Author

  1. 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

  2. 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 -

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. The CHA Weekend Edition Presents: The Animal Show!

    book
    11/15/25
    5 mins
    By Dan van Voorhis
    Weekend Edition for November 15-16, 2025
    The CHA Weekend Edition Presents: The Animal Show!

  6. 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

  7. Proclamation Not Speculation

    book
    09/24/25
    5 mins
    By Steven Paulson | Caleb Keith
    In this episode of Outlaw God, hosts Steven Paulson and Caleb Keith look into the theological implications of law and gospel as presented in Genesis.
    Proclamation Not Speculation

  8. The Law Before Sin

    book
    09/17/25
    5 mins
    By Caleb Keith | Steven Paulson
    In this episode of the Outlaw God, hosts Steven Paulson and Caleb Keith delve into the theological implications of the law before sin, exploring Luther's perspective on prelapsarian law and its distinction from postlapsarian law.
    The Law Before Sin

  9. 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

  10. 402: Tolkien - Certainly there was an Eden on this very unhappy earth

    book
    07/31/25
    9 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley
    Got A Machine Head. In this episode, we read J.R.R. Tolkien’s letter to his son, Christopher, about a question of Genesis’ unfashionable status amongst Christians and those who value beautiful ‘stories.’ He also discusses Eden as it was, as it is to faith, and will be on the last day, the war of the machine, its triumph, and the consequences for modern man.
    402: Tolkien - Certainly there was an Eden on this very unhappy earth

  11. Imagine The World Before The Fall

    book
    05/28/25
    4 mins
    By Steven Paulson | Caleb Keith
    Dr. Paulson continues to analyze the appeal Erasmus makes to Sirach in chapter 15.
    Imagine The World Before The Fall

  12. 384: Peterson - The Stunted Imagination

    book
    03/21/25
    8 mins
    By Christopher Gillespie | Donavon Riley
    First It Giveth. In this episode, we discuss Jonah’s vocation, gospel imagination, dogmatic materialism, spell casting, the contemporary effects of the Industrial Revolution, and God’s preference for wasted places while reading Eugene Peterson's Under the Unpredictable Plant: An Exploration in Vocational Holiness.
    384: Peterson - The Stunted Imagination