Theology Unplugged

C. Michael Patton
  • 4.1 (92)
  • Christianity
  • Updated Weekly

Join C. Michael Patton and friends for Theology Unplugged, a weekly podcast that dives deep into Christian theology, exploring challenging questions, and offering insightful discussions to deepen your faith. Discover the truth, embrace the journey, and engage with thought-provoking topics every week.

  1. 6d ago

    89. Through Theology in a Year: The Bible Is Irrelevant

    Is the Bible filled with irrelevant details? In one sense, yes—and that may be one reason to trust it. The biblical writers frequently preserve small, vivid, seemingly unnecessary details that do not advance the plot, establish a doctrine, or strengthen an argument. Why include them at all? In this episode of Theology Unplugged, Michael continues developing the cumulative case for the historical reliability and inspiration of Scripture by examining incidental—or apparently irrelevant—details in the Gospel accounts. Eyewitnesses often remember odd specifics simply because they saw them. Fabricated stories, by contrast, frequently make every detail serve the plot or argument. These incidental details do not prove that an account is historical. A skilled storyteller can deliberately invent realistic details to create the appearance of authenticity. Nevertheless, when details are vivid, unnecessary, unexplained, and naturally embedded in the narrative, they may bear the marks of genuine memory rather than calculated invention. Michael considers five striking examples. Mark remembers that Jesus was asleep in the stern of the boat “on the cushion.” He records that the crowd sat down on green grass before the feeding of the multitude. John identifies the high priest’s servant as Malchus, while Luke specifies that Peter cut off his right ear. John also remembers that he outran Peter to the empty tomb—a detail that proves nothing by itself, but sounds exactly like the kind of personal fact an eyewitness would remember. The strangest example may be the unnamed young man who followed Jesus after His arrest and escaped by leaving behind his linen garment and running away naked. The incident appears nowhere else in the Gospels, contributes little to the main plot, and raises the possibility that the story originated with the young man himself. Richard Bauckham argues that such a detail may preserve the testimony of someone personally involved in the event. Michael also considers the broader pattern of Scripture. The Bible preserves embarrassing admissions, unresolved theological tensions, difficult doctrines, genuine ambiguities, and people who repeatedly misunderstand God’s plan. These features do not establish historicity individually, but together they make Scripture look less like carefully controlled religious propaganda and more like testimony grounded in real people, events, perspectives, and memories. The Bible is not irrelevant in its message. But some of its apparently irrelevant details may be among its most revealing marks of authenticity. Get involved: Michael's public blog: https://credohouse.org Courses and Manuscript Reproductions from Michael and other scholars: https://credocourses.com Join us as we go through the great Fathers of the Faith in a year: https://throughthechurchfathers.com Support Michael and receive exclusive podcasts, courses, and much more: https://patreon.com/cmichaelpatton

