Life and Books and Everything – Details, episodes & analysis

Listen as the two friends talk about the Land of Lincoln, about influential books and authors in their lives, and how the importance of friendship. You’ll get to learn more about Jason’s background, more about why he loves the PCA, and you’ll get to hear his great laugh.

Chapters:

0:00 Intro & Sponsors

7:41 Hip-hop-Helopoulos

10:32 Administration and Leadership in Pastoral Ministry

26:16 More About Jason

40:10 On the PCA

45:38 Band of Brothers

54:18 Sponsor Break

56:08 Lessons From Ministry

1:05:22 Books

1:11:47 Personal Updates

1:15:41 Who is Laughing at Who?

1:19:41 How Many Wins for Da Bears?

1:20:32 Until Next Time…

Books & Everything:

Ask Pastor John: 750 Bible Answers to Life's Most Important Questions

Crossway Plus

Puritan Treasures for Today

Westminster Theological Seminary Biblical Language Certificate

Persistent Prayer (Blessings of the Faith)

Covenantal Baptism (Blessings of the Faith)

Expository Preaching (Blessings of the Faith)

Reformed Worship (Blessings of the Faith)

Reformed Theology (Blessings of the Faith)

Church Membership (Blessings of the Faith)

The New Pastor's Handbook: Help and Encouragement for the First Years of Ministry

The Preacher's Portrait: Five new Testament Word Studies

The Shepherd Leader at Home: Knowing, Leading, Protecting, and Providing for Your Family

An Able and Faithful Ministry: Samuel Miller and the Pastoral Office

After a summer hiatus, the fellas are back together to kick off a new season of LBE. If you always look forward to the sports banter with these three, then you will LOVE this episode. You get a deep dive on the Olympics, including what makes them so joyful, what other countries besides America to root for, and whether other countries use Americans to announce their sports. After four years-worth of Olympics-related chatter, the three amigos turn their attention to more familiar fare: an enjoyable book they read over the summer and how to become better writers.

Books & Everything:

Ask Pastor John: 750 Bible Answers to Life's Most Important Questions

Crossway Plus

The Heart of Jesus: How He Really Feels about You

1861: The Civil War Awakening

Theo of Golden

Storycraft: The Complete Guide to Writing Narrative Nonfiction

The Writing Tools

The Writer’s Diet

He must be one of Kevin's favorite historians and favorite guests, because Dr. Guelzo is back for an unprecedented third visit to the LBE book-cave. Although Dr. Guelzo's new book is about Abraham Lincoln, Kevin and Allen talk about much more than just Lincoln—everything from John Locke to Christian Nationalism to progressivism to a healthy does of Reformed anthropology. And no, Dr. Guelzo did not watch the Super Bowl.

Chapters:

0:00 Intro

6:40 The Lincoln Book

14:25 Democracy Consensus

29:28 Christianity & Government

46:45 Sponsor Break | Crossway & Desiring God

48:00 Has Virtue Disappeared?

59:51 Was Abraham Lincoln a Racist?

01:02:42 Lincoln: The Founder of Big Government?

01:09:16 What, then, is the Hope?

1:16:37 Until Next Time

In this bonus episode, Kevin talks with the brilliant artist, Don Clark, Kevin’s co-collaborator on The Biggest Story and on (their new book) The Biggest Story Bible Storybook. In this fascinating conversation, Don talks about the joys and challenges of working on such a massive project and how he goes about the artistic process.

The historic liturgy of the Christian church did not originate in evangelicalism, or in the Reformation, or in Europe. It grew out of Old Testament (and then New Testament) assumptions about what it meant for God’s people to gather and renew the covenant.

The band gets back together to talk about lessons learned from the two biggest events of the past two years: Covid and the war in Ukraine. Without pretending to be experts in infectious diseases or in international affairs, the three amigos explore what we can learn about humility, evil, tradeoffs, and prayer. The episode concludes with an update on what everyone has been reading over the past couple months.

Timestamps:

Intro and Sponsor [0:00-3:13]

Lessons After (?) the Pandemic [3:14-22:58]

Lessons (So Far?) From Ukraine [22:59-36:28)

Lessons (Right Now) From Books We're Reading [36:27-47:51]

In an age where digital immediacy can be confused for personal intimacy, we often forget that public communication will not have all the features of private communication.

As much as it shows admirable humility or apologetic concern, we must not act or teach as if every sin is the same in God’s eyes.

We think of shame as destructive, manipulative, and toxic. And it can be all those things. But shame can also be a powerful and healthy part of our moral formation. In this fascinating conversation, Kevin talks to Te-Li Lau, a professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, about his recent book Defending Shame: It’s Formative Power in Paul’s Letters. Together, Kevin and Te-Li explore the pervasiveness of our therapeutic assumptions, the central theme of shame throughout the Bible, and good and bad ways to think about shame in our own lives.

Timestamps:

Introduction and Sponsor [0:00-1:28]Guest Intro: Te Li Lau [1:29-8:44]Positive Shame? [8:45-11:43]Defining Shame [11:44-17:28]East vs. West [17:29-25:36]Shame vs. Guilt [25:37-35:26]Is God a Bully to Use Shame? [35:27-40:48]The Solution for Shame [40:49-47:50]Paul's Use of Shame [47:51-55:43]Reintegrative Shame Theory [55:44-1:00:22]Modern Objections to Shame [1:00:23-1:05:39]

Please note: Unfortunately the audio on this episode cuts in and out from time to time.

Kevin is joined by the distinguished historian, Dr. Wilfred McClay as the two of them talk about the task of the historian in being a “recording angel” of the past. After discussing McClay’s perceptive article “The Surprising Persistence of Guilt” (2017), they turn to McClay’s recent book on American History, A Land of Hope (Encounter, 2019). McClay talks about his conversion to Christianity early in his academic career and how that has shaped his work as a historian in mingling celebration and criticism. Finally, McClay asks for prayer as he serves on America’s official 250th anniversary committee making preparations for 2026.

Timestamps:

Introduction and Sponsor [0:00-2:33]

Personal Histories [2:34-9:09]

The Strange Persistence of Guilt [9:10-15:14]

Land of Hope [15:15-21:27]

Generosity toward the Past [21:28-31:33]

Celebration and Criticism [31:34-43:00]

250th Birthday of the USA [43:01-51:28]