The Protestant Libertarian Podcast

Preorder my new book Politics, Economics and New Testament Interpretation here: https://libertarianchristians.com/store/politics-economics-and-new-testament-interpretation/ 
In this episode I explore the infamous “render unto Caesar” passage from Mark 12:13-17 and its parallels in Matthew 22:15-22 and Luke 20:20-26. What exactly did Jesus mean when he uttered this phrase? Despite centuries of misreading the text, I argue that the ancient world knew nothing of the separation between church and state; reading this passage as if it affirms the modern secular/religious divide won’t do. I then explore the narrative context of the tradition in the Synoptic gospels, showing that this tradition is retained in all three Synoptics within a larger context of Jesus’ conflict with the Jerusalem establishment and should be read as such. We also cannot divorce this tradition from the Synoptic affirmation that Jesus is the Davidic Messiah and therefore transcends all earthly power. I then analyze the tradition from a historical standpoint, explaining that Jesus is not being asked about taxation in general but rather the kensos or head tax, a tax levied by Rome against conquered peoples. This tax was very unpopular, and the Pharisees and Herodians are trying to turn the crowds against Jesus or charge him with sedition. Jesus, playing on the popular idea that coinage belongs to the emperor since it bears his image, turns the tables and says they should give what belongs to Caesar back to him after forcing his opponents to produce the blasphemous coin in the temple. Jesus demonstrates that he, not his opponents, is the one with real authority, a political lesson the church has yet to learn. 
 
Media Referenced:
James Barker on Gospels: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-181-how-the-gospel-writers-copied-each-other-with-james-barker/ 
Mark Goodacre on Gospels: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-224-johns-knowledge-of-matthew-mark-and-luke-with-mark-goodacre/ 
Gospel trajectories: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-213-jesus-the-divine-messiah-and-gospel-trajectories/
 
Sign up for LCI’s 2026 Conference in Cincinnati, OH on Saturday, October 17! Many LCI content creators, including myself, will be speaking at the event, and it will be an excellent opportunity to connect with likeminded, liberty-loving Christians. Check out the event and sign up here: https://libertarianchristians.com/conference/
The Protestant Libertarian Podcast is a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute and a part of the Christians For Liberty Network. The Libertarian Christian Institute can be found at www.libertarianchristians.com. 
Questions, comments, suggestions? Please reach out to me at theprotestantlibertarian@gmail.com.  You can also follow the podcast on Twitter: @prolibertypod, and YouTube, @ProLibertyPod, where you will get shorts and other exclusive video content. For more about the show, you can go to theprotestantlibertarianpodcast.com. If you like the show and want to support it, you can! Go to libertarianchristians.com, where you can donate to LCI and buy The Protestant Libertarian Podcast Merch! Also, please consider giving me a star rating and leaving me a review, it really helps expand the show’s profile! Thanks!

Preorder my new book Politics, Economics and New Testament Interpretation here: https://libertarianchristians.com/store/politics-economics-and-new-testament-interpretation/
In this episode, I replay a conversation I had with Doug Stuart on the Libertarian Christian Podcast about how to read the Bible effectively. I talk about my relationship with the Bible, why it is so important to me, and why I read it daily. I talk about the different ways of approaching the text, how I prefer to read it, and provide some strategies and insights into how Christians can read Scripture more effectively.
 
Media Referenced:
Four Strategies for Reading the Bible Sermon: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-129-four-strategies-for-reading-the-bible-sunday-sermon/
  
Sign up for LCI’s 2026 Conference in Cincinnati, OH on Saturday, October 17! Many LCI content creators, including myself, will be speaking at the event, and it will be an excellent opportunity to connect with likeminded, liberty-loving Christians. Check out the event and sign up here: https://libertarianchristians.com/conference/ 
The Protestant Libertarian Podcast is a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute and a part of the Christians For Liberty Network. The Libertarian Christian Institute can be found at www.libertarianchristians.com.
Questions, comments, suggestions? Please reach out to me at theprotestantlibertarian@gmail.com.  You can also follow the podcast on Twitter: @prolibertypod, and YouTube, @ProLibertyPod, where you will get shorts and other exclusive video content. For more about the show, you can go to theprotestantlibertarianpodcast.com. If you like the show and want to support it, you can! Go to libertarianchristians.com, where you can donate to LCI and buy The Protestant Libertarian Podcast Merch! Also, please consider giving me a star rating and leaving me a review, it really helps expand the show’s profile! Thanks!

Preorder my new book Politics, Economics and New Testament Interpretation here: https://libertarianchristians.com/store/politics-economics-and-new-testament-interpretation/ 
In this episode I talk with economist Dr. Anne Bradley about how Christians can learn to think more clearly about economics. She explains why Christians should take economics seriously and the mistakes that many Americans, not just Christians, make with respect to economic reasoning. She then describes how the Christian starting point for economics must be both creation and anthropology, revealing how Genesis 1-2 reveals the need for work and productivity, as well as the value of every person. Dr. Bradley breaks down concepts such as scarcity, choice, and tradeoffs, how free markets help poor people and enable strangers to serve one another, the dangers of unintended consequences, and the state of America’s economy. We then talk about her economic influences, the relationship between the Austrian and Chicago Schools of economics, and the value she finds in her Presbyterian theological tradition. 
 
