Shows
Kingdom CommentaryThe Reign of the Powers - The Kingdom of God Part 3 - KC #009Matt and Josh discuss the Bible’s answer to what is wrong with the world. They take another look at the fall through the lens of humanity losing their role in creation and subjecting themselves to the gods or powers of the nations.CHAPTERS:00:00 Intro00:35 Happy Late Thanksgiving01:57 One Battle After Another and Netflix06:52 What’s Wrong with the World? (Gen 3-11)15:07 Heaven and Nothing in Creation24:42 Humanity’s Fall from Heaven (Gen 3)44:28 Nephilim and the Kingdom of the Powers (Gen 6-11)01:04:40 Thinking about the Powers Today01:10:00 The Pr...
2025-12-041h 24
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureCreaturely Loneliness: Desire, Grief, and the Hope of Encounter / Macie Bridge & Ryan McAnnally-Linz (SOLO Part 6)Loneliness seems to be part of what it means to be a relational being. Does that mean loneliness can never really be “solved”? Here’s one way to think about loneliness: As a gap between relational expectation and social reality—something that signals our essentially relational, reciprocal nature as human beings.This episode is part 6 of a series, SOLO, which explores the theological, moral, and psychological dimensions of loneliness, solitude, and being alone.In this reflective conclusion to the series, Macie Bridge and Ryan McAnnally-Linz explore loneliness not as a pathology to solve but as a univer...
2025-11-1929 min
Elm City Vineyard Church TalksLiving in the Story of GodIf someone were to make a movie of your life, what would the genre be? Action-adventure? Rom-com? Slice of life? Epic? You could probably imagine a few different versions. Which one do you think is true?It matters a lot. The stories we tell ourselves-- the stories we live in and through--tell us what matters, what our lives are for. To be a Christian means, in part, to live into and through God’s story--the God of love who created us, loves us in our brokenness, heals, and transforms us. - Series Description - In ou...
2025-11-0344 min
We Are VineyardFrom Renewal to Roots: Caleb Maskell on the Future of the VineyardIn this episode of We Are Vineyard, Jay talks with Caleb Maskell about his role as AND of Theology and Education: the parts that have been more fun than he expected and those that have been difficult. They discuss the purpose and heart behind the ordination and bylaw process, the work of resourcing what we require of Vineyard pastors, and the challenge of taking into account the diverse needs of the 1200 currently ordained Vineyard pastors. Caleb also provides a look into the resourcing currently available, and a sneak peek into some of what’s coming soon.
Caleb Maskell is the Ass...
2025-09-031h 03
Elm City Vineyard Church TalksBeing Faithful in Politically Trying TimesPolitical power can seem threatening these days. Or overwhelming. Maybe just exhausting. The good news is that the history of the early church is full of stories of people faithfully following Jesus in the midst of conflict with the political powers of their day. Join us this Sunday Matt leads us further into our series on Being the Church, looking at the models Acts provides for being faithful in politically trying times.- Series Description -Among the most compelling stories in the Bible are several contained in the Book of Acts, written by the humble...
2025-07-2850 min
Elm City Vineyard Church TalksAbiding in the Love of GodSo many of us live trying to do enough to prove that we are enough. But what if we didn’t need to prove anything? What if our value and worth weren’t things we had to prove, but rather gifts from an unfailing source of unconditional love?Jesus says that’s exactly our situation. Maybe we even believe that. But what if we knew it deep in our souls? What if we could abide there? Rest there? Live out of that love? Join us this Sunday us as Matt Croasmun invites us to do just that: learn...
2025-03-0334 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureOpen the Gates: Immigration & the Book of Revelation / Yii-Jan LinWhy do we have countries? Why do we mark this land and these people as distinct from that land and those people? What are countries for? Yii-Jan Lin (Associate Professor of New Testament, Yale Divinity School) joins Matt Croasmun to discuss her new book, Immigration and Apocalypse, which traces the development of distinctly American ideas about the meaning of a country, its borders, and crossing those borders through immigration—exploring how the biblical book of Revelation has influenced our modern geopolitical map.Together they discuss the eschatological vision of Christopher Columbus; the Puritanical founding of New Haven, Co...
2024-12-0443 min
Knox Presbyterian Church PodcastA Flourishing LifeWhat should I hope for? What’s worth investing my life in? What does the worthiness of our shared humanity consist? How do I lean into what’s really worth investing in in life? What if our most fundamental place to build from is actually shared questions rather than shared answers?
Romans 12:9-15
Special Guest: Dr. Matt Croasmun
Matt Croasmun is an Associate Research Scholar and the Director of the Life Worth Living program at the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School and a Lecturer of Divinity and Humanities at Yale...
2024-11-1135 minKnox Presbyterian Church PodcastA Flourishing LifeWhat should I hope for? What’s worth investing my life in? What does the worthiness of our shared humanity consist? How do I lean into what’s really worth investing in in life? What if our most fundamental place to build from is actually shared questions rather than shared answers?
Romans 12:9-15
Special Guest: Dr. Matt Croasmun
Matt Croasmun is an Associate Research Scholar and the Director of the Life Worth Living program at the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School and a Lecturer of Divinity and Humanities at Yale...
2024-11-1135 min
The Pastor's TableHow to Address Sin Beyond Personal Misdeeds: A Theological Perspective with Dr. Matthew Croasmun | PT 82
Humans are shaped by community. Tara Beth & Mark explore with Matt Croasmun the implications of understanding sin beyond an individualistic framework. America has a set of unique cultural norms that make it challenging to understand all that Paul has to say about the impact of sin on the community. Dr. Croasmun discusses the vital role of community in understanding sin, the influence of social systems, and the importance of fostering healthy communities that embody the teachings of Christ. The conversation also touches on the challenges pastors face in maintaining personal integrity and creating cultures that ref...
2024-08-0531 min
Reimagining the Good Life with Amy Julia BeckerExploring the Good Life with Meghan Sullivan, Ph.D.What does it mean to live a good life? How do we find meaning and happiness in our everyday lives? In this episode, Amy Julia Becker sits down with Meghan Sullivan, co-author of The Good Life Method and philosophy professor at Notre Dame, to explore:The narrow American understanding of the good lifeHow to help students (and all of us) explore the big questions about life, purpose, and meaningHow individuals with intellectual disabilities contribute to our understanding of humanityThe relationship between love, attention, and the good lifeExpanding our conceptions of work and vocation _SUBSCRIBE t...
2024-06-1146 min
Talmadge Hill Community ChurchJune 2, 2024 - Rejoicing Always, But Not Only (Rev. Matt Croasmun)Audio recording.
2024-06-0224 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureThe Transforming Fire of Theological Education: Learning to See the World / Mark JordanHelp us improve the podcast! Click here to take our listener survey—5 respondents will be randomly selected to receive a signed and personalized copy of Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most.What are the goals of education? Are we shaping young minds or corrupting the youth? Theologian Mark Jordan joins Matt Croasmun for a conversation about the meaning of theological education today. Mark is the R. R. Niebuhr Research Professor at Harvard Divinity School, and is the author of ten books, including Telling Truths in Church: Scandal, Flesh, and Christian Speech. He came on the...
2024-03-1452 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureAsian Americans, Racism, and Capitalism / Jonathan TranWhat are the economic forces that underly racist thinking? What are the theological dimensions of racism? How does the “political economic distortion of the divine economy” impacts the contemporary experience of and response to racism?In this episode, Jonathan Tran (Baylor University) joins Matt Croasmun to discuss his book, Asian Americans & the Spirit of Racial Capitalism, focusing on the unique experience of Asian Americans, and Jonathan’s own experience growing up as a war refugee in southern California; where race and racialized thinking really comes from and how we can understand its history and its impact today; Christ...
2024-02-071h 03
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureHow the Light Gets In: Restlessness, Christ, & Belonging / Graham WardHelp the Yale Center for Faith & Culture meet a $10,000 matching challenge for podcast production; click here to donate today.How does the light get in? Leonard Cohen suggests, "There's a crack in everything / That's how..." Whether from our restlessness, our fear, or our trauma, to see the world rightly might start with the need to acknowledge the crack in everything.Only then can we see a new world of understanding and belonging and well-being.Graham Ward (University of Oxford) joins Ryan McAnnally-Linz to reflect on the purpose of theology, Christology as the place...
2023-12-2351 min
Ever Forward Radio with Chase ChewningLife Worth Living: How to Ask the Right Questions, Decipher the Role of Religious Traditions, and Act Out of Integrity with Matthew CroasmunWhat should we hope for? How should we live? How do we flourish? Matthew Croasmun is here to respond to these and other questions and reflect on the different answers that have informed various faiths and cultures. He has led students through these findings in one of Yale University's most popular courses and has recently written a book, Life Worth Living, to help you respond to these questions in the context of your own life... to live a life EVER FORWARD! More about Matthew: Matt Croasmun is Associate Research Scholar and Director of the Life Worth Living P...
2023-10-231h 03
The In BetweenThe one where we talk about the tyranny of sin and possibilities for a life worth livingJulia interviews Matt about his book on sin as emergent in Paul's letter to the Romans, and what on earth that might have to do with his work at Yale as assistant research scholar and director for the Life Worth Living Program. Matt Croasmun is an Associate Research Scholar and the Director of the Life Worth Living program at the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School and a Lecturer of Divinity and Humanities at Yale University. He is also a staff pastor at the Elm City Vineyard Church in New Haven, CT. Matt’s deepest pa...
2023-07-161h 00
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureClaire Danes, Kate Bowler, & Kelly Corrigan / Envy, Desire, and Struggling with Belief / Life Worth Living Book Club, Part 3 of 5Today’s episode is part 3 of a 5-part book club series produced and hosted by Kelly Corrigan. The PBS host and author of four New York Times bestselling memoirs is taking a deep dive into the latest book from the Yale Center for Faith & Culture. Written by Miroslav Volf, Matt Croasmun, and Ryan McAnnally-Linz, Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most, the book is based on a Yale College course that takes up some of the most pressing questions of life, but doesn’t keep the implications, challenges, confusion, and demands of those questions at arms length. Both...
2023-07-0155 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureClaire Danes, Kate Bowler, & Kelly Corrigan / Values, Vocation, Curiosity & Dealing with Circumstance / Life Worth Living Book Club, Part 2 of 5Today’s episode is part 2 of a 5-part book club series produced and hosted by Kelly Corrigan. The PBS host and author of four New York Times bestselling memoirs is taking a deep dive into the latest book from the Yale Center for Faith & Culture. Written by Miroslav Volf, Matt Croasmun, and Ryan McAnnally-Linz, Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most, the book is based on a Yale College course that takes up some of the most pressing questions of life, but doesn’t keep the implications, challenges, confusion, and demands of those questions at arms length. Both...
2023-06-2554 min
Elm City Vineyard Church TalksLeaning into Rest: PrayJoin us as we connect rest with prayer.- Series Description -Rest can seem so elusive in our fast-paced culture and our own choices to cooperate with such a breakneck speed. Yet, rest remains a gift from God for God’s people. As the school year winds down, we have a chance to reevaluate and reset before we just adopt a version of a speedy summer. Using the framework for a healthy Sabbath - pause, pray, and play, we’ll slow down to think about how we can foster Sabbath rhythms for us and our...
2023-06-1942 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureLife Worth Living Book Club Part 1 of 5 / Kelly Corrigan with Miroslav Volf, Matt Croasmun, & Ryan McAnnally-Linz"Your life is too important to be guided by anything less than what matters most."Part 1 of a 5-part book club series on Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most. Written by Miroslav Volf, Matt Croasmun, and Ryan McAnnally-Linz, the book is based on a Yale College course that takes up some of the most pressing questions of life, but doesn’t keep the implications, challenges, confusion, perplexity, and demands of those questions at arms length. Both the course and the book invite life-long learners to ask, “For any idea, if that idea were true, how...
2023-06-1754 min
The Next Big Idea DailyS15 E5: You Will Botch It (Matt Croasmun & Ryan McAnnally-Linz)Have you figured out how to live the good life? Don't worry if you're still working on it. It's only been a week. And you haven't even heard the final piece of advice from Matt Croasmun and Ryan McAnnally-Linz, professors at the Yale Center for Faith & Culture and authors of the new book "Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most."---• It's Friday, which means it's pub day for our newsletter! Sign up today so you can go behind the scenes of the show, share your feedback with Michael, and get a sneak pe...
2023-05-1211 minThe Next Big Idea DailyS15 E4: The Good Life Is Not a Buffet (Matt Croasmun & Ryan McAnnally-Linz)You can’t take bits and pieces of different philosophical traditions and put them together into a roadmap to the good life.---• Have you downloaded our app? It’s loaded up with hundreds of book summaries written and read by the world’s leading authors. Check it out by going to nextbigideaclub.com/app Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
2023-05-1112 minThe Next Big Idea DailyS15 E3: You Can’t Tackle the Big Question All at Once (Matt Croasmun & Ryan McAnnally-Linz)"What matters most in life?" There's a reason Matt and Ryan, theology professors at Yale and our guests this week, call it the Big Question. It's too big to answer all at once. You have to break it down. Today they're going to teach you how. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
2023-05-1009 minThe Next Big Idea DailyS15 E2: Lean Into Disagreement (Matt Croasmun & Ryan McAnnally-Linz)Today, we learn why the deepest question — the one that can truly change our lives, ground us, and give us direction — is not “What do I really want?” It’s “What is really worth wanting?”(Have you checked out our newsletter? Every Friday, Michael looks back on the week's episodes and shares his key takeaways. Sign up now!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
2023-05-0911 minThe Next Big Idea DailyS15 E1: Not Everything You Want Is Worth Wanting (Matt Croasmun & Ryan McAnnally-Linz)This week: Matt Croasmun and Ryan McAnnally-Linz, professors at the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, share key insights from their New York Times bestselling book "Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
2023-05-0815 min
Elm City Vineyard Church TalksResurrected Lives: Life Beyond Shame & CondemnationIf resurrection has the power to transform death to life, shame to honor and forgiveness, isolation to community, and scarcity to abundance, then how might living in light of that kind of resurrection change us?- Series Description -In this series, Resurrected Lives, we explore what it means to live post-Easter lives in light of Jesus’ resurrection. If Jesus has been raised, so can we. But sometimes, it takes more than three days to believe that for us. For the first two weeks of our series, we will look at what kind of lives ar...
2023-04-2443 minReimagining the Good Life with Amy Julia BeckerQuestions for a Life Worth Living with Matt CroasmunWhat should you hope for? What’s worth investing your life in? How do you define and create a flourishing life? Matt Croasmun, coauthor of Life Worth Living, joins me to discuss:How to ask life’s big questionsWhy pursuing those questions matters How to disagree with respect, friendship, and kindness in the midst of those questions“Matt Croasmun is an Associate Research Scholar and the Director of the Life Worth Living program at the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School and a Lecturer of Divinity and Humanities at Yale...
2023-04-1857 min
We Are VineyardCaleb Maskell: Left Foot Scholarship, Right Foot Church Life
Caleb Maskell: Left Foot Scholarship, Right Foot Church LifeShow Podcast InformationIn this episode of We Are Vineyard, Jay talks with Caleb Maskell about immigrating to the US as a child, the disorientation of self he experienced, and how this manifested socially and academically. Caleb shares about failing classes in high school, how he eventually discovered his love for learning and critical thinking, and how that was entwined with the frequent experiences he was having with the Holy Spirit. Finally, Jay and Caleb talk about the direction of the Vineyard relating to theology and education.
Caleb Maskell i...
2023-04-051h 23
Elm City Vineyard Church TalksWalking With Jesus: Living With an Expectation of the CrossLast week, we talked about the cost of following Jesus and what we were willing to pay to respond to Him. Join us today as we look at what it looks like to live with an expectation of the Cross.- Series Description -This Lent, we are going to practice simply walking with Jesus. We will do this as we look at the gospel of Mark chapters ten, eleven, and sixteen.
2023-03-1240 min
Elm City Vineyard Church TalksHome: Genesis & RevelationMatt kicks us off this new series in Genesis and ends in Revelation to discover God’s heart for home and God’s plan for us.- Series Description -What does that home feel like? Are we returning there or heading home for the first time? In this teaching series called Home, we explore God’s big picture of Home throughout the scriptures. Along the way, we will navigate the tensions of the now and not yet of wanting home while not fully being at home. Lastly, we will learn how this God of ours...
2023-02-0633 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureThe Complicated World of Christmas / Drew Collins, Frederica Mathewes-Green, Jeff Reimer, & Matt CroasmunA conglomeration of Advent people: Drew Collins on how the Magi were pushed willingly to the edge of their knowledge, open to the giving spirit of God. Frederica Mathewes-Green with an illustration of Mary, living in prayer, which proves just enough to know to say "yes" when met with her call. Jeff Reimer on W.H. Auden's common Joseph, asked only and profoundly to believe. And Matt Croasmun on St. Paul, offering an invitation to Christian joy that, well, differs from Santa's offer just a little.Show NotesEPISODE 44: The Reason We Follow the Star: Learning...
2022-12-2432 min
We Are VineyardDr. Matt Croasmun: Following Jesus Brings More Questions AND More Assurance
Dr. Matt Croasmun: Following Jesus Brings More Questions AND More AssuranceShow Podcast InformationIn this episode of We Are Vineyard, Jay talks with Matt Croasmun about growing up in the Evangelical Covenant Church, and how getting involved with Intervarsity sparked his interest and love of scripture and ministry and tied him to a local church where he encountered the Living God. Matt shares about the new questions and new assurances he gathers as he deepens in relationship with Jesus and scripture, and why he believes questions are healthy, biblical, and the key to relationship.
Matt Croasmun is...
2022-11-231h 31
East Denver Vineyard ChurchOn God's Side: Kingdom Politics, 1 Kings 12Preacher: Matt Croasmun (staff pastor, Elm City Vineyard Church | lecturer, Yale University) Scripture: 1 Kings 12 Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam,“Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke that he placed on us, and we will serve you..Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the older men who had attended his father Solomon while he was still alive...They answered him,“If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to t...
2022-11-2136 min
Currents in ReligionEating Our Way Home? A Conversation with Matt CroasmunEpisode Description
In this episode, we discuss how the Gospel of Luke's stories about food, eating, and sharing meals nourish the Christian imagination. Dr. Matthew Croasmun joins us to discuss the way he and Miroslav Volf reflect on Luke's gospel in their new book The Hunger for Home.
Matthew Croasmun (@mattcroasmun) is Associate Research Scholar and Director of the Life Worth Living Program at the Yale Center for Faith & Culture.
Thanks for listening!
Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. For more, you can follow us on Twitter: @cirbaylor.
2022-11-0438 min
Elm City Vineyard Church TalksAllegiance: Allegiance of CitizenshipThis week Matt continues our Allegiance series with a discussion of our allegiance of citizenship.- Series Description -Who gets our allegiance? There are competing things in life vying for our attention, fidelity, and energy. As people reading a church newsletter, we can give a Sunday school answer to this question of commitment: Jesus! Or we can also examine our mind, citizenship, resources, and heart. With that more careful study, where does our allegiance truly lie and how do we put our trust - and our everything - more faithfully in the hands of...
2022-10-3045 min
Currents in ReligionWhat is Currents in Religion?Currents in Religion is a new podcast from the Baylor University Religion Department and Baylor University Press. Listen to this episode to find out more about what you can expect to hear on this new podcast!
Upcoming Episodes:
+ Beverly Gaventa on the way academic religious studies has changed since the start of her career, the future of New Testament studies, and her forthcoming Romans commentary.
+ João Chaves on what migration does to religion, through looking at Brazilian Baptists in America.
+ Natalie Carnes on beauty, the arts, and feminist theology.
2022-10-0201 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureAdam Eitel / Character As Authority: Theology as a Lived, Embodied Experience"Somewhere is better than anywhere." (Flannery O'Connor, as quoted by Wendell Berry in Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community) Today, Christian ethicist Adam Eitel (Yale Divinity School) sits with Matt Croasmun for a conversation on ethics and theology. Eitel is Assistant Professor of Christian Ethics at Yale Divinity School. Together, he and Matt discuss the demands of teaching and learning theology on personal character—holiness even; the relationship between ethics and theology; the locatedness and situatedness and particularity of Christian ethics; and the rooted, framing question, that animates Adam Eitel's writing and teaching: "What sort of life does the Gospel enjoin?"...
2022-09-1926 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureGraham Tomlin / Words About God: Theology as Worship, Reform, and Witness"If you don't really understand religion, if you don't understand faith, if you don't understand theology, you can't really understand the modern world.""Words make worlds," says one of my podcasting heroes, Krista Tippett. Ask any poet, priest, or politician, and they'll agree. Language does have that power, for better or for worse.But whatever power our words have to make a world that we can then ourselves inhabit—that power is drawn from the archetypal Word—the Word made flesh, by whom all things are made and in whom all things are held together, and...
2022-09-1022 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureMatt Croasmun / Nourishing Mutual Encounter: Food, Meals, and the Hunger for Home in the Gospel of LukeFood and meals are hidden in plain sight throughout the Bible, providing a background context for Christian spirituality and flourishing. Matt Croasmun joins me on the podcast today to talk about his new book co-authored with Miroslav Volf, The Hunger for Home: Food and Meals in the Gospel of Luke. For them, a meal is a site of nourishing mutual encounter. It's this definition of a meal that makes that riddle work I think. It's also incredibly illuminating (and even delightfully surprising, really) to consider how that nourishing mutual encounter—a meal—provide a context that spans thousands of year...
2022-09-0352 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureGeorge Marsden / The Outrageous Idea of Theological Education: How Deep Teaching in Theology Might Work in and for the Church and the WorldA pervasive anti-intellectual tradition seems to haunt American Christianity. Paired with nationalism, xenophobia—a fear of the other, and an hypersensitive oscillation between defensiveness and jingoism in the culture war—it's worth asking what in the world happened to this religion which was founded by a peaceful, humble homeless preacher who healed the poor, the lame, and the blind.But the over-correction to an intellectualizing of theology, to the exclusion of lived experience, swings the pendulum back in another erroneous direction. A merely cognitive theology that stays relevant only at abstract academic levels would be stale and dead...
2022-08-2719 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureKatie Grimes / Theology's Human Context: Jesus, Exemplarity, and Theologizing Through the Lens of Flourishing"You can be, at least according to Christian thought, the only sinless person in human history, and you can still be tortured and crucified in your early thirties."From the perspective of Christian theology, it's probably not going too far to say that both the moral exemplarity and the suffering life of Jesus should be central to the Christian understanding of flourishing. Here's another way to put it. Jesus was morally perfect and sinless, but encountered immense suffering, poverty, marginalization, and eventual torture and death. Tempted, yet without sin. But also counted among the sinners, according to...
2022-08-2019 min
Elm City Vineyard Church TalksLife with a Living God // Life in the Body // Matt CroasmunThis week we turn to 1 Cor 12:1-11 in which Paul talks about spiritual gifts. The Corinthians had experience with “gods” who only seemed to speak and work. Now their community is founded on interaction with the living God—and that makes all the difference.
2022-07-0639 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureAmy Brown Hughes / Hospitable Theology: Space for Questions, Diversity, and ReflectionDoes your approach to theology bring healing and reconciliation? Does it introduce Christianity as a way of life and peace, flourishing, justice, and shalom? Does your theology have space for diverse and difficult questions to occupy the same space? That kind of hospitable theology would indeed make a difference in our world. Today on the show, we're playing a conversation between Matt Croasmun and Amy Brown Hughes, Associate Professor of Theology at Gordon College and author of Christian Women in the Patristic World. Amy and Matt reflect on the promise and hope of a hospitable theology, grounded in a...
2022-06-1117 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureEric Gregory / Theology as a Way of LifeIf we all weren't so cynical, we might expect professional ethicists—or say a professor of ethics or morality at a university—to also be a really morally virtuous and good person. And by extension, you might also expect a theologian to be a person of deeper faith. And that's because intellectual reflection about matters of justice, right and wrong, God and human flourishing all cut to the core of what it means to be human, and the things you discuss in an ethics or theology course, if you took those ideas seriously, just might change the way you live...
2022-06-0518 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureKeri Day / Targeting Normative Theology: Lived Experience, Practice, and Confessional TheologyMiroslav Volf has said that every Christian is a theologian. This is important not so much because it demands of an individual Jesus-follower to exert the best of her cognitive abilities, but because it demands of theologians that theology take seriously the experience, perception, and lived realities of human life. As part of our Future of Theology series, Keri Day (Princeton Theological Seminary) joins Matt Croasmun to discuss the purpose and promise of theology today, honing in on this phenomena and the temptation to see theology as an abstract exercise cut off from the particularities of faith. K...
2022-05-2816 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureLuke Bretherton / (Un)Common Life: Secularity, Religiosity, and the Tension Between Faith and CultureJesus's teaching to be in but not of the world (John 17:14-15) has gone from a mode of prophetic witness that could lead to martyrdom, to bumper sticker ethics that either feeds the trolls or fuels the tribe. We're in a moment where the ways that Christianity's influence on culture—and vice versa—are writ large and undeniable. And yet, how are we to understand it? How are we to live in light of it? How does that relationship change from political moment to political moment? In this conversation, ethicist Luke Bretherton (Duke Divinity School) joins Matt Croasmun to refl...
2022-05-2130 min
Elm City Vineyard Church TalksThe Blood Cries Out // The Murder of Jesus // Matt CroasmunThis week, Matt invites us to consider what we can learn from the way God responds to the murder of Jesus. Here, too, the blood cries out. And, here, too, God does not respond with vengeance.
2022-05-0528 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureTyler Roberts / Taking Theology Seriously: A Perspective from Outside Christian TheologyOver the past two centuries, colleges have slowly replaced theology departments with religious studies departments. But what happens when theology becomes religious studies? It can produce a more neutral, observational approach that might not fully appreciate the normative claims of religious adherents and their values, commitments, and beliefs.A careful historical and objective study of religious history and the dimensions of religious practice are deeply valuable. But engaging religious texts and voices without a serious appreciation for the normative elements—that is, the things about a theological or religious idea that means your life would have to ch...
2022-04-0922 min
We Are VineyardEquipping The Saints: 1st Quarter Wrap-up with Jay and CalebAs we wrap on the first quarter of We Are Vineyard, Jay and Caleb Maskell meet up to share some behind the scenes of different episodes, their thoughts and reflections on some of their favorite conversations, and of course they laugh... a lot! From Andy Crouch's episode on doing the internal work that allows us to be effective leaders to Santiago "Jimmy" Mellado’s episode about learning from people of different cultural backgrounds, join us as we take a brief walk through just some of the richness of these first 12 episodes!
Caleb Maskell is the Associate National Dir...
2022-03-301h 09We Are VineyardEquipping The Saints: 1st Quarter Wrap-up with Jay and Caleb
Equipping The Saints: 1st Quarter Wrap-up with Jay and CalebShow Podcast InformationAs we wrap on the first quarter of We Are Vineyard, Jay and Caleb Maskell meet up to share some behind the scenes of different episodes, their thoughts and reflections on some of their favorite conversations, and of course they laugh… a lot! From Andy Crouch’s episode on doing the internal work that allows us to be effective leaders to Santiago “Jimmy” Mellado’s episode about learning from people of different cultural backgrounds, join us as we take a brief walk through just some of the richness of...
2022-03-301h 09
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureKatherine Sonderegger / God, the Great Hope of TheologyWhat is the future of theology? We asked that question of several leading theologians 7 years ago, including today's featured guest, Katherine Sonderegger, The William Meade Chair of Systematic Theology at Virginia Theological Seminary, a priest in the Episcopal Church, and has written widely, covering Creation, Christology, Election, the Jewishness of Jesus...Her approach to theology is beautifully summed up in the following, “There really is no more beautiful thought in all reality than the thought of God. I believe that theology is ultimately just that: thinking the thought of God and worshipping the Reality who is God.”
2022-03-2722 min
Elm City Vineyard Church TalksPostures of Humility // Bow // Matt CroasmunWhen we bow down in worship, we communicate with our bodies that God is God (and we are not)—and that we are prepared to be obedient to God’s will for us. But there’s also a natural next step when we bow down: God lifts us up, following the pattern of Jesus who humbled himself and was then exalted by his--and our-- Heavenly Father. In our bowing, we enter into the humility—and exaltation—of Jesus.
2022-03-1635 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureWillie Jennings / The Christian Imagination: Theological Complexity, Communication, Cultivation, and CommunityWillie James Jennings (Yale Divinity School) joins Matt Croasmun for a conversation about the future of theology, addressing the Christian inability to hold complexity, public communication, and deep formation together in a way that shows how theology is for our very lives.Seven years ago the Yale Center for Faith and Culture interviewed a diverse array of theologians about the present woes and future potential of theology. Some five years and a pandemic later, the landscape of theological education seems like it's at a crossroads. The driving purpose of Christian higher education is in question as colleges...
2022-03-1228 min
The Ferment Podcast - Conversations About Worship And TransformationThe Life of the Mind with Caleb Maskell - PASTORING WORSHIP SERIESThe Life of the Mind with Caleb Maskell is the first in our PASTORING WORSHIP series. In this episode of The Ferment, Caleb and Adam talk about the discovery process that the new national team is moving through and how it is shaping the future of Vineyard USA. Caleb also talks about the beauty of embracing reality as Bible people, how the life of the mind has been woven into the Vineyard since the beginning, and how it relates to rich encounters with the Holy Spirit. Caleb and Adam discuss expanding our understanding of what a theologian might look...
2022-03-0754 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureFernando Segovia / Global Crisis and the Hope for Global FlourishingAs Christians around the world heard these words spoken on Ash Wednesday this past week, as an ashen oil was smudged to their brows, the world watched on in horror and grief over the brutality and aggression against Ukraine. In a swift movement of solidarity, we're all still are left with difficult and enduring questions. Why this war? What is at stake? How did we get here and what can we do? How can we stop this in a way that might hang on to a hope for peace?But as finite, limited beings brought forth from...
2022-03-0528 min
Elm City Vineyard Church TalksBlessing the Generations : Overflowing the Boundaries // Matt CroasmunWhen we fail to bless across generations, God still blesses. It’s part of the scandalous generosity of God. This week, Matt closes out our series by asking how can we live with the God whose blessings overflow the boundaries we try to set up?
2022-03-0139 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureMLK, Willie Jennings, Keri Day / Dangerous Theology"Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness... " (Martin Luther King, Jr., April 3, 1968)The day before he was assassinated, Martin Luther King, Jr. preached these words in Memphis, Tennessee. In a powerful and urgent message for sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee that's come to be known "I've Been to the Mountaintop," he considers the parable of the Good Samaritan, going on to speak prophetically and presciently of the dangers he himself faced, not knowing how very true his words were."We've got some difficult days ahead, but it really doesn't matter with me now because...
2022-01-1536 min
Elm City Vineyard Church TalksThe Power of the Incarnation // Matt CroasmunThis week Matt leads us into a consideration of the power of the incarnation. In God’s Son drawing near to us in Jesus, we are given the opportunity to become God’s children. What would it look like to take up this new identity? What would we learn about God? What would we learn about ourselves?
2021-12-1630 min
Elm City Vineyard Church TalksGrateful and Hungry: Why You'd Rather Live in a Community that Talks About Sin // Matt CroasmunThis Sunday, Matt considers how living in a community that talks about sin allows us to pursue wholeness in relation to God and one another.
2021-11-0942 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureJulian Reid / Musical Spiritual Hotel: Rest, Hospitality, and Sacred MusicJulian Reid explores the way music and scripture can come together to create a sacred space. Extending metaphors of music as architecture and dwelling and spiritual experience as a river, the jazz pianist, producer, writer, and performer explains a recent project of his, "Notes of Rest," combining African-American spirituals with classical hymns for an experience of spiritual hospitality, gratitude, and proclamation of the Gospel into the full spectrum of human experience, in all its pain, frustration, frenzy, stillness, and joy. Throughout the conversation you'll hear Julian play along to accompany his points; he also graciously provided beautiful meditative interludes...
2021-10-2346 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureAlysia Harris / Attention, Wonder, Permeability, & the Space Between Activity & PassivityOver-worked or over-entertained? Our humanity gives us the joint gifts of both activity and passivity. We act and we are acted upon. But how do we balance and mediate these states? How do we cultivate long practices and habits that help us to inhabit the space between activity and passivity, bringing them together in a beautiful agency?Poet and linguist Alysia Harris joins Matt Croasmun for a discussion of that space between active and passive in human life—bringing the concepts of wonder, awareness/attention, patient receptivity to the natural world and to God, bearing witness to th...
2021-10-1642 min
Elm City Vineyard Church TalksLiving Letters : Pursuing Culturally Relevant Mission // Matt CroasmunThis week, Matt talks about the Vineyard value of being people who "pursue culturally relevant mission in the world." What would it mean for us to reclaim Paul's phrase? What would it look like to become all things to all people for the sake of God’s mission in the world?
2021-10-0440 min
Elm City Vineyard Church TalksBehold! Jesus, the Anointed One // Matt CroasmunThis week, Matt teaches on who Jesus is and what Jesus calls us to.
2021-07-2928 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureThink Again: Changing Your Mind, Political-Religious Conversion, and the Emotional Life / Nichole Flores & Matt CroasmunIs it possible for anyone to change their mind anymore? Matt Croasmun welcomes theologian and ethicist Nichole Flores (University of Virginia) onto the show for a discussion of changing our minds in political and religious contexts. They discuss the meaning of intellectual, political, and religious conversion; how aesthetic and emotional experience of beauty is often the key ingredient in changing one's mind and behavior; the value of open-mindedness and intellectual humility as well as the value of a firm sturdiness and courageous conviction; and the role of changing one's mind in a life worth living.A...
