Christopher Gillespie

  1. 435: Andersen - Ritual as the Whole Way of Life

    book
    04/02/26
    13 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley
    The Power of Ritual! In this episode, we learn from David Andersen about Christian ritual. What’s the purpose and goal of ritual? How does Christian ritual differ from other religious rituals? Where do we find ritual and ceremony outside “religious” observances? When we forget or ignore ritual and ceremony, what is the effect on individuals, groups, and societies? That and much, much more in this episode of the podcast.
    435: Andersen - Ritual as the Whole Way of Life

  2. 434: Guite - The Music of Creation

    book
    03/28/26
    10 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley
    Where do the Children Play? In this episode, we read an Easter message from the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem. Then we read Malcom Guite’s Lenten meditation on creation, the embodiment of heavenly music, and why J.R.R. Tolkien expressed a profound, deep truth through not-so-fictional fiction stories. This and much, much more in this episode of the Banned Books podcast.
    434: Guite - The Music of Creation

  3. 433: Von Schenk - The Crucifixion

    book
    03/19/26
    8 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley
    What’s Love Got to do With It? In this episode, we read Berthold von Schenk’s The Presence, discussing sacrifice, sacrament, human will, anthropology, the cross, Lent, Easter, Love, and the consequences of the crucifixion for worship, faith, and Christian living. Why does our focus determine how we view these things? What is the “telos” of the Lord’s Supper, and where does it lead us? How does it change us?
    433: Von Schenk - The Crucifixion

  4. 432: Ælfric - Homily for Midlent Sunday

    book
    03/14/26
    12 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley
    Went to a Garden Party. In this episode, we read a homily by St. Aelfric of York for Midlent Sunday. Aelfric sermonizes about the earthly and heavenly meaning of Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand — its symbolism, historical import, and how loaves and fishes exegete the Old Testament books themselves. This and many, many wilderness wanderings in this episode of the podcast.
    432: Ælfric - Homily for Midlent Sunday

  5. 431: Kleinig - The Mystery of Christ and Cosmic Restoration

    book
    03/06/26
    9 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley
    Cosmic Debris. In this episode, we read Dr. John Kleinig on Christ and cosmic restoration. We then discuss how and why Christians confuse mysteries with secrets, what happened to the mystagogues, and why the mystery of the Christian faith has to do with the hidden presence of Christ with us here on earth and our restoration by his restoration of all creation. This episode, as Kleinig himself writes, is about how we can best commend the Christian faith to post-modern people, which is when we ourselves are captivated imaginatively by the wonder of it and live in the mystery of it.
    431: Kleinig - The Mystery of Christ and Cosmic Restoration

  6. 430: Tolkien - The Journey Through the Desert: The Lenten Quest

    book
    02/27/26
    12 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley
    Lent in Middle-earth. In this episode, we discuss the Lenten subtext, language, and images in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Return of the King.” What can Christians learn from fiction authors about the faith, devotional reading, understanding the world outside the churches through the view of the cross, and how all of reality is bent towards Easter at all times, in all places, by all people? This and much, much more on today’s show.
    430: Tolkien - The Journey Through the Desert: The Lenten Quest

  7. 429: Lewis - "'Nature gives most of her evidence in answer to the questions we ask her"

    book
    02/20/26
    9 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley
    A Church as Big as the Cosmos! In this episode, we enter into Lent with a reading from C.S. Lewis’ The Discarded Image. We discuss the medieval understanding of life, the universe, and everything— how it can help the churches today deepen their “vision” of how God orders the universe, the church, and the human being. We converse about the Grail legend, how God’s Word encounters and changes people, being lost in the Garden, how Christ ministers through others, and being annoyed by death. This and much, much more on this week’s episode of Banned Books.
    429: Lewis -

  8. 428: Postman - A great narrative... has sufficient credibility, complexity, and symbolic power to enable one to organize one's life around it

    book
    02/14/26
    12 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley
    We Don’t Need No Education. In this episode, we read The End of Education by Neal Postman, discussing the mechanisms of public education, religious catechesis, the influence of the Enlightenment and psychoanalysis on contemporary learning, and what happens when fiction replaces truth as the basis of meaning. This and much, much more on today’s show!
    428: Postman - A great narrative... has sufficient credibility, complexity, and symbolic power to enable one to organize one's life around it

  9. 427: Wulfstan - Sermon of the Wolf to the English

    book
    02/07/26
    9 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley
    Hungry Like The Wolf. In this episode, we read a sermon from 11th-century bishop Wulfstan. The main themes in the Sermon of the Wolf to the English (also often referred to by its Latin title, Sermo Lupi ad Anglos) are corruption and sin. These themes are apparent as Wulfstan chastises the English people for their corruption and warns of God’s anger and wrath, which is sure to come: “Understand also well that the Devil has now led this nation astray for very many years.” He sees that the devil has played a huge part in influencing the English to sin (“Wulfstan”). Wulfstan also strongly believes that the people need to repent, as God is extremely upset and disappointed by the people’s actions on Earth.
    427: Wulfstan - Sermon of the Wolf to the English

  10. 426: Thielicke - The Alluring Miracle of Display

    book
    01/31/26
    12 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley
    Fight the Power! In this episode, we learn from pastor and theologian Helmut Thielecke about the gods we worship, the God that encounters us, and what technology actually does to us. What do Satan’s temptations teach us about Jesus, God’s Word, piety, and making sense of mystery? Is Christianity supposed to be a sensible religion? What kind of “opium” does the evil one offer us to lead us away from the Truth? What is distinctive about the worshippers of the God of power? What happens when technology becomes a means of power rather than merely a tool? What does God’s fight for the world look like, and how does it conclude?
    426: Thielicke - The Alluring Miracle of Display

  11. 425: Lewis - Myth Became Fact

    book
    01/23/26
    9 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley
    The Hangman’s Nous. In this episode, we read an excerpt from The Maniac, by G.K. Chesterton, followed by Myth Became Fact, from C.S. Lewis’ book of essays, “God in the Dock.” The primary question we discuss, then, is whether men and women can live a healthy and sane life with mystery, without myth, and without higher truth. What has happened to modern churches that exorcised mystery from preaching, teaching, evangelism, and worship? What anchors the Body of Christ when it’s unmoored from Church history and tradition? What have been the consequences for churches that treat the Christian story as more fantasy than fact? What does Lewis mean that God is “mythopoeic”? What does it mean that Christianity is, according to Lewis, “perfect myth and perfect fact”?
    425: Lewis - Myth Became Fact

  12. 424: Kleinig - The Role of the Holy Spirit in the Divine Service

    book
    01/16/26
    8 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley
    In this episode, we learn about the Holy Spirit and the Divine Service from Dr. John Kleinig. In particular, we discuss how Christ gives the Spirit to the church through his word, how Christ institutes the divine service and empowers it with God’s Spirit, and how the church receives the Holy Spirit by faith in God’s word as it is proclaimed and enacted in the divine service. The conversation revolves around the central question: How then can we be sure that the Spirit is at work in our worship?
    424: Kleinig - The Role of the Holy Spirit in the Divine Service