Kwok ’n’ Roll

Can the Black Church achieve true queer belonging? Reverend Dr. Brandon Crowley discusses his ministry of disruption.

The Rev. Dr. Brandon Thomas Crowley is Senior Pastor of the Historic Myrtle Baptist Church and Director of Theological Education at Episcopal Divinity School, and author of Queering Black Churches: Dismantling Heteronormativity in African American Congregations.

In this conversation, host Kwok Pui Lan explores how Reverend Dr. Brandon Crowley approaches his leadership at the Historic Myrtle Baptist Church. We examine the specific challenges of fostering queer belonging within traditional spaces and why Crowley views his pastoral work as a necessary act of turning over the tables in the temple.

Crowley discusses the tension between historical institutional constraints and the need for radical inclusion. For those navigating the intersection of faith and sexuality, this conversation offers a perspective on how to advocate for a more equitable community. We also look at how theological education can be anti-racist, decolonial, and supports new ministries.

Dr. Brandon Crowley's book: Queering Black Churches

Is socialism Christian? Postcolonial theologian Kwok Pui Lan talks with Gary Dorrien, Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary, about religion and politics and the rise of democratic socialists in America.

Dorrien is the author of numerous books on Christian socialism and the history of the American left, including American Democratic Socialism. As a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, he brings both scholarship and personal commitment to this conversation about faith, economics, and justice.

In this Faithful Provocations conversation, we discuss what democratic socialism means in the American tradition from Eugene Debs to Martin Luther King Jr. to Bernie Sanders and Zohran Mamdani, where the Bible grounds economic justice, and how Christian socialism differs from both Christian nationalism and anti-religious materialism. We also talk about why young Americans are joining DSA now, and what people of faith can do if they feel politically homeless.

ABOUT GARY DORRIEN: Gary Dorrien is the Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York. His books include American Democratic Socialism, Social Ethics in the Making, and a memoir, Over from Union Road.

Was Jesus political? Biblical scholar Richard Horsley on what Rome reveals about America today.

In this Faithful Provocations conversation, I talk with Richard A. Horsley, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Liberal Arts and the Study of Religion at UMass Boston, about his book Jesus and the Powers: Conflict, Covenant, and the Hope of the Poor. We explore covenant theology and apocalyptic hope under empire, what Roman power felt like in Galilee, and why reading crucifixion as imperial punishment changes the cross.

We also connect Rome then to America now — from his work on Jesus and Empire to how Christian language is used today to bless military power and strong leaders, and where he sees the powers most clearly in the US right now. We close with the hope of the poor — what faithfulness can look like for students, pastors, and Christians who feel overwhelmed by empire.

Guest: Richard A. Horsley, author of Jesus and the Powers and Jesus and Empire

Does AI need religion? Franciscan scientist-theologian Ilia Delio says yes — and responds to Pope Leo on AI.

Kwok Pui Lan interviews Ilia Delio on ai and religion, evolution, transhumanism, and what Pope Leo gets right — and misses — about safeguarding the human person.

Ilia Delio, OSF, is a Franciscan sister, former Chair at Villanova, Executive Director of the World Institute for Science, Religion, and Culture, and author of 20 books, including Re-enchanting the Earth: Why AI Needs Religion. Trained as a pharmacologist and historical theologian, she places AI inside cosmic history — from Teilhard de Chardin's noosphere to our future as natural-born cyborgs.

We discuss why Christianity must be reconstructed for evolution and complexity, the difference between a transhuman future built for power and a posthuman future built for wholeness, and how ordinary people of faith can stay human and connected in an AI age.

Books by Dr. Ilia Delio: Re-enchanting the Earth: Why AI Needs Religion and The Christian Mutation: Reclaiming the Dynamic God of Jesus.

How can Christian sexual ethics move past shame-based rules? We explore wisdom for navigating the digital age.

Kate Ott's books: Sex, Tech, and Faith: Ethics for a Digital Age; and

Christian Ethics for a Digital Society

Who rules China — and who decides what makes power legitimate? Postcolonial theologian Kwok Pui Lan talks with Peng Yin, Assistant Professor of Ethics at Boston University School of Theology, on Chinese political theology after Xi's visit to Washington.

In this interview, we move beyond trade and security headlines from the Xi Jinping Trump meeting to ask a deeper question about US-China relations : how is political power justified? Peng Yin explains what Chinese political theology is, how it differs from American debates on Christian nationalism, and why legitimacy is at its center.

We discuss his work on Thomas Aquinas and early Chinese ethics, natural law from Aquinas to Montesquieu and early modern Chinese reformers, and the church in China. The conversation closes with faith between two empires — for diaspora Christians, students, and all who want to persist in the good.

Peng Yin's research focuses on comparative religious ethics, political theology, and Chinese thought. His recent book is Persisting in the Good: Thomas Aquinas and Early Chinese Ethics.

Why can't our schools teach us to flourish? Postcolonial theologian Kwok Pui Lan talks with Rev. Dr. Patrick B. Reyes about becoming good ancestors for the next generation.

Rev. Dr. Patrick B. Reyes is a Chicano theologian, writer, and Dean and Executive Vice President at Auburn Theological Seminary. His new book Pedagogy of the Ancestors: Practices for Mentoring and Teaching Future Generations (WJK Books, 2026) asks how we learn to live on ancestor time and at the speed of love. In this conversation, we talk about his journey from gang life to seminary leadership, the purpose gap facing youth of color, how oppressive systems sever us from lineage, and what mentorship, youth ministry, and discipleship look like when they center ancestors, storytelling, and rituals for belonging.

Whether you are a pastor, teacher,  mentor, or caregiver, you will leave with one practice you can try this week to help young people flourish — not just achieve.

New book — Pedagogy of the Ancestors

Patrick B. Reyes 's website.

Is Christian Zionism a heresy? South African theologian Dr. Thandi Gamedze explains what Kairos means from Soweto to Gaza.

In this Faithful Provocations conversation, I talk with Dr. Thandi Gamedze, Senior Researcher of the Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice at the University of the Western Cape, about the connection between Kairos South Africa and Kairos Palestine. We discuss why South African Christians called occupation apartheid, how Palestinian Christians mirrored the 1985 Kairos method in 2009, and what her analytical mapping of Christian Zionism in South Africa reveals for the global church today.

Dr. Gamedze is a contributor to my new edited volume The Anglican Church and Palestine (September 2026). If you want to understand Black theology, prophetic theology vs. state theology, and why the Anglican Church of Southern Africa has spoken most clearly for Palestine, start here.

In this episode:

Why 1985 Kairos was so dangerous to apartheid

What Kairos Palestine borrowed — and where it went further

How Christian Zionism is growing in South Africa today What global Anglicans are called to do now

Link to The Anglican Church and Palestine

What did Trump's Faith Advisory prayer calls sound like between the 2020 election and January 6th? Pentecostal theologian Amos Yong looked at the transcript of 25 calls and co-wrote Trump and the Politics of Prayer about what he found.

In this Faithful Provocations conversation, host Kwok Pui Lan traces how Yong became the theologian — growing up Asian American and Pentecostal, working on science and religion, and living theology alongside his brother with Down syndrome — before returning to the heart of the book: when prayer becomes warfare, when prophecy blesses power, and what prayer is for.

We talk about aggressive prayer, intercession vs spiritual warfare, prophecy and democracy grounded in dialogue, listening, and hospitality, and what Pentecostal theology can offer in a moment of AI, polarization, and fear.

Guest: Amos Yong, Professor of Theology and Mission, Fuller Seminary, co-author of Trump and the Politics of Prayer (with J. Derrick Lemons, Bloomsbury Academic, Sept 2026).

This Faithful Provocations conversation explores the historical connection between the British Empire and the Anglican Church to understand how these institutions shaped each other.

Kwok Pui Lan sits down with Canon Dr. Sanjee Perera, Lecturer in Mission and Evangelism at Cranmer Hall, Durham University, to discuss her forthcoming book, Church of Empire: The Church of England and Race in Global Perspective.

They explore:

• Why the Church of England was "Anglican in its character" while Anglicanism was "empire-based in its character"

• Her family's eight generations in a Sri Lankan church built in 1546 — before British colonization

• The 2018 psychological study across 42 dioceses that found belonging as a marginalized person in the Church of England was a psychologically distressing experience

• The book's global contributors, from Malawi to Hong Kong to the US Episcopal Church

• The spiritual practice that sustains her: a garden, with one plant for every person she prays for

About the guest: Canon Dr. Sanjee Perera is a cognitive psychologist and Lecturer in Mission and Evangelism at Cranmer Hall, Durham University, and a former advisor to the Archbishops on Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns.