Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Start your education here: http://hillsdale.edu
In this episode of The Larry Arnn Show, Hillsdale College President Larry P. Arnn interviews Kevin DeYoung, author, professor, and pastor at Christ Covenant Church. The two discuss covenant theology, the Reformed doctrine of predestination, and whether or not America can be a "Christian Nation."
This interview was conducted on April 7th, 2025.
Discover more at podcast.hillsdale.edu.
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Timecodes:
00:00 Introduction: Christianity, Virtue & the American Republic
1:08 Meet Pastor Kevin DeYoung: Family, Faith & Reformed Christianity
3:13 What Is Covenant Theology & Why Does It Matter?
5:55 What Does it Mean to Be a Christian?
9:10 Covenant, Social Contract & the American Founding
12:28 Reformed Presbyterians, Religious Liberty & the Westminster Confession
13:51 Civil & Religious Freedom: The Binding That Made America
18:56 Does Christianity Require Religious Freedom?
25:42 Predestination, Free Will, and the Fairness of God
43:28 Aristotle's Unmoved Mover vs. the Christian God: Can They Be Reconciled?
47:15 Predestination in Pastoral Practice: The Pain of a Child Who Walks Away
51:29 From Toleration to Liberty: How Christianity Gave Rise to Religious Freedom
54:20 Who Can be Virtuous? Christians, Non-Believers, and Common Grace
57:19 Is America a Christian Nation? What That Phrase Does & Doesn't Mean
1:04:08 Christ's Kingdom & Earthly Citizenship: Getting the Order Right
Support Hillsdale College: https://secured.hillsdale.edu/hillsdale/support-hillsdale-college
Visit our website: http://hillsdale.edu
Learn from our online courses: http://online.hillsdale.edu
Read Imprimis: https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/
Undergraduate programs: https://www.hillsdale.edu/information-for/undergraduate-admissions/
Graduate School of Statesmanship: https://www.hillsdale.edu/academics/graduate-school/
Graduate School of Government: https://dc.hillsdale.edu/School-of-Government/Program-Overview/
Graduate School of Education: https://classicalgrad.hillsdale.edu/
Listen to the Hillsdale College Podcast Network: https://podcast.hillsdale.edu/
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Hillsdale College is an independent institution of higher learning founded in 1844 by men and women “grateful to God for the inestimable blessings” resulting from civil and religious liberty and “believing that the diffusion of learning is essential to the perpetuity of these blessings.” It pursues the stated object of the founders: “to furnish all persons who wish, irrespective of nation, color, or sex, a literary, scientific, [and] theological education” outstanding among American colleges “and to combine with this such moral and social instruction as will best develop the minds and improve the hearts of its pupils.” As a nonsectarian Christian institution, Hillsdale College maintains “by precept and example” the immemorial teachings and practices of the Christian faith.
The College also considers itself a trustee of our Western philosophical and theological inheritance tracing to Athens and Jerusalem, a heritage finding its clearest expression in the American experiment of self-government under law.
By training the young in the liberal arts, Hillsdale College prepares students to become leaders worthy of that legacy. By encouraging the scholarship of its faculty, it contributes to the preservation of that legacy for future generations. By publicly defending that legacy, it enlists the aid of other friends of free civilization and thus secures the conditions of its own survival and independence.
Start your education here: http://hillsdale.edu
In this episode of The Larry Arnn Show, Hillsdale College President Larry P. Arnn interviews Kevin DeYoung, author, professor, and pastor at Christ Covenant Church. The two discuss covenant theology, the Reformed doctrine of predestination, and whether or not America can be a "Christian Nation."
This interview was conducted on April 7th, 2025.
Discover more at podcast.hillsdale.edu.
------------------------------
Timecodes:
00:00 Introduction: Christianity, Virtue & the American Republic
1:08 Meet Pastor Kevin DeYoung: Family, Faith & Reformed Christianity
3:13 What Is Covenant Theology & Why Does It Matter?
5:55 What Does it Mean to Be a Christian?
9:10 Covenant, Social Contract & the American Founding
12:28 Reformed Presbyterians, Religious Liberty & the Westminster Confession
13:51 Civil & Religious Freedom: The Binding That Made America
18:56 Does Christianity Require Religious Freedom?
25:42 Predestination, Free Will, and the Fairness of God
43:28 Aristotle's Unmoved Mover vs. the Christian God: Can They Be Reconciled?
47:15 Predestination in Pastoral Practice: The Pain of a Child Who Walks Away
51:29 From Toleration to Liberty: How Christianity Gave Rise to Religious Freedom
54:20 Who Can be Virtuous? Christians, Non-Believers, and Common Grace
57:19 Is America a Christian Nation? What That Phrase Does & Doesn't Mean
1:04:08 Christ's Kingdom & Earthly Citizenship: Getting the Order Right
Support Hillsdale College: https://secured.hillsdale.edu/hillsdale/support-hillsdale-college
Visit our website: http://hillsdale.edu
Learn from our online courses: http://online.hillsdale.edu
Read Imprimis: https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/
Undergraduate programs: https://www.hillsdale.edu/information-for/undergraduate-admissions/
Graduate School of Statesmanship: https://www.hillsdale.edu/academics/graduate-school/
Graduate School of Government: https://dc.hillsdale.edu/School-of-Government/Program-Overview/
Graduate School of Education: https://classicalgrad.hillsdale.edu/
Listen to the Hillsdale College Podcast Network: https://podcast.hillsdale.edu/
------------------------------
Hillsdale College is an independent institution of higher learning founded in 1844 by men and women “grateful to God for the inestimable blessings” resulting from civil and religious liberty and “believing that the diffusion of learning is essential to the perpetuity of these blessings.” It pursues the stated object of the founders: “to furnish all persons who wish, irrespective of nation, color, or sex, a literary, scientific, [and] theological education” outstanding among American colleges “and to combine with this such moral and social instruction as will best develop the minds and improve the hearts of its pupils.” As a nonsectarian Christian institution, Hillsdale College maintains “by precept and example” the immemorial teachings and practices of the Christian faith.
The College also considers itself a trustee of our Western philosophical and theological inheritance tracing to Athens and Jerusalem, a heritage finding its clearest expression in the American experiment of self-government under law.
By training the young in the liberal arts, Hillsdale College prepares students to become leaders worthy of that legacy. By encouraging the scholarship of its faculty, it contributes to the preservation of that legacy for future generations. By publicly defending that legacy, it enlists the aid of other friends of free civilization and thus secures the conditions of its own survival and independence.
