The Westminster Podcast

Can Christians learn from secular psychology without adopting its assumptions about who we are and what we need?

In this archival Westminster Radio lecture, John Bettler examines the relationship between Scripture, psychology, and counseling. Engaging the approaches of Larry Crabb and John Carter, he presses a crucial question: Is the Bible actively shaping our understanding of people, or merely filtering out the most obvious errors in a system borrowed from elsewhere?

Bettler offers his own “recycling” model for examining psychological insights under the authority of Scripture. Along the way, he distinguishes scientific research from counseling practice and explains why these questions matter for pastors, friends, and anyone trying to help a struggling neighbor. A lively audience discussion brings his argument into the practical challenges of caring for people.

If you enjoy this episode, you can access tons of content just like this at wm.wts.edu. If you would like to join us in our mission to train specialists in the bible to proclaim the whole counsel of God for Christ and his global church, visit wts.edu/donate.

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Can an imaginary world help us see the real one more clearly?

Nate Shannon welcomes Westminster alumnus Yannick Imbert of Faculté Jean Calvin in Aix-en-Provence, France, for a conversation about J. R. R. Tolkien, fantasy, and the Christian imagination. Drawing on his doctoral work on Tolkien, Imbert explores how stories can challenge our assumptions, awaken our sense of wonder, and help us imagine hope in a world marked by suffering and death.

From the devastation of Europe’s world wars to the religious indifference of contemporary France, they consider why fantasy matters for Christian witness and how a story can express Christian truth without turning its characters into sermon illustrations. Along the way, they discuss Tolkien’s approach to world-building, the limits of allegory, and the connections between imagination and covenantal apologetics.

If you enjoy this episode, you can access tons of content just like this at wm.wts.edu. If you would like to join us in our mission to train specialists in the bible to proclaim the whole counsel of God for Christ and his global church, visit wts.edu/donate.

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For this Halloween and Reformation Day special, we’re opening the Westminster archives for Harvie Conn’s chapel sermon, “Reformation Day: Trick-or-Treat?” With humor and a pointed look at our tendency to bargain with God, Conn takes us to Romans 1:16–17 and the question that tormented Martin Luther: How can a guilty sinner stand before a righteous God? The answer is the discovery at the heart of the Reformation: God freely supplies in Christ the righteousness we could never earn.

If you enjoy this episode, you can access tons of content just like this at wm.wts.edu. If you would like to join us in our mission to train specialists in the bible to proclaim the whole counsel of God for Christ and his global church, visit wts.edu/donate.

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What makes education distinctly Christian, and how does faith shape more than the opening prayer? Nate Shannon welcomes Ransom Poythress, associate professor of biology at Houghton University, to explore how Christian conviction transforms what we teach, how we teach, and who we are as teachers. From finding theological significance in the properties of water to rethinking classroom competition and confronting a teacher’s desire for approval, they offer practical encouragement for educators and homeschool parents seeking to help their students know, love, and glorify God.

If you enjoy this episode, you can access tons of content just like this at wm.wts.edu. If you would like to join us in our mission to train specialists in the bible to proclaim the whole counsel of God for Christ and his global church, visit wts.edu/donate.

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Christ died and rose again. But how do we come to share in what he accomplished? What does Paul actually mean when he says that believers are “in Christ”?

In this episode of Westminster Radio, Richard Gaffin explores union with Christ and why it matters for everything from our justification to our bodily resurrection. Drawing on Scripture, Calvin, and the Westminster catechisms, he explains how the Holy Spirit unites us to the Savior through faith, and why Christ’s benefits can never be separated from Christ himself. We receive the whole Christ: the priest who saves us, the prophet we listen to, and the king we obey. And his hold on us extends even to the grave.

If you enjoy this episode, you can access tons of content just like this at wm.wts.edu. If you would like to join us in our mission to train specialists in the bible to proclaim the whole counsel of God for Christ and his global church, visit wts.edu/donate.

Thanks for listening!