Episode 60: Why I Am (Still) a Christian (rebroadcast) (12/5/2022)
Link to Apple Podcasts You-Have-Permission 12 05 2022
For many years I studied Christian apologetics in the manner of advocating for the truth of Christianity as a worldview. Dan Koch's story around "Why I Am Still a Christian" is not that kind of conversation. Post-evangelicalism in general has largely set aside old school apologetics as an endeavor that was for a time significant in the context of modernity, but which rarely maps onto questions that people now ask about God and religion. Many of these questions arise from the dramatic moral failures of Christianity as a cultural institution in many historical occasions.
In this episode, YHP founder Dan Koch applies an autobiographical strategy to the "why" question posed above, arising out of a life journey in which Dan shares in common many of the questions and struggles that have led many to leave Christianity.
The purpose the YHP podcast is expressed in the introduction offered at the beginning of each episode: "My name is Dan Koch. Like many of you, I've been on a complicated faith journey for a number of years now. While I tend to find myself on the progressive side of Christianity, my goal is not to make liberal converts. I want this show to be a resource for Christians to my right and to my left, as well as former Christians and non-religious folks - anyone who finds themselves asking difficult questions about God, science, prayer, fate, suffering, evangelism, and more. So many of us have been given bad answers to those good questions, often by people with pure intentions. I want to say that you have permission to take both Christianity and the modern world very seriously. And I hope to facilitate that by introducing you to people seeking God across the Christian spectrum, engaging hard questions in a multitude of ways."