Mary consented to the formation of Christ within her womb, and Paul calls all people to consent to Christ being formed within. The other choice is bearing the subpersonal image. (Sign up for the upcoming class, "Lonergan & the Problem of Theological Method": "Bernard Lonergan, SJ (1904 - 1984) came to see the development of a modern scholarly metho…

Oleh Plough

Jordan Wood explains Maximus' understanding of the limited role of nature in universal salvation, which unlike in David Hart's theology in which nature contains the full potential of deification and salvation, there is the necessity of realization in time and history of the actual working out of salvation and the defeat of evil beyond nature in per…

Hey everyone, Hope you're all having a cracking festive build up. They certainly were back in the mists of time in Ambridge with a vertiable banger of a week. Joe selling bootleg cider punch at Deck the Halls (Gills). Nigel doing a gorilla striptease (possibly). Helen doubling up as a baby laxative (always). New Netflix series just dropped : Mike T…

The Lord's Prayer is answered by Christ in the incarnation and parallels and echoes the prayer of Mary and Zacharias as each of us become the bearers of the incarnate Christ through freely carrying out "Thy Will" in enacting the Kingdom of God on Earth. Sign up for the upcoming class, "Lonergan & the Problem of Theological Method": "Bernard Lonerga…

Robert Donnelly meets the migrants seeking asylum in the United States.Oleh Plough

Jordan follows Maximus argument of deification to conclude that personhood, whether divine or human is not reducible or achievable apart from the reality of the person of Christ (in contradistinction from the work of David Bentley Hart's syllogistic understanding). (Sign up for the upcoming class, "Lonergan & the Problem of Theological Method": "Be…

Hey all. A big welcome to new Patrons: Charlie, Jerry, Richard, Annabelle and Anna. Thanks so much for your support. Check out David's pedantry here: https://www.bikeradar.com/features/long-reads/cycling-environmental-impact And go see Christmas Present and Correct here : https://www.lichfieldgarrick.com/events/christmas-present-correct Have a very…

Human conceptuality and understanding is limited by binaries, differences and irresolvable dualisms, but Paul describes the synthesizing work of Christ as a knowledge exceeding human conceptuality. (Sign up for the upcoming class, "Lonergan & the Problem of Theological Method": "Bernard Lonergan, SJ (1904 - 1984) came to see the development of a mo…

Emmy Barth Maendel describes how, in just three short years, a sixteenth-century martyr founded a church that has endured to this day.Oleh Plough

Jordan Wood lays out Maximus explanation of the Lord's Prayer, which not only explains how prayer can both seek action from God and change the one praying, but accords with the logic of creation as incarnation. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!…

Huge shoutout and hugs to new Patrons: Sarah, Laura, Joanne, Jaqui, Harriet and Deborah. Props also to legend Andrew Miles for his upgrade. Join us this week as we zoom round the lanes of Ambridge trying to keep up with the lunatic Leonard. On our list for Scary Santa: Saint Mick : The carpark roadie gives us a nightmare before Christmas. Zain-y Ra…

Jordan Wood addresses the determinate good and love of Christ, in contrast to abstractions, and addresses the Neo-Platonism of Hart and Milbank, and the true orthodoxy of Hegel, as opposed to the received neo-Kantianism of Lonergan. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!…

Heinrich Arnold describes how scripture tells an unfinished history of liberation.Oleh Plough

Jordan Wood, in part two of a three part series on Maximus' Mystagogia, describes the paradoxical relationship between church and world, soul and body, idealism and realism, the apophatic and cataphatic, and creation and incarnation, demonstrating that these independent realms are integrated and interdependent. If you enjoyed this podcast, please c…

If there's another Archers' podcast out there covering Napalm Death, Carly Simon and Iron Maiden this weekend, we'd like to see them in The Bull car park. Preferably NOT next to Mick's van. Huge love to new patrons Amanda and Louise, thanks so much! As always, massive respect to all in The Cider Shed Patreon Gang, link to join below. Now, if you do…

In Romans 13:1, it was under the darkest of circumstances that Paul outlined the responsibility of Christians to the state. In light of the fact that Jesus has been slain and Paul himself will shortly be murdered, Christians can defeat the powers through the same revolutionary subordination, defeating death (the power of this world's kingdoms) and …

Visual artist Hannah Rose Thomas, architect Charles Howell, and poet Malcolm Guite celebrate the freedom of coloring within the lines.Oleh Plough

Jordan Wood introduces the alternative logic of the incarnation in which the symbol is the symbolized, and usual modes of ordering cause and effect and time and eternity, the apophatic and cataphatic, or the Platonic and Aristotelian are surpassed. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!…

Join us this week as we take you to the Borsetshire Hereford Cattle Society's afterparty, we discuss Mick giving Keri the ick and Brad and Kirsty making a beaver flick. Huge welcome to new Patrons, Paul, Tony, Aimée and Jason. What we naming this goat then? Turf War : Helen goes to ground in the house sale. Droning On : Should Brad be divided? Feli…

The two on the Road to Emmaus, illustrate that the embodied, the fleshly, the historical, the scriptural is inadequate in recognizing Christ. To be stuck with the literal, which describes this theological/political moment in the United States, can be likened (according to Maximus and Origen) to being consumed by fleshly desire, while desire directe…

Dori Moody describes how poverty, chastity, and obedience bring a different kind of freedom.Oleh Plough

Jordan Wood answers a series of questions concerning how Christ is to be conceived in regard to hierarchy, lower and higher, cause and effect, and Jordan depicts his embrace and occupation of the inside and outside of hierarchical order. He also discusses contemporary issues of biblical interpretation concerning the body and sexuality and how consc…

Hey there listeners, despite a few beavers in the machine earlier, the pod is now up with all ads and jingles. A big welcome and thank you to new Patrons: Elizabeth, Marie and Paula. Dam Gurl : Rex is eager for beavers. Slum Chums : Helen reaches a new, cheesy level of condescension Passive Aggressive House : What's got Tony's goat? Produced by Mat…

Christ precedes and makes possible the fact of Scripture, both in its writing and formation, but also in the continuing reading and exegesis of Scripture. This fact is the unifying center of the faith, in answer to the multiplicities of Christian faiths now exposed in this politic moment, pointing to a deep theological crisis. If you enjoyed this p…

Rosemarie Garland Thomson asks why parents are not spared the terrible freedom of having to choose whether to have a child with a disability.Oleh Plough

In this discussion of Maximus' paradoxical view of the space and time bending elements of the Word/Scripture as the continuation of incarnation, Scripture is set in the context of Christ as Word - the Word incorporating and incorporated into all things. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!…

Join Keri, Matthew and their AI assistant Rex this week as they cover that slightly early Christmas Carol plot. We're also visited by a ghost of Ambridge future that you DIDN'T hear from on The Archers this week. Rest in Power June Spencer: We pay tribute. Massive thanks to new patrons, Richard, Melanie, Marie and Sam and a big shout-out to Chloe f…

This sermon on coming to Christ outside the city (Hebrews 13:12-14) traces the inevitable collapse of every civilization, and the attempt of Republican politicians such as JD Vance, Josh Hawley, and Donald Trump, and cultural warriors like Jordan Peterson and Peter Thiel, to weaponize Christianity to aid in civilizational war is equated with the of…

Jordan Castro describes how he sought freedom in drugs and novels, but they couldn't save him.Oleh Plough

Maximus, unlike N. T. Wright or Peter Enns but like Origen and the Apostles, equates Scripture with the body, soul, and spirit of Christ, treating the inspiration of Scripture as continuing to occur through Christ, and not through the letter. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!…

What can we do when Ambridge dishes up a week like THAT one we just had? Make a pod about it I guess. Thanks to new Patrons: Richard, Steven, Claire, James, Lauren, Luke, Caroline, Colin and Hannah, and a big up to John and Francesca for their upgrades. Name the following kittens: Death by Bonfire Cheese : Will Helen's plans hamper Fallon. Butt of …

The logic of Christ defeats the necessary logic surrounding death, in which life is fragmented and sequential in its beginning and end, but Christ's defeat of death introduces an order in which life reigns over death, and in this logic the life of Christ is an eternal reality, bringing together time and eternity, God and incarnation in a reciprocal…