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Vicarious atonement and gift-giving

Intuitions against vicarious atonement are overly selective given other vicarious mechanisms we take for granted.

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Seven things that are essential for understanding God’s creation & our place in it, but seem completely insane to the modern mind

Jun 17, 2023 • Bnonn Tennant

What does it mean to bless things?

Feb 5, 2025 • Bnonn Tennant

Against the literal-grammatical-historical method

Apr 1, 2025 • Bnonn Tennant

Clearly correcting Catholic confusion

Mar 26, 2025 • Bnonn Tennant

Recent posts

What is going on with Legion and the pigs?

Why does Legion beg to go into the pigs? Why does Jesus let them? Why do the pigs then rush into the sea? A spiritual event is being depicted int t

Apr 4 • Bnonn Tennant

40:49

[S1E13] Beautifying the body directly

If clothes are an extension of our bodies, to add glory to them, what should we think about beautifying ourselves more directly?

Mar 9 • Bnonn Tennant and Smokey Tennant

The calling of Nathanael and the symbolism of trees and high places

How did Jesus see Nathanael beneath the fig tree? Why does Nathanael respond with an amazed confession of who Jesus is? And how will his seeing angels…

Feb 11 • Bnonn Tennant

Why is Lazarus in the tomb four days?

How symbolic exegesis can reveal the meanings of seemingly “inicidental” details.

Jan 27 • Bnonn Tennant

Keystone Content

26:34

A recursive sanity test for just about any idea worth questioning

Listen now (27 mins) | Bnonn hilariously misunderestimates how many keystone episodes we’ve already produced, and Smokey reflects on how fractals are…

Jul 28, 2025 • Bnonn Tennant and Smokey Tennant

Looking at the beam and seeing by the beam

It is only by participating wholly in the mind of Christ, doing and living truth, beauty and goodness, that we can truly understand and appreciate these…

Feb 2, 2024 • Bnonn Tennant

12:35

Only a materialist starts an argument with, “It’s just…”

Listen now (13 mins) | Bnonn being indisposed, Smokey monologues on weasel phrases which signal that you’re thinking like a materialist, and rants about…

Oct 31, 2023 • Bnonn Tennant and Smokey Tennant

21:25

Seven things that are essential for understanding God’s creation & our place in it, but seem completely insane to the modern mind

Listen now (21 min) | Bnonn briefly explains seven axioms that True Magic takes for granted—without which the project makes no sense.

Jul 10, 2023 • Bnonn Tennant

Season 1

40:49

[S1E13] Beautifying the body directly

If clothes are an extension of our bodies, to add glory to them, what should we think about beautifying ourselves more directly?

Mar 9 • Bnonn Tennant and Smokey Tennant

35:08

[S1E12] Questions & answers about the clothing of the future

In this episode we develop the symbolism of clothing into some specific applications for reforming our dress in the future, and answer some questions…

Jan 2 • Bnonn Tennant and Smokey Tennant

1:02:23

[S1E11] Stages of life & liturgical clothing

If reforming our clothing means returning to the patterns of scripture, does that mean we should be wearing sackcloth when fasting, and that ministers…

Nov 3, 2025 • Bnonn Tennant and Smokey Tennant

40:35

[S1E10] What it means for clothes to be beautiful (or not)

Now that we understand the symbolic nature of clothing, how should we begin reforming it?

Jun 2, 2025 • Bnonn Tennant and Smokey Tennant

Talky Bnonnsense

38:31

Talky Bnonnsense #15: Things we recommend (no paid promotions)

A grab-bag of advice on things worth knowing and doing that for some reason many people don’t know or do.

Jun 19, 2025 • Bnonn Tennant and Smokey Tennant

24:34

Talky Bnonnsense #14: Tallish tales of St. David of Wales

Smokey regales us with the legendary embellishments around the patron saint of Wales — and makes a rather interesting point about how he reframed the…

Mar 11, 2025 • Bnonn Tennant and Smokey Tennant

30:25

Talky Bnonnsense #13: Rhythms of eternity

Bnonn and Smokey discuss the natural and cyclical rhythms built into the human psyche, which somehow involves the French Revolution, Hadestown, Joss…

Jan 21, 2025 • Bnonn Tennant and Smokey Tennant

35:16

Talky Bnonnsense #12: Smokey’s review of The Lord of the Rings: A Musical Tale

Having just seen the Lord of the Rings musical on stage, Smokey pontificates on the good, the bad and the ugly, giving it 4 stars for sheer…

Nov 14, 2024 • Bnonn Tennant and Smokey Tennant

Essays

What is going on with Legion and the pigs?

Why does Legion beg to go into the pigs? Why does Jesus let them? Why do the pigs then rush into the sea? A spiritual event is being depicted int t

Apr 4 • Bnonn Tennant

The calling of Nathanael and the symbolism of trees and high places

How did Jesus see Nathanael beneath the fig tree? Why does Nathanael respond with an amazed confession of who Jesus is? And how will his seeing angels…

Feb 11 • Bnonn Tennant

Vindicating Gideon

Though Gideon seems to execute the kings of Midian out of personal vengeance, scripture’s holographic hermeneutic reveals him to be in the right.

Oct 14, 2025 • Bnonn Tennant

What is going on with David and Abishag?

Smokey expressed perplexion today over this passage:

May 14, 2025 • Bnonn Tennant

Shorts & Thoughts

Vicarious atonement and gift-giving

Intuitions against vicarious atonement are overly selective given other vicarious mechanisms we take for granted.

Apr 9 • Bnonn Tennant

Why is Lazarus in the tomb four days?

How symbolic exegesis can reveal the meanings of seemingly “inicidental” details.

Jan 27 • Bnonn Tennant

A tentative translation of Psalm 1

Following on from my translation of Psalm 47, here is one I have been working on for some time, of a psalm I especially love.

Jan 5 • Bnonn Tennant

A tentative translation of Psalm 47

A brief example, with notes, of how I believe we ought to handle scripture in English.

Dec 29, 2025 • Bnonn Tennant

Recommendations

The Spine of Scripture: God’s Kingdom from Eden to Eternity by Dominic Bnonn Tennant

A book about the telos of the gospel and impressing heavenly patterns into the earth, articulating the larger framework that True Magic takes for…

Mar 18, 2024 • Bnonn Tennant

The Language of Creation: Cosmic Symbolism in Genesis by Matthieu Pageau

This book is widely acknowledged as the modern ur-text for understanding the basic patterns of creation.

Sep 5, 2023 • Bnonn Tennant

Re-enchanting Time: A Primer on How Christ’s Lordship Re-enchants Time-Keeping by Josh Robinson

You should get this book. It is a perfect application of the concept of true magic.

Jul 8, 2023 • Bnonn Tennant

Recommendations

Derek J Fiedler

Seraphim Hamilton

Seraphim Hamilton

Treydon Lunot

Notes from Beth-Elim

Peter Leithart

J.M. Robinson

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