Author

  1. 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

  2. 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

  3. 423: Graff - Rationalism's war on everything "magical."

    book
    01/09/26
    8 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley
    Who Made Who. In this episode, Gillespie takes the wheel and steers us into tradition, liturgy, worship styles, and the various “-isms” that have sprung up within the churches over the centuries. What’s the purpose of the Divine Service? What is the fundamental meaning of Christian meaning? Have we jettisoned mystery for sensible explanations that find no seat pulled out for them in God’s house? Is Christian worship, polity, and piety about what we know, experience, feel, or conformity to specific doctrines? Why is the old magic not welcome amongst sensible worshippers? What’s the place of hymns, prayers, preaching, and Scripture in Christian worship? Is liturgy a delivery mechanism or a tool?
    423: Graff - Rationalism's war on everything

  4. Why Do Christians Sing Hymns? | Dr. Steve Mueller, Concordia University Irvine

    book
    10/02/25
    5 mins
    By Scott Keith | Caleb Keith
    Singing is one of the most recognizable parts of Christian worship. But why do Christians sing hymns?
    Why Do Christians Sing Hymns? | Dr. Steve Mueller, Concordia University Irvine

  5. The CHA Weekend Edition Presents: “Why Do We Do That”? A Liturgical Mailbag

    book
    08/23/25
    6 mins
    By Dan van Voorhis
    Weekend Edition for August 23-24, 2025
    The CHA Weekend Edition Presents: “Why Do We Do That”? A Liturgical Mailbag

  6. 405: Barfield - Myth is the Ghost of Concrete Meaning

    book
    08/22/25
    9 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley
    Little Plastic Castles. In this episode, we read the first Inkling, Owen Barfield, as he defends the use of old words, old stories, and old ways of expressing what’s good, beautiful, and true against modern proponents that argued for more modern “scientific” ways of judging language, esp., poetics and myth, as well as religion and culture.
    405: Barfield - Myth is the Ghost of Concrete Meaning

  7. 404: Auden - A Litany and the Horae Cononicae

    book
    08/16/25
    9 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley
    Liturgy Amongst the Rubble. In this episode, we read poems by W.H. Auden about pulp fiction, ancient myths, conversion, liturgy, poetics, and how industrialization and corporatism build a new Babel inside and around the churches.
    404: Auden - A Litany and the Horae Cononicae

  8. 399: More Questions Answered - Myth and Taylor Swift

    book
    07/11/25
    8 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley
    What Do You Mean, There’s More to This? In this episode, we answer a listener's question about Taylor Swift that leads us into a conversation about symbols and meaning, religious iconography, wild truth, and seeing reality through what’s occurring in the sacraments.
    399: More Questions Answered - Myth and Taylor Swift

  9. Law and Gospel in Jane Eyre

    book
    07/01/25
    9 mins
    By Kelsi Klembara | Amy Mantravadi
    In this episode of Outside Ourselves: Summer Break, author, 1517 contributor, and internet theology whiz kid, Amy Mantravadi discuss theological themes in Charlotte Bronte's novel, Jane Eyre.
    Law and Gospel in Jane Eyre

  10. Philosophy amidst theology (with Dr. Dan Deen)

    book
    05/14/25
    4 mins
    By Adam Francisco | David Andersen | Daniel Deen
    Dr. Dan Deen of Concordia University Irvine joins David and Adam to discuss how he approaches philosophy at a college dominated by theology.
    Philosophy amidst theology (with Dr. Dan Deen)

  11. 386: Pastoral Debrief with a bit of Flacius

    book
    04/04/25
    8 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley
    Kick Out the Jams. In this episode, we focus on the raw, real work of life in the parish—the ordinary burdens, the hidden insecurities, and the quiet faith that holds it all together. We explore the distinction between philosophy and theology and why attempts to fuse them often leave both diminished. There’s talk of reformation—its drama, its necessity, and its cost. We reflect on the pervasive victim-perpetrator dynamic that shapes so much of modern life and how the gospel when rightly preached, breaks that cycle. At the heart of it all is this: the power of Christ’s mercy to open what we’ve shut tight, to drive out the bitterness we’ve made into habit, and to speak a word stronger than shame.
    386: Pastoral Debrief with a bit of Flacius

  12. The CHA Weekend Edition Presents the Greatest Lenten Story Ever Told: Dante’s Inferno

    book
    03/29/25
    5 mins
    By Dan van Voorhis
    Weekend Edition for March 29-30, 2025
    The CHA Weekend Edition Presents the Greatest Lenten Story Ever Told: Dante’s Inferno