Readings: Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22;Psalm 84:1-7; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Readings: Genesis 32:22-31; Psalm 121; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5; Luke 18:1-8. Learn More: Isaac v. Manning et. al Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Readings: 2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15; Psalm 111; 2 Timothy 2:8-15; Luke 17:11-19. Learn More: A Tale of Two Soldiers Naaman the Syrian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Readings: Lamentations 1:1-6, Psalm 137; 2 Timothy 1:1-14; Luke 17:5-10. Learn More “Jeremiah, Why Do You Weep?” Part One Part Two Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does it mean to carry the weight of other people’s devotion? Martin of Tours’ Vita shows how even saints can be trapped between humility and veneration, celebrated to the point of distortion. Aaron Weiss, lyricist and frontman of mewithoutYou, now teaching anthropology, joins us to explore ego, authenticity, and what happens when art, faith, and power intersect. Learn more at https://pewpewhq.com/blog/gruntgod-ch9 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Readings: Amos 6:1, 4-7; Psalm 146; 1 Timothy 6:6-19; Luke 16:19-31. To Do: Get your #GruntGod Season Pass Attend GruntCon on October 25th in Albany, Oregon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What made soldiers standouts as monks, and how did their experience shape Christian asceticism? This episode explores the birth of communal monasticism, tracing how Pachomius transformed abandoned sites into thriving religious villages that contrasted with solitary desert hermits. Ancient historian Christian Barthel brings his expertise in late antiquity and Roman military institutions to show how these roots shaped the language, discipline, and traditions of early monastic communities. Learn more at https://pewpewhq.com/blog/gruntgod-ch8 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Readings: Amos 8:4-7; Psalm 113; 1 Timothy 2:1-7; Luke 16:1-13. To Do: Get your #GruntGod Season Pass Attend GruntCon on October 25th in Albany, Oregon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is worth dying for—and how do we live honorably when death isn’t the point? St. George’s earliest lives depict a soldier who refuses imperial demands, framing martyrdom as faithful witness—an honorable life that may cost everything—rather than a quest for heroic death. Rebekah Eklund is a New Testament and ethics scholar whose Beatitudes research—on meekness, peacemaking, and the persecuted—maps 2,000 years of interpretation in The Beatitudes through the Ages. Learn more at https://pewpewhq.com/blog/gruntgod-ch7 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when military service collides with the earliest Christian witness? In this episode of GruntGod Season Pass, we explore the tension between loyalty to Caesar and allegiance to Christ, and how ancient questions about soldiers, oaths, and discipleship still press on us today. Dr. George Kalantzis, professor of Theology at Wheaton College and author of Caesar and the Lamb, brings his expertise in early Christianity and his own military background in Greece to illuminate these hard but vital conversations. Learn more at https://pewpewhq.com/blog/gruntgod-ch5 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do Christians owe veterans and other military neighbors? A sharp, honest conversation on Joshua, policing, and responsibility. From “serve and protect” to the limits of “civility” and the promise of nonviolent action, this episode reframes justice in the post–George Floyd era. In this episode, we confront the Hebrew Bible’s hardest texts with help from Russell Johnson. Join Grunt Works in this candid, thoughtful guide to power, privilege, and Scripture in public life. Learn more at https://pewpewhq.com/blog/gruntgod-ch3 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does it really cost to lead? In this chapter of God Is a Grunt, we journey alongside Moses, the reluctant leader whose entire life became an act of sacrifice—leaving behind home, status, and even his own dreams to serve a people in the wilderness. With insight from Girardian scholar Cris Haw, we explore how sacrifice often demands more than ritual offerings—it calls for the surrender of control, comfort, and sometimes even reputation. This is a story not just for the faithful, but for anyone who has carried the weight of responsibility in service to others. Learn more at https://pewpewhq.com/blog/gruntgod-ch2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if the story of Cain wasn’t just about punishment—but pain? In this powerful first chapter of God Is a Grunt, we reexamine the world’s first murder through the lens of moral injury—the deep, spiritual pain that comes not just from violence, but from betrayal, shame, and exile. With pastoral insight from David Peters, former Marine and Army chaplain, this episode unpacks how ancient scripture speaks directly to the struggles faced by modern warriors—and those who love them. Learn more at https://pewpewhq.com/blog/gruntgod-ch1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Readings: Exodus 32:7-14 and Psalm 51:1-10 1 Timothy 1:12-17 Luke 15:1-10. To Do: Get your #GruntGod Season Pass Attend GruntCon on October 25th in Albany, Oregon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week I failed. In the flurry of activity around openning The Chapter House, I wasn’t able to schedule and record an interview with a Pauline scholar, but that doesn’t mean I won’t! When I do, that episode will be available to watch from the Grunt Works website as well as on First Formation so you can listen to it wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Readings: Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Psalm 1; Philemon 1:1-21; Luke 14:25-33. To Do: Get your #GruntGod Season Pass Attend GruntCon on October 25th in Albany, Oregon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Readings: Jeremiah 2:4-13; Psalm 81:1, 10-16; Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16; Luke 14:1, 7-14. To Do: Get your #GruntGod Season Pass Attend GruntCon on October 25th in Albany, Oregon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does it mean to follow a God who fights? In this chapter of God Is a Grunt, we confront the paradox of the Divine Warrior—Yahweh as defender and destroyer, Jesus as both God and grunt—wrestling with Scripture’s most unsettling vision of holy violence. With Old Testament scholar Tremper Longman III, co-author of God Is a Warrior, we trace the motif from Exodus to Revelation and explore how Christians today can face the Bible’s hardest edges without flinching. This is an honest, unguarded conversation for believers who want to reckon with power, justice, and faith in the heat of battle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Readings: Isaiah 58:9b-14; Psalm 103:1-8; Hebrews 12:18-29; Luke 13:10-17. To Do: Get your #GruntGod Season Pass Attend GruntCon on October 25th in Albany, Oregon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Readings: Jeremiah 23:23-29; Psalm 82; Hebrews 11:29-12:2; Luke 12:49-56. To Do: Get your #GruntGod Season Pass Attend GruntCon on October 25th in Albany, Oregon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices