Resound Podcast

Resound features thoughtful conversations at Calvin Theological Seminary about how faith and theology shape our life in the world.

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Resound #18 - Navigating Overwhelming Times - Mark Brouwer & Aaron Einfeld

Mark Brouwer and Aaron Einfeld

The constant disruption, uncertainty, and trauma of the pandemic has been especially hard on churches and their leaders. In this episode, pastor, author, and coach Mark Brouwer offers encouragement, tips, and hope for how to navigate discouraging and overwhelming times.
Todd Cioffi on Transformative Prison Education

Todd Cioffi

In 2005, Calvin Seminary began taking students to visit Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola Prison. This inspired some professors at Calvin Seminary to start teaching classes at Handlon Correctional Facility in Ionia, Michigan, and to partner with Calvin University to launch the Calvin Prison Initiative. Todd Cioffi tells this story and explains the transformative effects of prison education.
The Impact of the Pandemic on Mothers

Annie Mas-Smith, Sarah Roelofs, Gail Ashmore, and Aleah Marsden

The impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic has hit mothers especially hard. We asked mothers in our community to share their experiences, voice their laments, and call the church to respond.
Mariano Avila On Reading Scripture and Being Read By Scripture

Mariano Avila and Cory Willson

Cory Willson talks with Mariano Avila about the importance of reading both Scripture and our context together in mutually enriching ways.
Danjuma Gibson on The Case For Love

Danjuma Gibson

Love is at the heart of the Ten Commandments and the gospel. How does God’s love call us to take risks, and to overcome fear? In his address to our opening convocation this fall at Calvin Seminary, Danjuma Gibson, Professor of Pastoral Care, explored these questions and called us to radical love for the sake of God’s kingdom.
Jeff Weima on the Spirit Speaking to the Church in the Letters of Revelation

Jeff Weima

The seven sermons of Revelation 2 and 3 are far more than just a prologue to the apocalyptic vision of the remainder of the book. Despite their specific ancient recipients and subtle allusions, each of these sermons carries a message for churches today. In his new book, The Sermons to the Seven Churches of Revelation: A Commentary and Guide, Jeff Weima, Professor of New Testament at Calvin Seminary, explores the meaning of these seven sermons and the path to preaching each text to Christians today. This sermon, "Ephesus: The Church of Loveless Orthodoxy," was preached at Midland Evangelical Free Church in 2014.
Cory Willson and Matthew Kaemingk on Work and Worship

Cory Willson, Matthew Kaemingk, and John Witvliet

The gap between Sunday and Monday often feels wider than it looks on a calendar. Many Christians struggle to connect their worship with their work. In their new book Work and Worship: Reconnecting our Labor and Liturgy (Baker Academic, 2020), Matthew Kaemingk and Cory Willson explore biblical and theological connections between work and worship. In this virtual presentation to the President's Legacy Society of Calvin Seminary, John Witvliet talks with the authors about strengthening these connections in the church.
Christina Edmondson on Faithful Anti-Racism

Christina Edmondson and John Witvliet

The events of recent months have laid bare the pervasive stain of racism in public life. Christina Edmondson talks with John Witvliet about developing a lifelong commitment to learning about what race and racism are, how to critically and theologically discern issues of social stratification and a caste system which feed the sin of racism, and how Christians can remain rooted in the good news of Jesus and actively respond in ways that dismantle racism, especially in congregations and worshiping communities. Christina Edmondson is a collaborating partner with the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, where she teaches courses, leads cohort learning groups, and offers web resources focused on faithful anti-racism initiatives for use in congregations, schools, and Christian non-profit organizations. Her website is www.christinaedmondson.com. John Witvliet is director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and professor of worship at Calvin Seminary.
Karin Maag on Being Called to be a Scholar

Karin Maag and Ruan Bessa da Silveira

Karin Maag, director of the H. Henry Meeter Center for Calvin Studies and professor of church history at Calvin Seminary, speaks with student Ruan da Silveira about scholarship as a calling.
Mary Vanden Berg on Science and Theology

Mary Vanden Berg

Mary Vanden Berg, professor of systematic theology at Calvin Seminary, speaks with Scott Hoezee about her research in 2018 at the Henry Center at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago. Vanden Berg received a grant as part of the Henry Center’s Creation Project, which aims to “catalyze a field of study around the doctrine of creation that is faithful to Scripture and informed by contemporary scientific research.”
John Algera and David Beelen on Urban Ministry

John Algera and David Beelen

President Medenblik interviews John Algera and David Beelen about what they’ve learned in lifelong callings to urban ministry. Algera and Beelen appeared last year with Emmett Harrison at Calvin Seminary for the inaugural Van Zanten Urban Ministry Lecture, which was established to honor the legacy of Tony and Donna Van Zanten and their commitment to serving the urban church.
Amanda Benckhuysen on the Gospel According to Eve -- Resound

Amanda Benckhuysen and Laura de Jong

Over the centuries, women have read and interpreted the biblical story of Eve, scrutinizing the details of the text to discern God's word for them. Often their investigations led them to insights and interpretations that differed from dominant views that were shaped by men. In her book The Gospel According to Eve, Amanda Benckhuysen traces the history of women's interpretation of Genesis 1-3, readings of Scripture that affirmed women's full humanity and equal worth. Benckhuysen talks with pastor Laura de Jong about her book and its implications for the mission and ministry of men and women in the church today. Amanda W. Benckhuysen is professor of Old Testament at Calvin Seminary and a researcher in biblical interpretation and reception history. Laura de Jong is a pastor at Second Christian Reformed Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, and a graduate of Calvin Seminary.
Resound #17 - Rachael Denhollander on Understanding Forgiveness and Justice

Rachael Denhollander and Karen Saupe

When she stood in a Michigan courtroom last year to make the last of 156 victim impact statements in the sentencing hearing for her abuser, Rachael Denhollander spoke with eloquent conviction and theological wisdom about forgiveness and justice—two terms she says are often misused and misunderstood, sometimes in ways that compound the trauma of the survivors of abuse.
Resound #16 - Nicholas Kristof on Covering the World for the New York Times

Nicholas Kristof and Karen Saupe

Nicholas Kristof has spent a career in journalism telling stories from places that few of his readers have ever been, and few would otherwise notice. The longtime New York Times columnist was among the first and most persistent voices to call the world’s attention to genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan in the mid-2000s, and has been a prominent voice in highlighting the global plague of human trafficking. Kristof spoke at the January Series of Calvin University.
Resound #15 - Mary Vermeer Andringa on Faith, Family, and Leadership

Mary Vermeer Andringa and Julius T. Medenblik

Mary Andringa’s pioneering career in business has been built on a foundation of faith, family, and community. In this conversation she reflects on the legacy of her father Gary as she captures it in her recent book Remembering Dad, and shares lessons on women in leadership, faith and work, and gathering generational wisdom.
Resound #14 - Danjuma Gibson on Frederick Douglass, Oppression, and Hope

Danjuma Gibson and Christina Edmondson

Frederick Douglass escaped slavery to become one of the most important authors of the 19th
Resound #13 - Catherine Gonzalez on Breaking Down Barriers to Women in Ministry and Theological Education

Catherine Gonzalez and Laura de Jong

Catherine Gonzalez has spent a lifetime answering God’s call to break down barriers to female
Resound #12 - Matthew Kaemingk on Interfaith Hospitality in an Age of Fear

Matthew Kaemingk

Why do some North American Christians choose fear over hospitality? What would radical hospitality as Christian discipleship look like in interfaith conversations? Matthew Kaemingk explores these questions in his new book Christian Hospitality and Muslim Immigration in an Age of Fear. He spoke at the Loving Your Neighbor conference at Calvin Seminary this summer, and sat down with Cory Willson to talk about this timely topic.
Resound #11 - Paul Lim on Loving Your Immigrant and Refugee Neighbor

Paul Lim and Kate Kooyman

Countries around the world are wrestling with the issue of immigration. Churches are too. What does it mean to answer Jesus’ call to love your neighbor when it comes to immigrants and refugees? The Loving Your Neighbor Conference at Calvin Seminary this summer brought together church and ministry leaders to explore these questions.
Resound #10 - Jeff Sajdak and Aaron Einfeld on Smartphones and Spiritual Health

Jeff Sajdak and Aaron Einfeld

What do smartphones have to do with our spiritual health? Calvin Seminary recently held a Smartphone Retreat to discern as a community the ways we use our smartphones and the effects they have on us. We found that for many of us, our smartphone use shows signs of addictive patterns, and that for all of us, we can reflect on what we do with our moments, minutes, and “downtime” throughout the day, and the implications this has for our spiritual lives and our life together in community.
Resound #9 - Matt Tuininga on John Calvin, the Church, and Politics

Matt Tuininga and Kevin den Dulk

How can the Church speak into a time of bitter political divisions? How can the
Resound #8 - Mary VandenBerg on Loving Your Neighbor with Dementia

Mary VandenBerg

Millions of people who suffer from dementia, and their loved ones and caregivers, face slow and agonizing decline. How can we show love to these neighbors? How can we view life and death in a way that challenges North American culture? Mary VandenBerg addressed these questions at the Loving Your Neighbor conference in 2016.
Resound #7 - Danjuma Gibson on Pastoral Theology at the Margins

Danjuma Gibson and Geoff Vandermolen

Danjuma Gibson recently took a class from Calvin Seminary to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to wrestle with questions about theology, suffering, and oppression. He reflects on the impact of those visits on participants.
Resound #6 - Gary Burge on Navigating the Paths of the Holy Land

Gary Burge

Tracing the paths of biblical history in the Holy Land gives new dimensions to our reading of Scripture. But today, Israel and Palestine lie at the center of intense conflict. Gary Burge has spent a career studying and traveling to the Holy Land. He talks about navigating its paths and guiding students on their own experiences there.
Resound #5 - Justo González and Mariano Avila on the Future of Latino Theological Education

Justo González, Mariano Avila, and Luis Lugo

Justo González is one of the world’s leading theologians, and a prominent voice in calling the