The Pilgrimage So Far

Meredith Kline's 1994 article on the Passover sets the agenda: the Hebrew verb, he argues, means hover over rather than pass over, with the Lord himself shielding Israel's houses, an image the hosts trace through Genesis 1 and Isaiah 31. They then turn to the church's prophetic calling, arguing it lies in faithful witness and suffering rather than political activism.

Harrison Perkins talks through his book Reformed Covenant Theology with the hosts, beginning with his new title on repentance as a fruit of faith. They explore how the Reformed system stands with the ancient church, the covenant of redemption and the Trinity, the Mosaic covenant and Romans 2, and the warm common ground shared by Baptists and Presbyterians.

Meredith Kline's article 'Death, Leviathan, and the Martyrs' takes the hosts into Isaiah 24 to 27, where death is swallowed up in victory. Mike, Nick and Andre weigh prophetic idiom, resurrection as the public verdict of justification, and the martyrs' blood crying out for vindication, before the grave as a royal sabbatical rest leads them to the feast at Rivendell.

Concluding their reading of Meredith Kline's Images of the Spirit, the hosts turn to Genesis 3:8, where Kline hears not the cool of the day but the Spirit of the day, God arriving in judgment on Adam and Eve. They ask why translations resist this reading, weigh the tree of knowledge as a tree of judicial discernment, and hear Elijah's still small voice anew as a thunderous theophany.

Meredith Kline's Images of the Spirit reaches its chapter on the prophetic image of God. Mike, Nick and Andre puzzle over why the king gets no chapter of his own, then follow prophets summoned into the divine council, Moses' shining face, Elijah's mantle and the transfiguration. At Pentecost, Christ clothes the whole church in the prophetic likeness.

Meredith Kline's Images of the Spirit continues with chapter two, the priestly model of the image of God. The hosts trace Kline's reading of the priestly vestments as a tabernacle in miniature, then follow the clothing theme through glory investiture, the armour of God and the covenant covering of the bride in Ezekiel 16, marvelling at how image, covenant and priesthood knit together.

Meredith Kline's Images of the Spirit at last gets its long-threatened series opener, as the hosts wrestle with its dense first chapter on the image of God. Kline locates the divine model for man not in human faculties but in the theophanic Glory present at creation, the Spirit hovering over the waters. Talk ranges from archetype and ectype to the covenant of works and the hope of glorified humanity.

How can it be just for God to punish an innocent substitute in place of the guilty? Mike, Nick and Andre take up Roman Catholic and Orthodox objections to penal substitution, answering from God's covenantal prerogative and the Bible's long pattern of substitution, then weigh Christus Victor, ransom and moral government as facets of one atonement.

Mike debriefs his friendly dialogue on theonomy with Nathanael Wright of the Ezra Institute, recorded during his teaching trip to Canada. With Nick and Andre he revisits the cultural mandate's eschatological goal, Kuyper's actual politics, the rise of general equity theonomy, and whether a post-Christian age really rules out appeal to natural law.

Pascal Denault, author of The Distinctiveness of Baptist Covenant Theology, joins from Quebec to trace the province's evangelical revival and his own path to Meredith Kline. The conversation works through Kline's singular case for paedobaptism, 1689 federalism and the duality of the Abrahamic covenant, before turning to Denault's French-language podcast and Mike's coming teaching trip to Canada.

A short trailer for the Two-Age Sojourner conference in Wellington on 22 and 23 November 2024. The hosts argue that keeping the blade of missions sharp takes a clear covenant theology, with missions viewed through the lens of biblical theology. They sign off trading cheerful jokes about a weekend spent with one foot in eschatological glory.

Working through Jeremy Sexton's Themelios critique of postmillennialism, the hosts test the modern theonomic version against the Greek of the Great Commission and 1 Corinthians 15, and against the returning rider of Revelation 19. Distinguishing the older Puritan revival hope from today's politicised culture-war strain, they argue that the amillennial two-age hope is finally the more optimistic one.

Meredith Kline's 1994 article on the Passover sets the agenda: the Hebrew verb, he argues, means hover over rather than pass over, with the Lord himself shielding Israel's houses, an image the hosts trace through Genesis 1 and Isaiah 31. They then turn to the church's prophetic calling, arguing it lies in faithful witness and suffering rather than political activism.

Harrison Perkins talks through his book Reformed Covenant Theology with the hosts, beginning with his new title on repentance as a fruit of faith. They explore how the Reformed system stands with the ancient church, the covenant of redemption and the Trinity, the Mosaic covenant and Romans 2, and the warm common ground shared by Baptists and Presbyterians.

Meredith Kline's article 'Death, Leviathan, and the Martyrs' takes the hosts into Isaiah 24 to 27, where death is swallowed up in victory. Mike, Nick and Andre weigh prophetic idiom, resurrection as the public verdict of justification, and the martyrs' blood crying out for vindication, before the grave as a royal sabbatical rest leads them to the feast at Rivendell.

Concluding their reading of Meredith Kline's Images of the Spirit, the hosts turn to Genesis 3:8, where Kline hears not the cool of the day but the Spirit of the day, God arriving in judgment on Adam and Eve. They ask why translations resist this reading, weigh the tree of knowledge as a tree of judicial discernment, and hear Elijah's still small voice anew as a thunderous theophany.

Meredith Kline's Images of the Spirit reaches its chapter on the prophetic image of God. Mike, Nick and Andre puzzle over why the king gets no chapter of his own, then follow prophets summoned into the divine council, Moses' shining face, Elijah's mantle and the transfiguration. At Pentecost, Christ clothes the whole church in the prophetic likeness.

Meredith Kline's Images of the Spirit continues with chapter two, the priestly model of the image of God. The hosts trace Kline's reading of the priestly vestments as a tabernacle in miniature, then follow the clothing theme through glory investiture, the armour of God and the covenant covering of the bride in Ezekiel 16, marvelling at how image, covenant and priesthood knit together.

Meredith Kline's Images of the Spirit at last gets its long-threatened series opener, as the hosts wrestle with its dense first chapter on the image of God. Kline locates the divine model for man not in human faculties but in the theophanic Glory present at creation, the Spirit hovering over the waters. Talk ranges from archetype and ectype to the covenant of works and the hope of glorified humanity.

How can it be just for God to punish an innocent substitute in place of the guilty? Mike, Nick and Andre take up Roman Catholic and Orthodox objections to penal substitution, answering from God's covenantal prerogative and the Bible's long pattern of substitution, then weigh Christus Victor, ransom and moral government as facets of one atonement.

Mike debriefs his friendly dialogue on theonomy with Nathanael Wright of the Ezra Institute, recorded during his teaching trip to Canada. With Nick and Andre he revisits the cultural mandate's eschatological goal, Kuyper's actual politics, the rise of general equity theonomy, and whether a post-Christian age really rules out appeal to natural law.

Pascal Denault, author of The Distinctiveness of Baptist Covenant Theology, joins from Quebec to trace the province's evangelical revival and his own path to Meredith Kline. The conversation works through Kline's singular case for paedobaptism, 1689 federalism and the duality of the Abrahamic covenant, before turning to Denault's French-language podcast and Mike's coming teaching trip to Canada.

A short trailer for the Two-Age Sojourner conference in Wellington on 22 and 23 November 2024. The hosts argue that keeping the blade of missions sharp takes a clear covenant theology, with missions viewed through the lens of biblical theology. They sign off trading cheerful jokes about a weekend spent with one foot in eschatological glory.

A short trailer for the Mission and Mandate Conference, coming in November 2024. Punchy questions set the agenda: are Christians called to transform the world or to preach to the nations, and is the culture-war turn towards Christian nationalism a faithful fulfilment of the Great Commission? The promise is the fire of the word rather than the flamethrower.