Credo Podcast

The Reformation has often been lamented, blamed for secularism, as if the Reformers cut the cord of participation in God by perpetuating the voluntarism and nominalism of their age. But in episode 2 of this mini-series, Sam Parkison asks Matthew Barrett, author of The Reformation as Renewal, to address the philosophical context of the Reformation.… Download Audio

The Reformation has often been lamented, blamed for everything from secularism to schism. Meanwhile, others celebrate the Reformation either as a modern liberation or a biblicist break from tradition. But in this new mini-series of interviews, Samuel Parkison asks Matthew Barrett what the Reformers themselves thought since he is the author of the soon-to-release book, The… Download Audio

In the second episode of The Credo Alliance, Credo Fellows Fred Sanders, J.V. Fesko, Scott Swain, and Matthew Barrett discuss the importance of theological method for classical theology. The method of modern theology will only take you so far with its allergy to reason and philosophy, but the classical approach reserves a judicious place for… Download Audio

In this special episode, Credo launches a new series called The Credo Alliance, which brings together today’s best theologians to unite around classical Christianity, collaborating for the sake of renewal in the church today. In this first episode, Credo Fellows Fred Sanders, J.V. Fesko, Scott Swain and Matthew Barrett share their stories, explaining how they… Download Audio

What did Augustine and Athanasius, Origen and the Cappadocians, Boethius and Aquinas all have in common? They all critically appropriated Platonism. Platonism was not a set of doctrines that proved convenient. Rather, Platonism was an epic, even revolutionary outlook on transcendent reality that defied a materialistic understanding of God and the world. For example, Platonism… Download Audio

Reformed and Scholastic are often considered antithetical to one another, as if the use of the scholastic method or the retrieval of its philosophy and theology is a betrayal of the Reformation. Such a popular narrative is more fiction than fact, a convenient caricature that misrepresents the Reformed heritage of the sixteenth through the eighteenth… Download Audio

Who was one of the great influences on today’s leading theologians and university presidents? James Montgomery Boice. Educated at Harvard University and Princeton Seminary, the late James Montgomery Boice was raised up for a lifetime of preaching at Tenth Presbyterian Church. Yet he also found himself at the epicenter of theological debate. He was committed to… Download Audio

The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but irrigate deserts.” With these words C.S. Lewis opened The Abolition of Man. Lewis spent his life standing against the modern approach to education, an approach that encouraged cynicism and skepticism, leaving a wasteland in its wake. On the basis of his own university experience Lewis… Download Audio

Many moderns constructed their doctrine of the Trinity according to Rahner’s rule, which says the immanent Trinity is the economic Trinity and the economic Trinity is the immanent Trinity. But should Christians even frame the Trinity in these terms? Are we conflating the Trinity with history itself by affirming this principle? But more broader still,… Download Audio

What are eternal processions? The language of “processions” may be foreign to some today, but the Great Tradition capitalized on this language to describe the Trinity and keep heresy at bay. From the church fathers to the medieval and Protestant scholastics, theologians used the language of procession to explain how the Son is eternally begotten… Download Audio

In celebrations of the Reformation Protestants have placed not little emphasis on prominent figures such as John Calvin or Martin Luther. Others such as Zwingli, along with the Swiss reformation, are often overlooked and considered inconsequential. Yet, Zwingli’s controversial legacy is foundational to the genesis of the Reformed church. Zwingli finds himself caught in between… Download Audio

The doctrine of God’s impassibility may seem counterintuitive to many Christians today, but actually, impassibility is an essential belief of Christian orthodoxy. Impassibility was not only affirmed in the great confessions of faith throughout church history, but also defended as vital to the doctrine of God itself. But how does a theologian reconcile divine impassibility… Download Audio

Thomas Jefferson continues to elicit a wide-range of reactions. Jefferson had a brilliant mind and engaged with Christianity in ways that were both sympathetic and critical. Along with many others during his time, Jefferson was intrigued by several principles from the Enlightenment era, which influenced his perception of Christianity. Jefferson embodied a tension over issues… Download Audio

From his books to the chalkboard, R.C. Sproul communicated the deep things of God in an accessible way. When asked what the core of his legacy was all about he exclaimed, “Classical Theism!” But Sproul’s commitment to classical theism was foundational to his defense of the faith as well, which explains why Sproul was so… Download Audio

What should we think of Plato? Do his ideas have any profit for Christianity? Can the Platonic philosophical heritage serve Christianity as a handmaiden to biblical interpretation and theological construction? These questions concerning the relationship between philosophy and theology have been discussed and debated by Christians from the very beginning. At the heart of the… Download Audio