Theology In Pieces

Send us a Question!Politics has a way of turning decent people into loyal fans who will defend “our side” no matter what, and it's doing real damage to the church. How can we move from College Football Christianity to imago dei christianity?  From there, we share a crossover conversation from Words Do Things, hosted by Dr. Sørina Higgins, where Slim takes on Dr. Stewart Riley for a guided Rogerian debate on immigration. Instead of talking past each other, we’re required to restate each other’s points accurately before responding. That constraint reveals the real fault lines: what a “compassionate, practical, and Christian” immigration policy even means, whether ICE can be reformed or should be abolished, when deportation or detention is ever justified, and how due process collapses when enforcement becomes mass and indiscriminate.I tag on an important debate, who's the best superhero: Batman or... Nightcrawler.  If this conversation helps you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review. Your support helps more people find thoughtful, grounded faith in a loud, fearful world.For more information, you can follow us athttps://www.theologyinpieces.com/Theology in Pieces on Instagram - @theologyinpieces Email us by emailing [email protected] Foley - on twitter @MalcolmBFoleySlim Thompson on twitter @wacoslimFor more information on the church, check us out at www.mosaicwaco.org or on instagram.  

Send us a Question!Obama's Cheesecake Factory joke, spurs the guys to share their deep thoughts on this very important chain restaurant. Manly Maga's Mustang Jesus is Full of Testosterone.  Christian Youtuber Gabe Poirot tells tales of heaven from his 18 day coma and reveals this habit of creating a “personal Jesus” who fits our tribe and our timeline.From there we talk about “Jersey Christianity,” after Megachurch pastor Josh Howerton tweeted, "That is not a pastor, that is a Biblically-defined false teacher and historically-defined heretic that (it saddens me to say) we had to excommunicate and remove from our church planting network. He currently walks as an enemy of the faith, and I pray he comes back to Jesus Christ."  And how different that was from his reception of infamous racist Bo French as described here.  Then we get to the heart of the Nicene Creed and why its Christology still matters. This is not abstract trivia. The word homoousios guards the claim that Jesus is fully God, not a creature and not a lesser deity. That protects Christian worship, anchors biblical interpretation, and keeps salvation from collapsing into wishful thinking. If you’ve ever wondered why creeds matter, why Arianism was such a big deal, or how to stop projecting your own image onto Jesus, this episode is for you.Nicene Creed : We believe in one God,      the Father almighty,      maker of heaven and earth,      of all things visible and invisible.And in one Lord Jesus Christ,      the only Son of God,      begotten from the Father before all ages,           God from God,           Light from Light,           true God from true God,      begotten, not made;      of the same essence as the Father.      Through him all things were made.      For us and for our salvation           he came down from heaven;           he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary,           and was made human.           He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate;           he suffered and was buried.           The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures.           He ascended to heaven           and is seated at the right hand of the Father.           He will come again with glory           to judge the living and the dead.           His kingdom will never end.And we believe in the Holy Spirit,      the Lord, the giver of life.      He proceeds from the Father and the Son,      and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.      He spoke through the prophets.      We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.      We affirm one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.      We look forward to the resurrection of the dead,      and to life in the world to come. Amen.If this conversation helps you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review. Your support helps more people find thoughtful, grounded faith in a loud, fearful world.For more information, you can follow us athttps://www.theologyinpieces.com/Theology in Pieces on Instagram - @theologyinpieces Email us by emailing [email protected] Foley - on twitter @MalcolmBFoleySlim Thompson on twitter @wacoslimFor more information on the church, check us out at www.mosaicwaco.org or on instagram.  

Send us a Question!Pastors say wild things.  Some ignorant.  Some harmful.  Some just terrible theology... and harmful.  We hear 1 story that impacted slim early on and chew on how pastors speak with a borrowed authority that is easily corrupted when it stops pointing to Jesus.We respond to a question from our listener mailbag about the constant flood of degrading content, distributism in contrast to socialism, and why the church needs more imagination than our usual binary choices.Then things get really crazy as we ask: WHAT'S WORSE? 1) an AI pastor(s) (as seen here) ... AND 1 local waco pastor's new AI app: Ask Lyte .... 2) OR ugly mysoginsitic / or downright abusive pastors?Obviously we condemn both, but we also want to name the theology that undergirds this thinking. Everything drives toward our anchor point in the Nicene Creed: "And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages."  If Jesus is Lord, your pastor is not, your nation is not, the algorithm is not, and neither is an app pretending to pray for you.Hope you enjoy and are challenged by this episode.  Write us and tell us what you agree with or disagree with!  Or write in and answer:"Worst thing you've ever heard a pastor say from a pulpit? Or what is the most bizarre church advice you've encountered?"  By y'all!NY TIMES article on AI PASTORIf this conversation helps you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review. Your support helps more people find thoughtful, grounded faith in a loud, fearful world.For more information, you can follow us athttps://www.theologyinpieces.com/Theology in Pieces on Instagram - @theologyinpieces Email us by emailing [email protected] Foley - on twitter @MalcolmBFoleySlim Thompson on twitter @wacoslimFor more information on the church, check us out at www.mosaicwaco.org or on instagram.  

Send us a Question!What do Dave Ramsey, College Football, Charles Darwin, and the Nicene Creed have in common? Apparently, they’re all part of one podcast episode.In this episode of Theology in Pieces, Slim and Malcolm continue their journey through the Nicene Creed with the words: “Maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.”But first, we have some nonsense to deal with. We talk about Dave Ramsey’s viral advice to a mother wondering whether she should disinherit her children for becoming socialists—and then turn our attention to the ugly rhetoric surrounding the racial makeup of the University of Texas student section. Yes, somehow college football helped Slim overcome his hatred of Texas.Then we get to the real question: What does it mean to confess that God is the Maker of everything?Does Christianity require us to believe the earth is only a few thousand years old? Can Christians affirm evolution? Is Genesis trying to give us a scientific account of creation, or something more profound? And what does it mean to say that creation exists by choice, not by chance?We talk about why the Christian faith insists that the material world is good, why our bodies and the physical world matter, how the ancient church understood “visible and invisible” things, and why modern Christians go to 2 extremes by over-spiritualizing creation or flat out ignoring the spiritual world altogether.Most importantly, we ask what this confession means on a Monday morning. If God really is the Maker of heaven and earth, then creation should produce wonder, humility, responsibility, hope, and a bigger imagination. We are creatures, not the center of the universe. The world belongs to God, not us. And the brokenness we see around us is not the original design...or the final word.So yes, we talk about creation. We talk about science. We talk about evolution. We talk about angels and demons. We talk about terrible tweets. But underneath all of it is a simple confession:“I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.”If this conversation helps you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review. Your support helps more people find thoughtful, grounded faith in a loud, fearful world.For more information, you can follow us athttps://www.theologyinpieces.com/Theology in Pieces on Instagram - @theologyinpieces Email us by emailing [email protected] Foley - on twitter @MalcolmBFoleySlim Thompson on twitter @wacoslimFor more information on the church, check us out at www.mosaicwaco.org or on instagram.  

Send us a Question!Robots Olympics.  New Way to Stop Smoking. And ICE #'s are UP!  Cruelty is the point.    Chaos abounds.  But that's why today's discussion matters.  There is not one God for Americans and another God for immigrants.  Today, we open the Nicene Creed again and slow down on a dense, beautiful line: “We believe in one God, the Father Almighty.” Why Just 1 God?  Can we call God: Mother?  We'll unpack all this and more.  Take a listen!  Talarico: Christians, Muslims, and Jews all worship the same God. Also Talarico: "Nonbinary / can't use human categories to define God"Not the Worst of the Worst (Liam Tadeo - 5 yr old Boy Deported) 80% no criminal conviction.If this conversation helps you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review. Your support helps more people find thoughtful, grounded faith in a loud, fearful world.For more information, you can follow us athttps://www.theologyinpieces.com/Theology in Pieces on Instagram - @theologyinpieces Email us by emailing [email protected] Foley - on twitter @MalcolmBFoleySlim Thompson on twitter @wacoslimFor more information on the church, check us out at www.mosaicwaco.org or on instagram.  

Send us a Question!“Why should we believe anything you say?” Today, we explore the limits and necessity of truth and the helpful boundaries it gives.   To begin though, we use three very different stories to surface that tension, from a high-fashion brand whose name translates to “Fecal Matter,” to a massive meetup of people named Ryan, to a heartbreaking report of a Venezuelan family detained in Texas at a modern day Internment Camp in Texas.  That sharp turn is intentional. When the world feels like it’s dissolving into opinions, chaos, and outrage, we need a compass.  We need to know which way is up. Today, we begin a new series on the Nicene Creed, the historic Christian creed that the global church has shared for centuries. We talk about why creeds matter, how they draw needed boundaries, and how it formed in response to Arianism and the question of whether Jesus is truly God or merely a created being. The stakes are not academic: what you believe about Christ shapes what you believe salvation even is.Then we slow the pace way down to just the first two words: “We believe.” We wrestle with doubt, the idolatry of certainty, and why faith is more than intellectual agreement. Belief looks like trust you can put your weight on, the kind that reshapes a life, not just a worldview. If you’ve ever said, “I believe, help my unbelief,” you’re not alone.Subscribe for the full Nicene Creed series, share this with a friend who’s deconstructing or rebuilding, and leave a review so more listeners can find us. And if you’ve got questions, email us at [email protected] Creed : We believe in one God,      the Father almighty,      maker of heaven and earth,      of all things visible and invisible.And in one Lord Jesus Christ,      the only Son of God,      begotten from the Father before all ages,           God from God,           Light from Light,           true God from true God,      begotten, not made;      of the same essence as the Father.      Through him all things were made.      For us and for our salvation           he came down from heaven;           he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary,           and was made human.           He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate;           he suffered and was buried.           The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures.           He ascended to heaven           and is seated at the right hand of the Father.           He will come again with glory           to judge the living and the dead.           His kingdom will never end.And we believe in the Holy Spirit,      the Lord, the giver of life.      He proceeds from the Father and the Son,      and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.      He spoke through the prophets.      We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.      We affirm one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.      We look forward to the resurrection of the dead,      and to life in the world to come. Amen.If this conversation helps you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review. Your support helps more people find thoughtful, grounded faith in a loud, fearful world.For more information, you can follow us athttps://www.theologyinpieces.com/Theology in Pieces on Instagram - @theologyinpieces Email us by emailing [email protected] Foley - on twitter @MalcolmBFoleySlim Thompson on twitter @wacoslimFor more information on the church, check us out at www.mosaicwaco.org or on instagram.  

Send us a Question!Immigration talk can make Christians defensive fast, but we wanted to slow down long enough to ask a better question: what if “migration” is not a fringe issue, but a core Christian theme woven through Scripture and human life? We’re joined by Alexis Busetti, host of That Makes Total Sense and a PhD student in intercultural studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, to help us rebuild a theology that’s been fractured by fear, outrage, and talking points.Alexis co-wrote Migration, a six-week interactive Bible study published by IVP, and we dig into why this resource works so well for churches. We walk through the study’s guiding framework manifesto, myth, material, and emotion, and talk honestly about how myths around immigrants get formed and reinforced in our political echo chambers. Along the way we name the forces shaping the church right now: Christian nationalism, individualism, and the ways power and self-interest can hide behind “just follow the law.”Then we go theological in the best way. What does it mean to say Jesus is a migrant, and why does it matter that the Incarnation itself is God choosing to move toward us? We also get practical and local: when immigration enforcement makes people afraid to attend church, the clean separation between “government policy” and “church compassion” falls apart. We share what our congregation is trying next, including dinners with churches who disagree, a border learning experience, language partnerships, and transportation support as trust-building immigrant ministry.As always we explore the absurd stories of today like SpaceEX hitting the moon with a rocket, Christian Nationalist pastor Jack Hibbs connecting Mamdani with Stalin ,  creepy Centaur Robots, and Mike Johnson's Prayer that God answered regarding the Big Beautiful Bill. SPOILER ALERT!!!  - Malcolm and Slim go into detail with their response to the New Spiderman movie.  So if you haven't seen it yet, skip from 12:48-22:10.  If this conversation helps you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review. Your support helps more people find thoughtful, grounded faith in a loud, fearful world.For more information, you can follow us athttps://www.theologyinpieces.com/Theology in Pieces on Instagram - @theologyinpieces Email us by emailing [email protected] Foley - on twitter @MalcolmBFoleySlim Thompson on twitter @wacoslimFor more information on the church, check us out at www.mosaicwaco.org or on instagram.  

Send us a Question!The Lord's Supper.  What it is.  & Who it's for.  On today's podcast, we catch up on Malcolm’s sabbatical highlighted by his time at monastery, chanting psalms, and rereading big chunks of the New Testament), then we pivot to some annoying Low T shenanigans, The Odyssey, and finally we wrestle with: The Holy Table/ Communion/ Eucharist / Lord's Supper.  We walk straight through 1 Corinthians 11, be accused of cannibalism, discuss what's really happening in this passage, what "an unworthy manner,” & “discern the body,” means. Hint: IT'S NOT A SNACK!!From there we zoom out to John 6 and the long Christian debate about real presence: Roman Catholic transubstantiation, memorial-only approaches, and the Reformed conviction that Christ is truly present by the Spirit and truly nourishes his people. Finally, we tackle the pastoral edge: open vs closed communion, baptism as the marker of the new covenant community, and why questions about children and special needs believers expose what we really think communion is.Terrible Tweets:The High T Dept. of WarJesse Waters Horrific "women better be careful"Dumb has a B!The Odyssey has gone Woke - Matt WalshSubscribe, share this with a friend who has opinions about communion, and leave a review telling us where your tradition lands and why.If this conversation helps you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review. Your support helps more people find thoughtful, grounded faith in a loud, fearful world.For more information, you can follow us athttps://www.theologyinpieces.com/Theology in Pieces on Instagram - @theologyinpieces Email us by emailing [email protected] Foley - on twitter @MalcolmBFoleySlim Thompson on twitter @wacoslimFor more information on the church, check us out at www.mosaicwaco.org or on instagram.  

Send us a Question!Calling a political opponent “demonic” feels bold until you realize what it does to your soul. In this episode, we begin with a provocative question that's been circulating in some corners of Texas politics and Christian social media: "Is James Talarico the Antichrist?" From there, we zoom out to wrestle with a much bigger issue: how Christians talk about other Christians when theology, politics, and culture wars collide.We explore the contrast between two prominent figures in Texas politics: Ken Paxton, whose career has been marked by numerous public controversies and allegations, and James Talarico, whose appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience reignited debates about progressive Christianity. Along the way, we examine why so many online conversations leap from disagreement to accusations of being "demonic" or part of the "synagogue of Satan," instead of offering thoughtful theological critique.Then we slow down and ask what Scripture actually says. What does “antichrist” mean in 1 John? Is it just shorthand for “someone I strongly disagree with,” or is it tied to denying Jesus and the incarnation? We also wrestle with the “God is nonbinary” controversy, the Bible’s gendered language for God, and why our current moment turns nuance into outrage. And we keep coming back to the same test Jesus gives us: fruit. Character. Trustworthiness. Repentance.If you’re tired of jersey politics and spiritual name-calling, this one is for you. Resources listed:Joe Rogan interview with James TalaricoJames Talarico is More Demonic than You Think - with Allie Beth StuckeyLt. Gov Dan Patrick saying JT will "go to hell" Josh Howerton (Mega Church Pastor calling him a Synogogue of Satan) The Hypocrisy of Republicans trying to Shame James Talarico for his Faith'Fake Christian' or Faithful? GOP Ads Against PaxtonJoel Berry's TweetJason Howerton TweetIf this conversation helps you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review. Your support helps more people find thoughtful, grounded faith in a loud, fearful world.For more information, you can follow us athttps://www.theologyinpieces.com/Theology in Pieces on Instagram - @theologyinpieces Email us by emailing [email protected] Foley - on twitter @MalcolmBFoleySlim Thompson on twitter @wacoslimFor more information on the church, check us out at www.mosaicwaco.org or on instagram.  

Send us a Question!What the World Cup, the Knicks, Politics, and Chris Farley Have in Common...After talking about the dangers of patriotism in our last episode, Slim confesses the conflicting feelings found in the joy he found in a world cup victory. That emotional swing matters, because it helps us name the real issue. The problem is not affection but... elevation.  An idol is when a good thing becomes an ultimate thing.... and when national pride starts acting like nation worship.From there, we move into the messier world of politics, social media, and war. I read a couple of “terrible tweets” that are funny for all the wrong reasons, then sit with the uncomfortable question: do I actually want peace, or do I just want my opponents to lose? If you’re a Christian who cares about life and justice, you cannot cheer de-escalation only when it benefits your team. We talk about praying for leaders, praying against violent ambitions, and why saving lives has to outrank scoring points.Then we widen the lens to sports, comedy, and the human heart. The Knicks’ improbable run becomes a parable of hope, and Chris Farley’s story becomes a warning about the limits of applause. We end with a better kind of laughter, the kind Scripture ties to redemption and surprise, when God does what felt impossible. Hope this epsiode can bring you some of that good laughter. Terrible Tweets:$120 GAS TANKGreenland is now asking Trump to Invade...Resources mentioned:Slim's Prayer against Trump's ambitions back in April All The Human Heart Wants is It's Chance - Paul PutzWhat Laughter Reveals - Genesis 18&21 SermonMatt Foley (Chris Farley) - SNLI AM CHRIS FARLEY - Amazon PrimeIf this conversation helps you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review. Your support helps more people find thoughtful, grounded faith in a loud, fearful world.For more information, you can follow us athttps://www.theologyinpieces.com/Theology in Pieces on Instagram - @theologyinpieces Email us by emailing [email protected] Foley - on twitter @MalcolmBFoleySlim Thompson on twitter @wacoslimFor more information on the church, check us out at www.mosaicwaco.org or on instagram.