Church Family History with The Rev. Dr. Jennifer Powell McNutt

The Allender Center Podcast

The Allender Center

Psychology, Religion & Spirituality, Mental Health, Christianity, Trauma, Health & Fitness, Theology

4.6 • 628 Ratings

🗓️ 29 March 2024

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We often spend time reflecting on how our family of origin shapes our stories. But today, we're turning our attention to another important part of who we are, both personally and collectively: our church family history.

This week, we are honored to host The Rev. Dr. Jennifer Powell McNutt, a distinguished church historian, professor, and author. Dr. McNutt serves as the Franklin S. Dyrness Associate Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at Wheaton College and is the co-author, alongside David W. McNutt, of the upcoming book, "Know the Theologians."

Given the challenges and controversies within the church today, it's crucial to understand the relevance of our church family history. Jennifer, Dan, and Rachael highlight the need to learn from both the successes and failures of past generations and to recognize God's faithfulness throughout history.

While learning about church history might seem intimidating at first, it's incredibly valuable in understanding our Christian tradition and where we're headed together. We hope this conversation inspires you to do your own exploration of the influences of this unique "family tree."

Jennifer will return later this year to continue this conversation. In the meantime, we encourage you to explore her new book, "Know the Theologians," available April 2 at bookstores everywhere.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Good Friday is a really remarkable day, and we want you to enter into the podcast that will be coming just with a reminder as we deal with church history in the podcast to come.
0:23.2	We come with a long, long family history of this being a very, very important day.
0:32.9	And it's odd, good Friday.
0:35.5	Many have called it an oxymoron.
0:38.2	How can a day of death be a day that is good?
0:43.0	And it really came probably from the fact that the word good often meant holy, or it's
0:49.8	also thought in church history that it was God's day and eventually was put into the word good.
0:58.0	But whatever it means, it means a lot.
1:02.0	And for you, Rachel, what does it mean?
1:04.0	Yeah, well, you know, it's interesting because just for those of you, I will assume people know what Good Friday means, but we're heading into
1:12.1	Easter weekend and Friday is the day we acknowledge that Jesus died. And for me, growing up,
1:19.3	in the context I did, Good Friday was actually always a little scary in the sense that the
1:25.3	core emphasis of what was happening on Friday was my sin and failure
1:30.8	partnered with like this incredible gift that Jesus was giving us in dying on the cross.
1:39.3	And so it felt like a day I both, you know, was so in awe of remembering and anticipating,
1:48.0	but also like dreading because like, you know, such the individual focus on my individual sin
1:54.8	as the reason that God, son, Jesus, Jesus as God is having to die.
2:02.2	And I would say the older I've gotten and the more, I think, robust
2:09.3	atonement, understanding of atonement I have.
2:12.6	And then our work at the Eleanor Center with trauma and the ways in which Good Friday becomes a day to really understand that Jesus joined me in suffering, not just in spite of me, but also to be with me.
2:32.3	And as well acquainted with the powers of death of this world.
2:38.7	And so it is a holy day.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Allender Center, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Allender Center and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.