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Episode 28 of the podcast features an interview with Brian Zahnd. Brian is the pastor of Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri and author of several books, including Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God and A Farewell to Mars.
Some of What We Talk About:
Experiencing dramatic conversion to Christ and the impact moving forward- Being honest in our approach to the scriptures and centering our understanding of Christ by reading the gospels
- How the Crucifixion of Jesus provides a lens for understanding the violence of humanity
- How God’s “response” to the crucifixion is forgiveness and the sending out of the apostles
- How we mistake violent retribution for justice but God’s justice is restorative
- The place of the Book of Revelation – prophetic critique of the Roman Empire – laden with symbol
- Mystical encounters in prayer – God as love and light
- Spiritual practice – Brian has a regular morning liturgy that he follows. He learned to sit silently acknowledging the presence of Jesus / occasionally something would happen – a mystical direct experience of God / an overwhelming sense of the love of God would be felt
- Trusting a well-crafted liturgy to guide us through our prayer life
- Brian summed up his book Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God by saying, “The good news is that God is like Jesus”
Links and Resources:
- Brian Zahnd’s Website
- Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God
- A Farewell to Mars: An Evangelical Pastor’s Journey Toward the Biblical Gospel of Peace
- Beauty Will Save the World: Rediscovering the Allure and Mystery of Christianity
- Water to Wine: Some of My Story
- Hans Urs Von Balthasar – Swiss theologian and Catholic priest
- Henri Nouwen
- Stanley Hauerwas
- The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
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