  2. Jul 16

    88. Through Theology in a Year: Why the Gospels Are Embarrassing

    Why do the Gospel writers preserve stories that appear awkward, damaging, or even embarrassing to the earliest Christians? If the Gospels were invented to persuade people to follow Jesus, why did their authors include details that made Jesus' family, His disciples, and some of His most important witnesses appear doubtful, confused, and unreliable? In this episode of Theology Unplugged, Michael continues developing the cumulative case for the historical reliability and inspiration of Scripture by examining the criterion of embarrassment. Historians recognize that people who fabricate stories normally avoid including material that damages their credibility. Nations celebrate their victories, movements polish the reputations of their founders, and religious communities generally portray their earliest leaders as courageous and faithful. The Gospels repeatedly do the opposite. Michael considers Jesus' baptism by John, whose baptism was associated with repentance and the forgiveness of sins. Why would the sinless Messiah submit to a baptism intended for sinners? He also examines the unbelief of Jesus' brothers, the claim that His family thought He was out of His mind, and John the Baptist's question from prison about whether Jesus truly was the one who was to come. The Gospel writers are equally candid about the failures of the disciples. Matthew records that some doubted even while standing before the risen Christ. Mark preserves Jesus' statement that no one knew the day or hour of His return—not even the Son. The Gospels place women at the center of the empty-tomb testimony despite the limited public and legal standing often given to women's testimony in the ancient world. They also preserve the strange account of Jesus cursing the fig tree when it was not the season for figs. Most significantly, the earliest Christians proclaimed a crucified and bodily risen Messiah. Crucifixion represented weakness, shame, rejection, and apparent divine curse. Bodily resurrection also sounded foolish to many within the Greco-Roman world. These were not culturally convenient beliefs created to make Christianity easier to accept. As Paul acknowledged, Christ crucified was a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. The criterion of embarrassment does not prove that every Gospel account is historical, nor should it be applied mechanically or in isolation. Nevertheless, these embarrassing details contribute to a powerful cumulative argument when considered alongside the historical context, eyewitness characteristics, incidental details, manuscript evidence, and other marks of authenticity. The Gospels do not read like carefully sanitized propaganda. They preserve the story in all its difficulty because the writers believed these events actually happened. Get involved: Michael's public blog: https://credohouse.org Courses and Manuscript Reproductions from Michael and other scholars: https://credocourses.com Join us as we go through the great Fathers of the Faith in a year: https://throughthechurchfathers.com Support Michael and receive exclusive podcasts, courses, and much more: https://patreon.com/cmichaelpatton

  3. Jul 15

    87. Through Theology in a Year: Evidencing Inspiration

    How can we be certain that the Bible is inspired? What evidence supports the Christian claim that the Scriptures are uniquely the Word of God? In this episode of Theology Unplugged, Michael begins examining the cumulative case for biblical inspiration, including Scripture's self-attestation, its uniqueness, its historicity, its prophetic character, the testimony of Christ, its life-changing power, and the testimony of the Holy Spirit. Michael begins with Scripture's testimony concerning itself. The Bible repeatedly claims to speak the words of God, but self-attestation cannot stand alone as the entire argument. Simply saying that the Bible is inspired because the Bible says it is inspired would appear circular. Nevertheless, self-attestation is a necessary part of the evidence. If Scripture truly is the Word of God, there can be no higher authority by which its divine inspiration may be authenticated. As Hebrews says of God, because He had no one greater by whom to swear, He swore by Himself. The episode also considers the remarkable uniqueness of the Bible: a collection of 66 books, written by more than 40 authors from very different backgrounds, in three languages, on three continents, over approximately 1,500 years. Despite these differences, the books form a unified theological and redemptive story unlike any other collection of literature. Michael then turns to the historicity of Scripture and explains the importance of examining both internal and external evidence. Christianity does not ask people to accept its historical claims merely because the Bible is inspired. Rather, the historical claims themselves—most importantly, the resurrection of Jesus Christ—must be investigated. If the resurrection occurred as a historical event, Christianity is true whether or not someone has already accepted a complete doctrine of biblical inspiration. Finally, Michael begins considering the internal evidence for Scripture's historical reliability, especially its striking honesty. The biblical writers consistently record the sins, doubts, embarrassments, and failures of their own heroes. David murders, Peter denies Christ, the apostles abandon Him, Abraham and Sarah doubt, Jonah runs, Noah becomes drunk, and Israel repeatedly rebels. These are not the kinds of carefully polished stories normally produced to glorify a nation, its leaders, or its founders. Scripture also preserves apparently incidental details that are difficult to explain as deliberate legendary embellishments. This episode begins a larger cumulative argument. No single evidence by itself establishes everything Christians believe about inspiration, but together these evidences provide substantial reasons for believing that the Scriptures are what they claim to be: the written Word of God. Get involved: Michael's public blog: https://credohouse.org Courses and Manuscript Reproductions from Michael and other scholars: https://credocourses.com Join us as we go through the great Fathers of the Faith in a year: https://throughthechurchfathers.com Support Michael and receive exclusive podcasts, courses, and much more: https://patreon.com/cmichaelpatton

  4. Jun 24

    Will the True Church Please Stand Up?

    What happens when we become convinced that our church, our tradition, or our denomination is the official gatekeeper of the kingdom of God? In this episode of Theology Unplugged, Michael explores a surprising pattern that runs throughout the Gospels. Again and again, the disciples appoint themselves as the guardians of God's kingdom. They try to stop outsiders from ministering in Jesus' name, call for fire from heaven on those who reject Christ, keep children away from Jesus, and argue over who deserves the seats of greatest honor. Jesus, however, repeatedly pushes back, showing that His kingdom is bigger than they imagined and His grace reaches farther than they expected. This episode is a little different than usual. Rather than delivering a traditional monologue, Michael reads one of his recent blogs to his wife, Kristie, while she—and her dogs!—represent the audience. Think of it as a pilot episode for a possible new format. If your podcast app supports video, Michael highly recommends watching this episode rather than simply listening. Otherwise, you can watch it on YouTube or, for supporters, on Patreon. Along the way, Michael argues that perhaps we have been asking the wrong question. Instead of beginning with lines, boundaries, and gatekeepers, perhaps we should begin with the center. The center is neither a denomination nor an institution. It is the person and work of Jesus Christ. The true church is ultimately defined not by self-appointed guardians, but by the confession Peter made: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Michael would love to know what you think of this new format. If you enjoy it—or if you have ideas for improving it—please leave a comment. Your feedback will help determine whether this becomes a regular feature of Theology Unplugged. Get involved: Michael's public blog: https://credohouse.org Courses and Manuscript Reproductions from Michael and other scholars: https://credocourses.com Join us as we go through the great Fathers of the Faith in a year: https://throughthechurchfathers.com Support Michael and receive exclusive podcasts, courses, and much more: https://patreon.com/cmichaelpatton

  5. Jun 16

    86. Through Theology in a Year: Biblical Docetism

    In this episode, Michael introduces a new term for an old interpretive problem: Biblical Docetism. Borrowing from the ancient Christological heresy of Docetism—which denied the true humanity of Christ while affirming His deity—Michael argues that many Christians approach the Bible in a remarkably similar way. They affirm the divine origin of Scripture but neglect its genuinely human character, treating the Bible as though it simply dropped from heaven rather than being written through real authors in real historical contexts. Michael explores how this tendency manifests itself in everyday Bible study. Whether it is randomly opening the Bible to see what God has to say, assuming every verse applies directly to us, searching for hidden meanings and secret codes, neglecting the personalities of the biblical writers, or ignoring literary genre and historical context, these approaches often bypass the human element of Scripture altogether. The result is a view of the Bible that functions more like a magical object than a divine-human book. Along the way, Michael examines a variety of common hermeneutical mistakes that arise from this perspective, including over-literalization, misunderstanding progressive revelation, treating chapter and verse divisions as inspired, and assuming that everything recorded in Scripture is therefore endorsed by Scripture. He argues that many of these errors stem from the same underlying problem: an inability to appreciate the role of the human authors in the process of inspiration. Ultimately, Michael contends that a faithful doctrine of Scripture must mirror a faithful doctrine of Christ. Just as Christ is fully God and fully man, Scripture is both divine and human. To neglect either dimension is to distort the nature of God's revelation. Understanding this balance not only protects us from interpretive errors but also helps us hear more clearly what God intended to communicate through the human authors He inspired. Get involved: Michael's public blog: https://credohouse.org Courses and Manuscript Reproductions from Michael and other scholars: https://credocourses.com Join us as we go through the great Fathers of the Faith in a year: https://throughthechurchfathers.com Support me and get A LOT more stuff from C. Michael Patton: https://patreon.com/cmichaelpatton

  6. Jun 11

    85. Through Theology in a Year: Can Scripture Mean More Than Its Author Intended?

    In this episode, Michael explores one of the most fascinating questions in biblical interpretation: Can Scripture mean more than its human author intended? If God is the ultimate Author of Scripture, is it possible for Him to communicate truths that transcend the conscious awareness of the biblical writers while remaining faithful to their intended meaning? Along the way, Michael introduces the concept of "Biblical Docetism"—a tendency among many Bible-believing Christians to emphasize the divine element of Scripture while neglecting its genuinely human character. Drawing an analogy from the ancient Christological heresy of Docetism, he argues that many interpreters approach the Bible as if it simply dropped from heaven, overlooking the personalities, literary styles, historical settings, and intentions of the biblical authors. This often results in serious hermeneutical errors and a misunderstanding of how God chose to communicate through human writers. Michael also examines the doctrine of sensus plenior ("fuller sense"), asking whether a biblical text can legitimately mean more than the human author consciously understood. Can God intend meanings that transcend the author's awareness? If so, what limits govern interpretation? The discussion leads to a deeper appreciation of the relationship between divine authorship, human authorship, and the nature of biblical inspiration itself. Ultimately, Michael argues that Scripture, like Christ, possesses both a divine and human dimension. A faithful doctrine of inspiration must account for both without sacrificing either. The result is a richer understanding of how God speaks through His Word and why responsible interpretation requires attention to both the divine Author and the human authors He employed. Get involved: Michael's public blog: https://credohouse.org Courses and Manuscript Reproductions from Michael and other scholars: https://credocourses.com Join us as we go through the great Fathers of the Faith in a year: https://throughthechurchfathers.com Support me and get A LOT more stuff from C. Michael Patton: https://patreon.com/cmichaelpatton

  7. Jun 10

    84. Through Theology in a Year: Theories of Inspiration

    In this episode, Michael examines the major theories of biblical inspiration and asks one of the most important questions in theology: Where does inspiration reside? Is Scripture merely the product of exceptionally gifted men? Does the Holy Spirit simply elevate human insight? Is only part of the Bible inspired? Are some passages more inspired than others? Or did God dictate every word mechanically to passive authors? Michael walks through the Natural, Illumination, Partial, Degree, and Mechanical Dictation theories of inspiration, explaining the strengths and weaknesses of each. Along the way, he argues that the historic evangelical doctrine of Verbal Plenary Inspiration avoids the errors of both extremes, affirming that Scripture is fully God's Word while remaining genuinely the work of human authors. The result is a view of inspiration that is analogous to the incarnation itself: 100% God and 100% man. Get involved: Michael's public blog: https://credohouse.org Courses and Manuscript Reproductions from Michael and other scholars: https://credocourses.com Join us as we go through the great Fathers of the Faith in a year: https://throughthechurchfathers.com Support me and get A LOT more stuff from C. Michael Patton: https://patreon.com/cmichaelpatton

  8. Jun 5

    If Everything Is in Italics, Nothing Is in Italics

    In this episode, Michael reflects on passion, conviction, and the danger of treating every issue as if it deserves the same level of intensity. In a culture where outrage gets clicks and every disagreement becomes a battlefield, Christians must recover a proper hierarchy of passion. Drawing from John Wesley's famous line about setting oneself on fire, Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 15 about matters "of first importance," and the reminder that "we see in a mirror dimly," Michael explores how conviction and humility belong together. The goal is not less passion, but better-ordered passion, with Christ and the Gospel occupying the most prominent place at the table. Get involved: Michael's public blog: https://credohouse.org Courses and Manuscript Reproductions from Michael and other scholars: https://credocourses.com Join us as we go through the great Fathers of the Faith in a year: https://throughthechurchfathers.com Support me and get A LOT more stuff from C. Michael Patton: https://patreon.com/cmichaelpatton

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About

Join C. Michael Patton and friends for Theology Unplugged, a weekly podcast that dives deep into Christian theology, exploring challenging questions, and offering insightful discussions to deepen your faith. Discover the truth, embrace the journey, and engage with thought-provoking topics every week.

Information

  • Creator
    C. Michael Patton
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2026
  • Episodes
    515
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © C. Michael Patton
  • Show Website
    Theology Unplugged

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