Language of God

When the wind is just right, on a small beach in Titusville, Florida, horseshoe crabs crawl out of the water and onto the beach to lay their eggs. Jim and Colin joined up with two marine biologists—Bob Sluka who works with A Rocha, a Christian conservation organization and Margaret Miller, a coral biologist who works with SECORE International—and three A Rocha interns to survey the horseshoe crabs. That experience began an exploration into paying attention to many of the creatures that surround us, extending hospitality, and learning from the creatures, even from the ocean itself, about how we might better worship the creator of it all.  Additional Resources: Learn about A RochaDo your own nurdle huntAtlantic Article about Synthetic alternatives to LALRadiolab Episode about Horseshoe Crabs Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum. Take our survey!

When Kyle Meyaard-Schaap joins a climate march or calls a senator to talk about his concerns about climate change, he sees it as an act of evangelism. His new book Following Jesus in a Warming World: A Christian Call to Climate Action tells the story of how he came to understand that acting on climate is necessary and urgent and that it fits within the call to follow Jesus. He tells some of his story here and also talks about parenting, imagination, and the role a pastor can play in bringing about the change we hope to see.  Learn more about Kyle's book, Following Jesus in A Warming World.Check out Evangelical Environmental Network at creationcare.orgCheck out Young Evangelicals for Climate Action at yecaction.org Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum. Donate to BioLogos

Over the season of lent we’ve been reading excerpts from Gayle Boss’ Book Wild Hope. In this episode we talk to Gayle about where the book came from and about how the stories of wild and imperiled creatures can help us into the story of Christ and his journey to the cross.  Find out More about Wild Hope and Gayle's other books. Thanks to Paraclete Press which gave permission for the experts from Wild Hope throughout lent. www.paracletepress.com Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum. Donate to BioLogos

As a sociologist, Brandon Vaidyanathan has been studying what scientists think about beauty. Some people might be surprised that scientists think much about beauty at all, but for many scientists, beauty is an important reason for why they do the work that they do. Brandon talks about his research and the different ways scientists understand beauty to be a part of understanding the world and also tells the story of his conversion to Christianity and how he found his way to sociology.  Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum. Donate to BioLogos

This Lent we’re reading reflections from Wild Hope: Stories for Lent from the Vanishing, by Gayle Boss. We’ll end with an interview with Gayle Boss in the last week of Lent.  The reflections from Wild Hope are grouped into five different weeks, with four creatures in each week, through the season of Lent and four more during Holy Week. Week five is "the Hunted" and the story is about the hawksbill turtle. Wild Hope: Stories for Lent from the Vanishing by Gayle Boss, illustrated by David G. KleinCopyright 2020:  text by Gayle Boss, illustrations by David G. KleinUsed by permission of Paraclete Press www.paracletepress.com

In the debut of a new podcast Book Club feature we take on the novel Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi about a young PhD candidate in neuroscience struggling with questions about mental health, the problem of evil, and how to reconcile the evangelical faith she grew up with and her career in science. We asked three guests to join us to discuss the book. Lynette Strickland recently finished a PhD in biology, Rachel Wahlberg is a neuroscience graduate student herself, and Christina Bieber Lake is a literature professor.  Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum.

This Lent we’re reading reflections from Wild Hope: Stories for Lent from the Vanishing, by Gayle Boss. We’ll end with an interview with Gayle Boss in the last week of Lent.  The reflections from Wild Hope are grouped into five different weeks, with four creatures in each week, through the season of Lent and four more during Holy Week. Week four is "the Poisoned" and the story is about the olm. Wild Hope: Stories for Lent from the Vanishing by Gayle Boss, illustrated by David G. KleinCopyright 2020:  text by Gayle Boss, illustrations by David G. KleinUsed by permission of Paraclete Press www.paracletepress.com

This Lent we’re reading reflections from Wild Hope: Stories for Lent from the Vanishing, by Gayle Boss. We’ll end with an interview with Gayle Boss in the last week of Lent.  The reflections from Wild Hope are grouped into five different weeks, with four creatures in each week, through the season of Lent and four more during Holy Week. Week three is "the Homeless" and the story is about the North Atlantic right whale. Wild Hope: Stories for Lent from the Vanishing by Gayle Boss, illustrated by David G. KleinCopyright 2020:  text by Gayle Boss, illustrations by David G. KleinUsed by permission of Paraclete Press www.paracletepress.com

We have a lot to learn from Indigenous ways of thinking and knowledge about the world, particularly as it relates to the climate and environmental crisis and the place of humans in creation. And in learning about Indigenous knowledge we learn also that Christianity has played a role in the displacement of Indigenous People. Sarah Augustine shares the wisdom she has gained about how a Christian worldview can lead to a different kind of discipleship that both cares for the land and the people who rely on it.  Learn more about the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery Learn about Unraveling the International Law of Colonialism webinar on March 10th. Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum. Donate to BioLogos

This Lent we’re reading reflections from Wild Hope: Stories for Lent from the Vanishing, by Gayle Boss. We’ll end with an interview with Gayle Boss in the last week of Lent.  The reflections from Wild Hope are grouped into five different weeks, with four creatures in each week, through the season of Lent and four more during Holy Week. Week two is "the Sick" and the story is about the Indiana bat. Wild Hope: Stories for Lent from the Vanishing by Gayle Boss, illustrated by David G. KleinCopyright 2020:  text by Gayle Boss, illustrations by David G. KleinUsed by permission of Paraclete Press www.paracletepress.com  

We welcome our first non-human guest to the podcast, the language model ChatGPT. The chatbot joins us to answer questions about science and faith. ChatGPT draws on extensive digital information to answer the same kinds of questions we have been asking our human guests over the past few years. The results are…interesting. Jim and Colin reconvene afterward to talk about what to take from it all. The voice of ChatGPT in this episode is given by Steven McClure. A note about the role of AI in making this episode: staff (humans!) at BioLogos generated the text for this in part with GPT-3, OpenAI’s large-scale language-generation model. Upon generating draft language, we reviewed, edited, and revised the language to our own liking and take ultimate responsibility for the content of this publication. Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum. Donate to BioLogos  

This Lent we’re reading reflections from Wild Hope: Stories for Lent from the Vanishing, by Gayle Boss. We’ll end with an interview with Gayle Boss in the last week of Lent.  The reflections from Wild Hope are grouped into five different weeks, with four creatures in each week, through the season of Lent and four more during Holy Week. Week one is "Tthe Hungry" and the story is about the red knot. Wild Hope: Stories for Lent from the Vanishing by Gayle Boss, illustrated by David G. KleinCopyright 2020:  text by Gayle Boss, illustrations by David G. KleinUsed by permission of Paraclete Press www.paracletepress.com  

Jimmy Lin calls himself a scientific doxologist. The science part of that title describes his work to find cures and treatments for cancer and rare diseases and he talks about the real progress that has been made to that end. But for him, the science is merely his path toward doxology, the praise of God, and in this way, his work becomes a kind of hymn of praise.  Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum.  

We welcome back host Jim Stump after having been away for several months. We hear about where he's been, what he's seen, and what will become of his wanderings and wonderings.

Every human bears the image of God and in God’s good future there will be a great diversity of people from all nations and tribes. But we don’t always live as if that were the case. Jemar Tisby joins us to talk about the church’s complicity in racism and what we can do about it. Jemar Tisby is the author of The Color of Compromise, a New York Times bestseller, and How to Fight Racism, as well as the recently published How to Fight Racism Young Reader’s Edition. He’s also the co-founder of The Witness: a Black Christian Collective and co-host of the podcast Pass the Mic.  Extras: The WitnessThe Witness Foundation This episode originally aired on January 13, 2022. Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum.