Thinking Faith With Eric Gurash And Dr. Brett Salkeld

Wrapping up our multi-part series on Creationism and our Catholic faith we apply faith and reason, those invaluable gifts from God, to what the scriptures actually say about death, original sin, and human destiny. Show Snippet: "Original sin...at the heart of it is, you need grace. No amount of do-gooding and good works is going to save you. Yes you have to act, but ultimately when Paul teaches this...connecting Jesus as the new Adam, it's to make the point, if Adam brought death, how much more did Jesus bring life?"

Deacon Eric and Dr. Brett continue their multi-part series on Creationism with special guest, Dr. Matthew Ramage of Benedictine College, Kansas, and author of "The Experiment of Faith: Pope Benedict XVI on Living the Theological Virtues in a Secular Age". Show Snippet: "Eden is a temple so you understand that it's not giving the scientific account, it's about Israel and therefore about all of us and it's about who God is, who we are, and what we're called to do."

This week Deacon Eric, Dr. Brett, and special guest, Fr. Parker Love sit down to answer your questions for another Facebook Live event. Show Snippet: "That's what we're called to do, to do our best, to be the best version of ourself which is the most good version of ourself...the most virtuous person we are called to be, and the most just person we can be, and the most loving, and kind, and happy, and joyful person we can be..."

TF192 - Creationism and the Catholic Church - Part 3 with Dr. Matthew Ramage Deacon Eric and Dr. Brett continue their multi-part series on Creationism with special guest, Dr. Matthew Ramage author of "Dark Passages of the Bible: Engaging Scripture with Benedict XVI and St. Thomas Aquinas". Show Snippet: "I've seen so many young people confused and struggling with their faith for no reason and part of it is because they may have been catechized, even but they either don't know the science, or they don't know their theology, and I'm trying to help people bridge that."

Talking the speed of light, what the first amoeba ate, and the conspiracy of Creationism in this part two of a multi-part series on Creationism and the Catholic Church. Show Snippet: "This is a constant argument that all Creationists use about Christian scientists who believe in evolution - they are seeking the approval of the world. So John Paul and Benedict, who are willing to stand up to the world on a whole host of questions...suddenly on the question of evolution are caving to look wise in the eyes of the world?"  

Deacon Eric and Dr. Brett begin a multipart series on Creationism and the Catholic Church. Young earth, old earth, 6 days, billions of years. What does the Church say? Show Snippet: "Both the fundamentalist and the atheist think that Christians who read and believe the Bible, need to be Creationists...and there's a deep irony there, that the two groups that agree on that, are the groups that despise each other the most..."

Thinking Faith - Q&A Deacon Eric and Dr. Brett talk fortune cookies, dinosaurs, and suspension of Masses due to COVID-19 in this previously recorded episode of their first-ever live podcast. (Original recording date: April 27, 2020) Show Snippet: "Let's acknowledge at the front end, from a Catholic point of view, that the Eucharist is more essential than actual food that will keep you alive...people assume that if you'll close the church but keep the grocery store open what you're saying is that natural food is more important that spiritual food, but there's layers of consideration in here..."

Finishing up a topic begun well before Easter, Deacon Eric and Dr. Brett discuss the final "Ecclesial Dream" of Pope Francis from his Post-Synodal Exhortation "Querida Amazonia". Show Snippet: "We have to get away from the tunnel vision that fails to see God having been at work in other cultures, in other places and at other times...recognize that God has preceded you in the culture."

Join the discussion this first week of Easter in this part two of two, as we continue wondering how Jesus' suffering and death redeemed humanity. Snippet from the Show: "That's all of us: death is coming, but you do get a choice of how to approach it...and the more practice you get, the better you get at it. It doesn't get easier, but you get better at walking into it."

Was the cross really necessary for our salvation and how is it that one man's death obtained salvation for humanity? As Holy Week begins, Deacon Eric and Dr. Brett discuss these questions and more. Show snip: "...also the things he said in the resurrection appearances, especially Luke 24 and the road to Emmaus when he's explaining, we're told, the law and prophets...then what he said at the Last supper starts to register. So much so that when they get to Emmaus...something is starting to click."

Church is not suspended, faith, hope, and love are not suspended, and your weekly Thinking Faith fix is not suspended. This week, Deacon Eric and Dr. Brett talk coronavirus, judgment, and bad theology. From six-feet apart of course! Show Snippet: "God brings good out of evil and the Cross is the ultimate picture of that but not the only one. All of us can look at our own lives and see God bringing good out of evil, some of us can already look at the situation of coronavirus and see some good coming out of evil: that does not mean that the evil is not evil...this is not a papering over evil."

In this part three of four, Dr. Brett and Deacon Eric discuss the "Ecological Dream" of Querida Amazonia including the biblical roots of a redeemed creation and the spiritual effects of a lack of environmental concern. Show Snip: "The environmental question is a spiritual question. Your attitude towards all kinds of things in your life will shape your attitude towards the environment and the practices in your life that are destructive towards the environment are probably not good for your soul either."  

Deacon Eric brushes up on his Spanish while he and Dr. Brett dig into the first two chapters of Pope Francis' latest Apostolic Exhortation "Querida Amazonia". Snippet from the show: "This is a call for us, right at the front end of the document, to look into the faces of real persons...to see the real social needs...to hear the cry of the poor."

Discussing the furor surrounding what did not make it into Querida Amazonia and setting things up for a multi-part examination of what Pope Francis actually has to say about the Church and the needs of the Amazon and the world. Snippet from the show: "Here's a test question for you...if you were surprised by the document, if you were shocked by what it didn't say, you need to check your media consumption."

This week the Thinking Faith Catholic podcast features an interview with Dr. Brett Salkeld on Redeemer Radio's Kyle Heiman Show. Topic of the day: Why Transubstantiation? Snippet from the show: "We need to think more about what it is to be Catholics who believe in God as the transcendent ground of everything in a world that doesn't think that way anymore."

This week on the Thinking Faith Catholic Podcast, Deacon Eric and Dr. Brett finish up their three-part series on faith and reason with a look at Mary as the model of the Christian approach, look at the role authority plays in belief and get pretty excited about the great mystery that is faith in Jesus Christ. Snippet from the show: "The real gift is that we not only get to spend our whole lives here engaged in this exciting process...but we get to spend eternity delving into the mysteries of God, the mystery of the life of the Trinity, the mystery of the Incarnation knowing that we will never exhaust it!"

Picking up where we left off in this episode two of three, we'll be touching on a Catholic approach to natural faith, faith in authority, how reason works with faith and the relationship between skepticism and faith. Believing to understand, this week on Thinking Faith!

In this episode of the Thinking Faith Catholic podcast, Deacon Eric and Dr. Brett dip into the mailbag for some listener feedback before the start of a three-part series on faith and reason from our Catholic perspective. In this part one, they'll be discussing the importance of getting this relationship right both to aid in our own understanding of the Catholic faith as well as in communicating our Catholic faith to the world.  And there's lasagna.

In this part two of two, deacon Eric and Dr. Brett Salkeld continue the discussion on social media and polarization from a Catholic perspective.  They'll discuss the ways polarization can cloud perceptions regardless of which side we might fall on, and share some additional tools for navigating today's complex media waters. Checking our bias and our sources this week on Thinking Faith!

It seems that most any topic leads quickly to polarized positions, angst and a confluence of conspiracy theories. In this part one of two, Deacon Eric and Dr. Brett wade into these murky waters and examine the roles human nature and social media might play and offer some discernment tools to help this week on Thinking Faith!