Homebrewed Christianity

What a fun podcast episode! Brian McLaren, Micky ScottBey Jones, and Daneen Akers all joined for a conversation about parenting for the common good. Many of us know the faith we do not want to pass on to our children, but what does being a faithful parent look like after our childhood faith is gone? That's the topic for this session...plus we answer some questions you sent in. Brian McLaren wrote a new children's book with Gareth Higgins. It is called Cory and the Seventh Story and should be required reading for parents and grand parents with the children in their life. Don’t worry adults, they didn’t forget about you. They also wrote a version for you that explores the same themes. That’s right, you can also get The Seventh Story: Us, Them, and the End of Violence. Micky ScottBey Jones - the Justice Doula - accompanies people as they birth more love, justice and shalom into our world. As a womanist, faith rooted, contemplative activist, healer, and nonviolence practitioner, Micky supports students, clergy, activists and everyday leaders in a variety of roles - speaker, writer, facilitator, pilgrimage guide and teacher. She is the Director of Resilience and Healing Initiatives with the Faith Matters Network and is a core team member with The People’s Supper who has gathered more than 4,000 people around tables since the 2016 U.S. election for bridging and healing conversations. Micky's educational background includes a B.S. in Consumer and Family Sciences with an emphasis in Child Development and Family Studies, numerous mother-baby certifications for doulas and lactation consultants, a M.A. in Intercultural Studies from NAIITS/Portland Seminary, and she is currently pursuing advanced studies in the Enneagram while completing several writing projects to be released in 2019. Named one of the Black Christian leaders changing the world in Huffington Post, Micky travels the world exploring peacemaking and relationships in different contexts, spreading revolutionary love, engaging in authentic conversations, participating in transformative experiences - and most importantly - she never passes up a dance floor.She has been a contributor at Evangelicals For Social Action, The Porch Magazine, Sojourners, and Red Letter Christians. You can interact with her work and collaborations at Faithmattersnetwork.org and Mickyscottbeyjones.com and catch her social media on Facebook: facebook.com/MSJSpeaks/ and Twitter: @iammickyjones. Daneen Akers is a filmmaker, writer, and parent who believes deeply in the power of stories. She is currently writing an illustrated children’s book called Holy Troublemakers & Unconventional Saints, which will feature 50 original portraits and profiles of people of faith who worked for love and justice, even if that rocked the religious boat. Daneen found that most of the books she’d read as a child that had anything to do about faith were not compatible with the type of faith she now has as an adult. She knew she needed better stories for her own children, stories that help us transcend fears, connect with each other, engage in justice, and model an expansive and fully inclusive view of any Divine. Given the enthusiastic response to the Holy Troublemakers project, she realized she wasn’t alone. There are is a growing movement of parents and others looking to do better with the stories we tell ourselves and our children. You can find her current project at www.holytroublemakers.com. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elgin, my oldest son, just turned 11 and he has managed to talk himself into a podcast appearance. Personally I had a blast. It may be a completely new parenting tactic - get your 11 year old Son to record a podcast and they will talk to you about something other than Fortnite for 30 minutes!! Elgin is a pretty big fan of the National Geographic show MARS and we are currently rocking the second season. It is about an international team of scientists who go on a mission to colonize the red planet. The cool thing about the show is they go back and forth with a not-too-far-ahead future narrative of the first Mars team and cut-ins with info from contemporary scientists or current research connected to the mission. This leads to Elgin asking all sorts of fun questions...some of which we attempt to discuss in the episode. If you haven't seen Mars and have a science or Sci-Fi nerd in the house check it out. For those that are going to watch with a very inquisitive offspring, just DVR it so you can pause and discuss as you go through the episode. For more Mars excitement you can also check out the book the show is based on, How We'll Live on Mars. It's extremely readable and quite fun. There is a certain individual in our house who may or may not find the book in a stocking this Christmas. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two of my favorite humans on planet earth are named Gareth and Brian. They aren't my favorites because they are brilliant, creative, wise, or even lots of fun. Gareth and Brain are genuinely kind and passionately invested in the well-being of our planet. That is why I am super pumped that they have written a CHILDREN'S BOOK that is absolutely wonderful. It is called Cory and the Seventh Story and should be required reading for parents and grand parents with the children in their life. Don't worry adults, they didn't forget about you. They also wrote a version for you that explores the same themes. That's right, you can also get The Seventh Story: Us, Them, and the End of Violence. You can also check out my first film and the only one I know of in the "progressive Christian buddy road-trip comedy you could get in trouble for showing at church, but if you watch the entire thing you might cry and not think it is just inappropriate humor" category. It is called The Road to Edmond and this holiday season you can stream it by heading to jesuslovesourmovie.com. Gareth Higgins was born in Belfast in 1975, grew up during the northern Ireland Troubles, and now lives in North Carolina. He writes and speaks about connection to the earth, cinema and the power of dreams, peace and making justice, and how to take life seriously without believing your own propaganda. He co-founded the Wild Goose Festival, Movies & Meaning, The Porch Magazine, and the New Story Festival. He has experienced violence, and been involved in peace-building; he lives in the US and sees beauty amidst challenge; his greatest hope is that you would find some healing and inspiration in a better story, to find a better life, for you, your community, the world, and everyone else. He's looking for that too, and he's happy to be a work in progress. If you'd like to connect with his work, www.garethhiggins.net is the place to go. Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. A former college English teacher and pastor, he is a passionate advocate for “a new kind of Christianity” – just, generous, and working with people of all faiths for the common good. He is an Auburn Senior Fellow and a leader in the Convergence Network, through which he is developing an innovative training/mentoring program for pastors, church planters, and lay leaders called Convergence Leadership Project. He works closely with the Center for Progressive Renewal/Convergence, the Wild Goose Festival and the Fair Food Program‘s Faith Working Group. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode I am joined by Michael Frost and we talk about his newest book Keep Christianity Weird: Embracing the Discipline of Being Different. Michael is an internationally recognized missiologist and one of the leading voices in the missional church movement. On top of that he's is the Vice Principal of Morling College and the founding Director of the Tinsley Institute, a mission study centre located at Morling College in Sydney, Australia. You can check out his website, follow him on twitter, and even on Facebook. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Selfies are ubiquitous. They can be silly or serious, casual or curated. Within moments, smart phone users can capture their image and post it across multiple social media platforms to a global audience. But do we truly understand the power of image in our image-saturated age? How can we seek God and care for each other in digital spaces? Well this week on the podcast we will tackle these questions with my friend, scholar, and guru of the cinema Craig Detweiler. Since the last time he was on the podcast he became President of The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. Craig Detweiler is a U.S. author, filmmaker, theologian, and cultural commentator who is the third president of The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology in Seattle, Washington. Toward the end of the podcast I mention my recent film The Road to Edmond and now you can watch it online. So do it. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get ready for a mind expanding and assumption challenging episode with the one and only Rupert Sheldrake. When a guest comes to the podcast on recommendation from John Cobb you have to get pumped. Prior to the interview I read two of Sheldrakes books that I would definitely recommend to you. In this wide-ranging conversation we end discussing the dogmatism of scientific materialists, the nature of consciousness, parapsychology, pets, psychedelics, ritual, pilgrimage, neo-darwinism, the changing shape of religion, epigenetic, creativity in evolution, Bergson, Whitehead, and why Rupert loves the doctrine of the Trinity. Rupert Sheldrake, PhD, is a biologist and author best known for his hypothesis of morphic resonance. At Cambridge University he worked in developmental biology as a Fellow of Clare College. He was Principal Plant Physiologist at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics and From 2005 to 2010 was Director of the Perrott-Warrick project, Cambridge. Rupert Sheldrake was not only kind enough to join the podcast, but is coming back for a live session with all the members of the Cosmic Campfire Online Book Group. If you want to join the fun and ask Rupert your own questions then head on over and sign up! If you want to hear more from Sheldrake here's a few places to go. Clearly you want to watch his BANNED TED TALK. Check out his books Science and Spiritual Practices: Transformative Experiences and Their Effects on Our Bodies, Brains, and Health and Science Set Free: 10 Paths to New Discovery. Both are available in physical, digital, and audio versions. Sheldrake also has a very informative and resource rich website. There you can find links to all the different podcasts that he has released. For a fun introduction to Rupert's work check out his visit to Russell Brand's podcast and his conversation with Joe Rogan. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ilia Delio, OSF, is the Josephine C. Connelly Endowed Chair in Theology at Villanova University, a wide read author, popular speaker, and down right passionate communicator at the intersection of religion, science, and our evolving universe. I had a complete blast talking to her and we covered a bunch of different facets of her work including her journey from molecular biology to the monastery to the academic study of theology. We also tackle: the role of mystery in theology Artificial Intelligence Cyborgs cosmic evolution reconciling God with the scientific world the ecological crisis At the end of the interview Ilia suggested two places to begin reading her work, The Unbearable Wholeness of Being: God, Evolution, and the Power of Love and Hunger for Wholeness, A: Soul, Space, and Transcendence. When asked what three books she would recommend to dig deeper into the topics we tackled in our conversation she said... Deeper Than Darwin: The Prospect For Religion In The Age Of Evolution and God After Darwin: A Theology of Evolution by John Haught Christianity and Evolution, by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Bonaventure's Soul's Journey to God which can be found in this most excellent collection of his writings. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do Progressive Christians Want to Make Disciples? We got a call from Deacon Luke Allison and he has a topic that makes the progressive Christian wiggle - discipleship. Jesus called them and told us to do it, but has that time passed? What does disciple-making look like in our pluralistic world? How does the relationship of Jesus to his disciples in the New Testament impact our contemporary vision? Can the call to make disciples ultimately be divorced from the imperial legacy of the church? I am sure you are thinking of more questions this one topic brings up. Well once I heard the question I knew we needed to talk about it. Here's my contribution to the conversation. Let me know what you think and any other questions that pop up. You can be cool like Luke and submit your question via the SpeakPipe RIGHT HERE. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a very live and rowdy collection of Baptist Professors of Religion. In the first segment I am joined by my high school friend and Theology Professor Ryan Newson & gifted homebrewer and Claremont buddy Seth Clark. We talk about Baptist identity in and out of the South. Then Ryan introduces his friend, colleague at Campbell University, and scholar of the New Testament, Alicia Myers. Our conversation is way too awesome. If you don't enjoy it you aren't listening. We talk about... Where did babies come from (in the Bible)? How Aristotle understood bodily fluids. Biblical interpretation in 2nd Temple Period Judaism How Angels had sex just for fun. How the character of Mary the Mother of Jesus is understood in the early church. The changing nature of family and church in the New Testament The experience of women in the life and leadership of the church. Breastfeeding during a worship service The consequences of our hyper-sexualized culture How can we change the place of bodies in spiritual formation Alicia D. Myers is Assistant Professor of New Testament and Greek at Campbell University Divinity School. Her previous publications include Characterizing Jesus: A Rhetorical Analysis on the Fourth Gospel's Use of Scripture in Its Presentation of Jesus (2012) and Abiding Words: The Use of Scripture in the Gospel of John (co-editor, 2015). I am very grateful that our friends at Newgrass Brewing Co. welcomed the podcast and all the Baptist Professors of Religion to the brewery for the evening. The beer was delicious, so if you are near Shelby, NC then you definitely want to stop by for a pint. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Larry Norman is the Father of Christian Rock, integral to the Jesus People movement, an American Kierkegaard with a guitar, and the perfect figure to wrestle with the tangled shape of evangelicalism. Plus Larry Norman remains one of the most influential figures in my own faith journey. First, I encountered him through my Dad's records, discovering a unique prophetic voice set against the country and church's neglect of the poor, lust for war, and desire for more. Then I came to know Larry talking to him after his shows. I saw him 17 times before he passed. He learned my name, remembered my story, encouraged my intellectual quest, gave me song writing tips, and let me sing a verse of The Rock that Doesn't Roll with his band at a show in Florence, South Carolina (that was on my bucket list). PS I deleted 1200 words of love about Larry... the point being, what's the chance I would actually LOVE a book about him? It is rare that I love a book, the topic, and the guest this much! Not only that, this book isn't even by John Cobb, about process theology, or involve a visit from Catherine Keller. There is no exaggeration needed when I say that Gregory Thornbury wrote a fascinating, stimulating, and intoxicating biography of one of my heroes - Larry Norman. His newest book, Why Should the Devil have all the Good Music: Larry Norman and the Perils of Christian Rock, is so good I have read it twice. The first time I couldn't slow down to savor the book, because I wanted to know all the details about Larry I didn't know and the second time I only read a chapter a day and was sad when it ended. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Gregory 1/4th as much as me. Then you will want to get yourself the book and check out some old school Jesus rock for yourself. I even posted a cover of his tune The Great American Novel almost 8 years ago on YouTube. The New Yorker has a great piece up featuring Gregory titled The Unlikely Endurance of Christian Rock that the interested should definitely check out. Gregory Alan Thornbury has been a college professor, dean, and president of The King’s College in New York City. A popular writer and speaker on philosophy, religion, and contemporary culture, he currently serves at the New York Academy of Art. Once you decide to be wise and purchase Why Should the Devil have all the Good Music: Larry Norman and the Perils of Christian Rock you can head over the book's webpage for resources, info, and whatever extra praise you need to put you over the line! Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Prepare yourself for some seriously zesty podcasting with my friends Diana Bass and Brian McLaren at the Wild Goose Festival. During the episode we will attempt to answer a number of different questions and topics listeners like yourself sent in. It is always a treat to get to talk to Diana and Brian and this time was no exception. Find out who Diana and Brian respond to a bunch of different questions like... Who are your heroes of the faith? How can we cultivate gratitude in the craziness of today? Can you be sane and use Facebook? How should the church see our current political crisis? Is democracy worth saving? Can the planet handle another 500 years of Christian leadership? What's a post-NationState-Capitalist-Techno-Society do for spirituality? This Episode is sponsored by... Lutheran World Relief Famers Market Coffee is providing good coffee that makes a difference. You should try it. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The number of people with doubts, questions, and experiences that send them out from the religious tradition of their birth is growing. For many religion is left behind completely, opting for an untraditioned spirituality, and others find the idea of God, Ultimate Reality, or any other substitute for the transcendent as intellectually incompatible with our scientific age. In Philip Clayton and Andrew Davis' new book you get to hear a collection of personal narratives from some of the most brilliant contemporary thinkers about their return to God. In How I Found God in Everyone and Everywhere you will see a variety of starting points, twists, turns, and conundrums, but a broad network of conclusions that testify to an emerging picture of a deeper spiritual realit In this conversation I get to talk to my dear friend and mentor, Philip Clayton, and one of his lucky current students and scholar, Andrew Davis. We tackle a host of topics from mysticism, panentheism, the viability of theism, the relationship between historic religious traditions and philosophical affirmation of the divine, and some other exciting goodies. The book itself includes chapters from Deepak Chopra, Richard Rohr, Matthew Fox, Rubert Sheldrake, Cynthia Bourgault, Ilia Delio, John Cobb, Loriliai Biernacki, Marjorie Suchocki, and Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson. This episode is sponsored by the brand new book Keep Christianity Weird by Michael Frost. Check it out and get ready for Michael's visit to the podcast. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nathan Gilmour, from the Christian Humanist podcast, joins Tripp for a taste of what to expect at Theology Beer Camp in Asheville, NC this August 16-18. There, you'll get to see the East Coast premiere of The Road to Edmond. If for some reason you can't come to the entire Theology Beer Camp, you can still come see the movie premiere on August 17th from 7-10pm at Habitat Brewing Co. Get Tickets here. In this episode, Tripp and Nathan talk about all sorts of things, including the role of scripture in issues surrounding sexuality, the church as ecosystem, how we respond to difference, cultural moralism post #metoo, free speech on college campuses and the role of educators, game theory and politics, and more. What questions will the church be wrestling with in 100 years? Why do we cultivate anxiety over things we have no control over? What does it mean to call Christ Lord in a pluralistic context? Plus, they spend quite a bit of time talking about Jonathan Haidt's book The Righteous Mind, Plato, Heidegger, and Tripp finally answers Nathan's question from their last chat. Make sure to enter The Road to Edmond iPad Giveaway! Who doesn’t want a new iPad loaded with the 1st private copy of the film The Road to Edmond? On top of getting the iPad with the film you will be in the credits of the final film as an Associate Producer, scoring a credit on your IMDB page. You will also get the VIP Access to the film, behind the scenes goodies, and a brand new video small group curriculum How far is too far? The Bible & Sexuality, PLUS, a set of the Bibliotheca Bible, and the first 6 Homebrewed Christianity Guide ebooks. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Theology Nerd Podcast with the Dr. Tripp Fuller. This is a shorter Q&A episode, where your friendly, local internet theologian answers questions submitted by you. Today Tripp is joined by Scott Paeth, professor and ethicist at DePaul University, to help answer your questions, including: how would your theological picture of the world change if there was a verified encounter with a sentient extraterrestrial? Scott and Tripp discuss what that would mean for Christian theology, if God created life on other planets, how we should relate to that other life, and how this would change cosmological arguments. Plus, could it change our treatment of non-human minds on this planet? what obligations do we have to other sentient creatures? There are lots of ways you can submit a question for Tripp to answer: go to trippfuller.com and click the “send voicemail” button on the right (near the scroll bar); you can also leave us a 5-star review on iTunes with your question as the review; you can tweet @trippfuller; or you can send an email with your question to [email protected] Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Theology Nerd Podcast with the Dr. Tripp Fuller. This is a shorter Q&A episode, where your friendly, local internet theologian answers questions submitted by you. Today Tripp is joined by Scott Paeth, professor and ethicist at DePaul University, to help answer your questions, including: what is gained by engaging with Karl Marx if you're a Christian? Scott and Tripp discuss the affinities between Marxism and Christianity, how capitalism is contrary to Christian values, how Marxism and Christianity draw upon each other, how money and possessions determine a lot about our relationships, and the Marxist critique of religion. Plus, how our unquestioned ideology sustains our economic systems, and what Marx really has to say about religion. There are lots of ways you can submit a question for Tripp to answer: go to trippfuller.com and click the “send voicemail” button on the right (near the scroll bar); you can also leave us a 5-star review on iTunes with your question as the review; you can tweet @trippfuller; or you can send an email with your question to [email protected] Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Grace Ji-Sun Kim is on the podcast to talk about her new book, The Homebrewed Christianity Guide to the Holy Spirit: Hand-Raisers, Han, and the Holy Ghost. Grace and Tripp talk about why we need a book about the Holy Spirit, how it is an often neglected aspect of God, her work not just in academia, but as an activist, the need for more professors to get out of the classroom, and the role of the Spirit in activism. Grace explains a little about the foundations of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, how the early church struggled to understand the Spirit, the presence of the Spirit in the Hebrew Bible and early Judaism, the role of the Spirit in the New Testament, the fear mainline denominations have concerning the Spirit, the experience of the Spirit in our current multicultural context, the limits of language in describing the Spirit, and embodied experiences of the Spirit. Plus, non-eurocentric ways of understanding the Spirit, the Asian concept of qi, and indigenous ways of conceiving of the Spirit. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Theology Nerd Podcast with the Dr. Tripp Fuller. This is a shorter Q&A episode, where your friendly, local internet theologian answers questions submitted by you. Today Tripp is joined by Scott Paeth, professor and ethicist at DePaul University, to help answer your questions, including: how would you make the best possible case, as a Christian, for supporting Donald Trump? Scott explains under what circumstances it is preferable to support Trump, discusses how an ethicist look at questions about truth, goodness, justice in our divided religious and political landscape, and why political norms are important. Tripp shares some of the reasons some people on the extreme Left gave for voting for Trump, and Scott explains why he thinks they are problematic. Plus, Scott and Tripp make a case for continued investment and engagement in the democratic process. There are lots of ways you can submit a question for Tripp to answer: go to trippfuller.com and click the “send voicemail” button on the right (near the scroll bar); you can also leave us a 5-star review on iTunes with your question as the review; you can tweet @trippfuller; or you can send an email with your question to [email protected] Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a live podcast from the Jesus Rode a Dinosaur: Talking to Youth about Faith in a Scientific Age conference with Science Mike. Science Mike cuts right to the chase and asks Tripp some important questions about theology: How is theology even a thing? How does one know what is a right or good theological framework? Then they chat about the ways in which the Enlightenment ruined theology, why valuing beauty is the most appropriate place to begin doing theology, the two biggest tasks of the church today, and why atheist philosophers have begun to use Christian theology. Later, Astrophysicist Paul Wallace joins Science Mike and Tripp to talk about doing good science while also believing in a creator, feeling connected to a quasar, his relationship to other scientists, and why physicists are more prone to be idealists and believe in a transcendent reality, and Paul talks a little about his upcoming book about the relationship between and faith and science. Kenda Dean also joins to talk about parenting, helps figure out what we tell our children about God (especially when we don't know what we think about God), the new questions kids are asking, and what we can do as parents of faith to make sure that our children know they are loved. Plus, David Hume and miracles, the industry of ministry, and a Q&A with questions about morality, mystical experiences and psychedelics, youth ministry and anxiety, depression and medication, and a lot more. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Theology Nerd Podcast with the Dr. Tripp Fuller. This is a shorter Q&A episode, where your friendly, local internet theologian answers questions submitted by you. Today, Tripp is joined by Brian McLaren to help answer your questions, including: what are the 3 best and worst theological ideas you're thinking about today? Brian shares his three (total depravity/original sin; literal/inerrant interpretations of scripture; that humans are separate from creation) and asks Tripp an important question. Plus, Tripp rants about the importance of a constructive, articulate description of the Christian faith, and how the church has internalized Kant. There are lots of ways you can submit a question for Tripp to answer: go to trippfuller.com and click the “send voicemail” button on the right (near the scroll bar); you can also leave us a 5-star review on iTunes with your question as the review; you can tweet @trippfuller; or you can send an email with your question to [email protected] Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Political and theological writer Bonnie Kristian is on to talk about her new book, A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What it Means to Follow Jesus Today. This book is an easy intro to lots of different topics and expressions of the Christian faith today, and an invitation for the American church to see beyond its borders to the spectrum and diversity of the tradition. A Flexible Faith is organized like a reference manual, and written at a level that is accessible and engaging, no matter your background or expertise. There are theological sections, answering questions from a variety of positions, and a more personal element with interviews and personal profiles. Bonnie and Tripp talk about the importance of naming your biases when writing, the process of thinking theologically, how we come to believe new positions, the differences between our collective political and theological discourse, and the influence your religion has on your politics. Plus, our current political situation, and how the church is handling the Trump moment, her minority opinion on nonviolence, and hyper-partisanship in the church. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Theology Nerd Podcast with the Dr. Tripp Fuller. This is a shorter Q&A episode, where your friendly, local internet theologian answers questions submitted by you. Today, Tripp is joined by Brian McLaren to help answer your questions, including: How do you share your faith with your children with less baggage then you had? What is the role of the community and extended family in this process? Brian and Tripp talk about figuring out a curriculum of love, the opportunities and challenges that comes with being a parent who wants to share their faith, and the problematic assumptions about Christian formation. Brain also mentions his recent book, The Great Spiritual Migration. There are lots of ways you can submit a question for Tripp to answer: go to trippfuller.com and click the “send voicemail” button on the right (near the scroll bar); you can also leave us a 5-star review on iTunes with your question as the review; you can tweet @trippfuller; or you can send an email with your question to [email protected] Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Theology Nerd Podcast with the Dr. Tripp Fuller. This is a shorter Q&A episode, where your friendly, local internet theologian answers questions submitted by you. Today, Tripp is joined by Brian McLaren to help answer your questions, including: In the past 3 years I've become more committed as a christian and more progressive politically. I just don't understand the outrage cultural online among progressive Christians where we eat our own. How can we do better? and What is the point of Christianity (assuming you don't really believe people go to hell)? Brian and Tripp discuss politics, social