The Surprising Story Behind WWJD

How do we imitate Jesus in 2023? There is a growing interest in a particular theological tradition that helps us answer this question in our modern age. This is not the Calvinism of memes, but the Calvinism of Herman Bavinck and Abraham Kuyper. Our regular hosts, Andrew Noble and Joel Jacob, spoke with Dr. Joustra about this history, the story behind WWJD bracelets, the different ways of answering, "What Would Jesus Do?" and how everything (including technology) is religious. This is episode 22 of What Would Jesus Tech.

Dr. Jessica Joustra is one of the leading scholars in this area. She is an Assistant Professor of Religion and Theology at Redeemer University, an Associate Researcher at the Neo-Calvinist Research Institute, and is currently in the midst of translating Herman Bavinck's final volume of Reformed Ethics.

• 0:00 - Intro

• 3:00 - Why study church history?

• 7:15 - Part of the "catholic" church?

• 9:50 - Neo-Calvinism For An Age Like Ours?

• 21:10 - The Story Behind WWJD

• 23:30 - Should we really ask WWJD?

• 33:58 - How Do We Really Imitate Christ?

• 43:25 - How To Imitate Christ In Tech?

• 49:09 - Recommended Resources & Tech In Heaven

Recommended books referenced:

Calvinism For A Secular Age - edited by Dr. Jess Joustra and Dr. Robert Joustra

Reformed Ethics - by Herman Bavinck

The Catholicity of Christianity and the Church - by Herman Bavinck (pdf link)

Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport by Richard J. Mouw

A Secular Age by Charles Taylor

Bavinck: A Critical Biography by James Eglington

Mere Morality by Lewis B. Smedes

Creation Regained by Albert Walters

Christian Field Guide To Technology by Derek C. Schuurman

Modernism and Orthodoxy in On Theology: Herman Bavinck's Academic Orations, Editor / Translator: Bruce R. Pass

When The Kings Come Marching In by Richard J. Mouw

Common Grace by Herman Bavinck (pdf link)

Neo-Calvinism: An Introduction by Cory Brock and N. Gray Sutanto

Image credit: photo by Fons Heijnsbroek on Unsplash.

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