On this special bonus episode, I'm joined by two other members of the theology faculty to update our listeners on the Calvin's Institutes project, in which about 60 faculty and staff are spending the academic year reading through The Institutes of Christian Religion. At the midpoint of the journey, we took some time to reflect on our experiences thus far and to encourage readers to keep going. Among the topics we discussed:

• What has stood out to us and our groups as we've read Calvin together
• The most under-appreciated aspects of Calvin's theology
• Why Calvin is known primarily for the doctrine of predestination even though it hasn't shown up yet in the reading
• Favorite passages thus far
• How Calvin's ideas show up concretely in Reformed churches and institutions
• Encouragement for those who are finding the reading difficult to keep going

Additional resources:

Our original podcast discussion before starting the Institutes

Our reading schedule: https://shorturl.at/Yow8x

Calvin's Institutes (2 volume Battles edition)

Calvin's Institutes (1 volume Beveridge edition)

Calvin's Institutes online edition (CCEL/Beveridge)

On this episode of the podcast, I talk with Dr. Norman Wirzba about his new book, Love’s Braided Dance: Hope in a Time of Crisis. It’s a conversation about the nature of hope, especially in the midst of darkness, where no hope can seem to be found, and how learning to love moves us forward. Among the topics we discuss:

• Why asking "what gives you hope?" may not be the best question and why "what do you love" is a better one
• Why it is so important that hope reckons with evil in its most disheartening forms
• Where joy might be found in the midst of the brokenness of the world
• How we can fight the impulse of paralysis or exhaustion
• The importance of recognizing our interdependence within creation
• What it means to say that love is "improvisational" and a "dance"

Get the book: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300272659/loves-braided-dance/

On this episode of the podcast, I interview journalist and author Collin Hansen about his new book titled Tim Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation. The conversation explores a prominent model of evangelism and cultural engagement by a Reformed pastor in contemporary times. Among the topics we discuss:

• The process of writing a different sort of biography of Tim Keller, focused on the people who influenced him
• Notable influences on Keller's ministry, with familiar and unfamiliar names (Kathy Keller, Jonathan Edwards, C.S. Lewis, R.C. Sproul, Elizabeth Elliot, Ed Clowney, Jack Miller, Barbara Boyd)
• What to make of the (recent) online backlash against Keller
• An updated assessment of the "young, restless, and reformed" movement from the person who helped coin the term
• The relationship of "Reformed" and "evangelical" and how they could be a source of renewal for each other
• How the work of journalism might be redeemed as a way of telling stories about the way that God is at work in the world.

Get the book: https://www.zondervan.com/9780310128700/timothy-keller/

On this episode of the podcast, we talk with Dr. Ruben Rosario Rodriguez, about his new book Calvin for the World. Dr. Rosario makes what might be to some a surprising argument: that beyond the smaller circles where Calvin is revered, the real Calvin casts a capacious vision for our troubled times. Among the topics we discuss:

• Dr. Rosario's story of his life with Calvin, and how Calvin made a difference growing up in Puerto Rico, studying in NY, pastoring in a rural community, and now teaching at a Jesuit University.
• Assessing Calvin's legacy and responding to his detractors
• "Liking" Calvin vs. respecting and appreciating Calvin
• The parallels and divergences between Calvin and liberation theology
• Calvin (and Calvinism) responding to the experience of exile and the phenomenon of refugees
• Calvin's transnational ecclesiology and what we can learn from him today

Get the book: https://bakeracademic.com/p/calvin-for-the-world-rub-n-rosario-rodr-guez/553612

On this episode of the podcast, we talk with Dr. Shirley Mullen about book Claiming the Courageous Middle: Daring to Live and Work Together for a more Hopeful Future. Drawing from over four decades of experience in Christian higher education, Dr. Mullen explores what it means to be called to the middle, especially in times of deep polarization. Among the topics we discuss:

• What it means to say that the middle can be a place of courage, imagination, and hope
• When "not fitting anywhere" can be a gift and a calling
• Christian universities as middle spaces and the responsibility to steward trust while embracing complexity
• Counsel for teachers in the classroom and for the local church

Get the book: https://bakeracademic.com/p/Claiming-the-Courageous-Middle-Shirley-A-Mullen/542817

On this episode of the podcast, we talk with Dr. Lanta Davis about her new book, Becoming by Beholding: The Power of the Imagination in Spiritual Formation. It’s a conversation about art, beauty, and the riches of the Christian tradition – about how we might put ourselves in a place where we can be surprised and transformed. This conversation was a treat since we were able to do it live and in-person, which gave the conversation a special energy. Among the topics we discuss:

• Why the imagination is so powerful and why it's not enough to turn away from bad inputs
• How our neglect of the imagiantion weakens our powers of discernment
• Examples of the riches of the Christian imaginative tradition
• On medieval bestiaries and the importance of learning the names of things
• The balance between meeting people where they are and taking them to strange new places
• Why transformation doesn't happen magically and how we might become more attentive to what is forming us.

Get the book: https://bakeracademic.com/p/becoming-by-beholding-lanta-davis/542815

More from Lanta Davis: https://www.lantadavis.com/

On this episode of the podcast, we talk with Dr. Wesley Vander Lugt about his new book, Beauty is Oxygen. It’s a conversation about how our souls crave beauty, and how we need beauty both to help us breathe and to help us build. Among the topics we discuss:

• What it means to say that "beauty is oxygen"
• The way beauty meets those who are "buffered", "battered", and "bored"
• Criticisms of the concept of beauty as too narrow
• The relationship between the beauty of the world and the beauty of God (or, why John Piper might be wrong about it)
• The relationship of beauty and justice
• How we might grow in attentiveness and awe

Get the book: https://www.eerdmans.com/9780802883254/

More on Dr. Vander Lugt: https://www.wesleyvanderlugt.com/

On this special bonus episode, a group of theology faculty discuss a project that we’re about to start here at Dordt University, in which we spend the academic year reading through John Calvin’s Institutes of Christian Religion. To orient everyone for the well-over thousand page journey that is the Institutes, we talked a bit about:

• Calvin's biography
• Our first exposure to Calvin and the Institutes
• Common (mis)conceptions about Calvin - on TULIP, austerity, and the execution of Servetus
• A brief history of the Institutes, how they are organized and introduced
• Helpful tips for reading the Institutes

If you are interested in reading along during this academic year, here are some resources:

Our reading schedule: https://shorturl.at/Yow8x

Calvin's Institutes (2 volume Battles edition)

Calvin's Institutes (1 volume Beveridge edition)

Calvin's Institutes online edition (CCEL/Beveridge)