https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-22gtd-1b6a960
What if the church’s obsession with growth is just modern-day Baal worship? Andrew Root returns to the podcast to discuss his new book Baal and the Gods of More: Rescuing Church Growth from Idolatry (Baker Academic). Root — Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary — unpacks how the pressure to grow (whether through innovation or identity affirmation) mirrors ancient Israel’s turn to fertility gods, and what it might mean instead to trust a God who meets us in weakness rather than escalation.
In This Episode
[0:24] Intro — Facebook-as-salvation in the 2000s, LGBTQ inclusion in mainline churches, and Flint, Michigan as parallel stories of hoping something will bring back “the good old days”
[4:44] What led Root to write the book — a recurring church-growth conversation and an offhand comment about “fertility gods” that became the whole project
[7:15] Baal as a fertility god, and how capital (financial, social, cultural) functions the same way for us today
[9:27] The real question underneath growth anxiety — do we actually trust God?
[9:53] Golden-era memory in mainline Protestantism (and Flint) as a parallel to Israel longing for Solomon’s era
[15:37] The two camps inside every denomination — techno-optimists and identitarians — and why Root thinks both run on the same escalatory, capitalist logic
[23:36] “We’re all prosperity preachers now” — willing to take on poverty now only to cash out later
[31:35] Why Protestants have neglected Mary, and Luther’s reading of her as the true prophet
[34:16] Jezebel reframed — not a sexual temptress but “the great economist” importing growth theory into Israel
[38:12] The Magnificat as confession, not just judgment on others
[41:09] A widower’s story on a Viking cruise — what he was actually grateful for from his church
[45:35] Root’s word to pastors and small congregations dealing with anxiety about decline
[50:21] Where to find Andrew Root’s work — andrewroot.org
Resources
Andrew Root’s website: andrewroot.org
Book: Baal and the Gods of More — Rescuing Church Growth from Idolatry (Baker Academic)
Ministry in a Secular Age Podcast: https://www.andrewroot.org/podcast/
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