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Theology for the Curious
Debating theology that makes sense of life and faith. A team of regular people discuss issues of theology, faith and life. Uncovering bible thinking from cutting edge, to conservative, to all things in-between. A lively debate show that gets you thinking, challenging the relevance of God, scripture and faith to today's contemporary outlook.
Episodes
152 episodes
Ep.150 - I Was Just Wondering? - If God is Three, Why do we Call Him One?
Christian orthodoxy has insisted that it is a monotheistic faith. It believes in one God. And yet it speaks and holds to this one God as being three! If God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, then how can Christians continue to insist He is but on...
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49:28
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Ep.149 - I Was Just Wondering? - Can God Really be Pleased with me if I Don’t Believe?
Can God really be pleased with me even if I don’t believe? If I live with good intentions, and perform good deeds, will it draw the favour of God to me? Does the Bible infer that one’s behaviour can draw the attention of heaven? What about Corn...
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53:57
Ep.148 - I Was Just Wondering? - Who Was Jesus Before He Became Jesus? w/ Stephen Wellum
It is fair to say that the person of Jesus has probably sparked more conversation, intrigue and controversy than any other person in history. But where did he come from? Did he have a beginning or, as an ancient writers teach, he simply always ...
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48:23
Ep.147 - I Was Just Wondering? - What Did God Do Before He Created? w/ Alan Padgett
What did God do before He created anything? It’s a question that invites both wonder and mystery — and in this episode, we dive into how philosophers and theologians have wrestled with it for centuries. Is time something that flows on its own, ...
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49:12
Ep.146 - Contrast and Comparisons: Holy or Human - can we really be both?
C. S. Lewis wrote, “No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good….”. Trying very hard to be good is a Christian’s preoccupation, and with that often comes a deep sense of anxiety and fear. Paul captured something of this an...
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37:51
Ep.145 - Contrast and Comparisons: Tragedy or Triumph w/ Jerry Sittser
In October 1991, Jerry Sittser and his family were returning from a time away when their minivan was hit head on by a drunk driver. Jerry lost his wife, his mother, and his four-year-old daughter in the collision. Jerry was to spend many years ...
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Ep.144 - Contrast and Comparisons: Queer or Christian w/ Jonathan Tallon
Is the bible opposed to same sex relationships? Don’t the texts (Leviticus 18 and 22, Romans 1, 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10), provide all the evidence we need to tell us that the Bible stands against all things LGBTQIA+? What about cre...
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1:06:56
Ep.143 - Israel and Palestine – a Palestinian perspective w/ Dr Ghada Karmi
October 7th 2023—marked the beginning of the latest in a decades-long conflict between Israel and Palestine. On that day, Hamas launched a coordinated attack on southern Israel which led to the death of civilians and the taking of hostages. Isr...
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49:18
Ep.142 - Contrast and Comparisons: Faith and Doubt - Irreconcilable enemies or necessary companions?
It was John F. Kennedy who once famously said, “Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan”. Failure is a thing nobody wants to have or own. Another word the vast majority of Christian people are equally reticent to own, is the word ‘do...
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41:31
Ep.141 - Contrast and Comparisons: White Jesus, Black Jesus w/ Prof. Edward Blum
Who was Jesus—and what did he look like? And more significantly, what colour was his skin? In this provocative episode, the Curious team are in conversation with professor Edward Blum who, alongside Paul Harvey, co-wrote the intriguing and high...
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49:39
Ep.140 - Contrast and Comparisons: Power and Abuse w/ Bekah Legg
Power can be a very emotive word. How do we understand it? There is perhaps no such thing as a truly impotent individual, for everyone holds a degree of power whether they realise it or not. No one is immune from wielding a form of power. The q...
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48:35
Ep.139 - Contrast and Comparisons: Presence and Absence
What do we mean by God’s presence? Are we always assured of its tangible reality? In spite of Jesus’s promise to never leave us or forsake us, we also understand the painful tension of scriptures like Psalm 13:1—“How long, O Lord? Will You forg...
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33:15
Ep.138 - Contrast and Comparisons: The Gospel of ‘Me’ or ‘We’ w/ Lisa Sharon Harper
Despite the great value of individual quiet times, singular Bible reading plans, and personal commitments to church ministries; the great danger prevails that as Christians we are in danger of increasingly privatising our faith. Could it be tha...
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Ep.137 - Contrast and Comparisons: Grace or Grit - Do we earn our way or receive it?
What do we mean by “salvation by works”? What does Scripture say? What did the early christians believe? What about the medieval church? And how did the turbulent waters of the reformation confront that? Historically the good works that we do, ...
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52:13
Ep.136 - Contrast and Comparisons: Original Sin or Original Goodness – Where does the human story begin?
What does a nineteenth century German philosopher, (Friedrich Nietzsche), a thirteenth century Italian theologian, (Thomas Aquinas), and a fifth century African bishop (Saint Augustine); all have in common? They all believed in the tension and ...
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44:20
Ep.135 - The Road to Reformation: Reformation - What Now?
What did the reformation teach us? There is no definitive answer to this question, largely because in asking it we are not simply zeroing in on a decade or two, but we’re spanning up to two centuries of significant history! The reformation rein...
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40:56
Ep.134 - The Road to Reformation: Wars and Rumours of Wars
To many, the sixteenth century reformation conjures up almost romantic images of sacrifice, heroism and courage far beyond the call of duty. And yet there was a darker side to all the heroics and sacrifice. A side of brutal conflict, of hostile...
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47:57
Ep.133 - The Road to Reformation: Fugitives, Heretics and Heroes of the English Reformation - English Reformation Pt.3
William Tyndale, Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, Anne Boleyn, John Jewel and John Foxe all carried one thing in common; they each became significant voices in the ongoing growth and development of the English Reformation. From the dogged tenacit...
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1:08:08
Ep.132 - The Road to Reformation: Elizabeth and England’s Reform— English Reformation Pt.2
Elizabeth stands as the longest reigning Tudor monarch. From being crowned queen of England on the death of her half sister Mary I in 1558, she reigned a remarkable 44 years on the throne. Having no heir, Elizabeth I was not only the longest-re...
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38:26
Ep.131 - The Road to Reformation: Henry, Edward and Mary—English Reformation Pt.1
Who was Henry VIII and how did he come to power? Why did his marriage to Catherine of Aragon get into to trouble? Who was Anne Boleyn and why did she become such a significant influence among the Protestants and yet simultaneously such a thorn ...
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51:12
Ep.130 - The Road to Reformation: Knox and the Fire of Scotland
Scotland was a land of religious conflict and tension long before the sixteenth century reformation and the arrival of such thunderbolts as George Wishart and John Knox. As early as the late 14th and early 15th centuries, Scotland experienced h...
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55:07
Ep.129 - The Road to Reformation: Rome Bites Back (The Counter Reformation)
Accounts of the reformation are often wonderful, even glamorous, courageous and adventurous but predominantly centred around the rise and development of Protestantism. But what did that mean for the then established Roman Catholic Church? How d...
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45:33
Ep.128 - The Road to Reformation: The Anabaptist Problem
One of the pondering questions that arose out of the reformation was that of the Anabaptist’s. Who were they? Why were they so vilified? What led both Catholic and Protestants alike to despise them as much as they did with equal animosity? Were...
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43:49
Ep.127 - The Road to Reformation: John Calvin and the Geneva Effect w/ Matt White
There has perhaps been no other figure more celebrated yet more vilified, more appreciated yet more misunderstood, more eulogised over and yet more criticised and condemned, than the controversial French born theologian John Calvin. To some Cal...
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54:42
Ep.126 - The Road to Reformation: Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation
Who was Ulrich Zwingli? How does a priest, turned soldier, turned protester, turned reformer, end up dead on a field in a five kilometre square piece of land in the Swiss town of Kappel? What were the forces, the difficulties and conflicts, and...
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