In All Things Podcast Justin Ariel Bailey

On this episode of the podcast, I talk with Professor Nancy Pearcey about her new book, The Toxic War on Masculinity: How Christianity Reconciles the Sexes. It’s a rich conversation that draws on a wealth of social scientific and historical research about masculinity. Among the topics we discuss:
The diagnosis of "toxic masculinity" and when the diagnosis itself becomes an attack on men
The cultural perception of what it means to be a "good man" vs. a "real man"
The significant divergence of research findings when it comes to committed Christian men and nominal Christian men 
Historical roots of the masculine crisis in industrialization and social Darwinism
The significance of the rise of "alpha male" influencers like Andrew Tate
Counsel for families, parents, and pastors in addressing the crisis of masculinity
Get the book, The Toxic War on Masculinity: https://www.amazon.com/Toxic-War-Masculinity-Christianity-Reconciles/dp/0801075734
More on Professor Pearcey: Nancy Pearcey's latest book is The Toxic War on Masculinity: How Christianity Reconciles the Sexes. Her earlier books include Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions about Life and Sexuality, The Soul of Science, Saving Leonardo, Finding Truth, and two ECPA Gold Medallion Award Winners: How Now Shall We Live (coauthored with Harold Fickett and Chuck Colson) and Total Truth. Her books have been translated into 20 languages. She is professor and scholar in residence at Houston Christian University. A former agnostic, Pearcey has spoken at universities such as Princeton, Stanford, USC, and Dartmouth. She has been quoted in The New Yorker and Newsweek, highlighted as one of the five top women apologists by Christianity Today, and hailed in The Economist as "America's pre-eminent evangelical Protestant female intellectual."
 

On this episode of the podcast, we talk with Dr. Abigail Favale about her book The Genesis of Gender. It’s a conversation that seeks clarity about contested questions including feminism, womanhood, and gender identity. Among the topics we discuss:
Dr. Favale's story of her journey from conservative evangelicalism to gender studies scholar to Catholic convert
What it might mean to be a "feminist" and the distinctive characteristics of the four "waves" of feminism
A clear definition of what it means to be a woman
What it might mean to disagree with the gender paradigm while also caring for persons who have adopted it
Wrestling with the contemporary issue of pronoun use
What Dr. Favale would say to young women in contemporary society
Get the book: https://ignatius.com/the-genesis-of-gender-ggp/
Follow Dr. Favale: https://abigailfavale.wixsite.com/home
 

On this episode of the podcast, we talk with Dr. Fellipe do Vale about his book Gender as Love. Gender is a topic of ever-increasing complexity, and that complexity requires a guide who can take us into the weeds with conviction and compassion. Among the topics we discuss:
What it means to pursue a non-reductive account of gender, that takes the body seriously as well as the ways we live socially and culturally. 
Why it is attractive but also problematic to see gender purely as a social construct
Why solidarity and justice requires some sort of gender essentialism
How the category of love can help organize the way that we think about identity, gender, and social goods
Whether disability is an adequate category for dealing with difficulties in gender
On what it might mean to move towards "friendship" with our bodies in the midst of the forces of sin and death
Get the book: https://bakeracademic.com/p/Gender-as-Love-Fellipe-do-Vale/516474
More on Dr. Fellipe do Vale: https://www.redeemer.ca/resound/god-at-the-centre/ 

On this episode of the podcast, we talk with Kaitlyn Schiess about her book The Ballot and The Bible: How Scripture Has Been Used And Abused in American Politics and Where We Go from Here. Among the topics we discuss:
Distinguishing between better and worse ways of reading ourselves into the biblical story
Uniquely American habits of reading the nation into the biblical story, taking every promise or command as directed towards national life.
Worries about the wide range of political perspectives that are credited to the Bible
What we might learn from comparing presidents' speeches at the National Prayer breakfast
What it means to cite Scripture in a diverse, religiously pluralistic society
The faithful use of politics in the pulpit and in public life
Get the book: https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/492154
Follow Kaitlyn Schiess: https://kaitlynschiess.com/ 

On this episode of the podcast, we talk with Dr. Cornelius Plantinga, about his newly released book on Gratitude: Why Giving Thanks is the Key to Our Well Being. Among the topics we discuss:
What it means to say that giving thanks is the key to our well being
The relationship between the spontaneity of "feeling thankful" and the intentional practice of "cultivating gratitude"
How we might learn from others in our lives or biblical characters as an "apprenticeship" of gratitude
The difference between the biblical virtue of gratitude and gratitude as "self-improvement"
Gratitude in the Reformed tradition and other streams
Counsel for those who struggle to be grateful and where we might start.
Get the book: http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/gratitude/414400

On this episode of the podcast, I talk with a living legend, historian Mark Noll. Dr. Noll is best known for work in American church history, especially The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. In this conversation we talk about a new book about C.S. Lewis’s reception in America, using it as a lens for understanding American culture, then and now. Among the topics we discuss:
Have American Christians always loved Lewis? How does the reception of Lewis among Catholics, Protestants, and the mainstream press shed light on American religious culture, then and now?
Why were evangelicals the slowest to appreciate Lewis, and what accounts for the change? How does evangelical enthusiasm for Lewis connect to the "scandal of the evangelical mind"?
Is there anything interesting about reception of Lewis among the Reformed, Kuyperians and others?
Could there be another C.S. Lewis in our time? Should we even be looking for such a figure?
As a historian looking at our contemporary times, what are some reasons for discouragement and what are some reasons for hope?
Get the book: https://www.ivpress.com/c-s-lewis-in-america