Ep. 82 - Jonathan Merritt ”Learning to Speak God from Scratch”

The Deconstructionists

John Williamson

Religion, Religion & Spirituality

4.4 • 823 Ratings

🗓️ 2 October 2018

⏱️ 85 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

GUEST INFO/BIO: This week’s guest is the incredible Jonathan Merritt! Jonathan Merritt is an award-winning writer on religion, culture, and politics. He currently serves as a contributing writer for The Atlantic and contributing editor for The Week. Jonathan has published more than 3500 articles in respected outlets such as The New York Times, USA Today, Buzzfeed, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. As a respected voice, he regularly contributes commentary to television, print, and radio news outlets and has been interviewed by ABC World News, NPR, CNN, PBS, MSNBC, Fox News, and CBS’ “60 Minutes.” Jonathan is author of several critically-acclaimed books, including Learning to Speak God from Scratch, Jesus is Better Than You Imagined, and A Faith of Our Own: Following Jesus Beyond the Culture Wars. and has collaborated on or ghostwritten more than 50 additional books, with several titles landing on the New York Times, USA Today, or Wall Street Journal bestsellers lists. Additionally, he trains hundreds of young writers through his Write Brilliant course. Named one of “30 young influencers reshaping Christian leadership“ by Outreach Magazine, Jonathan is a sought after speaker at colleges, conferences, and churches. He holds a Master of Divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Master of Theology from Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. (SELECT) GUEST PUBLICATIONS: Jesus is Better Than You Imagined, A Faith of Our Own: Following Jesus Beyond the Culture Wars, and Learning to Speak God from Scratch. GUEST LINKS/SOCIAL MEDIA: www.jonathanmerritt.com Twitter: @jonathanmerritt Instagram: @jonathanmerritt Facebook: @jonathanmerritt SPECIAL GUEST MUSIC: Morning Parade Facebook: @morningparade Twitter: @morningparade Enjoy the songs? Songs heard throughout the episode were: “Speechless, Carousel, Us & Ourselves, Headlights” from the album, Morning Parade. “Alienation” from the album, Pure Adulterated Joy. Go forth and find their music on iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Pandora, and anywhere good music is found! Stay on top of all the latest at www.thedeconstructionists.com Go there to read our blog, snag a shirt, follow us on social media, or join our Patreon family! The Deconstructionists Podcast is mixed and mastered by Nicholas Rowe at National Audio Preservation Society: A full service recording studio and creative habitat, located in Heath, Ohio. Find them on Facebook and Twitter or visit their website for more information: www.nationalaudiopreservationsociety.weebly.com www.facebook.com/nationalaudiopreservationsociety Twitter: @napsrecording Website by Ryan Battles All photos by Jared Hevron T-shirt designs by Joseph Ernst, Chad Flannigan, Colin Rigsby, and Jason Turner. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-deconstructionists/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Transcript

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0:00.0	My dad works in B2B marketing.
0:02.0	He came by my school for Career Day and said he was a big Roas man.
0:06.7	Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend.
0:11.6	My friend's still laughing me to this day.
0:14.2	Not everyone gets B2B, but with LinkedIn, you'll be able to reach people who do.
0:18.8	Get $100 credit on your next ad campaign.
0:21.2	Go to LinkedIn.com slash results to claim your credit.
0:24.3	That's LinkedIn.com slash results.
0:26.5	Terms and conditions apply.
0:27.9	LinkedIn, the place to be, to be.
0:29.9	If we do not talk about God or the inner life or spirituality or faith,
0:37.3	our minds will not be as attuned to transcendence,
0:42.5	and our lives will not be ordered around these spiritual realities. But you might even take
0:50.7	that a little further, because let's say you're listening to this and you're post-Christian or you're un-Christian or or you're spiritual but you're not Christian. What do you care?
1:00.1	Well, you actually should care because what we've seen in the last 50 years is a massive decline,
1:06.4	not just in Christian words, not just in the word atonement or some big, meaty theological phrase.
1:13.6	We've seen a decline in basic words of morality and virtue. The word grace has been declining.
1:22.4	The word mercy declining, compassion words, kindness words, the word courage. All of those words have been declining.
1:31.2	So what's happened is, is now we wake up in 2018 and Donald Trump is president and you're
1:38.6	hearing what you're hearing in this 24-7 news cycle. And we look around and we say, gosh, we live in a culture that is not courageous,
1:47.2	that is not gracious, that is not kind, that is not merciful, that is not compassionate.
1:54.0	And what we're only now realizing is we have actually been shaping our culture to be this
	...

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