Tomorrow we celebrate the ascension of Jesus, a date marked out 40 days after his resurrection, when he departed from earth and returned bodily to heaven (Luke 24:50–53, Acts 1:9–11).
On first glance, Jesus rising up in the clouds may seem like something out of a Monty Python skit. It’s perhaps a little difficult to understand, maybe even a little bizarre to grasp, and even more difficult to apply. And yet the ascension of Jesus carries with it a full range of implications for our lives, something we discover in today’s episode of the Authors on the Line podcast.
I put two pastor-theologians on the line to explain. First up, Gerrit Scott Dawson, senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and author of Jesus Ascended: The Meaning of Christ’s Continuing Incarnation (P&R, 2004), a standard theological work on the topic.
And secondly, we hear from Jonny Woodrow, pastor, theologian, and director of the Porterbrook Network headquartered in the United Kingdom. He is the author of a fantastic little book just released under the title Ascension: Humanity in the Presence of God (Christian Focus, 2013), a book he co-authored with Tim Chester.
To listen to our 27-minute conversation, subscribe to the Authors on the Line podcast in iTunes here. Download the mp3 here (18.5 MB). Or listen from the resource page through the following link:
Previous Authors on the Line podcasts —
- Meaning and Metaphor: An Interview with Douglas Wilson
- The Role of the Psalms in the Life of the Church: An Interview with Gordon Wenham
- Young, Restless, and Reformed Five Years Later: An Interview with Collin Hansen
- Getting Real with Personal Sin: An Interview with Matt Chandler
- Hospitality on Mission: An Interview with Rosaria Champagne Butterfield
- From Radical Lesbian to Redeemed Christian: An Autobiographical Interview with Rosaria Champagne Butterfield
- Enjoying God’s Beatific Beauty: An Interview with Kyle Strobel
- Marriage on the Cosmic Stage: An Interview with G. K. Beale
- The Cross-Centered Christmas: An Interview with Ann Voskamp
- Eyes Wide Open to God’s Created Beauty: An Interview with Steve DeWitt
- Christmas and the Sting of Personal Loss: An Interview with John Piper and Paul Maier
- The Trinitarian Shape of Jonathan Edwards' Theology: An Interview with Michael McClymond
- Union with Christ in Paul’s Theology: An Interview with Constantine Campbell
- God’s Work and Ours: An Interview with Timothy Keller
- Christians Leading in the Secular World: An Interview with Dr. Albert Mohler
- Same-Sex Temptations in the Church: An Interview with Robert Gagnon
- The Church in a Homosexual Culture: An Interview with Robert Gagnon
- Delighting in the Trinity: An Interview with Michael Reeves
- Charity and Its Fruits: An Interview with Kyle Strobel