Media Referenced:
Dr. Bradley on X: @anne_r_bradley
Dr. Bradley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anne-bradley-1725a511
 
Sign up for LCI’s 2026 Conference in Cincinnati, OH on Saturday, October 17! Many LCI content creators, including myself, will be speaking at the event, and it will be an excellent opportunity to connect with likeminded, liberty-loving Christians. Check out the event and sign up here: https://libertarianchristians.com/conference/ 
The Protestant Libertarian Podcast is a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute and a part of the Christians For Liberty Network. The Libertarian Christian Institute can be found at www.libertarianchristians.com. 
Questions, comments, suggestions? Please reach out to me at theprotestantlibertarian@gmail.com.  You can also follow the podcast on Twitter: @prolibertypod, and YouTube, @ProLibertyPod, where you will get shorts and other exclusive video content. For more about the show, you can go to theprotestantlibertarianpodcast.com. If you like the show and want to support it, you can! Go to libertarianchristians.com, where you can donate to LCI and buy The Protestant Libertarian Podcast Merch! Also, please consider giving me a star rating and leaving me a review, it really helps expand the show’s profile! Thanks!

Preorder my new book Politics, Economics and New Testament Interpretation here: https://libertarianchristians.com/store/politics-economics-and-new-testament-interpretation/
In this episode I talk with Dr. Scot McKnight about his brand-new book Jesus, People, Pharisees: Exploring the Conflict in Galilee, out now on Fortress Press. In this book Dr. McKnight argues that the popular conception of the Pharisees as legalistic, rigid, and hypocritical is fundamentally flawed and seeks to reassess who the Pharisees were historically and the actual nature of their conflict with Jesus. We discuss the popularity of the Pharisees and how they were actually the progressives of their day, connected to the Jerusalem establishment but offering a more liberal interpretation of the law. They were very attractive to the large crowds in Galilee, but when the charismatic prophet Jesus begins proclaiming the kingdom of God and the possibility of economic justice, he finds a receptive audience. The real source of the conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees is the nexus of the people, and McKnight explains how this conflict works and how to more accurately interpret Jesus’ words against the Pharisees in Matthew 23. Finally, he explains how the church and the academy need to reevaluate their conceptions of the Pharisees based on the historical evidence. 
 
Media Referenced:
Jesus, People, Pharisees: https://a.co/d/0c8tRaK2
Scot McKnight Substack: https://scotmcknight.substack.com/
 
Sign up for LCI’s 2026 Conference in Cincinnati, OH on Saturday, October 17! Many LCI content creators, including myself, will be speaking at the event, and it will be an excellent opportunity to connect with likeminded, liberty-loving Christians. Check out the event and sign up here: https://libertarianchristians.com/conference/
 The Protestant Libertarian Podcast is a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute and a part of the Christians For Liberty Network. The Libertarian Christian Institute can be found at www.libertarianchristians.com.
Questions, comments, suggestions? Please reach out to me at theprotestantlibertarian@gmail.com.  You can also follow the podcast on Twitter: @prolibertypod, and YouTube, @ProLibertyPod, where you will get shorts and other exclusive video content. For more about the show, you can go to theprotestantlibertarianpodcast.com. If you like the show and want to support it, you can! Go to libertarianchristians.com, where you can donate to LCI and buy The Protestant Libertarian Podcast Merch! Also, please consider giving me a star rating and leaving me a review, it really helps expand the show’s profile! Thanks!

Preorder my new book Politics, Economics and New Testament Interpretation here: https://libertarianchristians.com/store/politics-economics-and-new-testament-interpretation/ 
In this Theology Thursday episode, I explore the four main “schools” of Pauline interpretation, including the Traditional (or Reformational) Perspective, the New Perspective, the Apocalyptic Paul, and Paul Within Judaism. I talk about the strengths of each perspective and how they all contribute something of significance to readers of Paul. The Traditional Perspective rightly observes that grace is entirely unmerited and that believers cannot earn salvation, the New Perspective highlights that the relationship between Jews and Gentiles is central to Paul’s though, the Apocalyptic school contends that there is a radical eschatological intrusion with the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, and the Paul Within Judaism school rightly recognizes that Paul wasn’t rejecting or abandoning Judaism and must be understood within the framework of Second Temple Judaism. 
 
Media Referenced:
John Collins Episode: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-272-the-apocalyptic-worldview-of-ancient-judaism-and-christianity-with-john-j-collins/
Jason Staples Episode: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-278-paul-and-the-resurrection-of-israel-with-jason-staples/
Mark Nanos Episode: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-219-judeophobia-and-philippians-3-with-mark-nanos/ 
Frank Thielman Episode: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-202-paul-apostle-of-grace-with-frank-thielman/ 
Paul Duff Episode: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-276-paul-and-the-corinthians-with-paul-duff/
  
Sign up for LCI’s 2026 Conference in Cincinnati, OH on Saturday, October 17! Many LCI content creators, including myself, will be speaking at the event, and it will be an excellent opportunity to connect with likeminded, liberty-loving Christians. Check out the event and sign up here: https://libertarianchristians.com/conference/ 
The Protestant Libertarian Podcast is a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute and a part of the Christians For Liberty Network. The Libertarian Christian Institute can be found at www.libertarianchristians.com.
Questions, comments, suggestions? Please reach out to me at theprotestantlibertarian@gmail.com.  You can also follow the podcast on Twitter: @prolibertypod, and YouTube, @ProLibertyPod, where you will get shorts and other exclusive video content. For more about the show, you can go to theprotestantlibertarianpodcast.com. If you like the show and want to support it, you can! Go to libertarianchristians.com, where you can donate to LCI and buy The Protestant Libertarian Podcast Merch! Also, please consider giving me a star rating and leaving me a review, it really helps expand the show’s profile! Thanks!