Hard faith questions, talked through by Probe Ministries staff.
Probe Ministries puts its own staff at the microphone, pairing a host with a colleague or a guest author to talk through one hard question at a time. Subjects run from a three-part interrogation of theistic evolution to the date of Jesus' birth, Christian nationalism and the Bible's accounts of God destroying cities.
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Head and Heart Probecast is the podcast of Probe Ministries, which is described on air as a Christian worldview and apologetics ministry. The format is plain: a host and a colleague, co-host or guest author work through one subject in conversation. Paul Rutherford, who introduces himself as a research associate with Probe, hosts several of these, and his job is mostly to ask, restate and check. One question gets three episodes. With Dr. Ray Boland, Probe's resident scientist, Rutherford asks whether theistic evolution is a viable compromise for thinking Christians. The first installment sets out terms and turns to embryology, where Dr. Ray argues that reshaping a body plan needs early mutations, and that early mutations are lethal. The second takes on the science, including biogeography and the differences between Old World and New World monkeys, which he presents as a problem. The third is philosophy: methodological naturalism, an Arkansas law from around 1980 calling for creationism to be taught alongside evolution, and the demarcation arguments federal judge William Overton used to strike it down. Rutherford admits the philosopher in him wants to answer some of it with a flat no. 'When Was Jesus Born?' is a chronology puzzle, with Tom Davis in the colleague's chair. They weigh both the season and the year, drawing on Luke's account of John the Baptist's conception, a lunar eclipse, the Magi and the crowded end of Herod's life. The host sums one timeline up as supporting December 25, then signs off with Christmas greetings. 'Why Did God Do That?' shares its title with Matthew Tingblad's first book, which sets out to show God revealed as good throughout Scripture, even where passages seem to say otherwise. Rutherford puts a blunt version of the question to him: how accounts of God destroying cities and whole people groups, women and children among them, show that God is good. The episode points to josh.org alongside probe.org. A different pairing, Kyle Skaggs and co-host Tom Davis, handles 'Christian Nationalism', and the register loosens. Skaggs starts from 2024 Pew Research survey data on how many American adults have never heard the term. The two read through a numbered list of duties, from kin to creation, mostly agree with it, then argue that two items should swap places, since the wrong order could oblige a Christian to side with a government persecuting other Christians. They also read out a claim that biblical nations are patriarchal. The episode ends on a firm objection: no earthly government should decide what counts as heresy or sound doctrine. For a first listen, the theistic evolution series is labeled as three parts and makes most sense in order, while 'When Was Jesus Born?' stands on its own.
Made for: Suits a listener who wants Christian apologetics argued with specifics on the table, from embryology and the fossil record to a lunar eclipse and a court ruling on teaching creationism. It also fits someone who would rather hear a question talked through by two people than delivered as a lecture.
What sets it apart: The conversations come from inside Probe Ministries, so a single question can get three linked episodes with the ministry's resident scientist. The show is also willing to question Christian nationalism from within a Christian frame.
Head and Heart Probecast is a conversation between Probe Staff and guests related to Christian Apologetics, worldview, and faith for a 21st century Christian. It provides a helpful perspective aimed at transformation of the heart.
A fake Vatican scroll claim meets a search engine before it meets your theology.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A conversational look at Christian nationalism, biblical hierarchy, and the limits of state authority.
Christian nationalism is handled here as a contested label, not a fixed doctrine. Kyle Skaggs and co-host Tom Davis start from the idea that many Americans may not know the term, then move through rival definitions, different expressions of it, and William Wolfe's work as an…
A Christian apologetics discussion tests the rules used to separate science from non-science.
The third part of Head & Heart's theistic evolution series moves into philosophy, asking whether theistic evolution can hold together as a theory. Paul Rutherford brings the question to Dr.
A Christmas date is weighed through priestly chronology, early church belief, astronomy, and historical precision.
December 25 becomes the center of a careful historical question: when was Jesus born, and how much weight can the evidence carry? Host Paul Rutherford and Tom Davis work through disputes over the day and year, the early church's belief in December 25, Luke's chronology, and a…
A creation-focused challenge to theistic evolution built around monkeys, biogeography, and a proposed Atlantic raft crossing.
Theistic evolution is treated here as a pressure test for how Christians might hold the creation account alongside universal common descent, with the conversation centering less on theology than on whether the science can carry the model. Paul Rutherford turns to Dr.
A focused discussion of theistic evolution through mutations, body plans, and embryological timing.
Theistic evolution is framed as a proposed middle ground between creationism and evolution, then tested against a scientific line of questioning. Paul Rutherford asks Dr. Ray Bolin to define the terms and consider whether the idea holds up scientifically.
Careful Christian thought under pressure.
Christian apologetics under courtroom pressure.
Head and Heart Probecast hosts Kyle Skaggs and Tom Davis define Christian nationalism and cite a 2024 Pew Research Survey claiming that 54% of U.S.
Paul Rutherford and Ray Boland examine whether theistic evolution is philosophically viable, focusing on methodological naturalism and definitions of science.
Head & Heart asks whether Jesus was born on December 25, January 6, September 11, or around 6 BC, with Paul Rutherford interviewing Tom Davis of Probe Ministries.
