Crackers and Grape Juice

Chris Nye is a doctoral student at Duke University's Divinity School and the author of several books, including most recently, A Captive Mind, which explores Christianity's relationship to ideologies. His writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Christianity Today, The Gospel Coalition, and various other publications. He lives with his family in Portland, Oregon. To connect further, visit chrisnye.co

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In this episode of our crossover podcast with Tripp Fuller and Homebrewed Christianity, Tolkien Heads, we talk all things Middle Earth with my very own Gandalf, Brian Zahnd.

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Despite widespread skepticism on the matter, a significant number of people today have stories of religious experience - moments of inexplicable terror or rapturous joy, visions, near death experiences of the afterlife, encounters with angels, heavenly voices, and premonitions. How should rationally people respond? Our guest today is Dr. Dale Allison, Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary. His new book, Encountering Mystery, is both a departure from his scholarly work and deeply connected to it.

What would your reaction be if someone told you that, one night while sitting alone, she saw through the window a brilliant light descend from the sky until it was so large that it filled the room - and that it radiated a feeling of "pure love"? And what would you say if a friend confided that one night he woke up and could not move, felt he was being suffocated and sensed and evil spirit in the room?

By default in the secular age we are skeptical about anything mysterious or supernatural. More likely than not, most people would respond to the stories above with embarrassment and concern about the person's grasp of reality, or they would attempt to explain them away through rational or scientific means. But the truth is that religious experiences like these are not as uncommon as they seem - although talking about such experiences often is. This is the case even in a faith tradition such as Christianity, despite the Bible's numerous accounts of miraculous and mysterious happenings.

In Encountering Mystery, noted biblical scholar Dale Allison makes the argument that stories of religious experience are meaningful and not to be marginalizes - and that we have a moral prerogative to lovingly engage with such stories regardless of whether we have had similar experiences. Through a close look at phenomena such as moments of inexplicable terror or rapturous joy, visions, near-death experiences of the afterlife, encounters with angels, heavenly voices, and premonitions, Allison shows how ordinary practices of faith need not be at odds with individual religious experiences. Above all, he enjoins us to be honest about the persistence of religious experience in a secular age and to make space for those who encounter mystery in their lives.

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The third in a three part online study of the new book Don’t Look Back: Methodist Hope for What Comes Next

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Our guest this week with Jason and Johanna is Bekah McNeel. Bekah is a journalist who covers education, immigration, and religion. A graduate of the London School of Economics, her new book, Bringing Up Kid When Church Lets You Down is a guide for parents questioning their faith. By touching taboo topics Bekah brings up ways to give your kids agency in discovering their own faith.

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The second in a three part online study of the new book Don’t Look Back: Methodist Hope for What Comes Next

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Our guest today is our good friend, David Zahl, who has written a great new book, Low Anthropology: The Unlikely Key to a Gracious View of Others ( and Yourself).

It'll help you find mercy.

Dave is the founder and director of Mockingbird Ministries ( www.mbird.com ) and a campus minister at UVA through Christ Episcopal Church in Charlottesville, VA.

More about the book:

Many of us spend our days feeling like we're the only one with problems, while everyone else has their act together. But the sooner we realize that everyone struggles like we do, the sooner we can show grace to ourselves and others.

In Low Anthropology, popular author and theologian David Zahl explores how our ideas about human nature influence our expectations in friendship, work, marriage, and politics. We all go through life with an "anthropology" -- an idea about what humans are like, our potentials and our limitations. A high anthropology -- thinking optimistically about human nature -- can breed perfectionism, anxiety, burnout, lonlinesss, and resentment. Meanwhile, Zahl invites readers into a biblically rooted and surprisingly life - giving low anthropology, which fosters hope, deep connection with others, lasting love, vulnerability, compassion, and happiness.

Zahl offers a liberating view of human nature, sin, and grace, showing why the good news of Christianity is both urgent and appealing. By embracing a more accurate view of human beings, readers will discover a true and lasting hope.

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Here’s audio from our first of three live-stream sessions with our friend and mentor, Bishop Will Willimon, on his new book, Don’t Look Back.

To join the next sessions, register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_vU7WWmhCT4GcS1o6PgOFBw

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Our guest today is my new friend, Jono Linebaugh who came on to talk about his new book, The Word of the Cross.

This collection of Jonathan Linebaugh's most important work on Paul explores the merciful surprise at the heart of Paul's gospel: a grace that, while strange and weak in worldly terms, is nothing less than the power of God, full of comfort and promise. Through twelve messages - two of them new - Linebaugh contextualizes and interprets key Pauline passages, does comparative readings of Paul in conversation with early Jewish tests, and enters into dialogue with Reformation theologians such as Martin Luther and Thomas Cranmer. Thorough and multifaceted, Linebaugh's work is at once exegetical, historical, and theological in scope. Accordingly, The Word of the Cross is a rigorous scholarly enterprise that takes seriously Paul's claim that the good news of Jesus Christ, despite appearing scandalous and foolish, in fact contradicts and overcomes the conditions of the possible through the power of God.

Jonathan A. Linebaugh is associate professor of New Testament theology at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Jesus College Cambridge. He is the author of God, Grace and Righteousness in Wisdom of Solomon and Paul's Letter to the Romans; editor of God's Two Words: Law and Gospel in the Lutheran and Reformed Traditions.

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Our guest today is Drew Ensz. Drew is a United Methodist Elder currently doing ministry at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. In that capacity Drew presided at a same-sex wedding and has since been, in limbo, under complaint and facing charges for over 1,100 days. Drew joined the podcast to talk about his discernment process and his experience of that complaint process in the larger institutional church.

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