science, what issues are ok to be pushy on, the disease of the internet and how the desire for retweets can be destructive, salvation and how we've twisted it's meaning, rediscovering the Jewish meaning of salvation, the challenge for people to move past their inherited relationship to Christianity, and the truth at the heart of the gospel. There are lots of ways you can submit a question for Tripp to answer: go to trippfuller.com and click the “send voicemail” button on the right (near the scroll bar); you can also leave us a 5-star review on iTunes with your question as the review; you can tweet @trippfuller; or you can send an email with your question to [email protected] Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tripp and activist theologian Robyn Henderson-Espinoza are getting ready for Wild Goose Festival, and #TheologyBeerCamp and luring your to come to both in this episode. Click here to learn more about the Justice camp pre-event for Wild Goose that Robyn is hosting. In this episode, Robyn shares their take on the Wild Goose Festival, some updates about the Activist Theology book a preview on what they've been writing, the heresy of slaveholder Christianity, and re-imagining the prophetic norm for Christianity. How do we live in those Holy Saturday moments of hopelessness and despair, not knowing if the Resurrection is coming? Where do we locate God when we talk about God? How do we understand evil and salvation in light of events like Charlottesville? Plus, Robyn answers your questions about activist theology: how can we speak of God in our contemporary context without being associated with the oppressors? what do I do with the colorblind model of discipleship I've been handed? how do you learn how to have conversations where a different world is possible? Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jen Hatmaker - blogger, speaker, author, and Austin church planter - is on the podcast as part of our Wild Goose Festival preview. In this episode, you'll hear about Jen's experience of faith growing up conservative, becoming more progressive, being an LGBTQ advocate, becoming a parent and not wanting to pass on a version of faith that is problematic, and what it was like to figure this out in public. What does good friendship look like for those who are going through a similar process? How do we understand what is holy, what is sacred? She shares about the process of recognizing the things from the faith she inherited that she wanted to move past, while also thanking those who helped her to do so, discovering the barriers that were at one point invisible, the struggle to take scripture seriously but with a different interpretative lens, on not leaving her faith behind, spiritual fear and your spiritual gut feelings, and why having people in your corner is so important to transformation. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trigger warning: this episode contains lots of stories about Evangelical youth camp experiences Tripp sat down with the people behind the new movie, Camp Manna, producer Evan Koons, writer/director Eric Machiela, and writer/director Eric Scott Johnson. Camp Manna, which comes out June 5th, is about Ian Fletcher, a "nonbeliever", who is shipped off to a backwoods Christian camp, where he is forced to compete in (and survive) a Biblically-themed Olympiad known as the God Games. They explain why they made the movie, give you some behind-the-scenes stories, why it is important to respect the community you are poking fun at, the different responses to the film, exploring the stereotypes and outsider/insider perspectives, missions trips, conservative Christian youth culture, and the best Gary Busy stories from filming the movie. Get the movie today on iTunes! Follow Camp Manna on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cynthia Rigby, The W.C. Brown Professor of Theology at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, is back on the podcast to talk about her new book, Holding Faith: A Practical Introduction to Christian Doctrine. This a book for the classroom, for small groups, for pastors, and for the church. Tripp and Cynthia talk about the need for congregations to have permission to ask (out loud) the questions they have, the role Christian language plays in the life of the church, the resistance to using theological language, feminist critiques of classical christology, the way the incarnation shapes our understanding of the trinity, the trinitarian dialectic, and the church as home. is distinctively Christian language necessary in order to speak anything distinctively Christian? how experience plays a role in how we know who God is? what constitutes a community today? how can we speak of God? Plus, revelation and the unknowable nature of God, why you shouldn't read the bible for a year, and why the christological controversies and their conclusions actually matter. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Theology Nerd Podcast with the Dr. Tripp Fuller. This is a shorter Q&A episode, where your friendly, local internet theologian answers questions submitted by you. In this episode, Tripp picks up where he left off last time and addresses some more questions surrounding evil: doesn't the problem of evil change throughout scripture? aren't there different answers to it? how does the move towards monotheism in Judaism (not to mention Christian monotheism) change our understanding of evil? Tripp explains the problem of evil for monotheism compared to polytheism, how the question for a henotheistic concept of God is not can you do anything about evil, but will you, and how a monotheistic concept of God widens the scope of the problem of evil to a cosmic scale. Plus, what do you do with all the different answers the Bible gives? and what are we saying 'no' to when we affirm platitudes like, 'God is in control'? Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode was taken from a Facebook live book-release soirée with Donna Bowman and Ryan Newsome to celebrate the release of The Homebrewed Christianity Guide To Being Human. Donna, Ryan, and Tripp talk about all things human. They discuss anthropology as it relates to gender, science, and death, the tension between a reductive materialism and dualism, the drive for religious people to have an ethical prescription for each situation, the relationship of humans to authority - whether a creator, or institution, or system, Buber and Kierkegaard, the different biblical accounts of what it means to be a human, the problematic relationships that people have with the church because of our inherited and unquestioned anthropology. what does it means to think theologically about what it means to be human? what part of the church's previous conversations about anthropology we need to leave behind? what is our purpose and function - what are we here for? and how does Jesus figure in to what it means to be human? Plus, Donna gives some suggestions for films that provoke questions about what it means to be human. And make sure to check out Tripp's interview with Donna about pussy hats and #MAGA hats... Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Theology Nerd Podcast with the Dr. Tripp Fuller. This is a shorter Q&A episode, where your friendly, local internet theologian answers questions submitted by you. We got lot of questions about evil, suffering, and divine power. There is the classic philosophical question about evil, and then there is the theological question about evil. How do you even begin to answer these questions? do you deny the goodness of God? do you deny the reality of evil? or do we reject God's divine omnipotence? But before he even gets to those questions, Tripp address the two trajectories in the questions asked: What is scripture's actual answer to question of evil and suffering? Does doing theodicy even make sense when you look at the history of slavery and racism in America? Sometimes we answer theological questions in a way that abstracts our lived experience. So Tripp, in this Q&A, wants to affirm the experiences that generate these questions, while also trying to situate them in the broader context of the theological and philosophical questions about evil. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This live podcast was recorded after a Theology Nerd Bootcamp about religion and science. Will Rose and Jeff Pugh joined Tripp for an evening about faith, science, and science fiction. The day-long event covered: The perceived cultural conflict between religion and science is primarily due to American Evangelicals' obsession with anti-intellectualism How Augustine is more progressive when it comes to religion and science dialogue than 98% of Evangelicals When theological truth is divorced from the scientific account of reality you end up with doctrines that have nothing to do with the world we live in Now what? Where do we go from here when trying to have healthy conversations about faith and science in congregations? How do we have fruitful dialogue? Jeff, Will, and Tripp discuss the problem of fundamentalism in both religion and science, what happens when both don't give accurate accounts of our lived experience, and why it's easier to exegete comic books and Star Wars movies than scripture. Plus, they talk about Black Panther, Tripp gives a taxonomy of the relationship between religion and science using force sensitive characters in Star Wars, how the force relates to Christ consciousness, and more! Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Theology Nerd Podcast with the Dr. Tripp Fuller. This is a shorter Q&A episode, where your friendly, local internet theologian answers questions submitted by you. Today's question: is the canon open or closed? how would communities decide what new texts should be considered to be part of an ongoing living bible or canon? In this episode, Tripp explains what the the canon is, and gives 3 reasons to open the canon, and 3 reasons to keep it closed. Plus, Tripp shares what he would add to the canon. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week's episode was from the live Resident Aliens podcast in Durham, North Carolina. Before we hear from Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon, Tripp talks with Molly Brummett Wudel and Tim Conder from Emmaus Way. You'll hear a little bit about the story behind Emmaus Way, the work they are doing in Durham, their community hermeneutic, how they confront the challenges of church planting today, and why helping churches learn to be a part of meaningful social change and also transforming the inner life of the church is so important to their work. Then, Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon talk with Tripp about their book, Resident Aliens. They discuss the christological assertion at the heart of the text, their distaste for Pietism, the distorted character of our world for the formation of people, restoring the adventure to Christianity, the weight of one's identity given at baptism, the burden of deciding who you are, how to address issues of sexuality in the church, and the anxiety of losing culture dominance. Plus, Tripp explains why Hauerwas and Willimon have never been on the podcast before. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Theology Nerd Podcast with the Dr. Tripp Fuller. This is a shorter Q&A episode, where your friendly, local internet theologian answers questions submitted by you. Today's question: did the early Christians believe the Bible was inerrant? The short answer is no. But it's a little more complicated than that. Tripp explains what is even meant by inerrancy, how inerrancy is a product of the Enlightenment, the fights the early church had about the authority of scripture, the challenges the early church faced in interpreting scripture, and the tension between the limited Hebrew response and the Gnostic tendency to decontextualize Jesus. Plus, three rules for interpreting scripture from some early church fathers. If you're interested in learning more, check out this book. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're going back to the summer of '17 for the first night of #TheologyBeerCamp in Denver. Peter Rollins and Tripp will give you the 3 essential rules for Theology Beer Camp, tell the story of how they became friends, and what it was like living together. Pete explains why he thinks pastors have superpowers and gets honest about what he thinks about Tripp's beliefs. Then, they welcome Iliff School of Theology professor Ted Vial to the stage for Tripp and Ted's Excellent 19th Century German Philosophical Adventures. Tripp, Pete and Ted talk about their shared love for 19th Century German philosophers, how most of the way we frame our identity comes from 19th century German philosophy, and what 19th century German philosophy has to say about some contemporary questions, like: "I'm interested in social justice, but Germans are Nazis, so why should I pay attention to them?" and "at the end of the day, aren't all religions just the same?" Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Theology Nerd Podcast with the Dr. Tripp Fuller. This is a shorter Q&A episode, where your friendly, local internet theologian answers questions submitted by you. This week's question: What do I do with 4 different, contradictory, gospel stories? In answering, Tripp wants to convince you that you should be glad the gospels don't line up. He shares about that time he discovered his bible was broken, the gifts that allowing the gospels to be different brings, the heresy of Tatian and where it creeps up today, and why it is significant that we have canonized four different gospels. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Travis McMaken, Associate Professor of Religion at Lindenwood University, is on the podcast not just to talk about Theology Beer Camp, but also his new book, Our God Loves Justice. It's a book he wish he would have read when he was an MDiv student, and wants to show people that the current connection between Protestant theology and politics in North America is not the only possible connection. The book is also an introduction to the theology of Helmut Gollwitzer, his fight for justice, his relationship to Karl Barth, and his democratic socialism. why does our current political and theological context in North America need another option? what are the questions we should be taking seriously? should the church be involved in politics? how should we understand instances of violence in politics? what is the role of confessional communities? Tripp and Travis talk about the connection between conservative Protestant theology and political outcomes, the spirituality of the church as America's original heresy, the myth of non-political religion, the regulation of speech about God, and the tension between the church being pragmatically and revolutionarily engaged in politics. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Pope of podcasting, Ira Glass, is on the podcast to talk about his new film, Come Sunday, available to stream on Netflix. From IMDB: Come Sunday is based on an episode of the public radio series This American Life, the film centers on Bishop Carlton Pearson, a rising star among evangelicals until he was ostracized by his own church and declared a heretic after he started preaching that there is no Hell. Hear why Ira thinks one of the groups that gets the worst coverage is Christians, the disconnect between the way devout Christians are portrayed in the Media and his experience with devout Christians in his own life, questions about the reality of hell, heaven, and the afterlife, and the nature of individual courage as it relates to faith. how a culturally Jewish atheist ends up telling a story of an African American Pentecostal preacher? what is a question completely worth asking that you don't know the answer to? what is your biggest hope for people who watch the film? Plus, Ira shares some of what he's learned or surprised him about Christianity in America, the strange understanding he felt between devout Christians and himself, accurate and honest portrayals of a minister's family, the art of storytelling, the central drama of the film, the difference in those who have spiritual practices and himself, and conversations with Christians who want to save him. You also get a preview of the newly launched Theology Nerd podcast. Two episodes in one! The new Theology Nerd podcast is a shorter Q&A episode, where your friendly, local internet theologian answers questions submitted by you. This question comes from someone from a very conservative family asks about how, using the bible, to explain their commitment to Christian Universalism? Tripp gives us 3 commitments for a Christian Universalist. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Theology Nerd Podcast with the Dr. Tripp Fuller. This is a shorter Q&A episode, where your friendly, local internet theologian answers questions submitted by you. In this episode Tripp tries to tackle two questions: How did the early church see the relationship between religion/faith and reason/science? How has contemporary science impacted the way Christians read scripture? Learn about Augustine's 4 rules for negotiating faith and reason, the multiple layers of meaning in scripture, and how this battle between faith and reason has been internalized. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Thatamanil, from Union Theological Seminary, is back on the podcast to talk about multiple religious identities and practices, trans-religious theology, and theology without walls. He shares a little about what type of questions are driving his theological reflection these days, when religious diversity becomes a challenge again for Christianity, the shift from multiplicity globally to locally and internally, the sampling of different religions today, and why 1965 is such an important year. Tripp and John also talk about: How syncretism fails to describe the complexities of our current situation How the notion of singular religious belonging came to be and why it isn't true How even the concept of 'religion' is problematic What the tasks or challenges are for someone doing theology without walls, the gift this vision gives to those who identify with different religious traditions, how the affirming multiple religious traditions change the way we see the God of history in the history of other religious traditions, the diversity in divinity, and the tension between nondual and personal religious experiences. Plus, Tillich memes, what assumptions get overturned when you do theology without walls, and how theologians from other religious traditions differ from Christian theologians. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan Koch, musician-turned-podcaster and host of the Reconstruct podcast, is on to talk about the second season of the Depolarize! podcast. After throwing shade at former CCM bands who also have their own podcast, they talk about the silent partner behind the Depolarize podcast - The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt, his ambitions to stop the Trump event, why the continued support of Trump is arguably much more dangerous than a one-time election, and what has changed between season 1 and season 2 of Depolarize. Is there a sickness in white evangelicalism today that has to do with: political power? eroded confidence in institutions that deserve confidence? a persecution complex that ignores the actual suffering of persecuted people? Plus, what lessons Dan hopes the Depolarize! project will teach, the best ways to resist Trump, why cultivating mindfulness practices is vital, why you can't just rely on those who already agree with you to affect political change, and the burden of individually interpreting the world and scripture and the anxiety that creates. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alexis Waggoner, Director of Marketing and Digital Education at the Westar Institute, is on to talk about raising the intellectual bar in the church (while lowering it in the academy). First, you'll hear about how her academic interests impacted her coming back to Christianity, how growing up in a more conservative setting she was told what to believe rather than how to believe, the experience of growing up in a military family and how that affected her faith, being a chaplain in the military and how that shapes her understanding of herself and her faith, and the questions and thinkers the church needs to wrestle with. Plus, Alexis shares some of the more annoying things her progressive friends say and believe about the military, and the questions and doubts about the faith she received. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark Karris, ordained minister and therapist, is on to talk about his new book, Divine Echoes: Reconciling Prayer with the Uncontrolling Love of God. In this book about prayer, inspired by the open and relational work of Tom Oord, Mark looks at the role of trauma in his life and how that led to his work as a minister, therapist, and theologian; the specter of the failure of prayer; his experience of God as love amidst the trauma; the theological underpinnings for petitionary prayer. what is the role of prayer? do petitionary prayers make a difference? is God really in control? Many theologians are embarrassed by the theological implications of intercessory prayer and try to dismiss it, but Mark spends time reflecting on the nature of the God-World relationship, the nature of divine love, and really wrestles with what petitionary prayer could look like in an open and relational context. Tripp and Mark also talk about the struggle to find meaning, purpose, and value within suffering and how that can lead back to a classical theism, the necessity for communities to rethink ideas of God's power, and Mark offers a solution to the problems of petitionary prayer. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the final episode of HBC's 10th birthday week, Tripp talks with film pioneer Hannah Leader. Hannah worked as a lawyer in the independent film world, but realized the need for high-quality Christian films. Hannah and Tripp talk about how she got into the film industry and found her way talking about Christianity, the struggle to find videos that didn't depict Jesus as a white guy, why all other forms of art (music, art, architecture) are done to the highest level for the church, except for film, the sanitation of our lives inside and outside of the church, the challenges of bringing scripture to the screen, and what, as a person of faith, this project helped her discover about the gospels that she hadn't noticed before. Plus, Hannah gives some suggestions for using the films in your community. Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Or, get the whole collection here. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today is the last day to get the cheapest tickets for Theology Beer Camp! Don't let the birthday celebrations die - join us for Theology Beer Camp this August in Asheville, NC. There are only 99 spots, so get 'em while they're hot. JC (Just Catherine) Keller is back on the podcast to talk about her book, Intercarnations: Exercises in Theological Possibility. Catherine and Tripp talk about: The possibilities for theology today What is Christ Inc. and how has christology been short-circuited from its intercarnational possibilities? How does theopoetics reframe the christological quest? How do we make theopoetics inviting to the non-specialist? What would a process-relational liturgy look like? Plus, hear Catherine talk about issues of exceptionalism - religious, political, racial, species - in our theology, the christological problem, liberating incarnation from corporations, the role of substance metaphysics in christology and where it falls short, and the ways unexamined interpretations impose themselves on bodies, and the secularization of right-wing Christianity, the Eucharist as hyper-gift, and anxieties surrounding our ethical responsibilities. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

