Nijay K. Gupta

When you look at academic scholarly studies on faith, on Paul's usage of that term, scholars might tell you that this word has a, you know, kind of a varied, deep meaning that can't be easily translated into one English concept and universally applied.

So, Nijay Gupta, in his book, Paul and the Language of Faith, distinguishes several different meanings on a kind of a spectrum for the term faith.

There's believing faith, a type of mental ascent of, you know, recognizing something.

There's trusting faith, the act of putting one's trust in another, like what the thief on the cross does.

I wanna start by talking about the challenge of friendship.

This is from Nijay Gupta.

He, uh, has a book, Paul for the World, about Paul's theology and, and, uh, spiritual direction.

And one of them, chapter eight, is about here-and-now friendship.

you're listening to Slow Theology, Simple Faith for Chaotic Times with A.J. Swoboda and N.J. Gupta.

Well, friends and listeners alike, Drs.

N.J. Gupta, A.J. Swoboda here for a Slow Theology conversation.

It's good to see N.J. How are you today?

I'm doing well.

Well, you've both been on enough to know that I love this first question because it implies that we have a living, breathing walk with God, which is really what your book is all about.

And so I'd love to know, I'll start with you, Dr. Nijay, as you spend time with the Lord these days and you spend time in his word and you slow down, what's he been impressing upon your heart?

Yeah, I think the main thing for me has been... how much we really need each other to carry us and strengthen us.

You know, I've had, you know, some challenging months recently and I'm kind of an introvert.