Kirk, Dobson & Evangelical Complexity with Bonnie Kristian (#373)

Religion on the Mind

I sit down with returning guest Bonnie Kristian, deputy editor at Christianity Today, to examine tensions in contemporary evangelicalism in light of her upcoming book, In Defense of Evangelicalism.

First up, we look at James Dobson's complicated legacy and how his parenting advice represented both progress and problems for its time, and why his use of psychology credentials to bypass evidence-based research troubles me as a clinician in the field.

We then tackle the media's panic over "spiritual warfare" language at Charlie Kirk's funeral, where Bonnie points out that Pope Francis uses the same Ephesians passage about wrestling "not against flesh and blood." We also get into Peter Thiel's bizarre Antichrist lectures, which turn out to be less apocalyptic theology and more libertarian fearmongering dressed in biblical metaphor.

Throughout, we wrestle with a core question: how do we navigate religious language in public discourse when biblical literacy has collapsed, and when do passionate warnings cross the line into spiritual abuse?

Previous Episodes with Bonnie:

⁠Episode 306 | Dan is Getting Libertarian-Curious⁠

⁠Episode 21 | To Consider Inerrancy, Infallibility & Inspiration⁠

⁠Episode 6 | To Consider ALL the Atonement Theories⁠

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