{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"136 \u2013 Political Theology with Jonathan Cole \u2013 Part 1","description":"\u201cI never discuss anything else except politics and religion,\u201d English writer, philosopher, and Christian apologist G. K. Chesterton once quipped.  \u201cThere is nothing else to discuss.\u201d  For some sensible, genteel Americans, politics and religion are precisely what you don\u2019t discuss in public and\u2014perhaps even\u2014in private company.  Others discuss both with ease yet may have trouble thinking through what their politics might say about their religion, or how their religion ought to inform their politics.   The discipline of political theology specializes in studying the intersect between politics and religion.  Joining Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is returning guest from the land Down Under, Jonathan Cole.  Jonathan briefly discusses the history of political theology before turning to how we might understand political theology and how Christianity in particular has shaped the governments of Western civilization.  This is the first of a two-part conversation.  Catch part 2 in the next episode.   About Jonathan Cole From Jonathan Cole\u2019s website: Dr Jonathan Cole is a scholar, writer, translator and lecturer specializing in political theology\u2014the intersection between religion and politics.   He is currently Assistant Director of Research at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture at Charles Sturt University, Canberra, Australia, and host of The Political Animals Podcast: "Honest conversations about the political, theological and cultural ideas that shape who we are in the 21st century."   He has a PhD in political theology from CSU, an MA in Islamic theology and Middle Eastern politics from the Australian National University and a BA Hons in Modern Greek language and history from La Trobe University.  He speaks Greek.   He spent 13 years working in a number of Australian federal government departments and agencies in Canberra, including seven years in intelligence, most recently as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at the Office of National Assessments (2010\u20132014).   Follow Jonathan on Facebook, Twitter, or Academia for his latest content.   ","author_name":"Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values","author_url":"https:\/\/www.savingelephantsblog.com\/","html":"