Gospelbound

Like many others, generative AI has become a nearly daily part of my life in the last couple years. I’ve found help for home repairs. Diet and exercise plans. Meal preparation. Trip planning. Personal health assessments. Footnote formatting. Even baseball swing and pitching advice for my son. Combine the best of Google and YouTube, tailored to my specific needs and situations from changing windshield wipers to fixing sump pumps, and that’s how I’ve used AI so far. I know I’m not even scratching the surface of what agentic AI can and will eventually do. I’ve seen friends spin up websites it would have taken years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to build just five years ago. But do you know the most common use? It’s not one I’ve employed myself. And it’s not one I’d recommend. But according to Harvard Business Review , it’s remained perched on the top from 2025 to 2026 even as other common uses have wildly fluctuated up and down the charts. It’s therapy and companionship. If you’re like me, you’re probably wondering about how AI chatbots could be the reasons companies like OpenAI have been valued at $852 billion. Or why AI has become the widely and quickly adopted new technology in human history. Isn’t AI supposed to revolutionize business? Upend every profession and transform entire economies? Perhaps. The trend is clear. It looks like many others have been turning to AI for help in fixing their toilets. (Claude was wrong in my situation, by the way.) More commonly, AI is less of a computer interface and more of a, well, human face. A friend to share jokes and silly pictures. An imaginative storyteller. A trusty counselor to assess your new relationship. A medium who can predict your future. And a wise confidant who promises not to lead you astray (or tell you what you don’t want to hear). Given the wild predictions about AI’s unparalleled value, how can these cases be the most common ways we employ the technology? Is your daily horoscope worth $852 billion? Now, what if I told you this is exactly what the builders of AI expected us to do? That’s the vision behind a new book, The AI Apocalypse: A Survival Guide for Humanity , which I edited along with Skyler Flowers and The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics. I spoke on my introduction from the book at a recent TGC regional chapter meeting in Nashville. Thank you to TGC Nashville and Edgefield Church for hosting and recording this podcast in front of a lively and engaged audience. You could have heard a pin drop when I talked to these (mostly) pastors about why AI will write their next sermon. Now is the time to work through the ethical implications together and decide where to draw the line . In This Episode: 0:00 AI's Unexpected Role as a Human Companion and Counselor 7:21 AI, Love, and the Lessons from Her 13:37 The Role of AI in Defining Human Purpose 20:17 The Impact of AI on Literacy and Human Creativity 28:51 The Irreplaceable Human Touch in Preaching Amid AI Advancements 38:39 Navigating AI Ethics in Church, Family, and Education 40:41 The Impacts of AI on Society and Economy Resources Mentioned: AI Apocalypse edited by Collin Hansen Empire of AI by Karen Hao The Odyssey by Homer Social Acceleration by Hartmut Rosa Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics The Gospel Coalition Recorded (Podcast) by The Gospel Coalition — — — 📫 SIGN UP for my newsletter, Unseen Things: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/gospelbound 🎁 Help The Gospel Coalition build up a renewed church for tomorrow. Let's Build Together: Donate Today at https://www.tgc.org/together 🎧 Don’t miss an episode of Gospelbound with Collin Hansen ▫ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospelbound/id1499898207 ▫ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kRYr5FTKr5ru1N7MR65Br ✅ SUBSCRIBE: ▫ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thegospelcoalition ▫ TGC Updates: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/newsletters Use code “ GOSPELBOUND ” for 25% off tuition. Learn more at downlinememphis.com/virtual-institute or email info@downlineministries.com for group pricing and discounts. Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The patron saint of cultural apologetics is Augustine of Hippo, author most famously of City of God and Confessions . Second place is up for debate. But you’ll get a lot of votes for a 17th-century disciple of Augustine, the Frenchman Blaise Pascal. Graham Tomlin describes Pascal as the “man who made the modern world” in a new biography . Tomlin is the director of the Centre for Cultural Witness in Oxford, England. He writes of Pascal that “it is hard to think of anyone who has impacted so many fields of human endeavour in such a short time.” Here’s a taste from Tomlin about Pascal’s accomplishments: he basically invented probability theory; proved the existence of the vacuum; laid the foundations of integral calculus; conducted the first modern scientific experiment; developed theory that made possible the hydraulic press; demonstrated that air has weight; designed and built the first mechanical calculating machine, which led to what we know as the computer; set the trend of wearing wrist watches; and built the first public urban transportation system in Europe. And did I already mention he was one of the most effective and enduring cultural apologists of all time, perhaps second only to Augustine? Tomlin writes, “His was a Christianity founded in a profound experience of God, an intense devotional life and a form of faith that offered a radical alternative to the comfortable assimilation to culture that the Church of his day often seemed to promote.” Let’s talk to Graham Tomlin about this remarkable man, who lamented man’s inability to sit quietly by himself, who observed, “The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing.” In This Episode: 00:00 – Pascal’s wager and living as if Christianity is true 00:49 – Introducing Blaise Pascal, the cultural apologist who helped make the modern world 02:36 – Pascal’s remarkable inventions, including public transportation and the Pascaline 05:42 – Augustine’s influence on Pascal’s theology of desire, fallenness, and grace 08:11 – Why Pascal trusted reason in science but not as the starting point for faith 10:46 – Pascal’s “Night of Fire” and encounter with the living God 16:43 – Why Pascal went to war with the Jesuits 20:20 – Jansenism, Calvinism, and Pascal’s understanding of grace 25:51 – The hiddenness of God as an argument for faith 32:38 – How human misery points toward human greatness 39:46 – What Pascal’s Wager actually means 48:45 – Pascal, Jonathan Haidt, and the psychology of belief 49:05 – “Make it attractive”: Pascal’s enduring strategy for cultural apologetics 51:59 – How Pascal anticipated both the modern and postmodern worlds 59:22 – What Pascal would say about modern science and scientism 1:01:43 – Why Pascal’s faith speaks to people who have looked into the abyss 1:03:21 – Outro Resources Mentioned: Blaise Pascal by Graham Tomlin Pensées by Blaise Pascal The Provincial Letters by Blaise Pascal Confessions by Augustine City of God by Augustine The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics — — — 📫 SIGN UP for my newsletter, Unseen Things: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/gospelbound 🎁 Help The Gospel Coalition build up a renewed church for tomorrow. Let's Build Together: Donate Today at https://www.tgc.org/together 🎧 Don’t miss an episode of Gospelbound with Collin Hansen ▫ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospelbound/id1499898207 ▫ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kRYr5FTKr5ru1N7MR65Br ✅ SUBSCRIBE: ▫ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thegospelcoalition ▫ TGC Updates: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/newsletters Use code “ GOSPELBOUND ” for 25% off tuition. Learn more at downlinememphis.com/virtual-institute or email info@downlineministries.com for group pricing and discounts. Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Back in 2024 Kevin Vanhoozer’s book Mere Christian Hermeneutics: Transfiguring What It Means to Read the Bible Theologically won the Christianity Today book award in the academic theology category and also won The Gospel Coalition book award in biblical studies. I couldn’t even begin to account for all the other awards he’s won for earlier works. I had the blessing of studying under Dr. Vanhoozer at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. And I was challenged in this book just as I was challenged and encouraged in his courses. Mere Christian Hermeneutics helps all of us who live on the far side of the “demise of biblical civilization.” When Westerners want to tell the story of the world, we no longer open the Bible. Vanhoozer aims to reconnect us with Scripture as our means of enjoying “covenant fellowship with the triune God.” I loved this summary in the book: “How an unholy people can come into the presence of a holy God is the chief complication in the biblical narrative to which the gospel is the solution.” So let’s get into mere Christian hermeneutics, reading the Bible spiritually, the Transfiguration, and much more. In This Episode: 00:00 – The transfiguration of Jesus and the way Christians read Scripture 00:39 – Introducing Mere Christian Hermeneutics 01:58 – What makes this approach to hermeneutics “mere”? 