Faith Lab

Nate Hanson
  • 4.6 (574)
  • Christianity
  • Updated Weekly

Christianity is deeper than you've been shown. Each episode, Nate Hanson takes one question about Jesus, the Bible, or the early church and walks through what the Bible and careful scholars actually say. Earlier episodes feature conversations with scholars like N.T. Wright, Tim Mackie, and Craig Keener. Nate was a pastor, spent most of a decade deconstructing, and came back through scholarship. Faith Lab is free and listener-supported. Help keep it going at faithlabshow.com/support.

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  1. May 13

    Craig Keener: Why the gospels hold up as history

    Our best source on Alexander the Great was written 450 years after he died, and historians trust it. Mark was written about 40 years after Jesus. So why are the gospels the only ancient texts we're told to doubt? Craig Keener, author of Christobiography and one of the most cited New Testament scholars alive, walks through the historical case: why the gospels are ancient biography, what living memory does for reliability, his documented miracle research, and how faith survives real doubt. He also tells the story of how he left atheism. Find more of his work at craigkeener.com. Faith Lab is free and listener-supported. Help keep it going for five dollars a month: faithlabshow.com/support Read the full write-up: faithlabshow.com/craig-keener ★ Support this podcast ★

  2. Apr 29

    Nijay Gupta: Is the gospel just a ticket to heaven?

    Most of us were handed a gospel that works like a ticket to heaven: believe, die, fly away. New Testament scholar Nijay Gupta says that was never the headline of what Paul preached. Gupta is the Julius R. Mantey Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary and the author of Paul for the World. He joins Shane Rosenthal and Nate to work through what Paul's gospel actually was, where "I'll fly away" theology came from, and why he thinks C.S. Lewis got heaven wrong. The short version: Paul preached newness of life and a renewed creation, because we were made for heaven on earth. Faith Lab is free and listener-supported. Help keep it going for five dollars a month: faithlabshow.com/support Read the full write-up: faithlabshow.com/do-christians-go-to-heaven-pauls-gospel ★ Support this podcast ★

  3. Apr 1

    What the first Christians believed about the cross

    The hardest critiques of the cross, like "he was only dead for a day and a half" and "anyone would take that deal," all target one version of the gospel. The earliest Christians were teaching something bigger. In this solo episode, Nate traces the first thousand years of Christian thinking about the cross: Irenaeus on Christ reliving the human story to get right what Adam got wrong, Athanasius on why a deathless God dying is the real scandal rather than how long it lasted, and Gregory of Nyssa's fish hook image of death swallowing divinity and choking on it. Together they form the Christus Victor vision, a framework that answers the questions the guilt-and-payment model struggles with. Faith Lab is free and listener-supported. Help keep it going for five dollars a month: faithlabshow.com/support Read the full write-up: faithlabshow.com/early-church-view-of-the-atonement ★ Support this podcast ★

  4. Mar 25 ·  Bonus • Subscribers Only

    Lydia McGrew: The full uncut interview

    Lydia McGrew spent years building a cumulative case for the historical reliability of the Gospels and Acts. The public episode covers the reportage model and undesigned coincidences. The full conversation goes further. In the unedited interview, Lydia makes her case that John's long speeches can be understood as real memories rather than later theological inventions. She also walks through why she believes the anointing story in Luke describes a different event than the one in Matthew, Mark, and John, what that says about how carefully the Gospel authors worked, and why a well-crafted narrative does not mean a fictionalized one. Start with the public episode: The Gospels are more reliable than you think ( https://faithlabshow.com/are-the-gospels-historically-reliable/ )

  5. Mar 25

    Lydia McGrew: The Gospels are more reliable than you think

    Most Christians were taught to trust the Gospels without ever being shown why they should. The historical evidence is stronger than you think. New Testament scholar Lydia McGrew lays out what she calls the "reportage model," the case that the Gospel authors were close to the facts, always trying to get them right, and highly successful. She walks through the two big categories of evidence, from name statistics that later fiction writers could not fake to undesigned coincidences, the subtle puzzle-like fits between Gospels that are hard to explain any other way. Faith Lab is free and listener-supported. Help keep it going for five dollars a month: faithlabshow.com/support Read the full write-up: faithlabshow.com/are-the-gospels-historically-reliable ★ Support this podcast ★

  6. Mar 18

    After the apostles died, did the faith survive?

    After the apostles died, did the faith survive? One man nearly answers that question by himself. Polycarp was born around 69 AD, just 35 years after Jesus, personally knew people who had personally known Christ, and his own words still survive on paper. This episode traces the chain link by link: Irenaeus remembering the old bishop who taught him in Smyrna, Polycarp's letter to the Philippians written around 110 to 115 AD, his friend Ignatius writing the same faith from a different city, and the day an 86-year-old man chose death in a Roman stadium over cursing Christ. If Christianity was invented later, Polycarp is the problem with the timeline. Faith Lab is free and listener-supported. Help keep it going for five dollars a month: faithlabshow.com/support Read the full write-up: faithlabshow.com/who-was-polycarp ★ Support this podcast ★

  7. Mar 11

    N.T. Wright: Do Christians go to heaven? (part 2)

    Most Christians assume the story ends with leaving earth for heaven. N.T. Wright says the New Testament tells a different one: resurrection, new creation, and God coming to dwell with his people. In part 2 of our conversation, Wright walks through what actually happens between death and resurrection, why the ascension means Jesus reigns rather than departs, and how salvation stretches to the rescue of the whole creation. If he is right, death, grief, and the church's mission all start to look different. New here? You can start with part 1. Faith Lab is free and listener-supported. Help keep it going for five dollars a month: faithlabshow.com/support Read the full write-up: faithlabshow.com/nt-wright-do-christians-go-to-heaven-when-they-die ★ Support this podcast ★

  8. Mar 5

    N.T. Wright: Did Jesus rise from the dead? (part 1)

    Did Jesus actually rise from the dead? The resurrection is a historical claim, and most people have never heard the evidence historians evaluate. N.T. Wright walks through the case and explains why the standard skeptical alternatives keep falling apart. Wright, one of the world's leading scholars on early Christianity, covers why women as the first witnesses is a detail nobody would invent, what resurrection actually meant to first-century Jews, and why the differences between the gospel accounts strengthen their reliability instead of undermining it. Get Surprised by Hope and God's Homecoming. This is part 1 of the conversation. When you finish, listen to part 2. Faith Lab is free and listener-supported. Help keep it going for five dollars a month: faithlabshow.com/support Read the full write-up: faithlabshow.com/nt-wright-did-jesus-rise-from-the-dead ★ Support this podcast ★

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4.6
out of 5
574 Ratings

About

Christianity is deeper than you've been shown. Each episode, Nate Hanson takes one question about Jesus, the Bible, or the early church and walks through what the Bible and careful scholars actually say. Earlier episodes feature conversations with scholars like N.T. Wright, Tim Mackie, and Craig Keener. Nate was a pastor, spent most of a decade deconstructing, and came back through scholarship. Faith Lab is free and listener-supported. Help keep it going at faithlabshow.com/support.

Information

  • Creator
    Nate Hanson
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    18
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Faith Lab
  • Show Website
    Faith Lab
  • Provider
    Nate Hanson

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