Loose, serious theology with history close by.
Theology Unplugged works through Christian doctrine in a loose, teacherly register. Recent episodes move across the ontological argument, canon debates, the Apocrypha, miracles, dispensationalism, podcast authority, and the value of theological disagreement.
PRESS PLAY
Theology Unplugged is a conversational Protestant theology show with a strong apologetics and church-history spine. It is not polished into a tight lecture script. Michael Patton often thinks aloud, backs up, restates a point, and keeps the argument moving through definition, objection, and illustration. That gives the show a classroom feel, but a lived-in one. Recent episodes return to canon, Scripture, and authority from several angles: self-authentication, sola scriptura, Protestant responsibility, and the question of whether the canon is theoretically open or practically closed. The Apocrypha receives sustained attention as well. The show treats those books as historically significant and debated, rather than as a simple Protestant talking point. It also spends time with classic arguments for God, especially the ontological argument and its connection to ideas like greater, lesser, better, worse, and existence. The range is broader than technical apologetics. Episodes touch miracles, false prophets, medical assistance in dying, dispensationalism, and the collapse of trust in institutions and online authorities. Podcast and YouTube culture become theological material too, especially where authority, algorithms, and suspicion shape what people believe. Church history is never far away. Patristics, Reformers, Mystics, Augustine, Pelagius, the Apostolic Fathers, and the broader Christian inheritance appear as part of the show’s working vocabulary. A conversation with Gavin adds a more questioning, back-and-forth mode, with college exposure, family relationship, and basic theological uncertainty brought into the room. The show is comfortable with disagreement. It presents being wrong, reconsidering, and sharpening ideas against other people as part of theological formation. It can be intense, personal, and occasionally blunt, but its main energy is explanation. Theology Unplugged suits listeners who want Christian doctrine treated as an active argument across Scripture, tradition, philosophy, and ordinary trust.
Made for: Suits a listener who wants Protestant theology, apologetics, and church history explained through extended reasoning rather than compressed answers. It especially fits someone comfortable with unresolved tensions and careful disagreement.
What sets it apart: The show’s strength is its visible thinking: Michael Patton lets definitions, caveats, objections, and historical references stay in the conversation. Similar theology shows may sound more scripted; this one often keeps the workshop on the surface.
Join C. Michael Patton and friends for Theology Unplugged, a weekly podcast that dives deep into Christian theology, exploring challenging questions, and offering insightful discussions to deepen your faith. Discover the truth, embrace the journey, and engage with thought-provoking topics every week.
Even Pelagius gets some sympathy here; your tidy theological certainties may need a wider shelf.
Press play if you want
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A wary, useful look at how podcasts, COVID, and algorithms reshaped trust.
Theology Unplugged reads podcast culture as a sign that trust has moved, with long-form YouTube conversations now serving as classrooms, forums, and informal authority-making machines. The host does not simply wave those figures away.
A careful, patient guide to why the ontological argument is so difficult to define and assess.
The episode treats the ontological argument as one of the traditional major arguments for God's existence, and as unusually hard to define with precision.
A family theology chat follows Pelagius and Augustine into grace, sovereignty, and human will.
Theology Unplugged frames a family conversation as a concise look at Christian debates over human will and divine sovereignty. Gavin, Michael's nephew and a University of Oklahoma student, brings questions shaped by his college exposure to theology, and the discussion works its…
A possible communal reading of Craig Keener's Miracles opens a candid inquiry into evidence, worldview, and miracles in church life.
A possible group reading of Craig Keener's two-volume Miracles gives Theology Unplugged a focused question: how should miracle claims be weighed, and what role should that work have in the church?
Michael Patton argues that Scripture's authority cannot rest on an institution's approval.
Michael Patton treats sola scriptura as more than a familiar Protestant shorthand. The episode centers on his claim that Scripture must authenticate itself, rather than depend on an institution to grant it authority.
Two Bible translators unpack Scripture's hardest passages, from Revelation's 666 to the Witch of Endor.
Scripture, surrender and faith put into practice.
Theology Unplugged's "The New Prophets: Authority, Experience, and the Collapse of Trust" argues that podcast culture has moved authority from institutions to individual YouTube voices.
["C.
Theology Unplugged's Basement Theology conversation with Gavin opens with a MAID and Canada reference before Michael shifts into dispensationalism, Israel, and Bible interpretation.
Theology Unplugged begins a collaborative reading of Craig Keener’s two-volume Miracles, focusing on how Christians might evaluate reported supernatural healings.
["Michael Patton uses Theology Unplugged episode 81 to argue that scripture is self-authenticating, not authenticated by an institution first.", "He says the Catholic church argument creates an infinite regress, because every authority needs another authority above it to approve the Bible.", "Patton brings in Alvin Plantinga's 'properly basic beliefs' and the law of non-contradiction to show why some starting points do not need outside proof.", "He then uses Deuteronomy 13 and 18, plus Hebrews 1:1, to say that prophecy must fit God's prior word even when a sign or wonder appears."]
The host discusses the Protestant approach to theology, emphasizing personal wrestling with doctrine rather than outsourcing to infallible authorities.
Michael Patton’s Theology Unplugged episode 79 examines the history of Christian acceptance of the Apocrypha and the deuterocanonical books.
Michael Patton calls justification, alongside authority, a central difference between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, citing the Council of Trent and the Lutheran-Catholic Joint Declaration.
Michael Patton introduces the Deuterocanonical books (Apocrypha) and discusses the debate over whether they belong in the biblical canon.
Michael Patton discusses the historical development of the biblical canon, focusing on why certain books are included and the differences between Catholic and Protestant Old Testaments.