InkleDeux Podcast

This week, Brandon and AJ talk about the curse of getting what you ask for. Why does it seem like we rarely get what we want from God? And even more so, when we do, it goes wrong?

This week, AJ and Brandon talk about the idea of applying Biblical texts to our own lives after Brandon came across the line, "Goliath is not your anxiety." How can we apply Biblical lessons to our lives without co-opting them?

This week, AJ and Brandon discuss the difficulties of living as a Resurrection people. Why does it seem to get harder to remember that life triumphs over death the further past Easter we get?

This week, Brandon asks AJ about what seems to be a recurring pattern in salvation, where God reveals Himself and also opens the eyes of those who receive His revelation. Why doesn't God open everyone's eyes? And how is it that people are able to encounter the Truth and still turn away from it?

Building off the conversation about Pontius, Brandon and AJ take a look at St. Peter's call out of the crowd at Pentecost for putting Christ to death by lawless men.

This Easter, Brandon talks to AJ about reflecting a bit on the interactions between Jesus, Pontius Pilate, and the Chief Priest. What do the earthly leaders reveal about themselves in their interactions with the Christ?

This week, AJ and Brandon talk about the ways Brandon has felt the world around him shape him as they try and identify some ways to be in the world without being of the world.

This week, AJ and Brandon discuss beauty as a path to God. Why does it seem to be used so sparingly? How can it be used well?

In this week's episode, Brandon and AJ continue looking at what CS Lewis says about different ways people consume art. How do we make sure to let the art do its work.

This week, Brandon brings some questions from a CS Lewis book on criticism to the pod. He and AJ discuss the difference between using art and being impacted on it and the dangers of using your passions.

This week, AJ and Brandon take their conversations about the pope and synods into a more personal conversation about how we are called to lead in our daily lives.

This week, Brandon asks AJ about the Synod on Synodality and what those crazy Germans were getting up to. It's not breaking news, but it's a relevant discussion with the advantage of avoiding hot takes.

This week, Brandon asks AJ some follow ups on papal elections. How much of the election of a pope is about human, political machinations? How much is divine guidance by the Holy Spirit? How can we tell?

This week, AJ brings up Pope Francis' current health situation and talks with Brandon about the Pope's broader role in Christianity. Even if you aren't Catholic, the Papacy remains influential.

In this week's episode, Brandon approaches AJ about his idea that our messaging on Christ is the source of a lot of people's confusions about Him. Specifically, that people overemphasizing Christ's humanity or divinity are a big part of the problem.

This week, Brandon wants to talk about the Jesus commercial in the Super Bowl. Does it make sense to take such a broad strokes approach to evangelization? Is it evangelization at all? Is that a good use of $8 million? What is the actual message they are spreading? Do any of these questions even matter?

Wrapping up their look at examples of priests, prophets, and kings in the Lord of the Rings, AJ and Brandon compare the rule of Aragorn and Denethor, steward of Gondor. They also crystalize some of the patterns between all three offices and think about what that means for their own lives.

This week, AJ and Brandon continue looking at Middle Earth and Christ's three offices being depicted. This time, it's with a look at the priesthood as seen in Gollum and Frodo (and Sam).

In this week's episode, AJ and Brandon discuss Tolkien's depictions of good wizards and bad as a parallel to the messianic office of the prophet. What do Gandalf and Saruman show us about the right and wrong ways to live the prophetic call?

This week, Brandon and AJ resume their conversation about Tolkien's Middle Earth. What starts as a conversation about how change in perfection must be a loss becomes a conversation about how we experience our fall and God's salvation of us as ongoing stories rather than single historical events.

This week, Brandon and AJ spend their time comparing the modern trust in progress and development with Tolkien's own skepticism and doubt about development in time.

After their week off for Christmas, Brandon and AJ talk about the magi and what they can teach us about wisdom outside of the Covenant.

As Christmas draws ever nearer, Brandon shares his frustrations and misgivings about adult gift exchanges and AJ wants to broaden the definition of what a gift is. We talk Red One, love languages, projecting preferences, all in the name Christmas!

This week, Brandon and AJ spend some time looking ahead. What are they hoping to see happen in the coming year? What books and travel? What opportunities for growth will they hopefully seize?

This week, Brandon comes to AJ wanting to talk through balancing going all in versus risk management. Rather than decision making, they end up focusing on confidence and trust.

This week on Brandon's Therapist Chair, he and AJ talk about the impact of framing on our experience and the way we look at a situation actually impacts how we experience it.

This week, AJ returns a married man and he and Brandon talk about what the Prophet Amos teaches us about passing judgments.

AJ took the week off after his wedding, so Brandon sits down with Walther Cantu, friend of the podcast, to discuss the role of we play in forming the home.

This week, AJ and Brandon build on last week's talk about justice and pharaoh by looking at God's mercy with Israel in the desert.

This week, Brandon and AJ talk about God's justice as displayed in the 10 plagues and how often we force God's escalation by refusing His gentler corrections.

This week, AJ and Brandon continue their discussions about how marriage mirrors our relationship with Christ by taking a look at the family and what it means for us to join to something new.

As they continue talking about marriage and relationship, both human and divine, Brandon and AJ talk about the importance and difficulty in being vulnerable and establishing intimacy.

This week, AJ and Brandon continue talking about Christ's modeling of marriage, this time focusing on the idea of commitment and why it's not a 50/50 relationship.

In this week's episode, AJ's students and his own approaching wedding have him asking Brandon, the marriage veteran, for his insights into marriage and being the bride of Christ.

As Brandon moves his reading into Hebrews, he came across a statement about the unbelief of the Israelites with Moses. This week, he and AJ discuss how it's possible that those who saw the ten plagues could fail to believe in the God who sent them.

This week, AJ and Brandon talk about what it means to do their lives with God. How do we cooperate with God when He doesn't need our help?

This week, AJ and Brandon discuss how to play the game they began talking about last week. If all God wants from is our presence, why are there things we must do?

This week, Brandon brings up God saying, through the prophet Isaiah, that He has to save us Himself. Brandon and AJ spend this episode talking about why that is and what that means for us as collaborators.

Building on last week's conversation, AJ and Brandon talk about how and why Christians can avoid becoming overly insular in their practice of the faith.

This week, Brandon brings an observation from his reading of Isaiah to discuss with AJ. Isaiah makes it clear that the Messiah will be for all people, and yet the Jewish people aren't known for evangelizing. Why is that?

This week, Brandon brings a couple examples of celebrities who found their way to Christ after experiences with psychedelic drugs. He and AJ discuss why this pattern seems to be developing and, obviously, why it isn't a recommended path to conversion.

Brandon and AJ go back a couple weeks to their discussion about the nature of Christ to focus on whether Christ has really experienced all that we have. How does our sinfulness and His sinlessness intersect?

This week, Brandon and AJ discuss their discomfort with being celebrated and honored and where that comes from. Is it really humility? Spoiler alert: No, it isn't.

In this week's episode, Brandon is inspired by his reading of St. Athanasius to look at one of the questions posed to about the possibility of change in Christ as opposed to the change(fall) of Satan. He and AJ spend some time comparing the three natures of God, angels, and humans to see why this question is important and see how the question affects our own relationships with God.

In this week's episode, as AJ prepares to move again, Brandon is curious about the impacts AJ has noticed in his moves and how living in different places could broaden his daughters' experiences.

This week, Brandon follows up with AJ about some of AJ's difficulties with St. Paul and others. How can we acknowledge not being drawn to, or even disagreeing with, certain Saints without dismissing them?

This week, Brandon asks why it is so hard to keep commitments to ourselves than it is to keep the ones we make to others. This definitely applies to prayer, but so many other things as well.

With Brandon out of commission, AJ does a little thinking out loud about how he sometimes struggles to incorporate the teachings of the Saints into his own life.

AJ and Brandon build on last week's discussion about the soul's location by diving a little bit deeper into what the soul is. What do we mean by animating principle?

This week, Brandon brings his daughter's question about where the soul is and things quickly balloon out to a broader conversation about the human person and body-soul unity.

This week, AJ and Brandon talk about the idea of general revelation. What is it? How much does it actually tell us about God? Once we have specific revelation, is there any reason to think about the general revelation anymore?