Between 2002 and 2009, Rob Bell produced 24 short films; these were the Nooma videos. The videos were produced to pose questions and provoke a particular effect in the viewer rather than to educate or elevate any particular dogma or ideology. However, the “just asking questions” method doesn’t prove all that fruitful. Join Nick and Teddi as they wade through Rob Bell’s slow-talking, art film sermonizing and try to figure out what any of it even means anyway.

Sources:

Noom Video Playlist on Youtube

Shifting the sacred: Rob Bell and the postconservative evangelical turn - Robin D Willey, 2019⁠

Rob Bell Overview from Wikipedia

Rob Bell on Why He Left the Church

Love Wins Review - Huffington Post

Velvet Elvis Author Encourages Exploration of Doubts - from  Beliefnet

Mars Hill Bible Church Overview from Wikipedia

Rob Bell's Website

Love Wins (full text) on Archive.org

Kevin Deyoung's obscenely long review of Love Wins from the Gospel Coalition

In 2001, John Eldredge published Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul. A few years later, Stasi Eldredge published Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul (2005) as a companion to her husband’s book. The best-selling companion series sought to help individuals and couples unearth God’s “true” purpose for men and women. In this episode, Teddi and Nick return to the Edlredge's work, and explore John's three keys for understanding masculinity. Not to spoil anything, but they realize that many of the same issues that plagued Stasi's lackluster approach to gender present themselves in Wild at Heart as well. While John assures his readers that his book is, in fact, different from that of the world and that of the church, we question whether or not anything novel or compelling or even wild actually shows itself. Join us as we discuss the ways Wild at Heart presents a messy and problematic gender ideology.

Sources and Further "Reading"

Wild at Heart by John Eldredge

Gary Gilley’s Two Part Review (2004)

Wild at Heart - Bible Study with John Eldredge - Session 1 Preview

John Eldredge - Full Teaching - BraveCo Men's Conference 2021 | BraveCo

John Eldredge author of "Wild at Heart" on CNN

There’s a war on! Nick and Teddi climb into the trenches of culture to see what really fuels the forever war to keep Christ in Christmas. Beginning in the early 20th Century, many public figures began to use rhetoric describing what they perceived to be oppressive forces attempting to force the holy day into becoming just another holiday. In this episode, we explore how Fox News and Bill O’Reilly capitalized on the heinous siege of commercialization to sell ad space. We also address a book by John Gibson that teaches us how important it is to take offense to all those snowflakes who take offense. And, Megyn Kelly gives us one simple trick to keep every Christmas... very white.

Carman (1956-2021) was a music singer, song writer, television host, and evangelist. He was wildly successful, winning many awards and selling millions of albums, and was often regarded as CCM's "showman." His success--especially in the '80s-'90s--was in large part due to his highly distinctive sound and performance; his songs were often narrative-driven, long, theatrical, and spoken rather than sung. Upon his death, many rightfully noted that Carman wasn't afraid to be a 'star'; in the words of Tyler Huckabee for Relevant Magazine, Carman was undoubtedly engaging in a kind of "vanity project," yet this never appeared to compromise his message. In this episode, Teddi and Nick unpack some of Carman's most beloved songs, and frame him as a unique self-constructed Christian celebrity who simultaneously embodied and contradicted the Church's standards for Christian art.

In 1997, Joshua Harris released his book, I Kissed Dating Goodbye (1997). Differing somewhat from other texts from evangelical purity culture, Harris advocated for a strict courtship model, arguing that Christians should not only abstain from physical intimacy until marriage, but emotional and romantic intimacy as well. In this episode, Teddi and Nick discuss how the book convinced an entire generation of young Christians that dating was ultimately just a "training ground for divorce." Over 20 years later, the text is no longer published, and Harris has retracted his core message; yet, its impact still remains. In this episode, we chat about the book itself--breaking down its core points and analyzing its troubling representation of modern dating, love, and romance--as well as address Harris' later documentary, I Survived I Kissed Dating Goodbye (2021).

Rebecca. St. James released her sixth album "Transform" in 2001. The album was a huge success, largely because of the unique track "Wait For Me," which became an  anthem for Christian women who aspired to "save" sex for their future husbands. "Wait For Me" was one of the first highly popularized songs to engage the topic of sexual purity and it was unique in that it pushed the artist's own proclaimed virginity into the spotlight. The song--which soon sparked a corresponding music video, book, and devotional--provided women with the hope of a Christian fairy-tale-- one that, contrary to the sexual world's love stories, was defined by sexual abstinence and traditional gender roles. In this episode, we frame the highly successful song as both a product of and catalyst for the "purity culture" that dominated American Christianity in the early 2000s.