2021-07-0343 min
Elm City Vineyard Church TalksBehold! The Kingdom is Calling // Matt CroasmunThis week, as we continue our series on the Kingdom of God, we consider what the call of Kingdom means for our lives. How are our life trajectories redirected? How are our vocations transformed and deepened? Everything’s on the table when Jesus calls us to the Kingdom of God.For more about Elm City Vineyard Church:http://elmcityvineyard.org/
2021-06-2234 min
Elm City Vineyard Church TalksGrace on the Other Side: The Command That Tells a Story // Matt CroasmunWhen is a story a “commandment”? When the story it tells is so foundational that opens up an entire way of life. This week, Grace on the other side takes a perhaps surprising form: a command that’s actually a statement that tells a story. “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of slavery.” Having been set free, God’s people enter into a relationship with God marked by life-giving service. How can we receive God-given boundaries and limits as grace in which new life takes root?For more abo...
2021-05-0526 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureHave You Eaten Yet?: Hospitality, Solidarity, and the Great Banquet of Justice / David de Leon & Matt Croasmun"Kumain ka na ba?”—Have you eaten yet? (Tagalog) This beautiful phrase of welcome and care and intimacy evokes and offers more than just the pleasure and nourishment of a meal. It calls out to the hunger, the thirst, and the need for love that we can greet in one another. David de Leon joins Matt Croasmun for a discussion of hospitality and solidarity and justice, applying the parable of the Great Banquet to cultures of inhospitality, and especially to the context of the increased targeting, discrimination, marginalization, and violence against the Asian American community over the past year. ...
2021-04-2436 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureYou Do You: Ethics of Authenticity in Disney's Frozen and Moana / Matt Croasmun and Ryan McAnnally-LinzEnroll now for our 7-week Life Worth Living Course through Grace Farms: http://gracefarms.org/life-worth-living. The course runs from May 4 to June 15, and we expect it to fill up quickly, so don’t wait to sign up!One of the most prominent visions of the good life present in Disney films could be called "expressive individualism," perhaps best captured by the phrase "you do you." In this episode Ryan McAnnally-Linz and Matt Croasmun interpret and unpack the ethics of the authentic self, belonging, and the implicit visions of flourishing life in two contemporary classics from Disney: Fro...
2021-03-2947 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureWillie Jennings's After Whiteness: Belonging, Intimacy, and Resisting White Masculinity / Matt CroasmunMatt Croasmun honors theologian Willie Jennings and his work in After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging. Willie Jennings is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Africana Studies at Yale Divinity School.Show NotesWillie Jennings, After Whiteness: An Education in BelongingArvo Pärt’s Te Deum“Be ware the hidden curriculum."White, self-sufficient masculinity: "a way of being that conflates knowing with owning, holding up possession, mastery, and control (vices all) as virtues” and “an ideal we cannot achieve"Racial paterfamilias: conflating person and propertyBeyond educationMutual belonging and deep connectionQuote from After Whiteness: The cultivation of belonging...
2021-02-2509 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureGod’s Love Made Delicious: Food, Hospitality, and the Gift of Eating Together / Norman Wirzba & Matt Croasmun"Cooking is a declaration of love ... food is God’s love made delicious." Theologian Norman Wirzba reflects on the threats of our faulty logic of food and our disordered and disconnected relationship to eating and nourishment, and imagines a theology of food grounded in membership, gift, and hospitality. Interview with Matt Croasmun.Support For the Life of the World: Give to the Yale Center for Faith & CultureAbout Norman WirzbaNorman Wirzba is the Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Theology at Duke University. His teaching, research, and writing happens at the intersections of...
2021-01-2349 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureThe Reason We Follow the Star: Learning from the Magi How to Give, How to Receive, and How to Be Human / Drew CollinsHow can the Magi of Matthew 2—the Three Wise Men "bearing gifts" and "traversing afar"—help us understand faith and reason, giving and receiving, the nature of God, and how to be human? Drew Collins offers some new perspective on a familiar Christmas story.Introduction and NotesMerry Christmas friends—for this week, we’re dropping a double dose of Christmas reflections from the Yale Center for Faith & Culture. We’ll be hearing from Matt Croasmun and Drew Collins, both of whom are Associate Research Scholars and lead our Life Worth Living and Christ & Flourishing initiative...
2020-12-2623 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureSanta, God, and the Obligation to Rejoice / Matt CroasmunSanta doesn't just want you to be happy. Santa needs you to be happy. Matt Croasmun explains how the contemporary Christmas myth—the Gospel of Christmas according to St. Nick—sets emotional norms that are vastly different from the Gospel of Christmas according to St. Paul.
2020-12-2627 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureHow to Destroy a Debate: Winning, Democracy, and the Very Possibility of Public Discourse / Matt Croasmun, Ryan McAnnally-Linz, Miroslav VolfIn this episode, Matt Croasmun, Ryan McAnnally-Linz, and Miroslav Volf discuss the Trump-Biden presidential debate from September 29, 2020, and its implications for public discourse and the very possibility of democratic deliberation. And yes, we know that that is not the headline anymore. The truth is stranger than fiction—again. The fact is lots of people are still sick. This pandemic is real. But we’re not trying to keep up with the latest headlines. The purpose of every single episode of this podcast is to help you envision and pursue a life that is worthy of your h...
2020-10-0337 min
All In! Living the Mission of GodThe Emergence of Sin: An Interview with Matthew CroasmunHey everybody! This week I have the privilege of interviewing Matthew Croasmun who wrote the book The Emergence of Sin: The Cosmic Tyrant in Romans. It is rare for me, these days, to read a book and go “Wow!” I generally read 1-2 books per week, but I spent 2 weeks going through this book because it is that good. I’m so excited to interview Matt to explore this book more. In this episode, we explore a little bit about the emergence theory, sin, systemic racism, white supremacy and the gospel, and how the church should address issues...
