Kwok ’n’ Roll

By Kwok Pui Lan

What does it mean to be a Christian and a person of faith in today’s challenging world? How can we have meaningful dialogue across racial, cultural, religious, and political differences to address the... more

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How many episodes does Kwok ’n’ Roll have?

The podcast currently has 32 episodes available.

Kwok ’n’ Roll episodes:

September 03, 2025 Deliberative Democracy against Authoritarianism
Dr. Sharon D. Welch is a scholar and activist and a former Provost of the Unitarian Universalist’s Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago. A seasoned activist, she was involved in the women’s movement, peace movement, and direct activism for decades. She has worked with the Chicago League of Women Voters, the Social Enterprise Alliance, and the Community-Based Learning Collaborative, among other organizations. In this episode, she discusses what she has learned from Indigenous leaders such as Carol Lee Sanchez and Robin Wall Kimmerer, Hong Kong lawyer and democracy fighter Benny Y. T. Tai, social scientist Stanley Deetz, and Unitarian Universalist pastor Joseph Santos Lyons about social transformation, deliberative or generative democracy, and quiet generators of liberation. She offers advice to activists and scholars of the upcoming generation as they prepare to lead us into the future.
Dr. Sharon Welch’s book: After the Protests Are Heard
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31min
August 27, 2025 What Is the Future of Political Theology?
Dr. Vincent Lloyd is a professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University. He researches and teaches about the philosophy of religion, religion and politics, and race. In this episode, he discusses his two forthcoming books: Political Theology Reimagined and What Is Political Theology? While political theology in the past has engaged with the works of Carl Schmitt, Giorgio Agamben, and Jacques Derrida, cutting-edge scholarship in the field employs queer theory, critical race theory, and decolonial theory, etc. Lloyd explores the intersection between political theology and Black theology and discusses the book on race that he is co-authoring with Jonathan Tran. Pope Leo is a famous alum of Villanova University. Lloyd shares his hopes for the new Pope and how political theology can deepen our understanding of the relationship between religion and politics, contributing to the pursuit of justice.
Dr. Vincent Lloyd’s books: Political Theology Reimagined and What Is Political Theology?
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27min
August 21, 2025 What Will the Actual Jesus Do in Our Time
Dr. Tina Pippin teaches the Bible and Religion at Agnes Scott College, a women’s college in Decatur, Georgia, USA, and she will be the president of the Society of Biblical Literature in 2026. In this episode, she discusses her new book The Actual Jesus, which investigates the portrayals of Jesus in films, novels, popular media, and AI. She recalls her training in biblical studies as a graduate student in the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary before its takeover by the fundamentalists and the development of Jesus research in the past few decades. The field of biblical studies has greatly expanded with the addition of women, racial and ethnic minorities, formerly colonized people, and LGBTQ persons. She offers examples of her pedagogy relating the Bible to global affairs and social concerns in her community. She also discusses her hope for future biblical scholarship.
Dr. Tina Pippin’s book The Actual Jesus
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32min
August 15, 2025 How I Composed Liturgical Music for Pope Francis in the US Holy Mass
Dr. Antonio Alonso is the Director of Catholic Studies at Candler School of Theology, Emory University. He composed the responsorial psalm for the first Mass Pope Francis celebrated in the U.S. in 2015. A Latin Grammy-nominated composer, he discusses the difference between composing liturgical music versus secular music. He began writing music as a teenager and is the author of over 200 published compositions and arrangements. He reflects on Pope Francis’ legacy and his hopes for Pope Leo as the first pope from the U.S. Dr. Alonso is also an award-winning scholar, whose works focus on worship and ritual practices. He discusses his book Commodified Communion: Eucharist, Consumer Culture, and the Practice of the Everyday Life and is working on a second book on changes in material Catholicism in the wake of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
Dr. Antonio Alonso’s book: Commodified Communion
Pope Francis in US Holy Mass
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24min
August 06, 2025 Transpacific Theological Ethics and Spiritual Activism
Dr. Keun-joo Christine Pae teaches religion and ethics, and women and gender studies at Denison University in Ohio. In this episode, she discusses transpacific imagination in theology and ethics, and her field research on spiritual activism in Korea. As a coeditor of Searching for the Future in the Past: Reclaiming Feminist Theological Visions, she explains why feminist theology continues to be a critical tool for women-identified and gender-minoritized people to overcome violence and oppression. She helps us understand the growth of Christian Zionism in Korea, pointing to the literal interpretation of the Bible and anti-communism, as well as growing Christian nationalism in the country. As an Episcopal priest and a scholar, she discusses how churches can be involved in the pursuit of social justice.
Dr. Kuen-Joo Christine’s book: A Transpacific Imagination of Theology, Ethics, and Spiritual Activism
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26min
July 30, 2025 How I Became the First Professor of Black Theology at Oxford
Dr. Anthony Reddie became the first professor of Black Theology at Oxford University in its nearly 900-year history. Born in the U.K. to immigrant parents from Jamaica, Reddie describes racism in the British church and society and how black theology developed in Britain since the 1990s. He argues that Black theology in the U.K. is inseparable from British colonial history and must adopt a postcolonial stance. He offered the first course on Black theology, focusing on James Cone, at Oxford in 2023. He directs the Center of Black Theology at the Regent's Park College and works with churches and organizations to deconstruct whiteness and develop decolonial theological education and pedagogy. He will publish Living Black Theology in the fall of 2025.
Dr. Anthony Reddie's book Living Black Theology
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34min
July 23, 2025 My Vocation as a Latina Theologian and Priest
Dr. Loida I. Martell is Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean at Lexington Theological Seminary in Kentucky. She was trained in veterinary medicine before pursuing a career in theology. In this episode, she discusses the development of Latina theology and the challenges to theological education. As one of a handful Latina in leadership positions in theological education, she looks back at her career and encourages churches and schools to value the contributions of Latinas. She is about to retire in the summer of 2025 and shares how she treats the classroom and school as a pastorate and offers advice to the upcoming generation.
Dr. Loida Martell's book
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28min
July 16, 2025 Climate Justice, God, and the Church
Dr. Grace Ji-Sun Kim is a writer, theologian, and professor at Earlham School of Religion. This episode discusses her forthcoming book Earthbound: God at the Intersection of Climate and Justice. She shares her experience of participating in the World Council of Churches and ecumenical conversations on the environment and climate justice for many years. She was in Assisi, Italy when Pope Leo XIV was elected. Her group went to Rome and witnessed the pope’s first speech from the balcony of St. Peter Basilica. She shares her excitement about the new pope and hopes that Pope Leo will be involved in environmental issues, as Pope Francis was. Dr. Kim also describes the journey of writing her book Invisible, which discusses the invisibility of anti-Asian racism because Asians are not black, and their concerns are often overlooked. She presents a theology of visibility in the final chapter of her book.
Dr. Grace Kim's book Earthbound
Dr. Grace Kim's Madang Podcast
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33min
July 09, 2025 Queer Biblical Interpretation and the Metropolitan Community Church
Dr. Mona West, a leading queer biblical scholar and Metropolitan Community Church pastor, discusses how the Trump administration policies seek to drive a wedge in the LGBTQI+ community. Citing from the work of Judith Butler, she cautions that the LGBTQI+ community must learn to listen to and stand in solidarity with one another. She recalls the beginnings of queer biblical scholarship and her coedited volumes, Take Back the Word and The Queer Bible Commentary. As a senior pastor and leader in the MCC for many years, she recalls how MCC contributes to theological education and becomes a home for LGBTQI+ Christians. She discusses issues MCC wrestles with in terms of sexism, racism, and the wider acceptance of queer people in church and society. She encourages younger LGBTQI+ people to respond to the call to ministry, saying that we live in a time of change and need courageous people who can make a difference.
Dr. Mona West's book, The Queer Bible Commentary
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30min
July 02, 2025 Stop AAPI Hate and Asian American Churches
Dr. Russell Jeung, a professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University, was a co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, which documents anti-Asian racist incidences during COVID-19 and beyond. In this episode, he discusses what prompted him to start Stop AAPI Hate. He combines his scholarship on Asian American studies with his long-time activism on behalf of the Asian American community. He shares his experience studying Asian ethnic and multiracial churches and how he grew up in a fundamentalist Chinese church. He wants to witness to Jesus, who was an immigrant, an incarcerated, and who cares for those at the margins. His work for Stop AAPI Hate prompts him to stand up in solidarity with other racial and ethnic groups who face deportation and discrimination. His book At Home in Exile documents how living in a poor refugee neighborhood in Oakland, California, helps him understand God’s grace and forgiveness.
Russell Jeung’s At Home in Exile
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23min

FAQs about Kwok ’n’ Roll:

How many episodes does Kwok ’n’ Roll have?

The podcast currently has 32 episodes available.