For Laypeople, By Laypeople

Just wanted to share some thoughts about belonging to a religious community, both in a physical sense (i.e., a congregation) as well as a sort of ideological one (e.g., particular writers you resonate with). Pardon all the pauses.

Theology is the study of the nature of God, religious beliefs, and religious experiences. There is revealed theology, the knowledge of the supernatural obtained directly from God (through revelation), and there's natural theology, knowledge of God sought through reason and nature. In this episode we explore what I'm calling shroom theology, knowledge of the divine—the mystery—resulting from psychedelic experiences.

Yes, shroom theology. Enjoy!

-Enrique

For this episode, I sat down with my good friend Slade Lane. I recorded this conversation back in May when I visited Lincoln. Slade and I spent quite a bit of time in the same coffee shop talking about all kinds of things, but often coming back to God, religion, and spirituality. He is one of the people who, for better or worse, introduced me to ideas that pushed some of the boundaries that characterize a more conservative approach to understanding God. So, naturally, I asked him about his growing up in church and how his ideas about God evolved.

I hope you enjoy this conversation by two laypeople.

-Enrique

Pastor Michael Paradise is the Young Adult Pastor at College View Church (CVC), a Seventh-day Adventist church in Lincoln, Neb. During my studies at Union College (also an Adventist institution), I took a first-year course from Pastor Paradise and while I did not had a ton of interaction with him, I immediately gained an appreciation for his ministry when he started a series of meetings to discuss belief (and unbelief).

With an impressive Goodreads record (for real, though) and a commendable openness for discussion (in that order), I decided to sit down and listen to his perspective on God.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did and that you can find some interesting material to chew on.

-Enrique

In this episode we discuss two ways in which we think can think about how we think (yes, very meta): schemas and models. Do not be afraid, they are very intuitive concepts that provide nice frameworks to think about any kind of questions.

This episode serves as an introduction to the type of conversations we will be having around the issues of faith, spirituality, and belief in God. We are laypeople trying to figure out what we believe and why we believe it.

I sat down with Dr. Trudy Holmes-Caines before leaving Lincoln, Neb., and had a wonderful conversation for this podcast. She is a professor of psychology at Union College who came to the United States to pursue graduate studies. We discussed her life in Jamaica and how language plays a role in one's identity, as well as how the immigrant cultures differ from the culture in their respective countries of origin.

Before leaving Lincoln, Neb., for good, I sat down with Michael Paradise in his office at the College View Seventh-day Adventist Church where he serves as the young adult pastor. I was curious to know what it is like to work with young adults and what made him want that job—it may have something to do with having a pretty wife.

After a fun chat, I left so he could continue eating pizza and playing worship songs on the guitar, which is basically his job description—according to him, not his employer.

Slade and I have been spending quite a bit of time attempting to read at our local coffee shop, but we just end up talking whenever we run into each other. We decided to talk for the podcast about some of the Christian books we've read—or more specifically, just me ranting about an "honest and self-revealing" book I read. Enjoy!

After a few months without coming back to the studio, Slade and I return to say goodbye … kind of. Since the last episode, we have both been working on new projects: he's launched a new blog called "The Obsessionist," and I'm about to release a new podcast on Mexican politics, society, and culture titled "Independientemente."

We hope to soon be back with new episodes for this podcast. So, as my English idioms fail me at the moment I turn to Spanish now: esto no es un adiós, es un hasta luego.