Truce - History of the Christian Church

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We've all been teased. It's an unfortunate part of being human. When we are teased, we can choose to ignore the taunts, to become embittered, or to rise above them. Today, the story of a man who proved his haters wrong with his sheer competency.

C. Everett Koop was a pioneering American pediatric surgeon who gained national prominence long before entering public office. He served as Surgeon-in-Chief at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where he specialized in pediatric surgery, particularly in correcting congenital birth defects. Over the course of his surgical career, he helped advance neonatal and infant surgery techniques, published extensively in medical journals, and became widely respected for his clinical skill and moral conviction. His early work established him as one of the leading pediatric surgeons in the United States.

In 1981, Koop was appointed Surgeon General by President Ronald Reagan, serving under the United States Public Health Service until 1989. Initially considered a controversial choice, he became one of the most influential Surgeons General in modern history. Koop took strong, science-based positions on major public health issues, most notably the AIDS epidemic, where he advocated for comprehensive sex education and widespread public awareness at a time of intense political sensitivity. He also led high-profile campaigns against tobacco use, emphasizing the health risks of smoking and nicotine addiction. His tenure significantly elevated the visibility and authority of the Surgeon General’s office and reshaped public health communication in America.

My guest for this episode is Nigel Cameron.

Sources:


Dr. Koop by Nigel Cameron


Francis Shaeffer and the Shaping of Evangelical America by Barry Hankins


How Shall We Then Live? video series


Whatever Happened to the Human Race? book and video series


Reaganland by Rick Perlstein


The Evangelicals by Frances Fitzgerald


List of events in 1981

Henry Center article on Carl Henry


List of songs by the Capital Steps

Discussion Questions:

Has anyone ever made fun of you? How did you respond? How should you have responded?

Why is it important to note Koop's medical credentials when discussing him?

What impact did Francis Schaeffer have on the evangelical world? On Koop?

Why is it important to keep noting that abortion was mostly a Catholic issue up until the 1970s?

Why was Koop a controversial choice as Reagan's Surgeon General?

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Russia began attacking Ukraine in February of 2014. The full-scale invasion started in 2022. Since then, the people of Ukraine have fought to protect their homeland, while also trying to continue with their daily lives. They have to cook, take the kids to school, go to work, and fall in love. All the while, bombs are falling in their country. Hospitals, schools, energy sites, and homes are all targets. How are people in Ukraine addressing the mental health crisis there?

On this special bonus episode, I'm playing a conversation for you that I had with my friend Jiří Pasz. He's an author, journalist, and photographer who travels the world looking for answers. What causes people to be evil? To be good? To act like humans? He is part of a collaborative project, Invisible Wounds.

We'll also be playing clips from his discussions with Anatoli Raichinets (Deputy General Secretary of the Ukrainian Bible Society and a pastor of an evangelical church in Kyiv) and Grigori Semenchuk (Ukrainian poet, musician, and cultural manager).

Sources:

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/russia-expands-attacks-energy-facilities-western-ukraine-2026-10-20/

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/ukraine-disputes-trumps-claim-of-energy-ceasefire-as-russian-diesel-deal-draws-fire

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjn5v21py07vo

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/11/world/europe/trump-zelensky-diesel-energy-russia-.html

https://www.dailywire.com/news/ben-shapiro-confronts-zelensky-on-christian-persecution-and-conscription-in-exclusive-interview

Discussion Questions:

What do you think about Donald Trump's plan to lift sanctions against Russian diesel?

What role do we have in critiquing our elected officials?

How do we know that we're not in a cult?

Why is it important that we love our enemies?

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Homeschooling is a controversial subject. It began as something done by counter-culture folks and morphed into a beloved practice by fundamentalists and evangelicals. It has yielded students who excel over their public school peers... but also a good many people who are woefully undereducated. There have been legal fights over this method of education for decades, including some that RJ Rushdoony championed.

As we wrap up season 6 and ask, "What is the legacy of the Religious Right?" we must include homeschooling. It has become almost a litmus test in evangelical circles. If you don't homeschool your children, it can even cause some members of your church to question your parenting.

Our special guest today is Shawn Peters, who co-wrote the book Homeschooling: The History and Philosophy of a Controversial Practice with James G. Dwyer.

Sources:


Homeschooling: The History and Philosophy of a Controversial Practice by James G. Dwyer and Shawn Peters


Education in Massachusetts: Early Legislation and History by George Barrell Emerson

How Stuff Works article about public schools


Christian Reconstruction: RJ Rushdoony and American Religious Conservatism by Michael McVicar

Questions:

Do you know people who were homeschooled? How did they turn out?

How did the movement get started?

What role did RJ Rushdoony play in keeping it going?

What are some positive things about public education?

What are some negative things?

Can Christians leave society and still expect it to act in Christian ways?

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How do we interpret the Constitution? It seems like an easy question, right? It turns out, it's quite difficult. As we wrap up season 6 of Truce, we're exploring some of the things that conservative evangelicals got out of their partnership with the GOP. One of the things they got was constitutional originalism.

Constitutional originalism is a theory of interpretation that holds the Constitution should be understood according to its original public meaning at the time it was adopted. Originalists argue that this approach anchors constitutional law in objective historical meaning, rather than in the personal values or policy preferences of modern judges. By tying interpretation to the text as it was originally understood, originalism aims to preserve democratic legitimacy: changes in constitutional meaning should come from amendments passed by the people, not from judicial reinterpretation. Supporters also claim that originalism promotes stability and predictability in the law by constraining judicial discretion.

Critics of originalism counter that the Constitution was written in broad, open-ended language precisely to allow adaptation to changing social and technological conditions. They argue that strict adherence to historical meanings can freeze outdated norms into modern law and fail to address contemporary realities the framers could not have foreseen. In practice, critics also contend that historical evidence is often ambiguous, allowing judges to selectively invoke history to reach preferred outcomes. As a result, the debate over originalism reflects a deeper tension between constitutional stability and constitutional flexibility in a living society.

Our special guest is Austin Steelman, historian at Clemson University.

Sources:


These Truths by Jill LePore


Reagan by Bob Spitz

Griswold v. Conn. from Oyez.org


Article about Robert Bork

Robert Kennedy's speech about Bork on C-SPAN (about 27 minutes in)


Article about Gorsuch and originalism


Article about Kavanaugh


AP story about Barrett's philosophy

Discussion:

What is constitutional originalism?

Why might some people like it? Dislike it?

Are there questions in US law that are not addressed by the Constitution? What are some examples?

How should those be addressed in an originalist worldview? In a worldview that sees it as a living document?

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Kristin Kobes Du Mez is best known for her book Jesus and John Wayne, which looked at masculinity in American evangelicalism. Her new book, out now, does the same for femininity and positivity. Women today are often told to "live, laugh, love" and focus on the positive. They are to put mind over matter, even though that concept is not explicitly stated in the Bible. This attitude can make women susceptible to abusive relationships, scams, and multi-level marketing schemes.

The book covers a wide swath of history, from Love Comes Softly to The Total Woman and the Little House books. Kristin and I had a lot of fun geeking out over history. I'm excited for you to hear it!

Discussion Questions:

What are some of the messages that women get in your type of Christianity?

How do they differ from what men hear?

What is Keswick Holiness? How did it inform the Pentecostal movement?

What is New Thought?

How do these ideas push people toward free-market capitalism? What about multi-level marketing?

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