Restitutio

This episode is part of the Restoration Theology class.

Today is the capstone episode of this entire class on Restoration Theology. We’re going to put together what we’ve learned so far into a twenty-question diagnostic. The purpose of this method is to evaluate any Christian belief or practice. You can use it on your own doctrines to refine what you believe, or you can apply it to others.

In what follows I’m going to run through the method a total of three times. First, I’ll simply list off the twenty questions. Then I’ll take two theological books and run through the method twice more. My hope is that once I’m done with this, you will understand how to use the diagnostic.

Ultimately, my prayer is that this method will provide Christians from all kinds of backgrounds a more systematic and comprehensive approach to figure out what to believe. This method is how we do restoration theology–how we restore authentic Christianity. I hope you will find it helpful.

Here’s a link to the twenty-question diagnostic.

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Check out the other episodes of the Restoration Theology class

Support Restitutio by donating here

Join our Facebook group, follow on X @RestitutioSF or Instagram @Sean.P.Finnegan or Threads @sean.p.finnegan

Leave a 90 second voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play it out on the air

Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here

Get Finnegan’s book, Kingdom Journey to learn about God’s kingdom coming on earth as well as the story of how Christianity lost this pearl of great price.

Get the transcript of this episode

Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library.

This episode is part of the Restoration Theology class.

About a year ago I was listening to a podcast that said black plastic cookware comes from recycled electronics. Such plastics are loaded with chemicals like fire retardants and should not be used in cooking. I was thinking about the black plastic spatula our family used regularly. I imagined how each time it was heating up, bad chemicals were leeching into our food.

This information caused me to doubt something I had never thought of before. I did some looking around online and found that there were other options. There are metal spatulas, silicone spatulas, and even wooden spatulas. I weighed the merits of each and purchased one. When it arrived by mail, I threw out the old black plastic one.

You probably employ this kind of reasoning all the time. However, when it comes to deeply cherished beliefs, we tend to be quite resistant to hearing criticisms or having doubts. We are often unaware of what the other theological options are. Most of us are underexposed to other Christian ways of thinking outside of our group.

Today my goal is to convince you that looking at other options and evaluating your own beliefs over against them is worthwhile for you to do. Furthermore, I want to–as always–share a method that you can use to do this process on your own. I believe that when you have the courage to allow yourself to doubt your beliefs, you will benefit by either discarding falsehood or strengthening those that are true.

  Listen on Spotify

  Listen on Apple Podcasts

—— Links ——

Check out the other episodes of the Restoration Theology class

Support Restitutio by donating here

Join our Facebook group, follow on X @RestitutioSF or Instagram @Sean.P.Finnegan or Threads @sean.p.finnegan

Leave a 90 second voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play it out on the air

Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here

Get Finnegan’s book, Kingdom Journey to learn about God’s kingdom coming on earth as well as the story of how Christianity lost this pearl of great price.

Get the transcript of this episode

Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library.

This episode is part of the Restoration Theology class.

As we continue through our survey of the major branches of theology, we come to the subject of doctrinal precedents. Who has believed a particular idea before? Were there any Christians who held position x in the past? Who were they? If the majority of the church no longer holds to a certain belief, what happened?

When I was in high school, I thought history was terribly boring. Learning the names of dead American presidents or about European wars never appealed to me. You may feel this way too. However, right from my first time encountering Christian history, I felt different. Perhaps that was a gift of God. Or maybe it’s because Christian history is family history. I was learning about my ancestors in the faith–the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Today you’re going to learn a method to do historical theology. This will empower you to test your beliefs in the laboratory of history and see who held them previously. Such an exercise is important in our quest for doctrinal truth. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do.

  Listen on Spotify

  Listen on Apple Podcasts

—— Links ——

Check out the other episodes of the Restoration Theology class

Support Restitutio by donating here

Join our Facebook group, follow on X @RestitutioSF or Instagram @Sean.P.Finnegan or Threads @sean.p.finnegan

Leave a 90 second voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play it out on the air

Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here

Get Finnegan’s book, Kingdom Journey to learn about God’s kingdom coming on earth as well as the story of how Christianity lost this pearl of great price.

Get the transcript of this episode

Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library.

This episode is part of the Restoration Theology class.

Restoration Theology is an approach that brings together good hermeneutics and good theology. We’ve talked a great deal about hermeneutics, which how to interpret the Bible well, and now we’re working our way through all the major branches of theology. In previous episodes, we’ve looked at biblical and systematic theologies and now we’re ready to see how analytic theology can help us evaluate our doctrines.

Though analytic theology may seem intimidating at first–what with all the symbols and logical operators–it’s actually quite a commonsensical way to approach doctrine. If we boil it down, analytic theology is merely the application of reason to your belief. We all do this all the time. We look at some weird belief and say, “Well, that doesn’t make sense. I’m not going to believe that.” We come up against a different way of putting together scripture and we scrutinize the reasoning. We say, “Hey that argument doesn’t work because of this problem.” Analytic theology provides the tools to formalize this process. And I’m excited to share with you a method to harness the power of this field without having to do years of schooling or spend hundreds of hours reading dry textbooks.

  Listen on Spotify

  Listen on Apple Podcasts

—— Links ——

Check out the other episodes of the Restoration Theology class

Support Restitutio by donating here

Join our Facebook group, follow on X @RestitutioSF or Instagram @Sean.P.Finnegan

Leave a 90 second voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play it out on the air

Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here

Get Finnegan’s book, Kingdom Journey to learn about God’s kingdom coming on earth as well as the story of how Christianity lost this pearl of great price.

Get the transcript of this episode

Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library.

This episode is part of the Restoration Theology class.

Whereas last time we focused on differences and development, today our goal is to perceive the final form of a doctrine. Because restorationists believe God inspired scripture, we recognize that amidst the diversity we can also detect coherence. Although there were many authors, there was only one God inspiring each of them.

Today you’re going to learn about how to do systematic theology well. Rather than merely collecting a few texts that support your belief, you’ll also learn what other steps are necessary to put together a robust theological statement. You’ll also learn about the limitations of systematic theology.

  Listen on Spotify

  Listen on Apple Podcasts

—— Links ——

Check out the other episodes of the Restoration Theology class

Support Restitutio by donating here

Join our Facebook group, follow on X @RestitutioSF or Instagram @Sean.P.Finnegan

Leave a 90 second voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play it out on the air

Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here

Get Finnegan’s book, Kingdom Journey to learn about God’s kingdom coming on earth as well as the story of how Christianity lost this pearl of great price.

Get the transcript of this episode

Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library.