What the Early Church, The Office, and great jazz can teach us about living faithfully today in the roles God has given us.
On this episode, we are thrilled to have Dr. Stephen Presley with us. Stephen O. Presley is the author of two award-winning books, Cultural Sanctification (2024), and Biblical Theology in the Life of the Early Church (2025). He serves as the Director of Education and Engagement at the Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy, and as their Senior Fellow for Religion and Public Life. Presley leads the CRCD’s initiatives that offer a positive vision of religion for the public square.
Michael invites Dr. Presley to guide us through the early church’s view of discipleship and church membership, the wisdom of the early Church Fathers on critical matters of faith in and for the public square, the challenge facing seminaries in training pastors in our current cultural moment, and how The Office and great jazz musicians like Art Peper and Art Farmer give us a framework to understand improvisation.
We have many great episodes already recorded, edited, and ready to go. In the coming weeks, we will feature:
Next up —> Dr. Anthony Bradley is a distinguished research fellow at the Acton Institute and Research Professor of Interdisciplinary and Theological Studies at Kuyper College. A prolific author and sought-after speaker, he has written extensively on theology, culture, race, fatherhood, criminal justice reform, and social ethics. His work has been featured in outlets like Christianity Today, World Magazine, the Washington Examiner, and the Philadelphia Inquirer, and he has appeared on major networks including C-SPAN, NPR, CNN, and Fox News. He is also the author of numerous books, including Liberating Black Theology, Why Black Lives Matter, and his most recent release, Heroic Fraternities (2023). He holds degrees from Clemson University, Covenant Theological Seminary, Fordham University and earned his Ph.D. from Westminster Theological Seminary.
New episodes drop on Thursdays!
Work Cited
Biblical Theology in the Life of the Early Church: Recovering an Ancient Vision (Presley, 2025)
Cultural Sanctification: Engaging the World like the Early Church (Presley, 2024)
Absence of Mind: The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self (Robinson, 2011)
To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World (Hunter, 2008)
Dunder Mifflin Infinity (The Office, Season 4: Episode 4, 2007)
City of God (Augustine of Hippo, 426 AD )
On Christian Teaching (Augustine of Hippo, 397 AD)
Epistle to Diognetus (unknown, 130-200 AD)
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"B-O-O-G-A-L-O-O" (2010) by the Diplomats of Solid Sound is used by license. Scheduling by Josie Risinger
Post-production by Andrew Brinkmann
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