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WOF 480: Are We Required to Love Everyone Equally?

The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture

Release Date: 03/10/2025

WOF 499: Four Culminating Themes of the Bible (Part 2) show art WOF 499: Four Culminating Themes of the Bible (Part 2)

The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture

We bring you the second half of Bishop Barron’s keynote address at this year’s inaugural international Evangelisation & Culture conference in London. In the first half, Bishop Barron focused on the first two of four themes of the Bible, namely, creation and the God of Israel. Today, we conclude his address with the final two themes, right praise and kingship, and we learn how these patterns are gathered together in Christ Jesus. Link: Part 1 of this keynote address:  Word on Fire Institute:  NOTE: Do you like this podcast? ! Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry...

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The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture

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The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture

Earlier this year, we hosted Word on Fire’s first international Evangelisation & Culture conference in London, at which Bishop Barron gave the keynote address. He focused on four themes of the Bible, examined the themes of creation, the God of Israel, right praise, and kingship. Today, we’ll hear the first of those themes as we prepare for how those culminate in the person of Jesus Christ. Enjoy.  Link: Word on Fire Institute:  NOTE: Do you like this podcast? ! Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners . . . like you! So...

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The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture

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The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture

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The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture

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WOF 493: The Bigger Story of the Bible with N.T. Wright (Part 1) show art WOF 493: The Bigger Story of the Bible with N.T. Wright (Part 1)

The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture

Today we bring you the first half of a conversation from earlier this year between Bishop Barron and biblical scholar, N.T. Wright, at Word on Fire’s Evangelisation & Culture Conference in London. The two discussed approaching the Bible as a bigger story—one that’s holistic, hopeful, and invitational. Enjoy.  Link: Word on Fire Institute:  NOTE: Do you like this podcast? ! Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners . . . like you! So become a part of this mission and  to become a Word on Fire insider and...

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The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture

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The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture

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The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture

We continue celebrating twenty-five years of proclaiming the Gospel; evangelizing the culture; supporting the faithful; and inviting the disaffiliated, the forsaken, and those who have fallen away back to Christ and his church. However, over the years, attacks against Bishop Barron and Word on Fire have come from many sources, including online anti-evangelists who hate religion in general and Christianity in particular and from those who posture themselves as the Church’s greatest defenders. What is the substance of these detractions? What motivates them? Do they pose an actual threat to the...

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Are Christians required to love everyone equally? This question has recently become a matter of public and even political debate. So how should we answer? It seems necessary to ask what “loving thy neighbor” means in practice; for example is the love between friends, the love between spouses, the love within a family, the love among compatriots, and even the love of an enemy all the same kind of love? Do these relationships all entail the same kinds of moral responsibilities? Might it be reasonable to say, for example, that we have a greater obligation to care for our own children over others’ children, our own friends over strangers, and our own country over other countries? If so, however, how can Christians coherently claim that we love all people equally?

A listener asks how to forgive and let go of bitterness. I help my kids return to church?

00:00 | Introduction
01:43 | Bishop Barron’s recent trip to London
02:08 | Understanding love in the great commandments
03:50 | Love for specific relationships
06:13 | Properly framing love of self
06:58 | Love your enemies
08:03 | Critiquing love as granting another’s desires
09:07 | The distinct love for God
11:17 | Who is my neighbor?
12:55 | Ordo amoris: the order of love
17:52 | Equal regard vs. equal treatment
20:36 | Is it ever okay to circumvent ordo amoris?
22:20 | Does the Good Samaritan counter ordo amoris?
23:40 | Does Luke 9:60 counter ordo amoris?
26:52 | The evangelical impact of understanding love
27:43 | Listener question
29:54 | Join the Word on Fire Institute


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