The Deep Thoughts Podcast with Matt Shantz Matt Shantz

We are experiencing the largest and fastest religious shift in North American history. It is faster than the First and Second Great Awakenings and revivals combined, but in the opposite direction. It wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that everyone listening to this episode either has people in their lives who have left the church in recent years or you've left the church yourself. Jim Davis, co-author of The Great Dechurching, chats with Matt about the findings of their major research project that spawned the book, who’s leaving, why they’re going, and what it will take to bring them back. The findings and opportunities are more hopeful than you’d think!

ABOUT
Jim Davis (MDiv, Reformed Theological Seminary) is teaching pastor at Orlando Grace Church (Acts 29), and a Council member of The Gospel Coalition. He is the host of the As In Heaven podcast and coauthor with Michael Graham of The Great Dechurching: Who’s Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It Take to Bring Them Back?. He and his wife, Angela, speak for Family Life’s Weekend to Remember marriage getaways.

The issue of gender has roared onto the scene so quickly, the concept has evolved so rapidly, the level of importance deemed so integral, that you would be hard-pressed to find a more pressing, confusing and divisive subject. Enter Dr. Abigail Favale. Her book, The Genesis of Gender is insightful, wise and timely. Abigail is an expert in areas of post-modernity, gender studies, and feminism and her radical re-conversion to Christianity has led her to take everything she has learned about gender and apply it through the lens of the Bible. 

ABOUT

Abigail is a writer and professor whose work lies at the intersection of Catholic theology, literature, and women’s studies. Her abiding interest as a writer and scholar is the meaning and dignity of woman, and her work explores sexual difference and embodiment in the Catholic imagination. She holds a concurrent appointment in the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, where she teaches on topics like Edith Stein’s Theology of Woman and Religion & Literature. Abigail has a bachelor's degree in philosophy from George Fox University, as well as a master's degree in Women, Writing and Gender and a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. She is the author of multiple books including, Into the Deep: An Unlikely Catholic Conversion (Cascade 2018) and The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory, which was published in 2022 and has already been translated into multiple languages. She lives with her husband, Michael, and their four children in South Bend, Indiana.

Andrew Wilson joins the podcast for a wide-ranging conversation about special needs, the case for eucharistic and charismatic worship in the life of the church, and why the year 1776 was such a big deal and how the West is now post-Christian because of it.

ABOUT

Andrew Wilson (PhD, King’s College London) is the teaching pastor at King’s Church London and a columnist for Christianity Today. He’s the author of several books, including the three they talk about in this episode: Remaking the World, Spirit and Sacrament, and The Life We Never Expected. He’s a part of the Mere Fidelity podcast, co-hosts the “Post-Christianity?” podcast with Glen Scrivener, and regularly writes on the Think Theology website. Andrew is married to Rachel and they have three children: Zeke, Anna and Samuel. He is also a great follow on X/Twitter.

Statistically, only about 9% of those who make New Years Resolutions actually complete them, with the vast majority of people failing within the first week and month. David Mathis refers to the spiritual disciplines of Bible reading, prayer, and commitment to a local church as habits of grace and asserts that they are paramount for relationship with and enjoyment of Jesus. As we embark on a new year, resolve to know and enjoy Jesus through these habits of grace. In this episode Matt sits down with David Mathis to talk about leadership in the church (6:30 mark) and habits of grace (31:00 mark).

ABOUT

David Mathis serves as senior teacher and executive editor at desiringGod.org, a pastor at Cities Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and an adjunct professor at Bethlehem College & Seminary in Minneapolis. He and his wife, Megan, have four children. He is the author of several books, including the two talked about in this episode: Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines and Workers For Your Joy: The Call of Christ on Christian Leaders.

The nativity stories from the gospels of Matthew and Luke are familiar to everyone. Baby Jesus in a manger, Mary and Joseph, the little town of Bethlehem, the shepherds, and wise men. We’re less familiar with Revelation’s nativity story found in chapter 12 that includes a seven-headed dragon. But it is one of the Bible’s telling of the Christmas story nonetheless. In this brief episode Matt explains why this cosmic Christmas story is worth including in your nativity.

Today we’re told to be true to ourselves, look within for answers, and follow our hearts. But when we put our own happiness first, we experience record-breaking levels of aimlessness, loneliness, depression, and anxiety. In Don’t Follow Your Heart, Thaddeus Williams debunks the “ten commandments of self-worship” and points to a life beyond the self-defeating dogmas of self-worship to a more meaningful life centred on Someone infinitely more interesting, satisfying, and awesome than ourselves. Thaddeus Williams is back on the podcast, this time to tell us not to follow our hearts but to follow God’s heart! 


ABOUT

Thaddeus J. Williams (Ph.D., Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam) loves enlarging students’ understanding and enjoyment of Jesus at Biola University in La Mirada, CA, where he serves as associate professor of Systematic Theology for Talbot School of Theology. His previous appearance on Deep Thoughts, to talk about Confronting Injustice Without Compromising Truth (episode 36) is one of the podcast’s most popular episodes. He has also taught Philosophy and Literature at Saddleback College, Jurisprudence at Trinity Law School, and as a lecturer in Worldview Studies at L’Abri Fellowships in Switzerland and Holland, and Ethics for Blackstone Legal Fellowship the Federalist Society in Washington D.C. He resides in Orange County, CA with his wife and four kids.