Topics this week:

• Will AI slop take over in 2026? How AI-generated media is breaking our ability to tell what’s real, and why rebuilding trust and virtue matters more than just better tech.
• AI manipulation + Iran protests: How AI can distort protest footage and narratives, making propaganda easier and truth harder to confirm in real time.
• Affirmative action after the 2023 Supreme Court ruling: Is affirmative action “dead,” what loopholes might remain, and what recent law school enrollment data suggests.
• Supreme Court likely to uphold transgender athlete bans: The conversation covers the legal argumentation, the Idaho and West Virginia cases, and how this may push decisions back to state-level authority.
• Listener Question: Spiritual transformation

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Think Biblically: Conversations on Faith and Culture is a podcast from Talbot School of Theology at Biola University, which offers degrees both online and on campus in Southern California.

Find all episodes of Think Biblically at: https://www.biola.edu/think-biblically.

To submit comments, ask questions, or make suggestions on issues you'd like us to cover or guests you'd like us to have on the podcast, email us at thinkbiblically@biola.edu.

With churchgoing in decline in the US, what is the relevance of the church today? What’s the significance of the Bible using the language of family to describe the church? And what do we say to the person who insists that they can have a vibrant spiritual life but don’t need the church? We’ll answer these questions and more with our guest colleague in OT, Dr. Carmen Imes, from her new book, Becoming God’s Family.

Dr. Carmen Imes is Associate Professor of Old Testament at Talbot. She is passionate about helping students and other laypeople engage the Old Testament and discover its relevance for Christian identity and mission. She is best known for her books Bearing God's Name: Why Sinai Still Matters (IVP 2019) and Being God's Image: Why Creation Still Matters (IVP 2023). Imes has appeared on over 100 podcasts and radio shows and releases weekly "Torah Tuesday" videos on her own YouTube channel.

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Think Biblically: Conversations on Faith and Culture is a podcast from Talbot School of Theology at Biola University, which offers degrees both online and on campus in Southern California.

Find all episodes of Think Biblically at: https://www.biola.edu/think-biblically.

To submit comments, ask questions, or make suggestions on issues you'd like us to cover or guests you'd like us to have on the podcast, email us at thinkbiblically@biola.edu.

To kick off 2026, Sean and Scott discuss:

• The Top 5 Religious Trends to Watch in 2026
• A federal judge's ruling about teachers' rights to inform parents about a child's gender identity.
• Arguments for allowing organ donation prior to death
• A New York Times feature on near-death experiences
• Listener followup on our recent episode about alcohol

==========

Think Biblically: Conversations on Faith and Culture is a podcast from Talbot School of Theology at Biola University, which offers degrees both online and on campus in Southern California.

Find all episodes of Think Biblically at: https://www.biola.edu/think-biblically.

To submit comments, ask questions, or make suggestions on issues you'd like us to cover or guests you'd like us to have on the podcast, email us at thinkbiblically@biola.edu.