The Biblical Mind

How should Christians think about war, conflict, justice, and peace in a world filled with competing narratives and seemingly endless complexity? In this episode, Dru Johnson talks with peacebuilding practitioner and political scientist Austin Knuppe about how Scripture, intellectual humility, lament, and Christian realism can shape the way Christians respond to global conflict.
Knuppe explains why biblical lament can provide an important framework for responding to injustice without demanding simplistic answers to suffering. He also discusses motivated reasoning, confirmation bias, and the danger of reducing complicated conflicts to narratives of obvious heroes and villains. Drawing from his experience in Rwanda, northern Iraq, and the broader field of peacebuilding, Knuppe explores the difficult work of rebuilding social cohesion after violence, including restoring trust, addressing trauma, and pursuing reconciliation.
The conversation also examines Israel and Palestine, Gaza, Russia and Ukraine, U.S. foreign policy, restorative justice, international aid, and the limits of applying one peacebuilding model to every conflict. Knuppe argues for intellectual hospitality, careful attention to local voices, and a willingness to say “I don’t know” while still pursuing wise and practical action.
For Christians seeking a thoughtful biblical and political perspective on war, peace, justice, reconciliation, and international conflict, this conversation offers a challenging alternative to simplistic answers.
Learn more about Dr. Knuppe at his website: https://www.austinknuppe.com/
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Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Dr. Austin Nuppy and the episode's focus
02:16 The practice of lament and its significance in faith and conflict
03:22 The challenge of seeking certainty in understanding conflicts
04:08 Narratives, motivated reasoning, and their impact on conflict perception
06:25 Approaching conflict with humility and good faith engagement
10:07 Memory, history, and bearing witness in conflict zones
15:03 The importance of wisdom and discernment in justice and peace
21:15 Strategies for peacebuilding and social cohesion in Iraq
24:17 The role of local trust and grassroots initiatives in reconciliation
27:09 Challenges of justice, accountability, and structural constraints
34:30 The complexity of ongoing conflicts and the limits of models
41:34 US foreign policy levers and the Christian approach to peace
52:53 Balancing ground-up and top-down peace strategies
54:54 The limits of idealism and the importance of realism in conflict
55:58 The human cost of aid and the peace industry

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In this episode, Dru Johnson continues a challenging conversation about Israel, Palestine, Gaza, Hamas, Zionism, and Christian Zionism with Bruce N. Fisk and Daniel Bannoura. The discussion examines competing narratives about the history of Israel and Palestine and asks how Christians should think about the ongoing conflict.
Fisk and Bannoura critique what they describe as the dominant Israeli and Christian Zionist narratives, particularly their treatment of Palestinian history, the Nakba, the occupation, and Palestinian claims to national identity and self-determination. They also explore how Zionism has developed historically and discuss different forms of Jewish nationalism, including political, cultural, and binational approaches.
The conversation then turns to Gaza and Hamas, including questions surrounding violence, collective punishment, international law, and the use of terms such as genocide and apartheid. Bannoura offers a theological and historical analysis of Hamas, acknowledging the problems with its early rhetoric while emphasizing the importance of understanding the political conditions and experiences that contributed to its rise.
Finally, Fisk discusses the book Being Christian After the Desolation of Gaza and its call for Christians to move beyond simplistic binaries and engage more seriously with questions of peace, justice, Palestinian rights, Israel, and Christian theology.
Dr Bannoura and Dr. Fisk are responding to this episode: https://thebiblicalmind.org/podcast/israel-palestine-conflict-more-complicated-than-you-think/
Buy the book here:
https://wipfandstock.com/9798385254859/being-christian-after-the-desolation-of-gaza/
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Chapters:
00:00 Introduction and episode overview
01:12 Bruce Fisk summarizes the Israeli narrative
03:36 Discussion of Gaza and international law
05:01 Reflections on narratives and historical perspectives
07:16 Orientalist discourse and Palestinian history
09:38 The Nakba and Palestinian identity
11:00 Zionism, land, and international law
12:28 Critique of Zionist narratives and bias
15:10 Zionism, transfer, and ethnic cleansing
17:45 International law, UN resolutions, and legal issues
19:02 Netanyahu's Zionism and security focus
20:53 Israeli security fears and victimhood
22:21 The book project and its goals
37:26 Hamas, resistance, and evolution
50:36 The development of Hamas and its political stance
55:42 Militancy, resistance, and historical parallels
01:00:23 The Christian critique of Israel and Palestine
01:02:10 The future of a Jewish state and democratic solutions

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What does it mean to be a good man? In this episode, Dru Johnson talks with Professor Nancy Pearcey about masculinity, toxic masculinity, feminism, fatherhood, Christianity, and the cultural forces that have shaped modern ideas about men.
Pearcey explains why she wrote her book on masculinity after seeing increasingly hostile portrayals of men in popular culture and explores the deeper history behind these attitudes. Rather than tracing hostility toward men only to second-wave feminism, she argues that its roots extend back to the Industrial Revolution and changing ideas about work, family, masculinity, and human nature.
The conversation examines how Darwinism and evolutionary psychology have contributed to negative cultural scripts about male aggression, sexuality, and dominance—and how those ideas can help explain the appeal of figures such as Andrew Tate. Pearcey also discusses research suggesting that Christian men can be loving husbands, engaged fathers, and committed family members.
The episode explores the importance of recovering a healthier vision of biblical masculinity centered on responsibility, virtue, service, protection, provision, fatherhood, and family. It also considers how working from home, integrating family and work, and reconnecting fathers with their children could help reshape modern family life.
Order Professor Nancy Pearcey's book here: https://bakerpublishinggroup.com/products/9780801075735_the-toxic-war-on-masculinity
Professor Nancy Pearcey's website: https://www.nancypearcey.com/
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Chapters
00:00 — Covenant, new Christians, and the intellectual questions nobody knew how to answer
02:19 — How the conversation will work and why the book matters
04:04 — Why Pearcey wrote the book after seeing anti-male rhetoric everywhere
06:38 — Abuse, feminism, and moving from blame to healing
09:06 — Anti-male language before the 20th century
11:50 — Darwinism, social Darwinism, and the “beast within” script
13:44 — Andrew Tate as a popularizer of older intellectual ideas
16:16 — The universal “three Ps” of masculinity: provide, protect, procreate
18:11 — The difference between the “good man” and the “real man”
21:23 — Why empirical research matters for claims about Christian men
22:21 — What the studies say about evangelical husbands and fathers
25:26 — Why churches often discourage men instead of encouraging them
27:24 — How the Industrial Revolution changed fathers and family life
34:39 — Pandemic remote work and fathers getting closer to their children
36:24 — Work, family, and the real-life benefits of flexibility
40:36 — Men on the daddy track and the cost of choosing family
43:08 — Bringing work home for women and the recovery of integrated family life
47:16 — Millennials and Gen Z want a more integrated life
48:45 — What Pearcey means by secular and how the split developed
50:55 — The historical reversal that made women seem morally superior
53:13 — The double standard in dating and the pressure on women to police men
55:25 — Why the title is controversial and how people misread the book
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What does it mean to believe something—and can we genuinely believe while also experiencing doubt? In this episode of the Center for Hebraic Thought and the Biblical Mind Podcast, Mike Tolliver talks with philosopher Dr. Joshua Mugg about his book From Human Reasoning to Belief and his alternative to the influential “dual process” theory of human reasoning.
Mugg explains why he rejects the idea that the mind is simply divided between fast, intuitive thinking and slow, rational thinking. Instead, he proposes that human reasoning operates across multiple dimensions, allowing us to adjust how we think, gather evidence, recruit other beliefs, and repeatedly reconsider our conclusions.
The conversation then explores how this account of human cognition helps illuminate one of the Bible’s most intriguing statements: “I believe; help my unbelief” in the Gospel of Mark. Mugg’s theory of fragmented belief suggests that people can hold different beliefs within distinct cognitive contexts, helping explain how faith and doubt can coexist.
Mike and Josh also discuss anxiety, emotion and reasoning, conspiracy theories, religious belief, deconstruction, Michael Polanyi, Esther Meek, the relationship between faith and certainty, and whether faith will remain in the eschaton. This wide-ranging conversation offers a fresh perspective on belief, doubt, faith, and what it means to know.
Buy Dr. Mugg's book here: https://www.routledge.com/From-Human-Reasoning-to-Belief-An-Empirical-Account/Mugg/p/book/9781032736952
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Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Dr. Mugg and the focus on belief
01:02 Dr. Mugg's background and academic journey
02:37 From theology to philosophy: questions of knowledge
04:24 Overview of dual process theory in reasoning
05:55 Critique of dual process theory and its messiness
07:41 An alternative to dual process theory: a soundboard model
11:16 Rerunning reasoning in everyday life and decision making
15:50 The biblical story of the father and Jesus' response
19:59 Fragmentation of belief and domain-specific reasoning
24:02 Belief in the context of ancient Israel and religious practices
27:14 Conspiracy theories and reasoning patterns
31:01 The role of emotion in reasoning and belief
33:23 Faith, hope, and love in the eschaton
36:10 Personal journey and influence of Polanyi and Meek
39:33 Christian philosophy and naturalistic methodology
42:58 The relationship between faith and belief in biblical and philosophical context
44:46 Conclusion and future discussions

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How is technology shaping the way we live, relate to one another, and understand what it means to be human? In this episode, Dru Johnson talks with sociologist Dr. Felicia Song about digital technology, AI, social media, Christian discipleship, and the spiritual consequences of living in a world of constant connection.
Song argues that Christians should resist both technological hype and fearmongering and instead develop a more thoughtful, historically informed approach to digital culture. Rather than simply asking whether technology is “good” or “bad,” she encourages us to consider what our devices are actually doing to our relationships, habits, attention, and embodied experience.
The conversation explores social media and mental health, AI companionship, the potential displacement of human relationships, and the ways technology is reshaping churches and Christian communities. Song also challenges Christians to reconsider whether Sunday worship should be one of the few places where people can put their devices away and genuinely rest.
Drawing on the Christian contemplative tradition of silence and stillness, Song suggests that spiritual maturity in the digital age may require learning how to disconnect, be present, and recover forms of human connection that technology cannot replace.
See more of Dr. Song's work here: https://feliciawusong.com/
Contact us at The Biblical Mind: Click Here
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Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to the discussion on technology and human experience
04:00 The importance of historical perspective in understanding tech
06:16 The investment in human evolution and technological possibilities
07:52 Technology as a variable in human relationships and self-understanding
10:08 The neurological and phenomenological effects of digital interaction
12:22 The impact of mediated interactions on human experience
14:22 The social and cultural variability in felt experiences
16:40 Imagination and the inability to conceive of a tech-free life
18:24 Using movies and stories to understand different digital experiences
20:44 Young people's resignation and the influence of tech industry narratives
22:18 Historical changes in societal attitudes towards technology
24:20 The analogy of safety belts and cultural change
27:29 Advocacy and community action in digital ethics
28:56 Analog experiences and community building through low-tech practices
30:27 The value of silence and stillness in spiritual maturity
36:32 The societal effects of AI companionship and therapeutic uses
38:02 The role of churches and spiritual spaces in digital life
40:12 Church as a space for digital detox and spiritual rest
43:20 The importance of stillness and silence in Christian practice
45:59 The transformative power of contemplative practices in a digital age

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