I Had a Friendly Chat with Gavin Ortlund
Gavin Ortlund
109.38
4 May 2026
9 May 2026
In this episode Trent sits down with Protestant apologist Gavin Ortlund to discuss what they agree and disagree about.
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0:00 Introduction
1:17 Gavin’s background in apologetics
3:25 Why Trent focuses on more than Catholic-Protestant debates
5:11 Why Gavin entered Protestant apologetics
7:03 Comparing the best of Catholicism and Protestantism
8:42 Where Catholics and Protestants can work together
11:30 Scholarship, popular apologetics, and bad arguments
13:07 Keeping goodwill in Catholic-Protestant debate
14:11 Trent and Gavin’s biblical slavery debate
15:51 Drawing lines while defending the gospel together
17:27 Theological triage and ranking doctrines
18:18 Mere Christianity vs. the fullness of Christian belief
19:38 Is Catholicism more important than Jesus?
21:20 Why internal disagreements can get more heated
23:10 How to disagree without destroying relationships
25:03 How the internet distorts theological conflict
26:08 Reviewing scripts and keeping rebuttals charitable
28:08 Misrepresentation, falsehoods, and online controversy
29:48 “Tune out the noise and meet needs”
30:36 St. Paul, apologetics, and internet criticism
33:38 Is online drama a spiritual distraction?
33:52 Why Trent and Gavin stay online
36:03 Raising up better Christian apologists
37:27 Permissible, obligatory, and forbidden doctrines
38:48 Gavin’s core objection to Catholicism
40:11 Mary’s Assumption, Dormition, and binding the conscience
41:07 Where do Catholics and Protestants draw Christianity’s boundaries?
42:34 Hard doctrines: Catholicism, hell, and submission to Christ
45:40 Annihilationism, Kirk Cameron, and Christian disagreement
46:14 Catholic and Protestant art, films, and C. S. Lewis
48:04 Mary’s Assumption and historical evidence
49:55 Mormonism, the Trinity, and true worship
50:34 Classical theism and first-rank doctrines
52:50 Divine simplicity, fine-tuning, and apologetics
54:27 The Incarnation and the causes of the Reformation
55:18 Sola scriptura, justification, and authority
56:15 Icon veneration and doctrinal development
58:31 Sola scriptura and the limits of Christian practice
1:01:00 What does sola scriptura actually mean?
1:02:20 What evidence would justify an obligatory doctrine?
1:04:08 How do Christians determine first-rank doctrines?
1:06:35 Does disagreement refute sola scriptura?
1:07:40 Protestant disunity and Catholic ecclesial authority
1:10:16 The strongest argument against Protestantism
1:10:36 Does Catholicism solve doctrinal disagreement?
1:13:52 Trent’s “one reason” he is not Protestant
1:14:10 The New Testament canon and the “gap problem”
1:15:04 Scripture, authorship, and scholarly criticism
1:18:39 Bishops, scholarship, and historical arguments
1:20:00 Credobaptism, infant baptism, and salvation
1:24:56 Gavin on baptizing his children
1:27:03 Does baptism save?
1:29:44 Catholicism, Protestantism, and doctrinal development
1:32:13 Genesis, heliocentrism, and development in theology
1:32:56 Newman and measuring doctrinal development
1:33:40 Surrogacy, bioethics, and moral authority
1:35:50 What Protestants can learn from Catholics
1:37:26 Penance, forgiveness, and justification
1:38:35 Did the conversation make progress?
1:39:45 What would Catholic-Protestant progress look like?
1:42:35 Can non-Christians see our love?
1:43:52 Catholics and Protestants reaching the non-religious
1:45:03 Common mission and correcting caricatures
1:47:11 What Catholics can learn from evangelicals
1:47:49 Closing thoughts
