Metallica (Part 2): The Problem of Evil, the Power of Shame, and ”The God That Failed”

 

Some topics are too amazing to fit into a single episode.

Metallica is one of them.

In this second part of this dive into the music of Metallica, Garrick and Timothy look at the theology behind the 1991 song "The God That Failed." Along the way, your intrepid cohosts include an audio clip from the most shocking video in which Metallica's lead vocalist James Hetfield has ever appeared. Believe it or not, it all begins with a Nobel Prize-winning scientific research project that involved cardboard butterflies. (Also, "Cärdböärd Bütterflÿ" would be an amazing name for a psychedelic jam band.)

The dynamic duo ends the episode with a powerful look at how the gospel answers the dilemmas of shame and unforgiveness that emerge as such dominant themes in Metallica's later albums.

 

ABOUT HOSTS

Timothy Paul Jones, Ph.D., is C. Edwin Gheens Professor of Christian Ministry at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He teaches in the areas of family ministry and applied apologetics. He has authored or edited more than a dozen books, including Why Should I Trust the Bible?, The God Who Goes Before You, Perspectives on Family Ministry, and Christian History Made Easy. Follow Dr. Jones at @DrTimothyPJones.

 

Garrick Bailey is a Ph.D. student in systematic theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, studying Herman Bavinck and Roman Catholicism under the supervision of Gregg Allison.

 

LINKS TO CLICK

The God That Failed (song by Metallica)

The Unforgiven I, II, and III (songs by Metallica)

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CLOSING CREDITS

Music for the podcast has been licensed through Artlist.io and performed by Cunningham Manor. Brief excerpts of music played in each program are included solely for the purposes of comment and critique as allowed under the fair-use provision of U.S. copyright law. “The fair use of a copyrighted work … for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, … scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright” (U.S. Code § 107, Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use).