03:26 – How different reading cultures divide Christians 05:01 – Polarization among Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians 06:52 – The loss of Christianity’s cultural influence in the West 07:46 – Does Catholic authority solve Protestant interpretive pluralism? 10:43 – What does it mean to interpret the Bible spiritually? 13:23 – How the transfiguration guides Christian interpretation 16:08 – Why Christians should not separate Jesus from the Bible 18:24 – Johannes Oecolampadius and Scripture’s Christ-centered scope 21:57 – Bridging the divide between biblical scholars and theologians 25:05 – Kant, critical thinking, and the rise of biblical criticism 27:34 – The hidden assumptions modern readers bring to Scripture 30:14 – Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and teaching systematic theology 32:37 – Cultural hermeneutics and the formative power of culture 36:24 – The current state of theological interpretation of Scripture 39:29 – Potential dangers in theological retrieval 41:40 – Protestant catholicity and unity amid secondary disagreements 42:02 – Vanhoozer’s work with the Alexandrian Institute 44:35 – His four-volume systematic theology project 46:19 – Brahms, young theologians, and reasons for hope 47:13 – What pastors can learn from Henry James 48:54 – Outro Resources Mentioned: Mere Christian Hermeneutics by Kevin Vanhoozer Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis Meditation in a Toolshed by C. S. Lewis The Bible Made Impossible by Christian Smith The Death of Scripture and the Rise of Biblical Studies by Michael C. Legaspi The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics — — — 📫 SIGN UP for my newsletter, Unseen Things: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/gospelbound 🎁 Help The Gospel Coalition build up a renewed church for tomorrow. Let's Build Together: Donate Today at https://www.tgc.org/together 🎧 Don’t miss an episode of Gospelbound with Collin Hansen ▫ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospelbound/id1499898207 ▫ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kRYr5FTKr5ru1N7MR65Br ✅ SUBSCRIBE: ▫ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thegospelcoalition ▫ TGC Updates: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/newsletters Use code “ GOSPELBOUND ” for 25% off tuition. Learn more at downlinememphis.com/virtual-institute or email info@downlineministries.com for group pricing and discounts. Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Only a couple years out of college, I told my coworkers that I looked forward to being old. They weren’t just dismissive of that comment. They were indignant. On one level, I know why. I understood little to nothing at age 23 about the hardships of aging and caring for the dying. I hadn’t yet suffered many of life’s inevitable pains. At the same time, I looked forward to greater wisdom, maybe even defeat of some sins and temptations. I was excited about all I could learn if the Lord granted me years. Maybe I even had a couple Bible verses in my head, like Proverbs 16:31: “Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life.” Or Job 12:12: “Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days.” Both those verses are cited by Jen Wilkin in her excellent new book, Dust to Dust: Aging Wisely in an Anti-Aging World , published by Crossway. If you take my youthful naiveté at its best, I was recognizing what Jen distinguishes in her book: the world says to age is to diminish. But the Bible says to age is to deepen. Now in middle age, however, I experience the good and bad: the invisibility because no one would possibly notice my appearance. But also the freedom: because I have that middle-age dad’s superpower of not caring what other people think of my appearance. I didn’t realize how much I needed Jen’s book, and I’m eager to ask a whole bunch of questions now on Gospelbound . In This Episode: 00:00:00 – Jen Wilkin reflects on her mother’s death and the symmetry of life 00:00:49 – Why Collin has long looked forward to old age 00:01:20 – Introducing Dust to Dust and the contrast between cultural decline and biblical deepening 00:02:31 – Why modern culture values youth over old age 00:03:55 – Jen’s first moments of realizing she was aging 00:05:46 – How aging feels different for men and women 00:07:49 – Why many people fear becoming a burden 00:10:08 – Assisted suicide, dependency, and surprising cultural opposition 00:14:47 – The “chiasm of life” and how beginning and end mirror each other 00:21:02 – Why midlife offers a unique vantage point for perspective and wisdom 00:24:50 – Caring simultaneously for children and aging parents 00:29:12 – Why caregiving is not a season but a default setting of life 00:32:10 – How modern longevity has changed the experience of family and aging 00:36:25 – “You will not surely die”: the anti-gospel of age denial 00:37:52 – How suffering narrows our priorities 00:40:34 – Honoring parents and the fuller meaning of the fifth commandment 00:45:44 – Retirement, crystallized knowledge, and later-life vocation 00:50:46 – A theology of aging before a debate about anti-aging practices 00:55:33 – Jen’s regrets, sanctification, and learning to honor parents well 01:00:26 – Final reflections on aging, family, and hope 01:01:07 – Outro Resources Mentioned: Dust to Dust by Jen Wilkin From Strength to Strength by Arthur Brooks The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis — — — 📫 SIGN UP for my newsletter, Unseen Things: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/gospelbound 🎁 Help The Gospel Coalition build up a renewed church for tomorrow. Let's Build Together: Donate Today at https://www.tgc.org/together 🎧 Don’t miss an episode of Gospelbound with Collin Hansen ▫ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospelbound/id1499898207 ▫ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kRYr5FTKr5ru1N7MR65Br ✅ SUBSCRIBE: ▫ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thegospelcoalition ▫ TGC Updates: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/newsletters Use code “ GOSPELBOUND ” for 25% off tuition. Learn more at downlinememphis.com/virtual-institute or email info@downlineministries.com for group pricing and discounts. Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You might think AI is the most exciting technological development of all time, and you’ve been vibe coding before the rest of us had ever heard the term. Or maybe you think AI is the most dangerous technological development of all time, and you’re desperately hoping someone will step up to stop autonomous weapons and programs powerful enough to thwart any existing security system. Or maybe you’re somewhere in the middle. Maybe you still don’t know what all the fuss is about. No matter where you are, I know I can recommend a new single-season TGC podcast called Silicon Spiritualities , hosted by Christopher Watkin, a fellow at The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics. My friend Chris also contributed two chapters to the forthcoming book I edited with Skyler Flowers, titled The AI Apocalypse: A Survival Guide for Humanity . I love hearing Chris teach on just about anything. But his reflections on AI have been especially insightful for me, and I’m eager to welcome him back to Gospelbound to discuss these two new projects. In This Episode: 00:00 – The hidden human cost of AI training 00:36 – Introducing Christopher Watkin, Silicon Spiritualities, and The AI Apocalypse 01:48 – The gospel story Silicon Valley tells about AI 06:01 – Investor hype, idolatry, and AI religions 08:09 – Data workers, exploitation, water use, and the wider AI industry 12:03 – Avoiding both AI doom and AI hype 14:26 – Is AI more like the internet, electricity, or agriculture? 