Homebrewed Christianity

Kelly Brown Douglas won the 2023 Grawemeyer Award in Religion for her newest book, Resurrection Hope, and she is here on the podcast to talk about it!

The Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas is Interim President of the Episcopal Divinity School and Canon Theologian at Washington National Cathedral. From 2017 to 2023, she was Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary and Professor of Theology. She is considered a leader in the field of womanist theology, racial reconciliation, and sexuality and the black church. Her Orbis books include The Black Christ, Whats Faith Got to Do with It? and Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God

 

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Dan Koch is one of my favorite people. He reached out to connect in person when he was thinking of starting a podcast, and since then, he has not only produced several quality podcasts, but I have grown to love having him in my life. Like all good elder millennials, nothing says, “dude, I love being your friend,” like a quality mixtape. In this episode, we make a playlist centered on our existential dread 

If you liked this, check out his music podcast –  Pretty Good Vibrations analyzes and celebrates pop and rock music and its crucial role throughout our lives. Dan hosts the You Have Permission podcast and has seven years of podcasting experience, including previous shows Depolarize! (politics/psychology) and Reconstruct (theology). He holds a Master’s of Counseling Psychology and has completed doctoral coursework at Northwest University in Kirkland, WA. His research focuses on spiritual abuse, and his “Development of the Spiritual Harm and Abuse Scale” was published in 2022 by the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. In his clinical therapy practice, Dan specializes in working with religious issues, including religious trauma, and utilizes a cognitive-existential modality. He is skilled in making academic research accessible to a broad audience, keeping things interesting while responsibly maintaining the right amount of nuance.

You can check out my previous convos with Dan here

• Only Friends Share Mixtapes
• Dabbling in Heresy
• You Have Permission to be Awesome with Dan Koch
• The Best Antidote to Rampant Partisanship with Dan Koch
• Religious Trauma, Bracketing Belief, & the Best Reason to Believe in God
• The Evangelical Youth Group Fantasy Draft
• Science and Spiritual Experience #Experiencing God

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It is impossible to tell my own story without sharing about Philip Clayton. Not only have I read all of his books, many multiple times, but his guidance in graduate school and continued friendship have been a deep blessing. On top of that, Philip is a brilliant theologian. In this unique conversation, you will hear how a deep personal faith in Christ animates this philosophical theologian and leading scholar of Religion & Science. This is just the first episode in a series exploring how to think theologically. To get the entire series, hear Philip answer the 8 big God questions, and join thousands of others in conversation, join the class Theology for Normal People.

As a scholar, Philip Clayton (Ingraham Professor, Claremont School of Theology) works at the intersection of science, philosophy, and theology. As an activist (president of EcoCiv.org, President of IPDC), he works to convene, facilitate, and catalyze multi-sectoral initiatives toward ecological civilization. As a disciple of Jesus, he finds himself energized by the Spirit in the Quaker community.

Previous Podcast Convos w/ Philip Clayton

• On the Meaning of Life
• on the Mindfulness of Nature
• The Theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg w/ Philip Clayton
• Finding God in Everyone and Everywhere w/ Philip Clayton and Andrew Davis
• Can a process theologian be an Evangelical & other questions with Philip Clayton
• The #GodDebacle w/ Philip Clayton and LeRon Shults
• Philip Clayton on the Shape of Postmodern Theology
• Party Time with Philip Clayton for “The Predicament of Beliefâ€
• Bootlegged Christianity with Philip Clayton, Jack Caputo, Bill Mallonee, Peter Rollins, & Jay Bakker
• Philip Clayton on The Resurrection, Trinity, Eschatology & the Predicament of Belief
• Coming to Jesus with Daniel Kirk & Philip Clayton

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I am THRILLED to have Reggie Williams back on the podcast! This is a powerful conversation exploring Bonhoeffer and his critique of religion. Dr. Williams is the Associate Professor of Christian Ethics at McCormick Theological Seminary and author of Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus: Harlem Renaissance Theology and an Ethic of Resistance.

