Language of God

The church has had a complicated relationship with mental health. Research shows that 1 in 5 adults experience mental illness in a given year and yet 66% of pastors talk about mental health in sermons only once a year or less. In the episode we break down what exactly mental illness and mental health are, what is happening in the brain, and how the church can respond in ways that help us all to be healthier individuals and begin to build a more understanding, empathetic and healthy community. 

This episode was originally aired on December 8, 2022.

Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Tiny Music, Lift Music, Magnetize Music, Sirus Music, Pink Marble and Vesper Tapes, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc.

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Camille Dungy is a poet, and it is with a poet’s close attention that she reflects on the interactions between humans and the greater-than-human world. In the conversation, Camille talks about how she came to her connection to the greater-than-human world, about the need to include family and home in nature writing and about the definition of a weed and how good cultivation often requires hands-on management. She ends by reading a poem from her collection, Trophic Cascade. 

Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Titan Sound, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc.

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Francis Collins and Kizzmekia Corbett-Helaire are both renowned scientists and both of them played special and important roles during the pandemic. In this conversation, the two of them remember some of the key moments in the scientific development of the COVID vaccine and talk about the many years of scientific work that prepared the way. They also discuss how their faith plays a role in their motivation for doing science and Kizzmekia talks about the challenges of running a science lab at Harvard as a woman, a person of color, and a mother. 

This conversation was recorded live in Raleigh, North Carolina at our National Faith and Science Conference. 

Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Klimenko Music, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc.

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The science of evolution has caused friction for many Christians. And science does pose some challenges to the way people have been taught to think about their faith, but those challenges don’t have to lead to a decision to reject faith—or to reject the findings of science. In fact, understanding science can lead to a deeper faith. 

Jim Stump, host of Language of God has a new book coming out—The Sacred Chain: How Understanding Evolution Leads to a Deeper Faith. In this series Jim walks through three of the challenges posed by science. 

The challenge of pain and suffering is a crucial tension and one that has vexed people for millennia. Without solving the problem, we can at least break it down and see how a world which includes pain and suffering is also a world in which creatures might have the capacity to become morally mature.

Featuring clips from previous conversations with Bethany Sollereder and Simon Conway Morris.

This is the third of a three part mini-series.

Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Vesper Tapes and Ricky Bombino, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc.

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The science of evolution has caused friction for many Christians. And science does pose some challenges to the way people have been taught to think about their faith, but those challenges don’t have to lead to a decision to reject faith—or to reject the findings of science. In fact, understanding science can lead to a deeper faith. 

Jim Stump, host of Language of God has a new book coming out—The Sacred Chain: How Understanding Evolution Leads to a Deeper Faith. In this series Jim walks through three of the challenges posed by science. 

The challenge of the time explores the long time spans of the earth and the universe and what it means about being a human loved by God in the here and now. Featuring clips from previous conversations with John Walton & Makoto Fujimura.

This is the second of a three part mini-series.

Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Babel, Nick Petrov, & Vesper Tapes, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc.

Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum.

The science of evolution has caused friction for many Christians. And science does pose some challenges to the way people have been taught to think about their faith, but those challenges don’t have to lead to a decision to reject faith—or to reject the findings of science. In fact, understanding science can lead to a deeper faith. 

Jim Stump, host of Language of God has a new book coming out—The Sacred Chain: How Understanding Evolution Leads to a Deeper Faith. In this series Jim walks through three of the challenges posed by science. 

The challenge of the Bible asks how we can continue to affirm the Bible as inspired and authoritative if the human authors believed incorrect things about the world. Did God correct their cultural-bound beliefs, or work through them, as God has always worked with imperfect people? 

Richard Middleton joins Jim for the second part of this episode to talk about biblical inspiration from the perspective of a bible scholar, and the episode features clips from a previous episode with Philip Yancey. 

This is the first of a three part mini-series.

Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Vesper Tapes, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc.

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Special guest-host Francis Collins discusses the children's mental health epidemic with Jonathan Haidt. Haidt has been studying the causes of the high rates of depression and suicide in children for many years and has found that social media is at the root of the worsening trends. But he doesn’t just have causes in mind. He also has solutions. In this discussion--and in his new book, The Anxious Generation--he proposes solutions to be put into place in the home, in schools, and by governments. He also calls out faith communities, understanding that they can lead the way in reversing the trend of declining mental health of children.

Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Magnetize Music, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc. 

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Molly Worthen is a historian by training and wrote the book, Apostles of Reason, which explores the history of evangelicalism in America. When she wrote the book about 10 years ago, she approached the topic as an outsider, identifying as an agnostic. Then in 2022, she rather surprisingly found herself getting baptized at the front of a large evangelical Southern Baptist megachurch.

In the conversation she tells the story of her conversion and questions she asked, including questions about miracles, science, and what it means to be intellectually engaged and also believe in the resurrection of Christ. 

This conversation was recorded in front of a live audience at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary on February 21, 2024. 

Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Titan Sound, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc. 

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A bonus clip from an interview with Steven McMullen for our series The Gift of Food.

A bonus clip from an interview with Aminah Al-Attas Bradford for our series The Gift of Food.