging to God in an Inhuman World (InterVarsity Press, 2021).
Honest doubt about what we’ve been taught is a good thing. In fact, healthy deconstruction can create great spiritual growth. But doubt can also lead someone to lose their faith. Our guest says that we can question our faith without losing it.
A. J. Swoboda (PhD, University of Birmingham) is assistant professor of Bible, theology, and world Christianity at Bushnell University. His latest book is After Doubt: How to Question Your Faith without Losing It (Brazos Press, 2021). This book is a much-needed assist to doubters and those of us who are seeking to help them.
What is a Christian’s role in making cultural change? What is a Christian’s role in a polarized political society? Does the gospel of Jesus Christ inform us on any of this?
Dr. Bruce Ashford (Ph.D. in Theological Studies, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary) is an author, speaker, and columnist. He wrote or co-wrote nine books, including Every Square Inch: An Introduction to Cultural Engagement for Christians, The Gospel of Our King: Bible, Worldview, and the Mission of Every Christian, The Doctrine of Creation: A Constructive Kuyperian Approach, and Letters to an American Christian.
He is a Senior Research Fellow at The Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology in Cambridge, England.
Yes, we can deepen our Christian discipleship by reintegrating faith, work, and economics. Our guest, Charlie Self, says that Christians have the means to bless their local economies in unique ways that can transform coworkers and neighbors as Christ is glorified. We discuss wholehearted discipleship that extends beyond our Sundays at church and into our workplaces the rest of the week.
Dr. Charlie Self is a Christian leader whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects and is well known for drawing on vast bodies of knowledge to address the problems Christians face. He has over four decades of experience reintegrating church, academy, marketplace, and the public square, helping people see that all domains of service can serve the kingdom of God.
In a society fixated on anxiety, competition, and comparison Jesus Christ offers another path. He has told his followers that instead of living in constant striving and competition that each of us has equal dignity and worth. It’s often assumed that the good life is only for the most wealthy, attractive, and powerful. Poor, sad, and suffering people are left out. But Jesus offers a ninefold path in the Beatitudes that is for everyone. Whatever your story, whatever your struggle, wherever you find yourself, Jesus says that you are blessed in Him.
Mark Scandrette’s latest book is The Ninefold Path of Jesus: Hidden Wisdom of the Beatitudes (IVP, 2021). In this book, Mark explores the nine sayings in the opening verses of Matthew chapter five, helping readers move beyond their first instincts to instead embrace the deeper reality of the kingdom of God. He invites us into nine new postures for life. Instead of living in fear, we can choose radical love.
The significance of the Bible’s extensive teaching about the natural world is easily overlooked by Christians accustomed to focusing only on what the Bible says about God’s interaction with human beings. Who cares about the creation? Well, God told us humans that we are supposed to care for the creation.
Jonathan A. Moo is associate professor of New Testament and environmental studies at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington. He has a unique education, having graduate degrees (including a PhD from Cambridge) in both biblical studies and wildlife ecology. He collaborated with his father, Douglas Moo, on the book, Creation Care: A Biblical Theology of the Natural World (Zondervan, 2018). Douglas Moo is one of the most respected New Testament scholars of this generation.
How does our faith inform our public life? We know it addresses our personal lives, our personal holiness, our families, our churches. But does our faith inform our work? Our enjoyment of art? Of fashion? Of architecture? Instead of simply relying on the political pundits on the cable news channels, do we have access to theologically shaped ideas to issues like political ideologies, immigration, race relations, and economics?
Our guest on this episode of the Reintegrate Podcast is Dr. Matthew Kaemingk. He is the Richard John Mouw Assistant Professor of Faith and Public Life at Fuller Theological Seminary where he also serves as the Director of the Richard John Mouw Institute of Faith and Public Life. His research and teaching focus on marketplace theology, Islam and political ethics, and public theology.
His latest publication is a book he edited as a festschrift to honor the life and work of Richard Mouw, Reformed Public Theology (Baker Academic, 2021).
Too many of us have experienced abuse of power from pastors in our churches. This happens in churches that have allowed for a culture of toxicity. To resist toxicity, we need to restore goodness in our churches. The Hebrew word translated “good” is tov. Scot McKnight and his daughter Laura Barringer have written A Church Called Tov: Forming a Goodness Culture That Resists Abuses of Power and Promotes Healing (Tyndale, 2020).
In this episode, we interview Scot McKnight. Dr. McKnight is Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lisle, IL. He is a New Testament scholar, historian of early Christianity, and theologian. He has a very popular blog called “Jesus Creed” that is housed at ChristianityToday.com.