Theology for the Curious

Debating theology that makes sense of life and faith. A team of regular people discuss issues of theology, faith and life. Uncovering bible thinking from cutting edge, to conservative, to all things in-between. A lively debate show that gets you thinking, challenging the relevance of God, scripture and faith to today's contemporary outlook.

Theology for the Curious is a religion podcast hosted by Pete Goulding, with 188 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Pete Goulding hosts Theology for the Curious, a religion show with 188 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

• 

  Theology for the Curious

  Ep. 187 - Leiden, Dort & Beyond: Theology that would shape Europe and the World: PART TWO

  Sep 29, 202648 min

  Click here to text us your thoughts and questions! For seven months, theologians gathered through a bitter Dutch winter to answer questions that had already spilled far beyond the walls of the church. A professor was dead. His followers were fighting for their theological inheritance. A powerful statesman awaited his fate. And delegates had travelled from across Europe to a small Dutch city to decide what Christians could — and could not — say about grace, freedom, election and the saving purposes of God. Four centuries later, the arguments have survived almost everything else about the controversy. Why does one person believe while another does not? Does God choose us because we believe, or do we believe because God has chosen us? Did Christ die in precisely the same sense for everyone? Can saving grace finally be resisted — and can somebody genuinely united to Christ ultimately walk away? Behind the familiar labels Calvinism and Arminianism lies a much more complicated and human story. This week the Curious team continue their exploration of the impact and reach of the teaching of Jacob Arminius as they enter the Synod of Dort and discover how five disputed articles helped shape a theological conversation that Christians are still having today. Further Reading Here’s a bit of homework for you….we’ve included a few articles that compliment this episode…. https://www.crcna.org/welcome/beliefs/confessions/canons-dort https://www.crcna.org/news-and-events/news/digging-history-synod-dort https://seedbed.com/a-primer-on-prevenient-grace/ What we’re reading? As a feature to our notes, we are adding the book or books that we’ve browsed related to this episode…enjoy! W. Robert Godfrey— Saving The Reformation: The Pastoral Theology of the Canons of Dort Send your questions or thoughts to: theologyforthecurious@gmail.com Support us on Instagram @theologyforthecurious Find us on TikTok: @theologyforthecurious

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Theology for the Curious

  Ep. 186 - Leiden, Dort & Beyond: Theology that would shape Europe and the World: PART ONE

  Sep 22, 202643 min

  Click here to text us your thoughts and questions! It began with questions in a university lecture room. Before long, ministers were being driven from churches, congregations were splitting, pamphlets were flooding the streets and armed troops were facing one another across Dutch cities. Somewhere along the way, a dispute about predestination had become a struggle over who governed the church, who governed the nation — and perhaps even who governed history itself. At the centre of the storm was a theologian who had once been expected to defend the very doctrine he would later question. Jacob Arminius died before the controversy bearing his name reached its extraordinary climax, but his ideas survived him — carried forward by friends, politicians and theologians until the Dutch Republic stood perilously close to fracture. How did an argument about grace and election lead to soldiers in Utrecht, political prisoners in The Hague and theologians from across Europe gathering at Dordrecht? This week the Curious team begin the first of two parts on the history of Jacob Arminius and his ideas. The road to the Synod of Dort is considerably more dramatic than the five points it eventually produced. Further Reading Here’s a bit of homework for you….we’ve included a few articles that compliment this episode…. https://learn.ligonier.org/articles/arminius-and-remonstrants https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/defender-of-gods-justice What we’re reading? As a feature to our notes, we are adding the book or books that we’ve browsed related to this episode…enjoy! Keith D Stanglin and Thomas H McCall— Jacob Arminius: Theologian Of Grace Roger E Olson— Arminian Theology – Myths and Realities Send your questions or thoughts to: theologyforthecurious@gmail.com Support us on Instagram @theologyforthecurious Find us on TikTok: @theologyforthecurious

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Theology for the Curious

  Ep. 185 - If Things Were Otherwise: The Mystery of Molinism

  Sep 15, 202644 min

  Click here to text us your thoughts and questions! Imagine that before the first moment of creation, every road history might take lay open before God. Every decision you could make. Every decision you would make if your circumstances were different. Every conversation that never happened, every opportunity never presented, every alternative history never lived. Now imagine that God knew them all — and chose to create this particular world. Suddenly the familiar questions about providence and human freedom become considerably more intriguing. But hidden inside that proposal is a question that is surprisingly difficult to escape. If God knows what a genuinely free person would choose before that person even exists, what makes that knowledge true? Somewhere between God’s sovereignty and our freedom lies one of Christian theology’s most ingenious attempts to hold the two together — and perhaps one of its greatest philosophical puzzles. It’s called Molinism, and once you understand the problem it is trying to solve, you may find yourself looking at providence rather differently. Join the curious Team this week as they take a nose dive into the key players and ideas behind Molinism Further Reading Here’s a bit of homework for you….we’ve included a few articles that compliment this episode…. https://learn.ligonier.org/articles/molinism-101 https://academic.oup.com/mind/article/131/522/459/6382285 What we’re reading? As a feature to our notes, we are adding the book or books that we’ve browsed related to this episode…enjoy! James R White— The Potters Freedom William Lane Craig— The Only Wise God Send your questions or thoughts to: theologyforthecurious@gmail.com Support us on Instagram @theologyforthecurious Find us on TikTok: @theologyforthecurious

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Theology for the Curious

  Ep. 184 - Does God Know the Future: Understanding Open Theism w/prof. Bruce A. Ware

  Sep 8, 202656 min

  Click here to text us your thoughts and questions! We trust God with tomorrow. We pray about decisions we haven’t yet made, circumstances we cannot control and dangers we cannot see. We take comfort from the belief that however uncertain the road ahead may appear to us, it is not uncertain to Him. But what if we have misunderstood that? What if some of tomorrow remains genuinely undecided — not simply from our perspective, but from God’s? It is an idea motivated by some deeply human questions about love, freedom, suffering and prayer. Yet follow it far enough and it begins to touch almost everything we believe about God. Can He be surprised? Can He discover something He did not previously know? Can He change His plans? And if the future contains possibilities rather than certainties, what does that mean for prophecy, providence and the promises on which Christians have staked their lives? In this episode, the curious team are joined by theologian Professor Bruce Ware to explore one of the most fascinating — and controversial debates about the nature of God: Open Theism. Further Reading Here’s a bit of homework for you….we’ve included a few articles, for and against, that compliment this episode…. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/openness-theology-divine-omniscience/ https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/open-theism/v-1 What we’re reading? As a feature to our notes, we are adding the book or books that we’ve browsed related to this episode…enjoy! Bruce A. Ware— God’s Lesser Glory: The Diminished God of Open Theism Gregory A. Boyd — God of the Possible: A Biblical Introduction to the Open View of God Send your questions or thoughts to: theologyforthecurious@gmail.com Support us on Instagram @theologyforthecurious Find us on TikTok: @theologyforthecurious

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Theology for the Curious

  Ep. 183 - What’s That All About? The Strange Road of Amyraldism

  Sep 1, 202644 min

  Click here to text us your thoughts and questions! Who did Christ actually die for? Was the cross intended to make salvation possible for everyone, or did it actually secure salvation for a particular people? Few theological questions have generated more thoughtful debate within the Reformed tradition than this one. Standing between classic Calvinism and Arminianism is a little-known but highly influential position called Amyraldism—an attempt to uphold both the universal offer of the gospel and God’s sovereign election without surrendering either. In this episode, the Curious team travel to seventeenth-century France and the Academy of Saumur to meet Moïse Amyraut, the theologian whose ideas would challenge the Reformed world for generations. We explore the doctrine of hypothetical universalism, why it appealed to so many, how it differs from both classic Calvinism and Arminianism, and why theologians such as Herman Bavinck and John Owen believed it ultimately weakened the certainty of Christ’s saving work. Whether you’ve never heard of Amyraldism or have wrestled with the doctrine of the atonement for years, this conversation will help you understand one of the most significant and enduring debates in Reformed theology. Further Reading Here’s a bit of homework for you….we’ve included a few articles that compliment this episode…. https://www.modernreformation.org/resources/articles/amyraldianism https://wm.wts.edu/listen/the-church-in-the-modern-age-amyraldism---11-of-37 What we’re reading? As a feature to our notes, we are adding the book or books that we’ve browsed related to this episode…enjoy! John Owen— The Death of Death in the Death of Christ Anthony A. Hoekema— Saved by Grace Edited by David & Jonathon Gibson— From Heaven He Came and Sought Her: Definite Atonement in Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective Send your questions or thoughts to: theologyforthecurious@gmail.com Support us on Instagram @theologyforthecurious Find us on TikTok: @theologyforthecurious

  ListenShow Notes

Recent guests on Theology for the Curious. Study who booked and why before you pitch.

Based on semantic analysis of episode topics and host coverage, this show is a strong guest fit for executives in:

Industry fit is computed by PitchCentric using vector embeddings of the show's episode catalog.