And now for something completely different. Sean McDowell, Associate Professor in the Christian Apologetics program at Biola University, and son of Josh McDowell, is on to talk about the newly revised and updated Evidence that Demands a Verdict. Sean and Tripp talk about a lot things, including: What it's like being the son of someone everyone knows, and to be a part of the new edition of Evidence that Demands a Verdict What the biggest doubts in his own life were and what made him question his father's work The difference between an intellectual assent and gut-level response to faith The experience of God and the role that evidence plays in talking about that What are the main reasons not everyone finds Christianity as obviously true? How do you differentiate what was part of the historical setting of the Bible from our current cultural context? Plus, Sean talks about role-playing an atheist, the confrontational tone of the title, the cultural shifts that have taken place between the first edition and this one, relating to other parts of the church who don't agree with him, the ways in which the Enlightenment has shaped this conversation, issues of sexuality in the Bible and the early church and the changing role of women in scripture. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Homebrewed Christianity's birthday week! We are celebrating by releasing 5 new episodes every day. Up first, activist theologian Robyn Henderson-Espinoza is back to talk about all sorts of things, including inviting everyone to Theology Beer Camp in Asheville, NC whit August 16-18 (tickets go on sale tomorrow so head over to theologybeercamp.com to get notified when they're available). Robyn answers some questions from their last visit: how has their relationship to their own identity and their relationship to scripture changed over time? how to form a framework with which to view the Bible in a way that makes heternormitivity relevant for LGBTQ persons? how do you understand typical American theology and its connection to racist whiteness? how might our own inner life mobilize us to address pressing social concerns Plus, Tripp and Robyn talk about the need for progressive Christians to have fun, to be playful with theology and not always so serious, joyful resistance, the truth, beauty, and goodness of the IPA, an epistemology of the gut, and the recent responses to gun violence. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today is the day! HBC turns 10! Jack Caputo is back and gives us 5 reasons to go Derrida: 1. Derrida give you the best argument against fundamentalism 2. It also is the best argument against modernism, including the new atheists, and reductionism 3. The undeconstructable, or unconditional, which is not a Platonic ideal, but a hope, an expectation. 4. Binary oppositions are deconstructable 5. The pervasive presence of biblical motifs in Derrida's work Jack also explains his relationship to Derrida and his work, how Derrida's atheism was not the end of theology but the beginning of a new, more interesting post-theistic theology, whether Derrida is to blame for post-modernism, why absolutists are much scarier than relativists, and why post-modernism is neither absolutism nor relativism, Plus, he tackles fundamentalism, the new atheists, Trump, and the distinction between beliefs and a deeper faith. Books mentioned: Hoping Against Hope, The Folly of God, On Religion, Deconstruction in a Nutshell Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

These are the highlights from a live podcast in Atlanta with faculty from the McAfee School of Theology. Up first, Graham Walker and Tripp talk about their mutual friendship with "cowboy theologian" Frank Tupper (and share some great stories), that moment when the struggles of faith and life animated the tradition he inherited, living in the Philippines, and how his Baptist identity has changed. Then, biblical scholar Dr. Garber, talks about his geek conversion story, the lack of one cultural meta-narrative, the power of story and myth, re-imagining the world using geek culture, and how the religious questions of the past are being asked not by the church, but by popular culture. Plus questions for biblical scholars Dr. Slater and Dr. Holmes: how does the text become sacred again after encountering academic criticism? at what point in your life did scripture become something worth studying? what questions do you hope linger with your students? Dr. Nash and Nikki Hardeman help us think about making sense of the changing ministerial vocation economically, culturally, and ecclesiologically. And they share how their own piety shifted after being involved in the lives of the students they work with. Finally, "The World's Most Interesting Ethics Professor" - David Gushee - and Dean Jeff Willetts play a game of au contraire mon frère. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Keith Ward is back on the podcast to talk a little about his new book, Love Is His Meaning: Understanding The Teaching Of Jesus. In the book, Keith wrestles with the teachings of Jesus in a non-literal way, and looks to interpret the teachings of Jesus consistently throughout. In this episode he talks about his relationship with scripture and how it's changed over the years, his unusual route from philosophy to Christianity, which teachings of Jesus we should take seriously but not literally, the relationship between the bible as a historical text and as a sacred text, and the canonized diversity of Christianity. He also tackles: * What does a reductive, materialistic, scientific account miss when talking about creation? * How did the biblical prophets change biblical religion? * How are we supposed to understand the Kingdom of God that Jesus teaches? * What would it mean to be priests of the earth? * What is scripture's role when discussing contemporary issues of ethics and morality? * How much are we bound by Jesus' teachings and life? Plus, the problem of evil and suffering and how science can help Christians with this, the centrality of God's unlimited divine love and why it's essential to the New Testament's testimony to God. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Dominic Crossan - the fifth guest ever on the podcast - is back for his sixth visit to talk about his new book Resurrecting Easter. Hear about the genesis of a book about the resurrection, or rather, how a curiosity about an image of Jesus turned into this book, and how Eastern Christianity's image of Easter differs radically from the Western tradition of Easter. Individual Resurrection vs. Universal Resurrection: which of these images is in greater continuity with the New Testament? and what is the meaning of it? how does a universal resurrection impact understandings of God's relationship to the person of Jesus and the world? Hear how his approach to questions about the resurrection has changed over time - whether the resurrection was literal or metaphorical - and how that blocked questions of meaning, the difference between ascension and resurrection in Judaism, Paul's re-reading of the resurrection of the dead, the political implications of resurrection, and why Christians should take evolution seriously. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices