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Brad and Paul discuss Anthony Bartlett's book, Love's Entanglement, which shows how the later Girard gave up on his theory and the power of revelation, and how early Girard was apocalyptic in his understanding of revelation. Failing to delineate these two sides of Girard has given us the sick Girardianism prevailing in this political and cultural moment. (Sign up for the reading course with Ethan Vanderleek. Oct 31, 2026 – Dec 13, 2026, on William Desmond's Being and the Between here:  https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/schedule) If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!

Paul Axton preaches: the means of sorting out the violent image of God from the nonviolent is the rule of faith, which is the spearhead for rightly dividing Scripture and the world according to the Gospel of Peace. Sign up for the reading course with Ethan Vanderleek. Oct 31, 2026 – Dec 13, 2026, on William Desmond's Being and the Between here:  https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/schedule If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!

John Ashworth, missionary, priest, and peacemaker, in some of the most violent parts of Africa describes his conclusion that nonviolence is the only hope. You can read about John's journey in his autobiography Journeying Towards Nonviolence: My Life in Sudan.  (Sign up for the reading course with Ethan Vanderleek. Oct 31, 2026 – Dec 13, 2026, on William Desmond's Being and the Between here:  https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/schedule) If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!

Paul Axton preaches: Paul's version of Christus Victor is not focused on either the law or the devil, but the defeat of the dynamic of sin, or a way of seeing all things through the mind of Christ or what he calls the rule of faith.  (Sign up for the course, Sin and Salvation, touching upon the apocalyptic new hermeneutic involved in a nonviolent reading of God and atonement. The course will run from the third week of October to the second week of December. Sign up here https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/ and then go to current course offerings.) If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!

Jonathan Heaps describes to Paul and Brad the rise among Catholics attempting to take control of government and governmental institutions and like Chad Pecknold, to be the voice for violence in this administration. (Sign up for the course, Sin and Salvation, touching upon the apocalyptic new hermeneutic involved in a nonviolent reading of God and atonement. The course will run from the third week of October to the second week of December. Sign up here https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/ and then go to current course offerings.) If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!

Paul Axton preaches: Romans 7:7ff presents Paul's version of the defeat of sin, which is a deconstruction of the serpent or the devil and the law, and a victory over the dynamics of a deception.  (Sign up for the course, Sin and Salvation, touching upon the apocalyptic new hermeneutic involved in a nonviolent reading of God and atonement. The course will run from the third week of October to the second week of December. Sign up here https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/ and then go to current course offerings.) If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!

Brian Sartor, through long engagement with Douglas Campbell's picture of the false teacher Paul is deconstructing in Romans 1:18ff, broadens this understanding to the Bible and this cultural moment to suggest Paul is deconstructing the common foundation shared by the world. (Sign up for the course, Sin and Salvation, touching upon the apocalyptic new hermeneutic involved in a nonviolent reading of God and atonement. The course will run from the third week of October to the second week of December. Sign up here https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/ and then go to current course offerings.) If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!

Paul Axton preaches: The first obligation of the church is to be the church, to be Christian, and not as the MAGA New Right envisions through regime change, revolutionizing the judiciary, and creating a sovereign power in Trump. (The upcoming course Sin and Salvation, touching upon an apocalyptic  hermeneutic involved in a nonviolent reading of God and atonement will run from the third week of October to the first week of December. Sign up here: https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/ and then go to current course offerings.) If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!

Brad and Paul discuss the MAGA New Right, and describe the upcoming course on sin and salvation, touching upon the apocalyptic new hermeneutic involved in a nonviolent reading of God and atonement. The course will run from the third week of October to the second week of December. Sign up here https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/ and then go to current course offerings.) If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!

Paul Axton Preaches: The Trump administration is filled with devout Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox Christians, and yet the religion on display in this administration and its supporters aligns with an evil cruelty, worse than atheistic nihilism, which can only be countered by a recovery of the metaphysical seriousness of God revealed in Christ. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!

Anthony Bartlett continues to unfold his nonviolent reading of God and Scripture in a comparison of Job and Deuteronomy, in which Job gives voice to the nonviolent, non-retributive, understanding of God, posed against the retributive justice of his friends as found in Deuteronomy.  If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!

Paul Axton preaches: The alternative to 9/11 and the threat of nuclear war is that the meek alone will inherit the Earth. Violent conquest through nuclear destruction points to the singular solution. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!

David, Jonathan, and Paul, discuss the profound influence of Wendell Berry on each of us in realizing the spiritual sense of place and belonging, addressing also alienation, racism, waywardness, and the redemptive grace made available in friendship. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!

Paul Axton Preaches: The particular expression of spiritual rootedness found in Wendell Berry and Dolly Parton is an entry into the meaning of universal salvation. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!

Anthony Bartlett provides a Girardian reading of Genesis and Exodus, in which the Hebrew people are formed from oppressed outcasts, and in which liberation from violence and oppression, through the experience of Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers, and the experience of Abraham, provides for the formation of the nonviolence pictured in creation and culminating in Christ. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!