This was one of the live stream sessions from the online class Bonhoeffer and the Future of Faith. To access Dr. Williams and all the other contributor’s excellent lectures head over here. These live streams were inspired by the contributor’s address, their reading selection from Bonhoeffer, and class member questions.

Here’s Reggie’s previous visits to the podcast:

• Reggie Williams: Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus
• Debating, Praying, and Living with Tyrants

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Nothing says friendship like permission to dabble in heresies together. In this episode, a group of friends who happen to be scholars of philosophy, psychology, science, and religion try to make each other uncomfortable by sharing a heresy. This podcast format was inspired by Kevin Kelly, who got Tim Ferris to try it on his show. We all had some fun. Let us know what you think about the format and how we might change it up in the future.

Dr. Myron Penner is a professor of philosophy at Trinity Western University and director of the Anabaptist-Mennonite Centre for Faith and Learning. On top of being a stellar scholar, he is a dear friend and the coolest Mennonite Canadian philosopher on planet earth.

Dr. Sarah Lane Ritchie received her B.A. in Philosophy & Religion from Spring Arbor University, an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary, and an M.Sc. in Science & Religion from the University of Edinburgh. She obtained her Ph.D. at the University of Edinburgh in Science & Religion with a thesis on divine action and the human mind, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of St. Andrews. She has published a book with Cambridge University Press and numerous articles in academic journals, and continues research in the field of science and religion.

Dan Koch is one of my favorite people. He reached out to connect in person when he was thinking of starting a podcast, and since then, he has not only produced several quality podcasts, but I have grown to love having him in my life. Pretty Good Vibrations analyzes and celebrates pop and rock music and its crucial role throughout our lives. Podcast veteran and host Dan Koch (You Have Permission Podcast) has been a professional musician for most of the last 20 years: songwriter for the emo-pop band Sherwood, then as a commercial composer since 2012. Multiple episode styles include bracket-style tournaments, chronological walk-throughs, and deep dives into genres, artists, and eras.  Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Sarey Martin Concepción is a writer, podcast producer, and filmmaker with roots in L.A. and Portland, OR. She has an MA in Theology and the Arts from Fuller Theological Seminary and works as communications director for Blueprint 1543, which cultivates integration between theology and the psychological sciences. Currently, she’s working on a feminist, sci-fi short film (winemakermovie.com). Before pursuing independent fiction and nonfiction projects, she worked for 10 years as part of Rob Zombie’s production and management team. More at secretartproject.com. Sarah, Dan, Sarey & Myron’s Previous Podcast Visits

• Myron Penner: Sex, God, & Gender
• Science and Spiritual Experience #Experiencing God
• The Living & Liberating Mystery #ExperiencingGod
• Bad Theology… Good God!
• Philosophy & the Experience of God
• The Evangelical Youth Group Fantasy Draft
• Religious Trauma, Bracketing Belief, & the Best Reason to Believe in God
• Sex, God, & Gender
• Navigating Philosophy & Religion
• a Minimally Viable God Concept
• Staff Lounge Shenanigans
• Can Scientists study gods, souls, and rituals?
• an Integrated Physicality and the Sacred
• Trilogies, Atonement Power Rankings, & Sex Work at Happy Hour
• Everyone You Ever Loved Will Die, so Merry Christmas!
• Kombucha, Meditation, Tarot, and Stink Bombs
• Only Friends Share Mixtapes
• You Have Permission to be Awesome
• The Best Antidote to Rampant Partisanship

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Dr. Aaron Simmons is here to discuss his new book, “Camping with Kierkegaard: Faithfulness as a Way of Life.” It’s a banger! Ohhh and listen close to the episode to learn how to score a sweet incentive when you grab the book

Dr. Aaron Simmons is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Furman University.

Heres Aaarons website with tons of resources & his newsletter

His previous visits to the podcast include, “Faith After Deconstruction,” Do I Have a Soul? & other cultural preferences in bold,Off-Road Religion & Pandemic Philosophizing,Smells Like Teenage Phenomenology†& Whose Christianity, Which Postmodernism?, Philosophy & the Experience of God

Youtube Channel, Philosophy for Where We Find Ourselves

TedX Speaker: The Failure of Success

check out Aarons books here

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In this episode, I am joined by chief mycelium enthusiast and advocate, Merlin Sheldrake. We recorded in person at the Center for Process Studies’ 50th Anniversary event in Claremont, CA. Come dive beneath the forest floor as we venture into the intricate and mesmerizing realm of fungi. Dr. Merlin Sheldrake, renowned biologist and author of the critically acclaimed book “Entangled Life,” pulls back the curtain on the hidden networks that underpin our ecosystems, nourish our trees, and have the potential to reshape our understanding of the world around us. Not only that, but we unpack the ways his research has inspired a larger process-relational vision.

Merlin Sheldrake is a biologist, writer, and speaker with a background in plant sciences, microbiology, ecology, and the history and philosophy of science. He received a Ph.D. in tropical ecology from Cambridge University for his work on underground fungal networks in tropical forests in Panama, where he was a predoctoral research fellow of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. He is a research associate of the Vrije University Amsterdam, works with the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN), and sits on the advisory board of the Fungi Foundation.

Merlin's research ranges from fungal biology, to the history of Amazonian ethnobotany, to the relationship between sound and form in resonant systems. A keen brewer and fermenter, he is fascinated by the relationships that arise between humans and more-than-human organisms. He is a musician and performs on the piano and accordion.

In the conversation, we discuss…

• • Merlins intellectual origin story
  • How did studying the history of science reveal unexamined metaphysical prejudice within the sciences
  • How nothing but scientific explanations and blinds us to a deep account of experience
  • Why the bifurcation of nature isnt helpful for science or the humanities
  • The many invisible lives of plants, fungi, & soil
  • The moment Merlin found the need for a process style metaphysic
  • Panpsychism!
  • How growing up a Sheldrake shaped his religious and spiritual outlook
  • Why Godsplainers are the worst;)
  • Dont kill the questions!
  • Spiritual experiments in truth

You may remember when Merlin’s Dad, Rubert Sheldrake, was on the podcast. You can listen to it here: From the Science Delusion to Psychedelic Religion.

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Dr. Willemien Otten is the Dorothy Grant Maclear Professor of Theology and the History of Christianity at the University of Chicago Divinity School.

In this conversation we discuss:

• How Dr Otten became a medievalist

• What is missed by skipping church history between Augustine, Aquinas, to Luther

• What Augustine gets right about sex and bodies

• How it took to the 12th century before Priests were really celibate

• The role of scripture in Medieval culture

• The origin of the doctrine of Creation out of Nothing

• How the revival of Bonaventure and the Franciscan tradition is generating a more lively account of nature

• How theology changes when the doctrine of nature is more than the canvas of salvation history

• Why Dr. Otten finds the Barthian rejection of natural theology unconvincing

• The role of nature for theological reflection in a secular age

• The problem of Protestantism doctrine of stewardship

• How to talk about books you havent read and become a strategic non-reader

• Returning to Schleiermacher without Barthian blinders

• The unique gift of the American philosophical tradition and its religious naturalism

• Why more theologians need to read Emerson

• Whats the role of the received tradition for contemporary constructive theology?

Willemien Otten studies the history of Christianity and Christian thought with a focus on the medieval and the early Christian intellectual tradition, especially in the West, and an emphasis on the continuity of Platonic themes. She analyzes (early) medieval thought and theology as an amalgam of biblical, classical, and patristic influences which, woven together, constitute their own intellectual matrix. Within this matrix the place and role of nature and humanity interest her most. She has worked on the Carolingian thinker Johannes Scottus Eriugena, on twelfth-century humanistic thinkers including Peter Abelard and, most recently, has ventured into the thought of R.W. Emerson and William James.

Her co-edited volume Religion and Memory (Fordham, 2013; with Burcht Pranger and Babette Hellemans) addresses how best to conceive the pastness of religion. Her co-edited volume Eriugena and Creation (Turnhout: Brepols, 2014; with Michael I. Allen), brings together selected papers on medieval nature. Besides her medieval work Otten maintains an active interest in Tertullian, Augustine, and the broader patristic tradition. With Editor-in Chief Karla Pollmann, she edited the three-volume Oxford Guide to the Historical Reception of Augustine (Oxford, 2013) and with Susan Schreiner she co-edited Augustine Our Contemporary. Examining the Self in Past and Present (Notre Dame, 2018).

Reflecting her interest in natural theology beyond the medieval period, Ottens latest study Thinking Nature and the Nature of Thinking: From Eriugena to Emerson (Stanford, 2020) approaches ideas of nature and human selfhood across a wide array of thinkers, from Augustine to William James and from Maximus the Confessor to Schleiermacher. Deconstructing the notion of pantheism in the Western religious tradition, Otten draws attention to a more elusive idea of nature in which nature is an ally and co-worker of the divine

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The good doctor Daniel Kirk joined me for some live QnA as we spread the word about our upcoming OPEN ONLINE CLASS – Romans: A Guide to the Most Misused, Problematic, & Prooftexted Letter in the Bible.

Venture into the depth and richness of Paul’s letter to the Romans in this dynamic five-session online course. Guided by the acclaimed biblical scholar Dr. J. R. Daniel Kirk, participants will be introduced to the central themes, historical background, and transformative messages of this pivotal New Testament text. Having published two books on Romans, Kirk will bring clarity and fresh perspectives to one of the most foundational Christian writings.   Embark on this transformative journey to navigate the profound truths of Paul’s magnum opus. Whether you’re a seasoned theologian, a faith seeker, or simply someone intrigued by the origins of Christian thought, this course promises insightful revelations and a deeper connection to the heart of Romans.   You can get more info and sign-up here. As always, this gathering is donation-based, including 0. You don’t have to join live to get all the content. Everyone who signs up will receive the recordings of each session.  

Daniel Kirk (Ph.D., Duke University) is an award-winning New Testament scholar whose work takes place at the intersection of history, biblical interpretation, and real life. He is currently broadening his intellectual and vocational horizons by studying to be a Physician Assistant. Look for upcoming work to have a robust dose of science and politics mixed into the biblical conversations.

Previous Episodes w. Dr. Kirk

• How Paul Preaches Christmas
• A Man Attested by God
• The Secret Chart to the END OF TIME (kind of)
• TNT Easter-Cast
•  Kirk talks Paul w/ Tripp & Pete Rollins

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I am THRILLED to have two remarkable philosophers join me to unpack philosophical deconstruction and how it can help reframe the ongoing process of deconstruction. Bruce Benson and Aaron Simmons are both accomplished postmodern philosophers, with a bunch of books on my bookshelf. This episode was even better than my high expectations! After you listen, I hope you feel the lure to come hang out with all three of us at Theology Beer Camp this October.

Dr. Bruce Benson teaches Philosophy of Religions and Continental Philosophy at the University of Nottingham, as well as being Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the University of Vienna, as part of the project ‘Revenge of the Sacred: Phenomenology and the Ends of Christianity in Europe.’ Prior to that, Bruce was Senior Research Fellow at the University of St Andrews. Over the years, he has taught and engaged in research at Loyola Marymount University, Wheaton College, the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, and Union Theological Seminary (NYC). He also serves as the Executive Director of the Society for Continental Philosophy and Theology, Philosophy of Religion editor for Syndicate Journal, editorial board member for Faith and Philosophy and the Journal of Continental Philosophy and Theology, and co-editor for the Eerdmans series ‘Prophetic Christianity’.

Check out Bruce’s books here.

Dr. Aaron Simmons is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Furman University.

Here’s Aaaron’s website with tons of resources & his newsletter

His previous visits to the podcast include, Do I Have a Soul? & other cultural preferences in bold,Off-Road Religion & Pandemic Philosophizing, Smells Like Teenage Phenomenology &  Whose Christianity, Which Postmodernism?, Philosophy & the Experience of God

Youtube Channel, Philosophy for Where We Find Ourselves

TedX Speaker: The Failure of Success

check out Aaron’s books here

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