Apologist Interview: Michael Patton

Today's interview is with Michael Patton, president of Reclaiming the Mind and Credo House Ministries found at reclaimingthemind.org. This is a ministry of theological development for lay people. He blogs at Parchment and Pen @reclaimingthemind.org/blog and is also responsible for the development of Credo House of Theology found at credohouse.org. He talks about Credo House, Credo Courses, his ministry experience, dealing with depression, how burnout comes in ministry, common warning signs, sharing struggles, advice for a long-term view, and more.

Full Interview MP3 Audio here (42 min)

Enjoy.
Subscribe to the Apologetics 315 Interviews podcast here or in iTunes.

Eight Issues That Do NOT Make or Break Christianity

The following is a guest post by C. Michael Patton of Credo House Ministries. (Hear his interview with Apologetics 315 here; transcript here.) Find out more about Credo House resources here.

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I realize that posts such as these have the potential to create quite a bit of heat and get me in a lot of trouble. As well, I don’t really want to be seen as one who is always trying to unsettle things. I like to be settled, and in a very pastoral way, I like to settle others. However, in Christianity, both for our personal faith and our public witness, we need to speak with the emphasis necessary to carry our faith truly. It is my argument that often – far too often – conservative Christians become identified with issues that, while important, do not make or break our faith. This creates extremely volatile situations (from a human perspective) as believers’ faith ends up having a foundation which consists of one of these non-foundational issues. When and if these issues are significantly challenged, our faith becomes unstable. I have seen too many people who walk away from the faith due to their trust in some non-essential issue coming unglued. That is why I write this post. Whether you agree with me or not, I hope this discussion will cause you to think deeply about what issues create the bedrock of our (and your) faith.

Here is a list of what I believe to be eight issues that do not make or break our faith:

1. Young Earth Creationism
There are many people who spend an enormous amount of money holding seminars, building museums, and creating curricula attempting to educate people on the importance and evidence for a six-thousand (give or take) year-old earth. There is certainly nothing wrong (in my opinion) with holding to and defending such a view. The problem comes when those who hold to this view teach that to deny a literal six-day creation is to deny the Gospel (or close to it). There is simply no sustainable reason to believe that one’s interpretation about the early chapters of Genesis determines his or her status before God.

Michael Patton Interview Transcript

The following transcript is from an Apologetics 315 interview with Michael Patton. Original audio here. If you enjoy transcripts, please consider supporting, which makes this possible.

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BA: Hello this is Brian Auten of Apologetics 315. Today’s interview is with Michael Patton. Michael is the president of Reclaiming the Mind and Credo House Ministries found at reclaimingthemind.org. This is a ministry of theological development for lay people. He blogs at Parchment and Pen at reclaimingthemind.org/blog and is also responsible for the development of Credo House of Theology found at credohouse.org. That’s a theological coffee house museum and book store. The purpose of our interview today is to talk about the interface between theology and apologetics, advice for studying theology and doing apologetics, and to hear about the work Michael is doing at Credo House. Well, thanks for joining me for this interview today Michael.

MP: Thanks for having me Brian, it’s great to have you…it’s great to be here, excuse me, I’m use to my own interviews that I do on my program.

BA: Well, I’d like to say thanks for your great resources, especially your interviews and the blog, the things you have available at reclaiming the mind and all of your theology program lectures have been real helpful for me.

MP: Ah, well great. Thank you so much. It’s fun, it’s what I love to do and it’s always nice as you know to see that it’s affecting people.

Theology Interview: C. Michael Patton

Today's interview is with C. Michael Patton, president of Reclaiming the Mind/Credo House Ministries, a ministry of theological development for lay-people. He blogs at Parchment and Pen and is also responsible for the development of the Credo House of Theology, a theological coffee house and bookstore. He talks about getting theology to the layperson, the relationship and interface between theology and apologetics, theological equipping for apologists, the importance of wresting with theological issues, pitfalls from neglecting theological training, advice for those considering seminary, the importance of community, important lessons and advice for doing theology and apologetics, and more. Get the Theology App here. See the Theology Program here. Theology Unplugged Podcast here.

Full Interview MP3 Audio here (40 min)

Enjoy.
Subscribe to the Apologetics 315 Interviews podcast here or in iTunes.