Homebrewed Christianity

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.

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?"

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices