vocational channels archives

We are experiencing increased suspicion and animosity in our churches, our workplaces, and even our families. It has also led to a false sense that our options are limited to choosing only one side. When we look around us, we see people so extremely confident that they are absolutely right and that the opposition is not only absolutely wrong, but downright evil.

Is there a better way? Are Christians called to be peacemakers and bridgebuilders? And can they do that without jettisoning our core convictions? Into the fray comes Dr. Shirley Mullen and her new book, Claiming the Courageous Middle: Daring to Live and Work Together for a More Hopeful Future (Baker Academic, 2024).

Listen on Substack.

Studying history is not as simple as watching a documentary, a biopic, or reading a bestselling narrative history. We need to be aware of how historians actually do their craft, and use those same tools as we watch and read. Some use history to advance their political agendas, while others just echo ideas that are not substantiated by historical scholarship. Armchair historians can often get it very wrong.

How should Christians study history? Christians are a people of the Truth, so how do we know what is legitimate history? How do we reintegrate our faith with our understanding of the past?

Our guest is Dr. John Fea, Distinguished Professor of American History at Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. He has recently released the second edition of his book, Why Study History?: Reflecting on the Importance of the Past (Baker Academic, 2024). In this book, he talks about what historians do, what bad history looks like, and how studying history can be a form of spiritual formation.

We just came out of yet another contentious election year. People are as divided and polarized as ever, and the situation doesn’t seem to be improving.

John Inazu is the author of Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect (Zondervan, 2024).

It’s a unique book because John Inazu walks us through a school year as he teaches law and religion at Washington University in St. Louis. In this environment, students learn to embrace a better way to settle disputes. We get to learn alongside them, gleaning universal principles for conversing with people we disagree with.

Listen to the podcast here.

In a deeply divided nation, we’ve seen everyone argue over who to vote for, what policies are righteous, and how to move forward. Christians are just as caught up in the polarized politics of our day.

Can Christians participate in the public square without getting sucked into the idolatries that come with political parties? Isn’t it better to avoid politics than risk ethical compromise or division among believers?

We had the honor of interviewing David on the day his new book, Citizenship Without Illusions: A Christian Guide to Political Engagement (InterVarsity Press, 2024), was released.

Listen here.

There is a crisis of knowledge that we are all experiencing. It seems that nobody trusts what anybody else is saying. In politics and in the media, on social networks, there has been an increasing inability to discern truth. 

• What causes us to explore conspiracy theories?
• How can we know when someone is telling a half-truth for political ends?
• What is the way forward for Christians as we try to navigate a world full of information but not much wisdom? 

Our guest is Bonnie Kristian, who writes about these issues in her book, Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (Brazos Press, 2022), which has won the “Award of Merit” in Christianity Today’s 2023 Book Awards.

The Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper famously said these words in a speech he gave when he opened a new university:

“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!”

Jessica Joustra and Robert Joustra are the editors of a new book titled Calvinism for a Secular Age: A Twenty-First-Century Reading of Abraham Kuyper’s Stone Lectures (IVP, 2022). It’s a book that features contemporary Christian theologians, historians, scientists, and artists applying to today the concepts Kuyper introduced to America in 1898 in his famous Stone Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary. These lectures, reflecting on the role of the Christian faith in a variety of social spheres, emphasized that our Christian faith addresses every aspect of life. This book seeks to bring those concepts into the 21st Century.

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.

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).

Insurrectionists storming the Capitol and Senator Josh Hawley, who supported those who stormed the Capitol, invoking the name of Abraham Kuyper. How can white evangelicals learn from this ugly chapter on America’s history? What can we do, as we seek to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, to move forward? As a Black man and an evangelical theological scholar, Dr. Vincent Bacote is able to help white Christians better navigate the nexus of evangelical culture, politics, theology, and race. Vincent Bacote, PhD, is Associate Professor of Theology and the Director of Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College. He is the author of Reckoning with Race and Performing the Good News: In Search of a Better Evangelical Theology.

Stephanie Summers is the CEO of The Center for Public Justice in Washington DC, an organization that equips citizens, develops leaders, and shapes public policy. She discusses with Bob and Brendan ideas for civic engagement that faithfully seeks to further public justice in both our nation but also our local contexts. They discuss how to actively discuss public policy and candidates with others without the trappings of political punditry, which seems to end with everyone hating each other.

How have the various political ideologies become idolatries? We have David Koyzis on to guide us through the strengths and weaknesses of each of them – Liberalism, Conservatism, Nationalism, Democracy, and Socialism. This is a crash-course in political science during the election season from one of our generation’s best thinkers on the subject.

David T. Koyzis earned his Ph.D. in government and international studies from the University of Notre Dame. He has taught undergraduate political science for thirty years. The new second edition of his highly acclaimed book, Political Visions & Illusions: A Survey & Christian Critique of Contemporary Ideologies came out last year, published by InterVarsity Press. Timothy Keller recently cited David’s book writing, “The gospel critiques all ideologies, and all the main political platforms since the Enlightenment have been dominated by reductionism and idols. (See David Koyzis, Political Visions and Illusions).”

In this podcast, we continue our discussion with Dr. John Fea. Professor of American History at Messiah University. He provides a historical framework for understanding the rise of the Religious Right and the political environment that led to evangelicals embracing Donald Trump in the 2016 election. Issues he addresses in his book, Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump.