Whether it was while driving, or walking, or doing the dishes, I found lots of moments to listen to podcasts this year. Some made me laugh, some made me think, and some refreshed things I already knew. Here are three episodes from this past year that especially stuck with me.
The Rest is History: J. R. R. Tolkien Episode 225
Hosts: Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland
It is fascinating to hear about Christians living in another era. Here historians Sandbrook and Holland take us back into the early life of the author of The Hobbit and the remarkable The Lord of the Rings trilogy. We glimpse something of the early years of the twentieth century, through the experiences of the young Tolkien, as he grows up and goes to war.
But in this instance we get a double helping of past cultures, as Tolkien’s interest in Medieval history and languages opens up a vista into that time period also. Sandbrook and Holland help us to understand something of the impact of the Medieval world on Tolkien’s way of seeing the world he lives in.
It can be all too easy to encounter the grand stories of English literature, such as The Lord of the Rings, without reference to the times in which they were written. And there is still much to be enjoyed in the works, but a deeper layer is uncovered when Tolkien’s experiences during the First World War are connected to how good and evil are depicted in his epic stories.
I have yet to find an episode of this podcast that did not give me some new insight into how the world has come to be where it is now. It seems to me I can better understand my own times when I lay them alongside the past—not judging one to be better or worse, but instead highlighting the assumptions and beliefs carried through both.
It seems to me I can better understand my own times when I lay them alongside the past
Undeceptions: Between the Testaments Season 5 Episode 5
Host: John Dickson
We can be very fuzzy when it comes to that blank page between the end of Malachi’s prophecy and the start of Matthew’s gospel. Sometimes we even mischaracterise it through lack of familiarity. This seems like a simple problem to fix by listening in on this conversation.
Dickson interviews Rev Dr George Athas—the Moore Theological College Director of Research and Lecturer in Old Testament and Hebrew—in this excellent episode.
It is good to hear Australian voices on a podcast, and the ease and clarity with which Dickson and Athas cover the couple of hundred years that set the scene for the coming of the Saviour is a joy to listen to.
It seems especially important that Christians take the time to understand the world of Christ. The social movements and cultural energy that swirled around him throughout his life and ministry will play a part in how we understand his teaching.
In the show notes there is a wealth of further resources to delve into whatever aspects of the content most caught your attention, and at whatever level you are ready to explore.
Imaginary Worlds: Beforeigners
Host: Eric Molinsky
Okay, so this is the outlier of the group.
Imaginary Worlds is a podcast about how we create imaginary worlds and why we suspend our disbelief. It will most appeal to those interested in fantasy and sci-fi, even as it tackles a wide variety of topics and issues within that space.
This episode is about a Norwegian Science Fiction TV show called, Beforeigners. Molinsky explains the nature of the show and interviews the two creators. The basic premise is that characters from Norway’s past have arrived in the present and cannot return to their own time.
The show is less interested in how the people from the past got here, as it is in how they fit in and adapt to their new lives. For example, how does a person from Viking times adapt to and make sense of the values and behaviours of modern people? In the words of L. P. Hartley, “The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there.”
I think this episode struck me because of the way it considered the experience of living in, but not exactly fitting in, the modern world. It resonated with the experience of Christians, who have a shared history with the surrounding culture, yet see it from an outsider point of view, perhaps feeling like an outsider, with no chance of ever really belonging.
As strangers and sojourners in this age, we are looking forward to an age to come. In the meantime we seek to live worthy of the Lord in an increasingly foreign land.
