Mount Vigil

The Acts of the Apostles is not a complete history of the Church in the first century. But it is a genre-blending masterpiece. It is a historical treasure trove, a catechetical resource, a theological revelation, and a user guide to life in the Church. In this episode Anthony and Blaine discuss St. Luke's origins, temple theology, Jewish diasporas, and generosity. 

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Mount Vigil has come to an end but you ...

To follow Jesus is to engage a political project: It is to submit to Jesus as he establishes his upside-down Kingdom by his Spirit through the Church.

Anthony and Blaine lay out a few core convictions for a style of political engagement that is anchored in the teachings of Jesus. Allegiance. Enemy love. Prayer. There is no more challenging, satisfying, and liberating way to minister to the life of the community than by emb...

What happened to the northern tribes after the Assyrian deportation? Were they ever gathered back from the nations? How does that relate to the diversity of church expressions today? Is that evidence of schism and disunity, or something else? In this episode Anthony and Blaine discuss Israel's narrative arc in the scriptures as well as an often-overlooked theme: over and over again, God uses the rending consequences of sin...

Anthony and Blaine continue their conversation on the Church by examining the canonical relationship between God and His covenant partners.

As Joseph Ratzinger put it, "The history of the relationship between Israel and Christendom is drenched with blood and tears."

That's true but it need not be that way. The history of the relationship between Israel and Christendom is fundamentally a history of God's faithfulness, self-r...

The Trinity is the fountainhead of reality and the mystery at the center of all things. And so it should go without saying (but it often doesn't) that the Church only makes sense when it's explored in terms of the triune God. In this episode, Blaine and Anthony start with the Trinity and survey salvation history to put the life of the Church in context. From the love of the Father to Covenant Theology, Dionysius the Areopa...

We're back.

In this episode, Anthony and Blaine map out the territory ahead and offer their thoughts on constructive engagement with Church history. In brief: be ecumenical, read like it's your job (wasn't it Aquinas who said "Beware the man of one book?") don't treat anyone (ancient or modern) as stupid, and plan to live differently.

Division in the Church is a matter of sin; unity and love in the Church reflects God's ow...

Mount Vigil is going on hiatus; we've wrapped up our two year long Story of God series and we'll be taking the next few months to pray into the future. We're living through the end of an age, as we've said before. That means we're facing unique pressures, and so we need to seek the face of the Lord as ask for His wisdom. We're not quite sure what will come out of this discernment process, but we'll be back next year. In th...

In this conversation, Blaine and Anthony share a few thoughts on responding to current events in terms of allegiance to Jesus. The crisis involving Israel and Palestine is a divisive issue, if you hadn't noticed. The good news for us is that the Gospel of Jesus applies to situations exactly like this one and the Church is empowered by the Spirit to respond in an utterly unique way. We hope some of the thoughts here help yo...

Blaine's written a book, folks! It's an epic introduction to Jesus in terms of the story of God. If you've been following MV, this book is for you. From night raids and necromancers to witch kings and dragons, Blaine and Anthony talk through the presentation of Jesus in our time.

Where to Connect
Mount Vigil has come to an end but you can still connect with Anthony and Blaine at their respective blogs:

• Anthony - Sun T...

We've spent hours contemplating Revelation. Now it's time to hear the text itself. 

This will be our acid test: Can our long-term engagement with theology, Church history, and culture transform our experience of the scriptures? Can we see Jesus in the Apocalypse? We hope so. But you'll have to listen and see for yourself. Enjoy this dramatic reading of Revelation: we hope you will directly experience Jesus, slain and risen ...

This is it: the finale of the 5-part series on Revelation, as well as the finale of the 19-part series on the Story of God in the Bible. In this episode, Blaine and Anthony draw together the main threads of the podcast so far: God’s design for the cosmos as revealed in Scripture, the nature of evil, and the restoration of all things through Jesus of Nazareth. “For I consider,” said Paul, “that the sufferings of this presen...

In this series, Blaine and Anthony have argued that Revelation is the theological capstone of the Bible. Nevertheless, because its method of doing theology draws upon the Jewish (rather than the Greco-Roman) tradition, many of its claims go right over the head of modern readers. In this show, Blaine and Anthony drill down on some of the most notorious elements in Revelation: the 144,000, the  Whore, the Beast, the Mark, an...

“While each church receives a message reflecting its own situation, there is one overarching issue: whether or not to compromise. Specifically, will these churches be faithful witnesses both to Jesus and like Jesus (and John!) by refraining from participation in the cultural norm of pagan religion, including the imperial cult, even if it entails serious consequences: social, economic, and political?” Gorman

In this third pa...

In this episode, Anthony and Blaine continue their Story of God series by returning to the book of Revelation. Questions discussed in this conversation: How does John use the Old Testament? What is the structure of John’s Apocalypse? Who is/are the seven spirits in 1:4? What is going in in John’s prologue? We hope you enjoy.

Where to Connect
Mount Vigil has come to an end but you can still connect with Anthony and Bl...

“Revelation is not only one of the finest literary works in the New Testament, but also one of the greatest theological achievements of early Christianity.” So says New Testament Scholar Richard Bauckham, and yet few of us experience it that way. In this episode, Blaine and Anthony begin a conversation on the literary and theological marvel that is Revelation, drawing on diverse scholarship to frame its historical and prop...

When it comes to anticipating the return of Jesus, two New Testament texts loom especially large: The Olivet Discourse and the Revelation of John. In this episode, Blaine and Anthony discuss the first: The Olivet Discourse from Matthew 24 and 25. On the Mount of Olives, the disciples ask two questions: when will the temple be razed to the ground, and when will the final marriage of heaven and earth take place? Jesus answer...

In this episode, Blaine and Anthony discuss the everyday life of the people of God. The Church is a glorious reality; on the ground, it is also a gritty reality. The practice of dying to self is not abstract. It looks like loving real people. It looks like owning our sin. It looks like repenting. It looks like leaving church gatherings and then learning to hang in there. The local gathering is an eternal reality embodied b...