And Sons Magazine

Dr. Tremper Longman III is the man when it comes to ancient Near Eastern studies. Meaning, he’s written more than 30 books on the Old Testament and its world, he’s one of the main translators of the New Living Translation of the Bible, he’s consulted on numerous popular translations, and he’s spent a career helping folks understand what the heck is going on. As in, how do we develop hermeneutics, aka reading strategies? How do we read the Bible for genre? How do we read the Bible as a coherent narrative revealing a single good God? He’s got a new book coming out on the Old Testament (Confronting Old Testament Controversies), diving in to creation accounts, divine violence, history and conquest, and sexuality. We sat down to talk a bit about it. Find Blaine's latest writing at blaineeldredge.com.Learn more about Sam's latest project at nobleworkshops.com.

It’s rankled the And Sons team a while: it seems like VR presents a real threat of escaping reality, in a negative sense, but haven’t folks found ways to escape reality anyway? Sports, books, hobbies, films, dirt bikes, all that? The question is, is there a difference between escaping from reality and escaping into reality, that is, allowing a larger reality to frame your experience? You talk about these things on a Monday morning so we sat down for a realtime conversation on the topic. We’re supposed to live in such a way that we’re not fried, not on empty, not always reaching for last-minute soul-caffeination. We’re supposed to escape. And we do. But is it working? When you ask your friends how they’re doing, do you know anybody who rarely says “Tired”? So. Let’s evaluate practices of medication and soul care. In brief: we’ve got to return to human nature, to fortifying out understanding of what people are for, generally, and how they thrive, usually. And we have to have a good understanding of our sea

Dr. Charles Stone has been a student of the brain for a dog’s age and written on neuroscience across fields. It turns out, understanding human nature, physiology included, outlines a path into practices that promote make your life better. We know: not exactly a surprise but it got us thinking. Anyway, it turns out mindfulness, or being present to God in your moment, is a Christian discipline with roots reaching back millennia. In our conversation, Dr. Stone outlined a mindfulness practice that produces practical relief like happiness, gratitude, an experience of the presence of God, empathy, etc, as well as complex stuff like cognitive reserve, new neurological defaults, and a diminished fear response. One more thing. Get this: in a brain study on nuns, researchers found that nuns experienced Alzheimers and dementia about as often as other people. Surprise surprise. BUT: you wouldn’t know. The nuns didn’t show symptom of either. That’s because they had healthy brains, cultivated through practices like mindf

For our 100th episode and Sam's 30th birthday, we reflect back on what small, daily, choices made in the days can look like over time. And the reverse: to not look at a single moment and miss all the choices that led to it. Find Blaine's latest writing at blaineeldredge.com.Learn more about Sam's latest project at nobleworkshops.com.

What better way to explore the mother heart of God than through the eyes and experience of a mother? Whether you are a mother, had a great mother of your own, or missed everything that was intended, there is mercy for you. And not the "you are excused, we can move on now" mercy that gets slapped around. But deep, affirming, loving mercy from the heart of God. Find Blaine's latest writing at blaineeldredge.com.Learn more about Sam's latest project at nobleworkshops.com.

Our lives are more than just the moment we are living in. They are the accumulation of billions of small moments, they are filled with weeks, months, years, decades. When we live in "the now" and forget about the trajectory of our lives we begin to make random and unhelpful decisions, but if we could see the small choices we make each day as fitting into the trajectory of our year or our decade we might make them differently. Throw in the momentum and direction and story of your community, your town, your country, and most importantly of all... the story of Jesus, then we might make very different decisions day to day. This is an area of maturity and balance. It takes maturity to not get lost in the now and lose the forest for the trees. But it also takes balance to not get swept up into the momentum of the culture all around you and forget that you might be called to live in a different direction. Find Blaine's latest writing at blaineeldredge.com.Learn more about Sam's latest project at nobleworkshops.com

We've been reading "Beautiful Outlaw" again and it's been surfacing some wonderful things. What is Jesus' personality like? Yes, he is kind and merciful and all those other over-used but totally true things. Is Jesus playful though? And if he is, how does that play out on a personal, relational level? Might we learn something of him that draws us closer in and allows us to see his hand in our daily lives more often? Find Blaine's latest writing at blaineeldredge.com.Learn more about Sam's latest project at nobleworkshops.com.

Aside from the intro, of course. So we’re not going to do a series on drinking, swearing and smoking, but we are interested in talking about right action—how do we decide what to do? The word profanity comes from pro-fanum, Latin, literally meaning “before the temple.” The implications are not sacred, outside the sacred, etc. It’s interesting though that God doesn’t identify as sacred. God is holy. That’s a whole different animal. In this episode, we explore a set of related concepts. First, we talk about the human inclination to destruction as revealed in three Old Testament words: khata, pesha, and avon (not English words, btw). Khata is sin, i.e. moral failure, self deception and the devouring self. Pesha is broken trust. Avon is iniquity, or crookedness, and the consequences of human failure everybody’d live with if Jesus hadn’t come. Then we talk about transformation. Jesus is all about the restoration of the human heart. It’s what Moses predicts in Deuteronomy (30, we need a circumcision of heart), wh

This podcast episode began percolating when we received several emails from different listeners, all of whom were asking the same question: how do you create a family culture that loves reading? Our love begins with enjoyment of story. To be able to enjoy the Gospel, theology, the sciences, the classics... it all begins with our love of story. Our very lives are a story, and we will not see the story unfolding all around us if we have missed learning to love the most simple of stories. Fairy tales may have more to teach us about ourselves and reality than you may have guessed. Find Blaine's latest writing at blaineeldredge.com.Learn more about Sam's latest project at nobleworkshops.com.

We want more of God. More intimacy. More miracles. More clarity. More play. More joy. It turns out Jesus has outlined disciplines as avenues into the life we want. Generosity—regular, radical giving—is one such discipline. In this episode we explore what it takes to become generous. It starts, like so many things, with knowing God as Mother and Father. The Father who tells you your crisis in not a problem. The Mother who tells you your needs are seen, and you will be satisfied. We are made to resource our life in God. When we don’t, generosity is a rough target. From there we move on to the nature of the discipline: the way God intervenes to rescue a person from isolation. That’s what giving is, after all: separating ourselves from our stuff in favor of satisfaction. It includes money, and it’s more than money. Whether your tight fisted, like we’ve been, or the world’s champion tither, there is a path forward into joy, and it’s rich and storied and, it must be said, more than a little nerve-wracking. Find B

Many of our conversations with friends have been around the subject of the cost of "really" following God. There is a sort of understanding that we are not completely there yet, and to take the leap to full-fledged followers would usher in a high cost. Yet, as Peter said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." Find Blaine's latest writing at blaineeldredge.com.Learn more about Sam's latest project at nobleworkshops.com.

Brian Dreher is one of four Senior Terrestrial Biologist's in the state of Colorado. He got his masters studying bears. He's also an avid bowhunter. Enough said, right? Brian and Morgan have been longtime friends thanks to a shared passion of the wilderness, hunting, and conservation. Brian lives in a space between the interest groups of politicians with agendas, hunters and recreation enthusiast who want to maximize opportunities, and the care for the land and the animals so the resources thrive over time. That friendship, and that position, is what initiated our conversation today. Find Blaine's latest writing at blaineeldredge.com.Learn more about Sam's latest project at nobleworkshops.com.

Back in the fall I (Blaine here) started building a mini barn in my backyard. Doing so dismantled a great many misconceptions I held about building and craftsmanship, like how good I was at it, and what it would be like. Example: I assumed craft would be contemplative and monastic, but it turns out that’s only true if you already have a contemplative and monastic disposition. To talk this through, we asked builder and finish carpenter and longtime craftsman Greg Winters to come into the studio and explain the soul of the craftsman. This isn’t just about learning to make certain cuts. It’s learning work through failure, to focus, to live in the present. It’s learning to step back from a project and let the mind come to rest. Most of all, it’s developing the ability to reach out for the Father in the places he’s expressing himself. Carpentry resists isolation. And that’s a good thing. It’s an opportunity to learn the life of a son. Find Blaine's latest writing at blaineeldredge.com.Learn more about Sam's late

“Two things I ask of you, Lord; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.” Yup. The Proverbs say some things about wealth and power we rarely say or pray. In this episode, we dive in to desire: what is worth wanting? Which is another way of saying, what nourishes the human soul? Because it doesn’t seem to be power, that is, wealth, success or influence, even though I (Blaine) spend a lot time thinking about how to get those things. Instead, the wisdom of the ages advocate for righteousness, a concept translated in the New Testament as eudaimonia, or flourishing. That’s all well and good, but we’d like to know, how does someone actually want righteousness? What’s it look like? And, maybe most importantly, how does it interact with the world’s concept of power? The answers are out there, folks, from wanting wisdom to asking for a God-listening heart. We’ve got a ways to go, but dismantling misleading aspirations is

“If your life with God doesn’t have a regular dose of adventure,” Padre says, “It’s not going to sustain the masculine soul.” That’s all well and good, but what if you live in the city? What if you have young kids? What if any one of a hundred what-ifs make adventure difficult? To answer that question, we snagged Bart Hansen, of the Ransomed Heart team. Bart has built rockets, parasails, and airplanes, flown all over the west, and done some of the craziest things we’ve ever heard. But it turns out none of those things define his life of adventure. Nope. Instead, Bart uses three categories to explore adventure as it relates to the life of the heart: Casual, Crucial and Epic Adventure. Casual adventures are everyday outings. Crucial adventures involve the maturation of the soul. Epic adventures hinge upon the risk of love. It turns out we need all three. From swim training in a snow storm to pursuing irritating neighbors to loving the woman in your life, this is an episode everyone needs. Find Blaine's la

We've touched on learning before, and this isn't a repeat episode. Recently a young man asked us how we learn things, as in, how we gain skills or information that actually effects our daily lives. Which is really the point of all that information out there, isn't it? Here's the excerpt from the poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay from the episode: "Upon this gifted age, in its dark hour, Rains from the sky a meteoric shower Of facts . . . they lie unquestioned, uncombined. Wisdom enough to leech us of our ill Is daily spun, but there exists no loom To weave it into fabric." Find Blaine's latest writing at blaineeldredge.com.Learn more about Sam's latest project at nobleworkshops.com.

Our identities are shaped by our stories, by the messages we receive from those around us, and by the scripts we seem doomed to live out. But out identity as we know it may not be who we really, truly, are. What we speak over others and over ourselves has immense power, and so much more so when we speak statements of identity. What are the statements you believe about yourself? What if you could exchange your script for a new, better, more hopeful one? What if everyone you knew said, "I trust you"? What would you live like then? Find Blaine's latest writing at blaineeldredge.com.Learn more about Sam's latest project at nobleworkshops.com.

Wookie is a designer, coffee shop owner, New Hampshire-based motorcycle rider. He’s a fascinating young dude with a penchant for risk and plenty of insight into which scooter to buy. We roped him in for a few reasons. When you see a guy who owns a coffee shop, works freelance, and maintains a stable of sweet bikes, its hard to imagine how all that happened. We wanted to know the story. What would the established freelancer tell the young freelancer? How do you manage risk when you have so many irons in the fire? And how do you keep your love of motorcycles alive when you’ve got a wife and house and kids? As Wookie admits, the story is messy, but there are always takeaways, and the lessons are invaluable. Find Blaine's latest writing at blaineeldredge.com.Learn more about Sam's latest project at nobleworkshops.com.

Sam, Blaine, and Luke sit down to tell some stories from their experiences in dating from high school, into college, and eventually into marriage. This is not meant to be the official posture of And Sons on dating, but a round table where other's stories and experiences can help by way of understanding our own stories. What are the messages your story with dating is telling you, and what are the agreements you might be making over your future? The reference for the purity movement mentioned in the episode is from a lecture at Fuller, but the source is work by Dr. Tina Schermer Sellers. Her book is "Sex, God, and the Conservative Church". This episode is not about Dr. Sellers book, nor was the conversation guided by it. Find Blaine's latest writing at blaineeldredge.com.Learn more about Sam's latest project at nobleworkshops.com.

It’s Advent, folks. The beginning of the year. The reorientation to our revolution. Sure, advent is a time of preparation, too, but it’s also a time of doubling down on our story, of circling up to raise a glass to the Kingdom of God and remind ourselves of the urgency of our hour. It’s hard to say it better than folks have said it for centuries - “When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior’s first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for his second coming…the Church unites herself to his desire.” Find Blaine's latest writing at blaineeldredge.com.Learn more about Sam's latest project at nobleworkshops.com.