17:20 – Why Christian anthropology is not threatened by AI intelligence 21:01 – Why a frictionless life can become passive rather than free 25:30 – Using AI with integrity in writing and creative work 27:16 – Watkin’s practical uses of AI at home and in his work 29:34 – AI companionship and the desire to be known and loved 34:10 – Mutuality, reciprocity, and what AI cannot share with us 39:19 – Consciousness, imitation, and participation 41:51 – Transhumanism and the temptation to outgrow humanity 45:22 – Why studying AI has made Watkin more excited about God 48:29 – AI, existential risk, and the problem of the human heart 54:31 – Alignment, sycophancy, Her, and the imitation game 59:37 – Closing remarks Resources Mentioned: Silicon Spiritualities | TGC podcast hosted by Christopher Watkin Deep Work by Cal Newport “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” / “The Imitation Game” by Alan Turing — — — 📫 SIGN UP for my newsletter, Unseen Things: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/gospelbound 🎁 Help The Gospel Coalition build up a renewed church for tomorrow. Let's Build Together: Donate Today at https://www.tgc.org/together 🎧 Don’t miss an episode of Gospelbound with Collin Hansen ▫ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospelbound/id1499898207 ▫ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kRYr5FTKr5ru1N7MR65Br ✅ SUBSCRIBE: ▫ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thegospelcoalition ▫ TGC Updates: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/newsletters Use code “ GOSPELBOUND ” for 25% off tuition. Learn more at downlinememphis.com/virtual-institute or email info@downlineministries.com for group pricing and discounts. Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Andrew Wilson is one of the happiest guys I know. So it only makes sense that he would write a book called Happiness: What It Is, Where to Find It, and How to Make It Last Forever , published by Crossway. He’s the expert. I’m delighted when I see Andrew at a TGC conference, or a retreat for The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics. I look forward to every chance to spend time with him. He writes in this book, “Nothing is more honoring to a friend, a child, or a spouse than saying they make you happy. Nothing is more demeaning to them than telling them they don’t.” I can say, with no reservation, Andrew makes me happy when we’re together. Ok. But where does that leave the rest of us? If we’re not naturally happy? If we’re not feeling happy right now? If we’re not hanging out with Andrew? The Declaration of Independence, 250 years ago, put happiness at the center of life’s aim: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Andrew covered that statement in his excellent earlier book, Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West . Given the anniversary, I plan in this interview to sneak in a question or two about that fateful year. And we’ll discuss much more, including the difference between joy and happiness, whether God promises happiness, and why millennials grew up to be sad. In This Episode: 00:00 – What makes us genuinely happier 00:40 – Why Andrew Wilson wrote a book about happiness 04:29 – Happiness, sorrow, and biblical examples of deep joy 07:26 – Is joy different from happiness? 11:53 – Does God promise happiness to Christians? 13:35 – Why millennials became less happy as adults 19:41 – Freedom, responsibility, and the limits of liberation 23:21 – The “problem of superfluous happiness” 26:01 – How pursuing happiness helps us fight sin 29:23 – Why virtue, gratitude, and humility make us happier 32:53 – Compassion versus empathy 34:15 – Turning delights into disciplines 37:06 – Remaking the World and America’s 250th anniversary 39:48 – What makes the United States unique? 47:08 – Discovery, defense, temperament, and optimism 48:55 – Closing and book recommendations Resources Mentioned: Happiness by Andrew Wilson Remaking the World by Andrew Wilson Generations by Jean M. Twenge The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt The Expulsive Power of a New Affection by Thomas Chalmers — — — 📫 SIGN UP for my newsletter, Unseen Things: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/gospelbound 🎁 Help The Gospel Coalition build up a renewed church for tomorrow. Let's Build Together: Donate Today at https://www.tgc.org/together 🎧 Don’t miss an episode of Gospelbound with Collin Hansen ▫ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospelbound/id1499898207 ▫ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kRYr5FTKr5ru1N7MR65Br ✅ SUBSCRIBE: ▫ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thegospelcoalition ▫ TGC Updates: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/newsletters Use code “ GOSPELBOUND ” for 25% off tuition. Learn more at downlinememphis.com/virtual-institute or email info@downlineministries.com for group pricing and discounts. Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Different preachers get excited about different aspects of the sermon. Some collect and deploy excellent illustrations. Others just nail the application week after week. Others can really reach your heart. What really fires me up are the connections between the Old and New Testaments, the way God’s plan of redemption unfolds in familiar and new ways from Genesis to Revelation. So you know I’d be excited about an excellent new resource, the CSB Connecting Scripture New Testament , edited by G. K. Beale and Benjamin Gladd. This study Bible includes a robust cross reference system that will help you see Old Testament quotations, allusions, and parallels within the New Testament so you can see all 66 books as a unified story from God. You’ll also find book introductions, study note commentary, articles, charts, and infographics. In This Episode: 00:00:00 – Why continuity between Old and New Testament wording matters 00:00:41 – Introducing the CSB Connecting Scripture New Testament 00:01:53 – Ben Gladd and the mission of the Carson Center 00:04:06 – Why another study Bible? 00:07:06 – Green and blue fonts: changing the reading experience 00:08:24 – Quotations, allusions, and the “connective tissue” of Scripture 00:11:06 – Why Old Testament allusions matter for Bible study 00:12:46 – John 6, grumbling, and Israel in the wilderness 00:13:46 – Mark 1, John the Baptist, and the burning bush 00:15:41 – “Fishers of men” and Jeremiah 16 00:18:55 – Reading Revelation through Old Testament “emojis” 00:22:07 – John 1:1, Genesis 1:1, and Christology 00:27:47 – How the apostles read the Old Testament 00:31:19 – Guardrails for identifying legitimate allusions 00:35:36 – Do English translations obscure biblical connections? 00:42:27 – How pastors can use the study Bible in sermon preparation 00:44:19 – Why pastors should use the Old Testament for illustrations 00:48:31 – The Carson Center’s Concise Bible Commentary 00:53:44 – Learning from Don Carson and G. K. Beale 01:00:11 – Dictionary of the New Testament Use of the Old Testament 01:00:44 – Biblical Theology Briefing podcast 01:02:34 – A future Connecting Scripture Old Testament 01:05:19 – Closing Resources Mentioned: CSB Connecting Scripture New Testament edited by G. K. Beale and Benjamin L. Gladd Keep Watch for Biblical Allusions by Ben Gladd ESV Study Bible CSB Study Bible NIV Study Bible Concise Bible Commentary from the Carson Center and Crossway Dictionary of the New Testament Use of the Old Testament edited by G. K. Beale, D. A. Carson, Benjamin L. Gladd, and Andrew David Naselli New Studies in Biblical Theology series Pillar New Testament Commentary series Biblical Theology Briefing Podcast with Ben Gladd and Matthew Harmon — — — 📫 SIGN UP for my newsletter, Unseen Things: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/gospelbound 🎁 Help The Gospel Coalition build up a renewed church for tomorrow. Let's Build Together: Donate Today at https://www.tgc.org/together 🎧 Don’t miss an episode of Gospelbound with Collin Hansen ▫ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospelbound/id1499898207 ▫ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kRYr5FTKr5ru1N7MR65Br ✅ SUBSCRIBE: ▫ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thegospelcoalition ▫ TGC Updates: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/newsletters Use code “ GOSPELBOUND ” for 25% off tuition. Learn more at downlinememphis.com/virtual-institute or email info@downlineministries.com for group pricing and discounts. Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Alister McGrath remembers life as an atheist back in the late 1960s. He believed only what could be proven to be true. And he judged religious believers for trusting in an irrational fantasy. Looking back, though, he can see an emotional basis for what he thought were purely rational conclusions. He didn’t want God to exist, because God would threaten his freedom. As an atheist he could do whatever he wanted. He could be the center of the universe. Now as a Christian and one of the most well-known apologists in the world, McGrath sees how much desire determines what we believe about the universe. He says, “The human desire for unaccountability leads to the metaphysical conclusion that there should not be a God.” Last summer McGrath and I caught up when he was the keynote speaker at a Beeson Divinity School conference on Persuasive Preaching. I was invited to engage and respond to his presentation. Alister is a theologian and Christian apologist with a particular interest in the relation of science and faith. In fact he recently retired as a professor of science and religion at Oxford University. I know him as a godly encourager and kind interlocutor. I’ve learned a lot from him on various subjects, especially C. S. Lewis. In fact, I was listening to him at Lanier Library in Houston when he inspired me to begin work on a book about Lewis and Winston Churchill. So I’m excited to talk with him again about atheism and apologetics and a heavy dose of Lewis. In This Episode: 00:00 – Why belief cannot always be proven 00:37 – Collin introduces Alister McGrath, atheism, desire, and C. S. Lewis 02:19 – McGrath’s move from atheism to Christianity in 1971 03:58 – Conversion as a process rather than an instant transformation 05:07 – C. S. Lewis’s “Is Theology Poetry?” and Christianity as a big picture of reality 06:30 – Christianity as aligning with the deep truths of the universe 08:01 – The New Atheists and the power of rhetorical certainty 11:06 – Why the New Atheist movement faded 13:26 – How apologetics has changed over the decades 16:29 – Tim Keller’s apologetic influence 20:25 – Integrating apologetics into preaching 23:22 – Faith versus fact—or faith versus faith? 24:28 – Enlightenment assumptions and the limits of proof 26:33 – Morality, Christianity, and secularized Christian values 28:31 – Truth, meaning, and transformative belief 30:07 – “Bleakness is not an indicator of truth” 31:53 – C. S. Lewis, Winston Churchill, and wartime apologetics 35:03 – Lewis, The Problem of Pain , and the BBC broadcasts 36:52 – Lewis’s faith, academic career, and public apologetics 39:53 – The Weight of Glory and spiritual flourishing in wartime 42:39 – Lewis on marriage, forgiveness, and the Holocaust context 45:29 – The Guardian , archives, and The Screwtape Letters 48:44 – McGrath’s storytelling apologetics and closing reflections 49:38 – Gospelbound outro Resources Mentioned: Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis The Problem of Pain by C. S. Lewis The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis The Weight of Glory by C. S. Lewis The Air We Breathe by Glen Scrivener Dominion by Tom Holland The Dawkins Delusion? by Alister McGrath Making Sense of Us by TGC and The Keller Center The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics — — — 📫 SIGN UP for my newsletter, Unseen Things: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/gospelbound 🎁 Help The Gospel Coalition build up a renewed church for tomorrow. Let's Build Together: Donate Today at https://www.tgc.org/together 🎧 Don’t miss an episode of Gospelbound with Collin Hansen ▫ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospelbound/id1499898207 ▫ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kRYr5FTKr5ru1N7MR65Br ✅ SUBSCRIBE: ▫ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thegospelcoalition ▫ TGC Updates: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/newsletters Use code “ GOSPELBOUND ” for 25% off tuition. Learn more at downlinememphis.com/virtual-institute or email info@downlineministries.com for group pricing and discounts. Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Is there a fate worse than condemnation? Yes, say Allen Guelzo and James Hankins in their new textbook, The Golden Thread: A History of the Western Tradition: Volume II: The Modern and Contemporary West . Worse than everyone hating you is no one remembering you. Right now for Western civilization, the former is leading to the latter. Having been widely condemned as oppressive, imperialist, colonizing, and appropriating, Western civilization is sometimes not even taught, let alone celebrated for producing the moral, technological, political, economic, and lifestyle achievements that give shape to our world. The Golden Thread helps in remembering and teaching without ignoring the failures and shortcomings of Western civilization. The textbook collaborators Guelzo and Hankins have been acquainted for more than 50 years. Hankins wrote volume one, and Guelzo has written volume two. Guelzo is the Thomas W. Smith Distinguished Research Scholar and director of the James Madison Program’s Initiative on Politics and Statesmanship at Princeton University. Guelzo is a long-time favorite writer of mine, not least for his work on the American Civil War and Abraham Lincoln, for which he last appeared on Gospelbound in 2024 . I’m honored to host him again as we commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, one of the hinge points in Western civilization in that memorable year of 1776. In This Episode: 00:00 – Why Western civilization slips away when taken for granted 00:25 – Introducing Allen Guelzo and The Golden Thread 02:24 – How should we define Western civilization? 08:02 – The fall of communism and the West’s crisis of confidence 11:23 – China, radical Islam, Russia, and civilizational conflict 12:47 – Self-criticism as the West’s strength and danger 15:38 – World wars, Darwin, Freud, communism, and lost confidence 19:49 – The atomic age and the misuse of scientific achievement 22:09 – Defending the West without triumphalism 25:38 – Winston Churchill, trauma, and Christian civilization 30:15 – Adenauer, de Gaulle, and rebuilding Europe after 1945 32:38 – Strange defeat, German memory, and Russia’s missed moment 38:37 – C. S. Lewis, John Paul II, and Christianity in a skeptical age 39:28 – Contingency, crisis, and the decisions that shape history 42:24 – Christianity, Greece, Rome, and the “layer cake” of the West 51:33 – Technology, memory, and the future of civilization 53:39 – Lincoln, King, Augustine, and recovering the tradition 58:17 – Could artificial intelligence revive classical education? 59:37 – Closing encouragement Resources Mentioned: The Golden Thread Volume I by Allen C. Guelzo & James Hankins The Golden Thread Volume II by Allen C. Guelzo & James Hankins The Golden Thread Substack The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order by Samuel P. Huntington Strange Defeat by Marc Bloch Secondhand Time by Svetlana Alexievich The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis God in the Dock by C. S. Lewis Dominion by Tom Holland Lord of the Flies by William Golding — — — 📫 SIGN UP for my newsletter, Unseen Things: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/gospelbound 🎁 Help The Gospel Coalition build up a renewed church for tomorrow. Let's Build Together: Donate Today at https://www.tgc.org/together 🎧 Don’t miss an episode of Gospelbound with Collin Hansen ▫ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospelbound/id1499898207 ▫ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kRYr5FTKr5ru1N7MR65Br ✅ SUBSCRIBE: ▫ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thegospelcoalition ▫ TGC Updates: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/newsletters Use code “ GOSPELBOUND ” for 25% off tuition. Learn more at downlinememphis.com/virtual-institute or email info@downlineministries.com for group pricing and discounts. Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You will find many books on the biblical and practical importance of the local church. I wrote one myself a few years ago with Jonathan Leeman called Rediscover Church: Why the Body of Christ Is Essential . But few books can match the way Brad Edwards shows us the need for the church amid rampant anxiety, division, and individualism. Not only our churches but even whole societies would be transformed by implementing the wisdom found in this book, called The Reason for Church . Brad is the church planter of The Table Church in Lafayette, Colorado. His debut book has been justly acclaimed. He won the 2025 Christianity Today Book of the Year Award and also finished first in the Church and Pastoral Leadership category. He was the winner of The Gospel Coalition's award for First-Time Author that year as well. I’m grateful that he joins me now to talk about everything from authority and institutions to anxiety and whether unity should be the goal for a church. In This Episode: 00:00 – Opening: power, trust, and the temptation toward conformity 00:26 – Introducing Brad Edwards and The Reason for Church 01:41 – Ranking the causes behind declining trust in church authority 04:05 – Accountability, social media, and the limits of online justice 08:25 – Churches, institutions, platforms, and marketplace logic 11:17 – What changes people’s minds about the need for church? 13:27 – Church planting in Boulder County and Colorado’s anti-institutional culture 17:01 – Therapy culture, spiritual abuse, and what the book could not fully address 22:19 – Institution building, movements, and building a remnant 26:30 – Technology, schedules, and the challenge of spiritual formation 29:09 – Individuality versus individualism 34:39 – Should unity be the goal of a church? 37:49 – What surprised Brad most about becoming a pastor 39:21 – AI, agency, and the future of formation 43:07 – Hartmut Rosa, resonance, gambling, and the desire for control 46:55 – AI, education, responsibility, and authorship 52:05 – The church as remnant and refuge in a changing world 53:19 – What pastors want their congregations to know 56:41 – Closing and Gospelbound outro Resources Mentioned: The Reason for Church by Brad Edwards Rediscover Church by Collin Hansen and Jonathan Leeman Bowling Alone by Robert D. Putnam Yuval Levin’s work on institutions Bully Pulpit by Michael J. Kruger GIRLS® by Freya India The Reason for God by Tim Keller Center Church by Tim Keller Dominion by Tom Holland Habits of the Heart by Robert Bellah The Uncontrollability of the World by Hartmut Rosa PostEverything , Brad Edwards’s podcast with John Homsher Harper’s Magazine article on young AI founders — — — 📫 SIGN UP for my newsletter, Unseen Things: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/gospelbound 🎁 Help The Gospel Coalition build up a renewed church for tomorrow. Let's Build Together: Donate Today at https://www.tgc.org/together 🎧 Don’t miss an episode of Gospelbound with Collin Hansen ▫ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospelbound/id1499898207 ▫ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kRYr5FTKr5ru1N7MR65Br ✅ SUBSCRIBE: ▫ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thegospelcoalition ▫ TGC Updates: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/newsletters Use code “ GOSPELBOUND ” for 25% off tuition. Learn more at downlinememphis.com/virtual-institute or email info@downlineministries.com for group pricing and discounts. Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tim Keller preached a series of sermons in the 1990s called “The Faces of Sin.” It did not go over well in New York. Angered by the liturgical confession of sin, one woman waited until after the sermon and yelled at Tim, “Neither I nor any of my children will ever confess to being sinners!” Naturally, Tim’s wife, Kathy, decided these would make good sermons to turn into a book! That’s what we have in the new book What Is Wrong with the World? The Surprising, Hopeful Answer to the Question We Cannot Avoid , published by Zondervan. One quote I think captures the book’s argument: “When we realize we are not a victim of our circumstances but a sinner who can call on someone much greater than ourselves to care for us, we can begin to truly live.” That’s the surprisingly hopeful message of the gospel: our sin is the problem with the world. But all of us can be saved by grace when we confess that sin, repent of that sin, and trust in Christ. Easy enough, right? Remember that woman in New York. It’s no small thing to confess your sin. And ALL of us must confess our sin. Here’s what Tim wrote: “No other religion says that the lowest person in the gutter and the most moral, upstanding citizen in the world are equally lost, equally need to be saved by grace, and can only be saved by grace alone.” What an honor to be joined again on Gospelbound by Kathy Keller about sin, grace, and the gospel. In This Episode: 00:00 – Cold open: “the sin beneath the sin” 00:39 – Introducing Tim Keller’s Faces of Sin sermons and the new book 02:25 – Idolatry, grief, and losing what feels like “everything” 04:15 – Blind spots, community, and uncovering hidden sins 07:14 – “What’s wrong with the world?” starting with ourselves 08:13 – G. K. Chesterton and the sins of omission 11:31 – The gospel is bitter at first bite and sweet within 15:55 – Missing Tim and resting in God’s grace 16:48 – “Nathans,” correction, and giving one another “hunting licenses” 18:30 – Parenting regrets and learning consequences the hard way 22:22 – Why the gospel gives hope in the face of failure 22:52 – How Tim Keller is misunderstood today 30:43 – The Hopewell years and learning mercy ministry 34:55 – Kathy’s favorite Tim Keller book: Jonah / The Prodigal Prophet 37:57 – The books Tim Keller hoped to write 40:25 – “Identity received or achieved” and unfinished work 41:35 – Closing reflections 42:02 – Outro Resources Mentioned: What Is Wrong with the World? by Tim Keller The Faces of Sin (Sermon Series) by Tim Keller The Prodigal Prophet by Tim Keller Ministries of Mercy by Tim Keller The Mortification of Sin by John Owen Making Sense of Us by TGC and The Keller Center The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics — — — 📫 SIGN UP for my newsletter, Unseen Things: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/gospelbound 🎁 Help The Gospel Coalition build up a renewed church for tomorrow. Let's Build Together: Donate Today at https://www.tgc.org/together 🎧 Don’t miss an episode of Gospelbound with Collin Hansen ▫ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospelbound/id1499898207 ▫ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kRYr5FTKr5ru1N7MR65Br ✅ SUBSCRIBE: ▫ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thegospelcoalition ▫ TGC Updates: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/newsletters Use code “ GOSPELBOUND ” for 25% off tuition. Learn more at downlinememphis.com/virtual-institute or email info@downlineministries.com for group pricing and discounts. Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Western culture today largely lacks a sense of consecration, of setting apart the ordinary as holy. Yet somehow we still have a strong impulse toward desecration, of turning the holy into the ordinary. Why have we lost the taste of the good while developing a taste for the bad? That’s a core question at the heart of Carl Trueman’s new book, The Desecration of Man: How the Rejection of God Degrades Our Humanity , published by Penguin Random House’s Sentinel imprint. Carl is a professor of biblical and theological studies at Grove City College and a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He was a guest on Gospelbound in 2020 for his highly acclaimed, bestselling book The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self . In his new book Trueman writes, “Transgression of the sacred is exhilarating precisely because it makes us feel like gods, the creators of our own meanings and our own selves. All we need to do is cross lines previously enforced by the idea of God and we thereby assume the role of being gods.” Desecration is how we communicate authenticity, perhaps the most important value for the modern self. This entire project has backfired. Let’s hear from Carl about why. In This Episode: 00:00 – Carl Trueman on desecration and the modern crisis of humanity 02:30 – Why write another book after The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self ? 04:22 – Why the sexual revolution sits at the center of the story 06:11 – Cultural Christianity, conversion, and why truth still matters 10:30 – Nietzsche’s “madman” and the collapse of moral meaning 12:56 – Authenticity, evangelism, and the uphill battle against expressive individualism 18:23 – Do the revolutions of modernity actually deliver what they promise? 21:04 – Genetic selection, artificial wombs, and the moral vacuum of tech culture 27:29 – Social acceleration, anxiety, and the instability of modern life 30:23 – Technology, human limits, and the need for a normative view of humanity 35:58 – Assisted suicide, autonomy, and why stories matter more than abstractions 41:53 – The transgender movement, fairness, and transhumanism 45:44 – Why Christian nationalism is not the answer 49:40 – Creed, cult, code, congregational singing, and hospitality as a plan of consecration 55:53 – Outro Resources Mentioned: The Desecration of Man by Carl Trueman The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman The Gay Science by Friedrich Nietzsche The Ethics of Authenticity by Charles Taylor — — — 📫 SIGN UP for my newsletter, Unseen Things: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/gospelbound 🎁 Help The Gospel Coalition build up a renewed church for tomorrow. Let's Build Together: Donate Today at https://www.tgc.org/together 🎧 Don’t miss an episode of Gospelbound with Collin Hansen ▫ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospelbound/id1499898207 ▫ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kRYr5FTKr5ru1N7MR65Br ✅ SUBSCRIBE: ▫ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thegospelcoalition ▫ TGC Updates: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/newsletters Use code “ GOSPELBOUND ” for 25% off tuition. Learn more at downlinememphis.com/virtual-institute or email info@downlineministries.com for group pricing and discounts. Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Join Collin Hansen, Michael Graham, and Sarah Zylstra as they continue to look back on the top theology stories from the last 25 years. In part 1 , they counted down stories #10 to #6. Now in part 2, Graham and Zylstra walk with Hansen through his stories #5 down to #1. In This Episode: 00:00:00 – Why homosexuality became a presenting issue dividing the church 00:00:41 – Sarah Zylstra introduces the second half of the top 10 list 00:01:34 – Recap of stories 10 through 6 from the previous episode 00:03:06 – Number 5: COVID-19 shuts the world down 00:04:57 – COVID, institutional mistrust, and the authority of scientists 00:06:25 – A decade of digital change compressed into one year 00:09:22 – What COVID did to church attendance and online ministry 00:11:38 – Rediscovering embodied worship after metaverse-era predictions 00:14:11 – Number 4: The Trump era and its theological consequences 00:15:41 – Supreme Court appointments, religious liberty, and legal change 00:18:50 – Dobbs, abortion, and evangelical disengagement from the pro-life cause 00:19:54 – Immigration as a leading social and theological issue 00:22:13 – Executive power, post-liberalism, and Christian nationalism 00:24:05 – Number 3: Obergefell and the moral transformation of marriage 00:25:20 – Sexuality, family, and the collapse of shared moral norms 00:27:48 – Don Carson’s 2005 warning about homosexuality as a presenting issue 00:29:22 – Mainline denominational splits and the global Methodist divide 00:32:11 – Why many evangelicals held to historic sexual ethics 00:33:17 – How race and sexuality became bundled in public discourse 00:36:56 – Rebecca McLaughlin and navigating race and sexuality faithfully 00:37:21 – Number 2: The iPhone and the shift to digital life 00:38:05 – Smartphones, fertility decline, and changing social habits 00:39:13 – Social contagion, gender identity, and online plausibility structures 00:40:08 – Podcasts, YouTube, AI, and the reshaping of knowledge 00:43:44 – Mike Graham on screens, AI, and the future of epistemology 00:48:00 – Individualized media diets, institutional decline, and gender divergence 00:50:06 – AI sycophancy, abuse scandals, and algorithm-shaped reality 00:53:51 – Why digital life felt like it could have been number one 00:54:26 – Number 1: Why 9/11 tops the list 00:56:23 – Christianity, Islam, and civilizational conflict 01:00:07 – 9/11, the new atheism, and the category of “fundamentalism” 01:02:01 – Theodicy, suffering, and major disasters after 9/11 01:03:12 – Mike Graham on why 9/11 is civilizationally decisive 01:06:17 – Middle Eastern Christians, Iraq, Syria, and migration into Europe 01:07:11 – Signs of God’s providence and good emerging from tragedy 01:09:18 – Tim Keller, New York church planting, and the young, restless, and Reformed movement 01:12:58 – Closing reflections on God’s providence over the last 25 years Resources Mentioned: Rediscover Church by Collin Hansen and Jonathan Leeman The Secular Creed by Rebecca McLaughlin The WEIRDest People in the World by Joseph Henrich Generations by Jean M. Twenge Timothy Keller by Collin Hansen — — — 📫 SIGN UP for my newsletter, Unseen Things: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/gospelbound 🎁 Help The Gospel Coalition build up a renewed church for tomorrow. Let's Build Together: Donate Today at https://www.tgc.org/together 🎧 Don’t miss an episode of Gospelbound with Collin Hansen ▫ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospelbound/id1499898207 ▫ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kRYr5FTKr5ru1N7MR65Br ✅ SUBSCRIBE: ▫ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thegospelcoalition ▫ TGC Updates: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/newsletters Use code “ GOSPELBOUND ” for 25% off tuition. Learn more at downlinememphis.com/virtual-institute or email info@downlineministries.com for group pricing and discounts. Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Join Collin Hansen, Michael Graham, and Sarah Zylstra as they look back on the top theology stories from the last 25 years. In part 1 of this two-part series, Graham and Zylstra walk with Hansen through his stories #10 down to #6. Since the year 2000, religion in America has changed dramatically. As recently as the 1990s, religion in America was what Tim Keller called “thick”: In general, many clergy were held in high esteem, churches were respected, and people either belonged to a congregation or knew that would be a good idea. Yet since 2000, the percent of religious Americans has dropped and the number of nones (no religion) has jumped up from 8 percent to 22 percent—and climbing. So while social commentators lament how much time Americans spend on our screens, describe how views on sexuality have drastically changed, identify how our politics have become sharply polarized, and observe how mental health especially in Gen Z has declined, they often miss the biggest story of all, the one underneath all the others—the decline in attention and deference to God. In This Episode: 00:00 — The Great Dechurching: belief vs. disaffiliation 00:32 — Sarah hosts: why a 30,000-foot view now 03:26 — “Factfulness” and why we overlook positive trends 05:00 — #10: Global church leadership moving south 09:02 — Theological education hasn’t moved south at the same pace 10:03 — #9: Rise of non-denominational congregations 14:49 — Data point: non-denominationalism grows from ~3% (1972) to ~14–15% today 17:27 — Why churches drop denominational labels; media amplification; scandal-by-association 20:00 — #8: China’s church growth—and crackdown 22:07 — India, Hindu nationalism, and persecution; Nigeria and the Africa frontier 25:41 — #7: The Dechurching of America 30:24 — Apologetics after dechurching: from hostility to apathy 34:25 — Are churches fewer but stronger? 36:39 — Retention vs. conversion: why evangelical identity declines less 39:09 — #6: The Great Awokening (Ferguson to Floyd) 47:20 — Four paradigms for navigating race in America 52:44 — Wrap-up: Part 2 teaser 53:10 — Outro + where to find the podcast/newsletter Resources Mentioned: Factfulness by Hans Rosling The Reason for God by Timothy Keller Making Sense of God by Timothy Keller A Secular Age by Charles Taylor Divided by Faith by Michael Emerson The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby We Have Never Been Woke by Musa al-Gharbi — — — 📫 SIGN UP for my newsletter, Unseen Things: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/gospelbound 🎁 Help The Gospel Coalition build up a renewed church for tomorrow. Let's Build Together: Donate Today at https://www.tgc.org/together 🎧 Don’t miss an episode of Gospelbound with Collin Hansen ▫ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospelbound/id1499898207 ▫ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kRYr5FTKr5ru1N7MR65Br ✅ SUBSCRIBE: ▫ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thegospelcoalition ▫ TGC Updates: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/newsletters Use code “ GOSPELBOUND ” for 25% off tuition. Learn more at downlinememphis.com/virtual-institute or email info@downlineministries.com for group pricing and discounts. Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

