Vox Podcast With Mike Erre

Before Saul became the Apostle Paul, he was a Pharisee passionately devoted to reshaping Israel into a holy and politically restored nation. In the second installment of our Faith & Politics trilogy, Mike Erre continues unpacking the rich political imagination of Saul prior to his dramatic encounter with Jesus. By examining how salvation, politics, and national identity were deeply intertwined in Saul's worldview, we gain insight not only into first-century Judaism but into today's Christian nationalism and the church's entanglement with political power. Mike walks us through the grand biblical narrative from Israel's vocation as a light to the nations, through the trauma of exile, to the zealous response of the Pharisees—including Saul's coercive efforts to purify the nation. As he draws striking parallels between the political fervor of the Pharisees and the evangelical pursuit of a "return to national greatness," listeners are invited to examine how political hopes shape our understanding of salvation,