Freedom Loves Company

Kenneth Briggs is a journalist and commentator who worked for many years as religion writer for Newsday and religion editor for the New York Times. He is the author of The Invisible Best Seller: Searching for the Bible in America.   He has traveled the country talking to people about the Bible. Even as it is still a bestseller, few people know what is in it.   What is the future of the Bible when it is stripped away of its supernaturalism and it no longer provides the overarching narrative for humanity?   Join us for a candid conversation about the Bible in America.

The Beloved Community is show for activists: uniting mind, heart, and action. This month I speak with someone who models activism, intellect and spirituality, Matthew Fox. Silenced by the Vatican for his views, he left the Catholic priesthood in the early 1980s. Matthew Fox is a theologian and activist who has written over 30 books. He has introduced millions of people to Creation Spirituality. His latest book, published in 2016 is called A Way to God: Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality Journey. According to Fox, Merton was assassinated by the CIA. We will talk more about that as well as have a candid conversation about ecology, human rights, capitalism, and resistance.

Author Douglas Steere wrote: “To ‘listen’ another’s soul into a condition of disclosure and discovery may be almost the greatest service that any human being ever performs for another.”   Listening is a lost art that is much in demand.   Jim Petersen, counselor and retired pastor, calls listening “an act of love.”  He has written a book about listening, Why Don’t We Listen Better?  Communicating and Connecting in Relationships.  This is the second edition of a book that provides wisdom and 30 listening techniques to handle interactions and difficult relationships.  The one thing each of us can do immediately to build the Beloved Community is to learn to listen.    Jim is the pastor emeritus of Southminster Presbyterian Church in Beaverton, Oregon.

President Barack Obama is concluding his second term and history will get the last word on his presidency.  From his critics Obama is everything from a Muslim, a dictator, a socialist, and simply “the worst.”  Today’s guest wants to get in some words of defense for President Obama.

Mark Hannah is a veteran of the Kerry-Edwards and Obama for America presidential campaigns. As a public affairs and media analyst, Mark blogs for PBS and the Huffington Post and appears frequently on cable news programs such as Fox News.  He is adjunct faculty member of New York University, The New School and Queens College.

We talk about his latest book, The Best Worst President: What the Right Gets Wrong About Barack Obama.

Lisa Sharon Harper is the Chief Church Engagement Officer with Sojourners.

Lisa has been leading trainings and helping mobilize clergy and community leaders around shared values for the common good, with a focus on racial justice. Prior to joining Sojourners, Lisa was the founding executive director of New York Faith & Justice — an organization at the hub of a new ecumenical movement to end poverty in New York City.

She has written five books including Left, Right and Christ: Evangelical Faith in Politics and Evangelical Does Not Equal Republican.. or Democrat.

Her latest book is called The Very Good Gospel: How Everything Wrong Can Be Made Right.

David Galston is a university chaplain, adjunct professor of philosophy at Brock University in St. Catherine’s, Ontario, Academic Director at Westar Institute, and speaker at the Quest Learning Centre.

David was on Progressive Spirit about three years ago. We discussed his book Embracing the Human Jesus: A Wisdom Path for Contemporary Christianity.

Today we are discussing his newly released book, God’s Human Future: The Struggle to Define Theology Today.  Check out his piece on Christian Atheism.

We are thrilled to welcome David along with Joseph Bessler to Southminster Presbyterian Church in Beaverton (Portland), Oregon, November 4th and 5th for a Jesus Seminar on the Road. The topic will be The Future of Religion.

Amy Livingstone is the proprietor of Sacred Art Studio in Portland. Amy explores the intersection of theology, ancestral ways of knowing, environmentalism, and spiritual ecology. Her work is informed by her love for the earth and engagement with many forms of creative expression that include painting, sculpture, installation, and ceremony. We discuss the role of spirituality and sacred art in activism for the earth.

This is the election episode.   I speak with Laurence Leamer author of The President’s Butler, a fictional account of a billionaire who decides to run for president.

Afraid of Trump becoming president?  Well, don’t be too thrilled about the alternative.  Professor Mark Lewis Taylor of Princeton Seminary has written a couple of articles for Counterpunch in which he lays out the case for defeating both Trump and Clintonian  Neo-Liberalism.

It's about money. Corporations are spending over 16 million in Oregon to defeat measure 97.  I speak with Oregon PTA Legislative Director Otto Schellabout what Measure 97 will and will not do.

Becky Garrison returns to Progressive Spirit to talk about alternative spiritual communities. Secular church but not "church." Not religious but a place to connect, find meaning, do worthwhile things. We'll hear about

The Portland Round--the visual arts, slam poetry, and music come together for intimacy and collaboration,

Sex Positive Portland -- "members plan and host events centered around understanding and exploring all aspects of human sexuality, relationship styles, kink, gender and orientation,"

Prismhousepdx -- "a community connected through cannabis,"

Sacred Circle Dance Community -- “no previous experienced required, just a desire to dance,”

Gary Austin Workshops -- "free the actor to make better choices by committing to the unknown, getting out of her head, and being in the present moment."

Set List Show -- "Stand-Up Without A Net"

and the Orchard Kitchen in Whidby Island near Seattle that is building community through food and sustainability.

Becky is a religion writer and her credits include work for The Washington Post's On Faith column, The Guardian, Believe Out Loud, Killing the Buddha, American Atheist Magazine, Perceptive Travel, The Revealer, The Humanist, Religion Dispatches and the now defunct Wittenberg Door.

Why was Christianity so odd in its time and how did it change the way we think of religion today?

Larry Hurtado is Professor Emeritus of New Testament Language, Literature,and Theology in the school of divinity at the University of Edinburgh. His research has focused on the origins and development of what he calls “devotion to Jesus” in earliest Christianity. He is an author of numerous books and an authority on the Gospels (esp. Gospel of Mark), the Apostle Paul, Early Christology, the Jewish Background of the New Testament, and New Testament Textual Criticism.

We discuss his latest book is Destroyer of the Gods: Early Christian Distinctiveness in the Roman World.