When we receive applications for fellows at The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics, we ask them to answer the question, “What one thing should Christians do right now to introduce their neighbors to Jesus?” It’s not that we think there’s only one answer. It’s that we want them to identify the top priority. Last year we were surprised when every applicant gave the same answer. They talked about the public witness of gathered Christians, the church. Maybe they were responding to negative press about the church, going back 25 years to the Catholic abuse scandal at the same time the internet became ubiquitous. Or maybe they were expressing renewed appreciation for the gathered church after the COVID-era shutdowns and public disorder. Either way, they were going back to biblical concept rooted in Israel’s testimony to the nations, and the early church in the book of Acts that found favor with all. Bob Thune is a fellow for the Keller Center and writes about this so-called ecclesial apologetics in a chapter for our new book, The Gospel After Christendom: An Introduction to Cultural Apologetics , published by Zondervan Reflective. He’s also a featured teacher in an exciting new video small-group curriculum called Making Sense of Us , published by The Gospel Coalition and Keller Center. His session, recorded against the backdrop of the Statue of Liberty in New York City, covers the cultural narrative we tell each other in the modern West about liberty. We believe this curriculum can help you, especially young adults, to both evangelize and edify. When you watch and study with other church members, and even non-Christians, you can learn together about the Bible’s better story about liberty, which we live out together in the church. In This Episode: 00:00 – A deeper freedom: set free from self for love 00:32 – Keller Center fellows: why the gathered church matters for witness 01:41 – Introducing Bob Thune, ecclesial apologetics, and Making Sense of Us 02:39 – Lesslie Newbigin and a missionary posture toward the modern West 05:06 – Is Omaha post-Christian? Modern Western culture everywhere 06:34 – Ecclesial apologetics despite church messiness 09:17 – Gospel doctrine and gospel culture (truth, goodness, beauty) 11:03 – Christian hospitality: making room for outsiders with conviction and listening 17:03 – Why this differs from the seeker movement 19:10 – Transition to Making Sense of Us: liberty and the Statue of Liberty backdrop 20:16 – Modern misconception: freedom as “freedom from” (negative liberty) 22:17 – Galatians 5: freedom subverted and fulfilled—freedom for love and service 24:48 – Choice as happiness: dislodging the assumption pastorally 26:55 – Cultural pressure points: teen mental health, friendship decline, obligation 29:15 – Autonomy and assisted dying/euthanasia debates 31:56 – More choice, more frustration: speech platforms and “Netflix paralysis” 33:50 – Patience for contested proposals (post-liberalism, nationalism, etc.) 35:01 – “Freedom for” the common good and a shared human project 39:13 – Three church roles: solidarity-bringer, subversive fulfillment, alternative city 43:27 – Augustine’s lesson: church power, loss, and enduring hope 44:05 – Recommended reading and resources roundup Resources Mentioned: The Gospel After Christendom by Collin Hansen Making Sense of Us by John Starke, Rebecca McLaughlin, Sam Chan, Trevin Wax, Rachel Gilson, Bob Thune, Glen Scrivener, Michael Keller The Air We Breathe by Glen Scrivener The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis Democracy and Solidarity by James Davison Hunter City of God by Augustine of Hippo — — — 📫 SIGN UP for my newsletter, Unseen Things: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/gospelbound 🎁 Help The Gospel Coalition build up a renewed church for tomorrow. Let's Build Together: Donate Today at https://www.tgc.org/together 🎧 Don’t miss an episode of Gospelbound with Collin Hansen ▫ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospelbound/id1499898207 ▫ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kRYr5FTKr5ru1N7MR65Br ✅ SUBSCRIBE: ▫ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thegospelcoalition ▫ TGC Updates: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/newsletters Use code “ GOSPELBOUND ” for 25% off tuition. Learn more at downlinememphis.com/virtual-institute or email info@downlineministries.com for group pricing and discounts. Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

“Do any of us really want to be in the position where our retirement account grows in sync with the cancer ward?” That’s the question posed by Robin John about tobacco, responsible for 100 million deaths in the last 100 years. Naturally all of us would say no, we don’t want to benefit from other people dying. Yet as Robin points out in his new book, The Good Investor: How Your Work Can Confront Injustice, Love Your Neighbor, and Bring Healing to the World , many of us do hold mutual funds that invest in tobacco companies. We just don’t know it. Come to think of it, how much do we know about any of our investments, especially in long-term retirement accounts? Robin John is the cofounder and CEO of Eventide, an asset management firm dedicated to honoring God and investing in companies that create compelling value for the common good. His vision for Eventide's values-based investing shows how our work can benefit everyone and not just bolster the bottom line for a fortunate few. I’d go so far as to say our world can be a much better place if investors—and employees of all kinds—will learn from his example and prioritize what really matters now, and in eternity. In This Episode 0:00 – Joy, purpose, and God’s design for everyday work 1:49 – Why The Good Investor is ultimately a book about joy 2:48 – Growing up in Kerala, India, and immigrating to the U.S. 4:42 – Community, individualism, and caring for the vulnerable 7:41 – Returning to India and confronting workplace injustice 10:49 – Rethinking success, profit, and the purpose of work 11:53 – Why Christians must examine their investments 14:33 – What does it mean to “root for” a company’s success? 15:36 – Discernment, gray areas, and biblical values in investing 18:07 – Avoiding evil and actively pursuing the common good 19:43 – Weaponry, conscience, and consistency at Eventide 20:13 – The cautionary story of Bill Hwang and ill-gotten gain 23:19 – The false divide between faith and work 25:07 – How investing has changed since 2008 27:14 – What ESG investing is—and where it diverges from Christianity 31:19 – Mission alignment vs. values alignment 32:23 – Encouragement for ordinary, faithful work 34:44 – Legacy, goodness, and hearing “well done” Resources Mentioned The Good Investor by Robin John — — — 📫 SIGN UP for my newsletter, Unseen Things: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/gospelbound 🎁 Help The Gospel Coalition build up a renewed church for tomorrow. Let's Build Together: Donate Today at https://www.tgc.org/together 🎧 Don’t miss an episode of Gospelbound with Collin Hansen ▫ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospelbound/id1499898207 ▫ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kRYr5FTKr5ru1N7MR65Br ✅ SUBSCRIBE: ▫ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thegospelcoalition ▫ TGC Updates: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/newsletters Use code “ GOSPELBOUND ” for 25% off tuition. Learn more at downlinememphis.com/virtual-institute or email info@downlineministries.com for group pricing and discounts. Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

At the end of the class on cultural apologetics I teach at Beeson Divinity School, I assign a group exercise. The students need to compose 10 questions and answers from a modern-day catechism. Historically catechisms have emerged during times of cultural transition and confrontation—such as our own, in the aftermath of Christendom and the Enlightenment, awaiting whatever develops in post-liberalism. So catechisms are not merely a relic of our past but a vital resource for the present that prepares us for the future. I’m delighted with how The New City Catechism , especially our devotional , still serves readers. And I’m delighted by a new volume, The Gospel Way Catechism: 50 Truths that Take on the World , published by Harvest House and written by my friends Trevin Wax and Thomas West. Tim Keller said, “We need a counter-catechism that explains, refutes, and re-narrates the world’s catechisms to Christians.” And what’s what Trevin and Thomas have done in The Gospel Way Catechism. Trevin is vice president of research and resource development at the North American Mission Board. Thomas is the pastor of Nashville First Baptist Church. In This Episode 00:00 – What’s wrong with the world: deeper than ignorance or injustice 00:34 – Collin’s “modern catechism” assignment and why catechisms return in transitions 01:03 – Introducing The Gospel Way Catechism and Keller’s “counter catechism” vision 01:36 – Welcoming Trevin Wax and Thomas West 01:54 – “Can Baptists write a catechism?” and Baptist catechesis history 02:57 – Influential catechisms: Keach, Spurgeon, Heidelberg, Luther, Calvin, Westminster 03:23 – Most controversial truths today: sexuality and deeper “me-first” narratives 04:51 – “What has gone wrong?”: ignorance, injustice, expressive individualism 07:14 – Moving beyond whack-a-mole to the Bible’s deeper diagnosis 09:37 – Western self-centeredness and sin as being “curved in on ourselves” 12:24 – Writing process and Keller’s influence: every catechism is counter-catechesis 13:48 – Origin story at The Kilns (C. S. Lewis’s home) and testing in a London church 15:45 – Objections: “we don’t need this” and why cultural frames change catechesis needs 20:18 – Returning from London: seeing American wealth, waste, and politics differently 24:13 – Why Leviticus gets a chapter: sacrifice, scapegoating, and modern idols 27:59 – Catechesis and spiritual formation: tools, Word-centeredness, and Gen Z hunger 31:38 – Encouragement from readers: cultural narratives filtered, doctrine re-centered 33:09 – In 20 years: transhumanism, bioethics, reproductive tech, assisted dying 36:06 – “What is human?” and “What is truth?”—new iterations of old questions 36:39 – Closing thanks and sign-off Resources Mentioned The Gospel Way Catechism by Trevin Wax & Thomas West New City Catechism by Kathy Keller A Heart Aflame for God by Matthew Bingham — — — 📫 SIGN UP for my newsletter, Unseen Things: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/gospelbound 🎁 Help The Gospel Coalition build up a renewed church for tomorrow. Let's Build Together: Donate Today at https://www.tgc.org/together 🎧 Don’t miss an episode of Gospelbound with Collin Hansen ▫ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospelbound/id1499898207 ▫ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kRYr5FTKr5ru1N7MR65Br ✅ SUBSCRIBE: ▫ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thegospelcoalition ▫ TGC Updates: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/newsletters Use code “ GOSPELBOUND ” for 25% off tuition. Learn more at downlinememphis.com/virtual-institute or email info@downlineministries.com for group pricing and discounts. Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Here in Birmingham, Alabama, I often teach about the civil-rights movement as the most effective faith-based movement for social change in American history. We have a bitter heritage of violent segregation. But the same city produced the heroes of the struggle, the ordinary men and women (especially children) who stared down the police dogs and fire hoses in the march for their freedom. Justin Giboney honors such heroes as pastor Fred Shuttlesworth and commends their example for today in an informative, provocative book, Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around: How the Black Church’s Public Witness Leads Us Out of the Culture War , published by IVP. Justin is the cofounder and president of the AND Campaign. The endorsement of this book by Bob Roberts calls Justin a “strange mix of Tim Keller and Martin Luther King Jr. wrapped up in his own personality and voice.” High praise! In This Episode 00:00 – Jesus, truth, and critiquing our own side 00:33 – Birmingham, civil rights, and faith-based social change 01:00 – Introducing Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around 01:40 – The burden behind writing the book 03:07 – Family history and the Black church tradition 04:05 – Why Fred Shuttlesworth matters 05:14 – “Biblicist and actionist”: faith and public courage 06:05 – Nonviolence, moral discipline, and leadership 07:11 – Shuttlesworth and King: contrasts and complements 09:23 – Why moral progress isn’t inevitable 12:10 – Moral imagination and Christian hope 15:57 – What is the culture war? 18:44 – Humility, self-critique, and redeemable opponents 21:29 – Justice, moral order, and refusing false binaries 22:51 – King, the late 1960s, and the cost of a “third way” 25:26 – Militancy, frustration, and historical context 28:01 – Why Christians can’t abandon character 31:12 – Tyranny, violence, and ending debate by force 33:18 – Advice for young activists 35:19 – Frederick Douglass and critiquing your own movement 38:37 – Accountability, power, and political humility 43:36 – Christian nationalism and historical amnesia 47:24 – Final encouragement: civility, faithfulness, and hope Resources Mentioned Don't Let Nobody Turn You Around: How the Black Church's Public Witness Leads Us out of the Culture War by Justin Giboney — — — 📫 SIGN UP for my newsletter, Unseen Things: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/gospelbound 🎁 Help The Gospel Coalition build up a renewed church for tomorrow. Let's Build Together: Donate Today at https://www.tgc.org/together 🎧 Don’t miss an episode of Gospelbound with Collin Hansen ▫ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospelbound/id1499898207 ▫ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kRYr5FTKr5ru1N7MR65Br ✅ SUBSCRIBE: ▫ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thegospelcoalition ▫ TGC Updates: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/newsletters Use code “ GOSPELBOUND ” for 25% off tuition. Learn more at downlinememphis.com/virtual-institute or email info@downlineministries.com for group pricing and discounts. Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Work is the meaning of life. Got your attention? Your identity is tied to what you do. I bet I have it now. So argues David Bahnsen in his book Full-Time: Work and the Meaning of Life . Bahnsen is the founder, managing partner, and chief investment officer of The Bahnsen Group, a national private wealth management firm. He’s also the author of several books, including Crisis of Responsibility: Our Cultural Addiction to Blame and How You Can Cure It . In This Episode 00:00 – Why Christians shouldn’t pit work against family or church 01:10 – Why Full Time Work and the Meaning of Life matters so deeply to Bahnsen 02:11 – Losing his father and discovering purpose through work 03:56 – The church’s discomfort with ambition and vocation 06:00 – Identity, salvation, and what our work says about us 09:06 – “Work is the meaning of life?” A biblical case from Genesis 12:55 – The crisis of men not working and its social consequences 16:12 – How Reformed theology shapes Bahnsen’s view of vocation 19:41 – The influence of Tim Keller and Every Good Endeavor 23:14 – Rejecting the zero-sum view of family vs. career 31:41 – Productivity, early mornings, and modeling joyful work 36:10 – Why in-person work still matters after COVID 44:39 – Conviction, politics, and resisting tribal thinking 54:21 – Overcoming resentment by telling the truth Resources Mentioned Full-Time: Work and the Meaning of Life by David Bahnsen Crisis of Responsibility: Our Cultural Addiction to Blame and How You Can Cure It by David Bahnsen Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work by Tim Keller — — — 📫 SIGN UP for my newsletter, Unseen Things: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/gospelbound 🎁 Help The Gospel Coalition build up a renewed church for tomorrow. Let's Build Together: Donate Today at https://www.tgc.org/together 🎧 Don’t miss an episode of Gospelbound with Collin Hansen ▫ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospelbound/id1499898207 ▫ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kRYr5FTKr5ru1N7MR65Br ✅ SUBSCRIBE: ▫ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thegospelcoalition ▫ TGC Updates: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/newsletters Use code “ GOSPELBOUND ” for 25% off tuition. Learn more at downlinememphis.com/virtual-institute or email info@downlineministries.com for group pricing and discounts. Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Join Collin Hansen and Melissa Kruger for their annual discussion as they look back on the top theology stories of 2025 and look towards the year to come. They also share their favorite interviews and books from 2025, updates on personal projects, and what they’re each looking forward to in life and ministry in 2026. Resources Mentioned Theo of Golden by Allen Levi Believe by Ross Douthat Superbloom by Nicholas Carr Everything Is Never Enough by Bobby Jamieson Blaise Pascal : The Man Who Made the Modern World by Graham Tomlin Future Tenses of the Blessed Life by F. B. Meyer A Case Against the Sexual Revolution by Louise Perry I Seek a Kind Person: My Father, Seven Children, and the Adverts that Helped Them Escape the Holocaust by Julian Borger The Deep Dish Podcast The Rest Is History TGC Church Directory The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics Making Sense of Us TGCW26 — National Women’s Conference RTS Women’s Bible Study — — — 📫 SIGN UP for my newsletter, Unseen Things: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/gospelbound 🎁 Help The Gospel Coalition build up a renewed church for tomorrow. Let's Build Together: Donate Today at https://www.tgc.org/together 🎧 Don’t miss an episode of Gospelbound with Collin Hansen ▫ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospelbound/id1499898207 ▫ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kRYr5FTKr5ru1N7MR65Br ✅ SUBSCRIBE: ▫ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thegospelcoalition ▫ TGC Updates: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/newsletters Use code “ GOSPELBOUND ” for 25% off tuition. Learn more at downlinememphis.com/virtual-institute or email info@downlineministries.com for group pricing and discounts. Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.