Paul Rutherford and Dr.
Paul Rutherford interviews Probe Ministries research associate Ray Bolin about whether theistic evolution is a viable compromise for Christians.
On Head & Heart Probecast, Paul Rutherford interviews Matthew Tingblad about his book Why Did God Do That?
Head and Heart Probecast’s “Five Things Every Christian Needs to Know about Jesus” features Paul Rutherford and Tom Davis discussing Jesus’ historical life from a Christian apologetics perspective.
Head & Heart host Paul Rutherford and Probe Ministries writer and web mistress Sue Boland examine “leading with a limp” through transparency, authenticity, and Christian leadership.
Sue Bolin interviews Paul Rutherford and Kelly Rutherford on the Head & Heart podcast about the speaker-listener technique for achieving mutual understanding.
Sue Boland interviews Probe Ministries colleagues Paul Rutherford and Kelly Rutherford about the WENI framework: withdrawal, escalation, negative interpretation, and invalidation.
Paul Rutherford and Tom Davis examine how the Bible's covenants, from creation through Revelation 21–22, form a unified account of God's relationship with humanity.
Head & Heart hosts Paul Rutherford and Tom Davis present the Bible’s grand narrative through covenants, beginning with Adam and Eve’s creation mandate and continuing through Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David.
Head & Heart host Paul Rutherford and Probe Ministries research associate Michael Gleghorn examine whether someone can be saved without knowing Jesus' name.
Paul Rutherford and Tom Davis examine whether Christmas is a pagan holiday, focusing on Saturnalia, Sol Invictus, and Christmas trees.
Paul Rutherford and Steve Cable define “nones” as atheists, agnostics, and people identifying with no religion, using Pew and General Social Survey data.
Paul Rutherford and Dr.
Paul Rutherford interviews Probe Ministries science expert Ray Bowen about whether climate science supports the Green New Deal, which Bowen describes as a response to a claimed climate emergency and a plan involving broad federal influence over energy and household choices.
Paul Rutherford and Sue Bolin of Probe Ministries discuss transgender identity through a conservative Christian biblical-worldview framework.
Head and Heart host Paul Rutherford and Probe Ministries colleague Tom Davis explain five methods for defending Christianity: classical, evidential, cumulative case, presuppositional, and reformed epistemology.
Paul Rutherford and Michael Gleghorn define general revelation as God making himself known through creation, conscience, history, and providence.
Paul Rutherford interviews Kirby Anderson, president of Probe Ministries and host of Point of View, about woke theology, critical race theory, and white privilege.
Paul Rutherford interviews Matthew Tingblad of Josh McDowell Ministry about managing information overload through Christian discernment.
Head and Heart Probecast hosts Paul Rutherford and Sue Bowen discuss gender through Genesis 1, identity, and the relationship between sex and gender.
Paul Rutherford interviews Dan Ray about The Story of the Cosmos, a book developed from a Hubble Space Telescope scientist and C.S.
Head and Heart Probecast examines Probe Ministries' 2020 survey findings about Christian beliefs, demographic change, and the decline of a basic biblical worldview.
Dan Ray tells Paul Rutherford how a proposed joint presentation by Hubble astrophysicist Dr.
Paul Rutherford and Dr.
Head & Heart’s “Why Are You a Christian?” features host Paul Rutherford interviewing Probe Ministries colleague Dr.
Paul Rutherford and Tom Davis examine Easter through Lent, Passover, and the Jewish Day of Atonement.
Paul Rutherford and Steve Cable examine American Christianity through General Social Survey and Pew Research data, focusing on evangelical affiliation, beliefs, and religious practice.
Paul Rutherford and Ray Bolin of Probe Ministries discuss loneliness, depression, anxiety, and isolation during the holiday season and COVID-19 pandemic.
Paul Rutherford and Byron Barlow examine whether Christians can trust the Bible by discussing transmission, canonization, inspiration, and the preservation of Jesus’ sayings.
Paul Rutherford and Tom Davis discuss Justin Bass's The Bedrock of Christianity, focusing on 1 Corinthians 15:3-7 as an early confession about Jesus' death, burial, resurrection, and appearances.
Paul Rutherford interviews Dr.
Paul Rutherford and Kirby Anderson examine how archaeology relates to the Bible, using the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Hittites, King David, Capernaum, and Pontius Pilate as examples.
Paul Rutherford and Kirby Anderson discuss Greg Kokel’s Tactics, a 10th-anniversary edition that presents a “game plan for discussing your Christian convictions.” The episode explains the Columbo tactic through three questions: “What do you mean by that?”, “How did you come to that conclusion?”, and questions that expose contradictions or introduce another possibility.
Paul Rutherford and Sue Bolin of Probe Ministries present a Christian discussion of gender identity, sexual identity, and what Bolin calls two separate gender spectra.
Paul Rutherford and Michael Gleghorn examine Josephus, the Babylonian Talmud, and Lucian as non-Christian sources mentioning Jesus and early Christians.
Paul Rutherford and Michael Gleghorn examine Tacitus’s account from around 116 AD, which identifies Christus, Pontius Pilate, Tiberius, and the persecution of Christians under Nero.