A Brief History of Power

Koontz has a singular intellect, and offers a wealth of insight about the meeting place of human, political, and church history. This podcast has been consistently the most information-dense that I’ve come across, with little to no filler. I encourage new listeners to focus on the early material (during covid). Quality has gradually dropped off post-2024, with excessive inside jokes between Koontz and Grills, and more skippable episodes in general. The newer stuff is indeed more titillating and fantastic (I.e. cryptids), but the older material was truer to the name, and genuinely more threatening to the powers and authorities of this present age. ⭐️⭐️⭐️for recent episodes, but this is offset by a 5++ star rating for the earlier material.

As a Reformed listener, I have some (relatively minor) theological differences with the hosts, but find their analysis of historical and current cultural issues to be consistently on point. Where their Lutheran theology informs a slightly different viewpoint than my own, I find it helpful to have some cross-pollination from a reformational brotherhood. The discussion is consistently relevant and yet without devolving into punditry. It also helpfully deals with historical issues. And of particular note to Reformed listeners, there is a fluency with Reformed thinkers I appreciate (no straw manning here).

Pastor Koontz always has interesting insights, but he’s at his best when explaining and clarifying to Pastor Fisk. He and Pastor Grills agree on everything, so he never has to explain or clarify anything anymore. This was once the most valuable podcast on the internet. It’s still usually worth listening to, but is a whole lot less interesting than it used to be.

I love the podcast and I know Fisk is the founder, but he really brings it down. It’s hard to listen to episodes with him. He is just not at the level of the other hosts. I am thankful he is on less shows, but it may be time for him to step out completely. I do love the show!