Adventist Voices by Spectrum: The Journal of the Adventist Forum

From St. Louis, MO, Spectrum’s managing digital editor Alex Aamodt and I talk about the General Conference Session. We discuss the election of Ted Wilson to his third term, some of the motions that have passed, and the ways that women’s ordination keeps showing up. We also share our thoughts on the general vibe here and how anti-vax Adventists are trying to throw a wrench in the proceedings. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Happy Pride month everyone, today on Imago Gei, I have a special interview with the president of SDA Kinship International, Floyd Poenitz. In honor of pride month, I want to highlight Kinship, the people behind it, and the effort they have dedicated to creating safe spaces for LGBTQ Adventists. In this interview, we discuss the journey of self-acceptance and the often winding and difficult decisions we make along the road to loving ourselves. As you listen, I hope you enjoy this story of someone who has long been in the struggle for equity and witnessed steady progress towards equality and inclusion in society while continuing to work patiently with churches to envision a safer and more diverse environment. For those listening, I’m your host Kendra Arsenault and our sponsors for today are Spectrum Magazine and SDA Kinship International, so make sure you sign up for their newsletters where you will get the latest on queer news and happenings. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What do Adventists from South Africa, China, Brazil, and the US have in common? And what do they think needs to change in the church? This four person chat explores these questions in the first of a new series on Global Adventist Conversations focused on the 2022 General Conference session. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Happy Pride Month! This week Spiritual Care Provider Roxan Del Valle and Kendra Arsenault M.Div. reflect on a year of LGBTQIA pride along with female sexuality through the lens of the female gaze.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bonnie Dwyer, editor emerita of Spectrum, talks about why the 2022 GC session is important, how leaders are elected, and what changes to policy will have her attention. We discuss if it’s time for Ted Wilson to go, what qualities the church needs in its leaders, and the wording and purpose of the changes around auditing church membership. We also discuss Bonnie’s recent trip to Spain and her takeaways from walking the Camino de Santiago spiritual pilgrimage route. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Imago Gei Kendra Arsenault talks with author Kellie Woolf about her upcoming book, "Mount Hope" which is a fictional story about a community rocked by a violent outburst against a gay member of its community. It explores issues related to LGBTQIA inclusion and religious trauma while challenging readers to envision a greater future of what a diverse and inclusive church could look like. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Austin Loignon, PhD, talks about his dissertation research on John Harvey Kellogg’s European influences in health and spirituality. Loignon argues that Kellogg was influenced by Catholic Late Scholasticism revival of Thomas Aquinas' theology. A graduate of Southwestern Adventist University, Austin Loignon is an adjunct professor of History University of Texas at Arlington. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Imago Gei, we discuss healing from religious trauma with Dr. Dee Knight, a clinical psychologist. The road to healing is a journey we are all invited to take and none of us have to take it alone. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Historian Michael W. Campbell talks about his new book, 1922: The Rise of Adventist Fundamentalism. We discuss GC leadership, Ellen White, creationism, and the continuing problems around Hermeneutics. Dr. Campbell is the newly appointed director of archives, statistics, and research for the North American Division. Previously serving as pastor and educator, Campbell recently was a professor of religion at Southwestern Adventist University. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My relationship with God and my relationship with the Church has often been a very different relationship. In part two of "Journey to Affirming Theology," I discuss particular junctures at which my experience and my beliefs were incongruent, and what happens at the crossroads. As someone who has grown up with an understanding of the church as a vehicle for humanitarian efforts--feeding the homeless, healing the sick, and helping the vulnerable among us--the gospel and social justice have often been inextricably linked. But what happens when the questions of ethics are at crossroads with institutional idealisms? How can we begin to allow the questions of ethics to inform how we practice a faith that performs practical good in the world? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A pastor for 43 years, Will James, now retired from leading the Paradise Valley Adventist Church, talks about his continuing work engaging his local community. Assimilating refugees, delivering food, caring for a community garden, Pastor James discusses Friendships for Hope, his history and his continuing work for toward a multifaceted ministry to the large refugee and low income communities of San Diego, CA. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this LGBTQ Podcast, Dr. Melodie Roschman discusses her dissertation, "Identity, Counternarrative, and Community in Progressive Christian Women's Memoir," with Kendra Arsenault on this episode of Imago Gei, affirming Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Queer identities in religious spaces. When we think about testimony in Scripture, eye-witness accounts, what a person heard or saw, life stories like Ruth and Esther, the testimony of John in Revelation, or the visions of Isaiah and Daniel, personal experience with the world and with God matter. So what is the place of personal story and memoir when building a reflective theology? How do we include the proverbial Yelp Review of certain Christian disciplines or traditions and use it to inform our present beliefs and practices? What’s the role of feedback and should it be taken into consideration when building a belief about God? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Darriel Hoy, who earned a BA in Public Policy from Duke University and an MDiv from Andrews University shares her vision for community engagement in Adventism. An ordained minister with 18 years of church ministry service, Darriel is the Communications Director for the Office of Regional Ministries and the Regional Conference Retirement Plan. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The journey to becoming LGBTQ affirming in a religious setting or church environment is dependent on more than simple Bible knowledge or good exegesis. LGBTQ affirming is a position people come to based on a theology that takes holistic consideration of what is ethical, good, and just. At a minimum, LGBTQ affirming is to exercise the reflexive practice of asking how a particular theological construct advantages or disadvantages people, especially marginalized people. The experiences for queer, trans, gay, and lesbian members under the religious constructs of the church are the nerve endings that, in a healthy body, signal to the brain vital feedback necessary to keep the body from harm. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Continuing our series on community engagement, I talk with Ronald D. Williams, Jr., D.Min., pastor of the Macedonia Adventist church, Delaware Valley Area Leader of the Allegheny East Conference, and Program Director of the Chester Peace Initiative. An urbanologist, we discuss his undergrad and graduate level education in information systems, his first career in IT, and how he turned that previous work into a program to teach youth tech job skills. We also discuss his time in the Nation of Islam and how he leads in the Adventist church today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Professor Matthew Korpman and Kendra Arsenault finish out this queer theology series on Imago Gay by discussing the absence of women in the Levitical laws against homosexuality, the broad category of sexually divergent people that Eunuchs encompass and a more inclusive theology that holds an all-embracing view of LGBTQ people in the history of faith. "I am so sick and tired of people saying that Leviticus 18 and 22 or 20:13 have to do with homosexuality because homosexuality has a definition. It is a sexual orientation that has to involve both sexes, and it has to involve much more than sex, a whole orientation, a whole sensibility. You can be homosexual and never actually have sex." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Concluding our tripartite conversation through Dr. Richard Rice’s intellectual and publishing history, in this third episode we discuss his 2014 book Suffering and the Search for Meaning (InterVarsity Press Academic). Perhaps his most widely read work, in discussing it Rice shares brief summaries of the major contemporary theological and philosophical responses to the problem of pain. We also reflect on his life and what’s next for one of progressive Adventism’s most prolific living scholars. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Imago Gei, Randi Robertson discusses her journey as a trans woman married to her college sweetheart and working as an Air Force pilot for 22 years as well as an instructor for a Christian university. As we end Women's Month, we are going out with thoughtful consideration over gender and the implications of being a woman or trans woman both in the church and in society. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Upper Columbia Conference President David Jamieson shares the vision for community engagement drives his ministry. He talks about his twenty years leading the Church in the Valley’s growth through a wide range of services opportunities for members called Acts of Kindness. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"What do I do with the mad that I feel when I feel so mad I could bite!" Mr. Rogers shared this piece of therapeutic children's music at Congress back in 1969. Today, we are still learning how to manage emotions, especially regarding the church and LGBTQ matters. So why are we all so TRIGGERED? Spiritual Care Provider Roxan and Kendra Arsenault M.Div. dive into the world of feelings, theology, and LGBTQ identities to explore what about gayness makes us so mad, scared, and grieved. We also discuss how we can all do a little better at honoring our feelings. Word of the week is Spiritual Bypassing. How have our favorite religious shortcuts, "God is good," "God would never give me more than I can handle," "In this life, we are meant to suffer to receive a heavenly reward," turned into a way of circumventing the difficult task of dealing with our humanity? Turns out, we might not be that spiritual, after all. Pastoral care for LGBTQ church members is essential. So this week, we provide practical training for pastors, elders, and spiritual leaders to help them understand and better care for the LGBTQ community. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gail Rice, EdD, shares her story of lifelong learning and her work promoting evidence-based teaching at Loma Linda University for several decades. We discuss her early work as a nurse, her career as a professor in the School of Allied Health Professions, her love for the arts, and the pedagogical approaches she wrote about in her book, Hitting Pause: 65 Lecture Breaks to Refresh and Reinforce Learning. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1987 the Seventh-day Adventist church sued SDA Kinship International claiming trademark infringement for using the name "SDA". The lawsuit has had ripple effects throughout the LGBTQ community and their continued relationship with the church. After participating in a grueling trial, many left the institution never to return. Others saw this victory as a landmark that one's religious identity does not exist with the institution, but with people. On this episode I talk with Floyd Poenitz, president of SDA Kinship International regarding the history of SDA Kinship and what more we still have to learn from affirming LGBTQ lives. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Was David bisexual? Is Sodom and Gomorrah really a reference to homosexuality or something else? On this episode of Imago Gei, Kendra Arsenault talks with Matthew Korpman about his book Saying No to God and the insights he shares in his chapter "Saying No to Homophobia." There has often been controversy in the Christian community regarding whether or not Jonathan and David shared more than a strictly platonic relationship. So what would it mean if David really was bisexual? Would that change our perception of this Biblical icon? We also discuss the often referred to example of Sodom and Gomorrah, which has often is a story often leveraged against the LGBTQ community. So is Sodom and Gomorrah really a cautionary tale towards the LGBTQ community or is there another possible reading of the text? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pastor Alex Golovenko was born in Ukraine and leads the Windsor Seventh-day Adventist church in Canada. He shares how the Russian invasion is affecting his own family and the larger Ukrainian Adventist community. He discusses the violence, the parameters of a just response, and offers some hope via his favorite scripture. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Civil rights attorney Amanda Ghannam and Kendra Arsenault discuss why LGBTQ Discrimination at religious institutions is legal unfortunately. Prosecution of LGBTQ discrimination cases in religious settings is so difficult due to First Amendment complications. So what is the history of LGBTQ legislation and what is the possibility for legislative change in the future? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Troubled by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Charles Scriven and Ron Osborn discuss violence, moral deflation, and the responsibility to protect. Both have published books exploring versions of Christian pacifism, Scriven’s The Promise of Peace, and Osborn’s Anarchy and Apocalypse. In this discussion they revisit their earlier work in light of the Ukrainian tragedy and explore despair and hope while addressing the question: how should one individually and collectively act? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Imago Gei is an affirmation of dignity for LGBTQ members, a declaration that we too are imago dei, or made in the image of God. On this episode, Kendra Arsenault interviews Matthew Korpman who is critical of the church's relationship towards LGBTQ members and makes a Biblical argument against prejudice. Discussing his book, "Saying No To God", this episode is focused on his chapter "Saying No To Homophobia." The theological emphasis of this week's episode brings insights into queer theology and builds a framework for discussing LGBTQ lives with a dignified theological perspective. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Here is part 2 of our series exploring Dr. Richard Rice’s books and biography. In this Dr. Rice talks about how he came to write Adventism’s first serious theology textbook, The Reign of God (1985), the airplane ride the prompted Reason and the Contours of Faith (1991), and students and rabbi who influenced Believing, Behaving, Belonging (2002). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Imago Gei, Kendra Arsenault interviews Ari Bates, a transgender woman currently studying and employed at Southern Adventist University. After publicly coming out as transgender, she was made aware of a new policy that will be implemented on Southern's campus requiring transgender students to dress according to their gender assigned at birth. After coming out, she was placed on administrative leave. So today, we hear her story and her experience as a transgender woman, daughter and student. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Back for a second round, Benjamin Baker, PhD, covers the 20th century of Black Adventist history including the cultural and spiritual meaning of Oakwood University, the origins and value of regional conferences, and Adventist involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. Spectrum’s guest editor for February, Baker earned his PhD in history from Howard University and has authored or edited six books and 150 articles. In 2010 he created blacksdahistory.org and its accompanying YouTube channel. Baker served as the charter managing editor of the Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists, the church's first online reference work. He has taught history, religion, English, Black studies, and literature at several colleges, and currently teaches at the University of Maryland. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Imago Gei, a multitude of LGBTQ voices share their stories of struggle, triumph and faith, along with their complicated relationship with the church. Understanding queer theology is more than just closing the loops in logic, it is being responsible for the impact of our theology upon LGBTQ lives. Living in the fullness of love, joy and peace starts with listening See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this first conversation in a multi-part series, I interview Richard Rice, PhD, about his biography and extensive bibliography. We discuss Dr. Rice’s early life, what he learned in graduate school at the University of Chicago, and the early 1980s controversy around the publication of “The Openness of God.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kendra Arsenault, Spectrum Magazine and SDA Kinship have come together to bring you the premiere episode of Imago Gei where we share the latest on queer theology, stories, and a minority perspective on faith. Today, we are easing ourselves in the conversation by posing the question: Is It Safe? LGBTQ church members are often faced with the challenging question: do I disclose my queer identity in a hostile environment or do I stay closeted until a later day when/if I feel safe? Safe spaces, safe churches, and safe people are the focus of today's topic as we learn what it means to approach difficult topics with self-energy and learn the effects of hostile church environments on the mental health of queer members. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I ask Dr. Benjamin Baker some common questions about Black Adventist history including: Why do some Adventists think Ellen White was Black? Was Sojourner Truth an Adventist? Did Adventists fight in the Civil War? Spectrum’s guest editor for February, Benjamin Baker earned his Ph.D., in History from Howard University. He has authored or edited six books and 150 articles. In 2010 he created blacksdahistory.org and its accompanying YouTube channel. Baker served as the charter managing editor of the Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists, the church's first online reference work. He has taught History, Religion, English, Black Studies, and Literature at several colleges, and currently teaches at the University of Maryland. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This two-minute clip provides an introduction for a new podcast partnership between Spectrum and SDA Kinship, produced by Kendra Arseneaux. The first episode drops soon. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I talk with Agnes and Carine, two media-savvy Brazilians who served a missionaries in Bangladesh and now spend time learning and traveling in America. We discuss how they met, the role of Pathfinders in Brazilian Adventism and the ways that globalization is changing the meaning of community. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Don Casebolt talks about his "highly revisionist" new book, Child of the Apocalypse (2021), on Ellen White's formative years. Based on his extensive research into contemporaneous accounts and her own statements about her inner life, Casebolt paints a portrait of a teen girl spiritually vulnerable, captured by the certitude of William Miller, and forming her identity in a community looking for ecstatic authority. We discuss confabulation, the other Millerite prophecies White endorsed, and why this matters today. Child of the Apocalypse on Amazon and WIPF and Stock Publishers See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I talk with Ramona Hyman, co-editor of the new book, African American Seventh-day Adventist Healers in a Multicultural Nation (Pacific Press, 2021). A writer, speaker and professor at Oakwood University, Dr. Hyman is a graduate of Temple University (BA), Andrews University (MA), and earned her PhD from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To kick off the new year I talk with Alex Aamodt, editor of the Spectrum website, about the top Adventist news stories and essays of 2021. We also discuss how he became a journalist and what makes for a good Spectrum article submission. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I talk with English writer and director Garth Jennings about his new family-friendly film Sing 2 currently in theaters. The films stars Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, Pharrell Williams, and Bono among many others. We discuss creativity, music and nostalgia, spirituality and the importance of myth-making in our lives. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I talk music and the Advent season with Adriana Perera, Director of Worship and the Musical Arts at Loma Linda University Church. We discuss what makes Christmas music meaningful and Adriana shares her passion for diversity and inclusion. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jason Hines, PhD, asst. professor at AdventHealth University, talks about the recent pause of vaccine mandates by some healthcare institutions, including AdventHealth. We also discuss the Supreme Court, religious liberty, and the Christian concept of sacrifice. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week I interview Phanuel Hamsini, Deputy Chief Elections Officer, Malawi. We discuss how he became an Adventist, his vibrant local Adventist congregation, and why he reads Spectrum even though he sometimes doesn’t agree with the viewpoints. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fresh from attending the Adventist Society for Religious Studies annual meetings in San Antonio, Texas, Bonnie Dwyer and I discuss the major ideas that emerged around this year’s focus on ecology. We talk animal rights, pandemics and apocalypse, and the ways that artificial intelligence and social media algorithms conflict with human spirituality. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this cursory conversation about the Biblical Research Institute’s recent publication of Biblical Hermeneutics: An Adventist Approach, I talk with Jon-Philippe Ruhumuliza, a graduate of Andrews University and Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. Ruhumuliza, who recently completed his MA in New Testament, wrote his thesis on Paul and Maps: Exegeting Acts 13-14 through the Lens of Lived Space Cartography. We discuss the problems with the book’s approach to hermeneutics drawing on Ruhumuliza’s interest in spatialized readings of Paul and other ways of constructing Adventist theology. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Put a log on the fire and sip a hot beverage as you listen to prolific writer Trudy Morgan-Cole discuss her novels about characters from the Bible and her more recent works of historical fiction set in Newfoundland, Canada. This week Spectrum Interviews Editor Alita Byrd joins me in conversation with Trudy Morgan-Cole as we explore the writing life, how Adventist stories change, and Morgan-Cole’s play, “The Mirror,” about a Newfoundland suffragette, that was performed recently. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Professor Emeritus of Biology at Andrews University, James L. Hayward, Ph.D, talks about his early life that mixed Sam Campbell, Ellen White, and tensions around creationism and science. In part one of our discussion of his book, Dinosaurs, Volcanoes, and Holy Writ: A Boy-Turned Scientist Journeys from Fundamentalism to Faith, we explore the personal and professional tensions that developed as he pursued his academic interests in biology while maintaining a connection to his faith tradition. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I talk with bioethicist Mark Carr about the social responsibility of vaccines, his spiritual connection to Alaska, and what it’s like working for a Catholic healthcare system as an Adventist. Mark earned his PhD in Religious Ethics at the University of Virginia where studied ethics in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Philosophy, and Healthcare. His dissertation was on temperance and how it helps us manage our emotions when making difficult moral decisions. At Loma Linda University he gained the rank of Professor with tenure and directed the Masters Degree program in biomedical ethics as well as the Center for Christian Bioethics. In 2016 he returned to his native Alaska as the Regional Director of Ethics for Providence Health, a Catholic healthcare corporation. In his work for Providence he is responsible for clinical ethics for six hospitals where he focuses on ethics education, policy, and patient care consults. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week I talk again with legendary Adventist editor, pastor, college administrator, author, and longtime Spectrum leader Charles Scriven. We explore the final essay from his series “Time to Start Over” on hermeneutics and community. In addition, we weave in conversations about his time as president of Kettering College and his longtime leadership of the Adventist Forum and Spectrum. He shares his vision for koinonia, a Christocentric interpretive framework, and why fundamentalism corrupts Christianity. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From Silver Spring, Bonnie Dwyer, editor of Spectrum, and I recap the four days of Annual Council 2021, the General Conf. executive committee meetings. We discuss various reports, the introduction of #Teds10 “theological issues facing the church,” and how we spent our Sabbath away from the GC and why it matters. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.