2020-09-3049 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureWhat is really worth wanting? / Matt CroasmunIs what you want really worth wanting? We often settle for procedural and productivity thinking—life hacks, listicles, and tips and tricks that offer the life of your dreams. We max out our search in the shallow water of seeking answers to the questions “what do I want and how can I get it?” But Matt Croasmun (Director of the Life Worth Living Program at Yale College) suggests that if we—a society in crisis—want to live lives worthy of our humanity, we need to ask the deepest question possible and let it inform our thinking: What is truly wort...
2020-09-2056 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureSupporting Sacrificial Love: Learning How to Fight a Pandemic from the Army's Chief of Chaplains / Major General Thomas SolhjemMatt Croasmun interviews the U.S. Army Chief of Chaplains: Major General Thomas Solhjem about whatever transferable wisdom we might apply from armed conflict to our war with Covid-19. They discuss how to cultivate courage, human fragility and loss of control, stories of bravery and love when life is on the line, and how to support the spiritual lives of the men and women of the armed forces.Chaplain (Major General) Thomas L. Solhjem is the Army’s 25th Chief of Chaplains. He leads the Chaplain Corps in providing religious support to the Army’s Soldiers, their Fami...
2020-09-0631 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureThe Culture of Fear / Miroslav Volf, Matt Croasmun, Drew CollinsFor the Life of the World is produced by the Yale Center for Faith & Culture. For more info, visit faith.yale.eduFollow Miroslav Volf on Twitter: @MiroslavVolfShow Notes-0:12 Introductory Teaser-0:57 Summary and introduction to the topic of this podcast—fear. -3:35 Miroslav begins. -3:40 Thoughts from Kierkegaard’s The Concept of Anxiety-4:15 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” Proverbs 9:10 -4:50 The two questions we should have toward fear: 1. What do we fear for? 2. What are we afra...
2020-04-0427 min
Elm City Vineyard Church TalksLove > Fear: The Generosity of LoveECV FROM THE ARCHIVES — from 02/24/19We are bringing back old talks from ECV's history for you to listen to during the COVID-19 crisis.Family Pastor, Asha Evans delivered the third talk in a series called "Love
2020-03-2547 minElm City Vineyard Church TalksLove > Fear: For Such a Time as ThisECV FROM THE ARCHIVES — from 02/17/19We are bringing back old talks from ECV's history for you to listen to during the COVID-19 crisis.Lead Pastor, Josh Williams gave the second talk in a series called "Love
2020-03-2545 minElm City Vineyard Church TalksLove > Fear: The First ConsequenceECV FROM THE ARCHIVES — from 02/10/19We are bringing back old talks from ECV's history for you to listen to during the COVID-19 crisis.Staff Pastor, Matt Croasmin gave the first talk in a series called "Love
2020-03-2342 minElm City Vineyard Church TalksChange Your Mind: "I Can’t Be Vulnerable"Change Your Mind: "I Can’t Be Vulnerable"Staff Pastor Matt Croasmun, brings us the second installment in our Lenten series, "Change Your Mind: Embracing the Truth of God’s Goodness."About the series:Jesus invites us to “repent and believe the good news.” What does that mean for us this Lent, the historic season of reflection and devotion around the person of Jesus – his life, death, and resurrection? Repent can seem like such a judgmental word, yet the word simply means to change one’s mind, to have a wh...
2020-03-1044 min
The Pocket ContemplativeOn Loneliness and ConnectionLoneliness is hard--and boldly following God into uncharted territory can risk its own kind of loneliness. The good news is that the great spiritual teachers--and even some scholars--have a lot of thoughts on how to find the kind of connection and relationship that our hearts crave.Mentioned on this podcast: Theology of Joy: Lisa Miller and Matt Croasmun from the Yale Center for Faith and Culture James 1:5-8 Desert Fathers and Mothers
2019-12-0521 min
BibleProjectThe Emergence of Sin with Dr. Matt CroasmunIn this show, Tim and Jon sit down with Dr. Matthew Croasmun. Dr. Croasmun is Associate Research Scholar and Director of the Life Worth Living Program at the Yale Center for Faith & Culture as well as Lecturer of Divinity and Humanities at Yale University. He completed his Ph.D. in Religious Studies (New Testament) at Yale in 2014 and was a recipient of the 2015 Manfred Lautenschläger Award for Theological Promise for his dissertation, "The Body of Sin: An Emergent Account of Sin as a Cosmic Power in Romans 5-8."
He discusses his new book, The Emergence of S...
2019-05-161h 01
The Secret Cabal Gaming PodcastTales from Beyond the Grave Vol 3: Herbert West ReanimatorThe Secret Cabal Gaming Podcast presents Tales from Beyond the Grave: Herbert West - Reanimator an audio drama based on the story written by H.P. Lovecraft and adapted for audio by Jamie Keagy, The part of Herbert West is played by Patrick Kelly of Blue Peg Pink Peg along with voice talent contributed by Robb and Christina Rouse, Marty Connell and Tony McRee of Rolling Dice and Taking Names, Kris Jesko, Brian Bender, Aaron Croasmun and Jess Brown of Lords of the Dungeon, Rodney Smith of Watch It Played, Matt Evans of Board Game Replay, Chaz Marler of Pair...
2017-10-3146 min
The Teach Better PodcastPodcast #31: A Life Worth Living with Matt CroasmunMatt Croasmun directs the Life Worth Living Program at the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, and teaches a course with the same name in Yale College. Started by Miroslav Volf and Ryan McAnnally-Linz, the course helps students engage with a big important question: What is a good life? In an especially wide ranging conversation, we talk with Matt about possible answers, how to go about finding an answer, and the nuts and bolts of teaching such an ambitious class.
2016-05-0900 min