Progressive Spirit

Were the early Christians communists? Roman Montero makes the case that they

were and backs it up with his book All Things In Common: The Economic

Practices of the Early Christians.  

Roman A. Montero spends a lot of time studying early Chrstianity, Koine

Greek, early Chri...

The Walking Dead. The Night of the Living Dead. Sean of the Dead. Z Nation.

We can't seem to get enough of the zombies. So what is that about? 

Greg Garrett is Professor of English at Baylor University, where he teaches

classes in fiction and screenwriting, literature, film...

This is an encore podcast of my conversation with Matthew Fox that I

previously released in November 2016.

Matthew Fox. Silenced by the Vatican for his views, left the Catholic

priesthood in the early 1980s. Matthew Fox is a theologian and activist who

has written over 30 ...

Politicians like to misquote Jesus to slash programs for the poor. Republican

congressman, Roger Marshall of Kansas misused a quote from Jesus to support

his program to reduce healthcare benefits for the poor. This is from the

article on Stat from March 3rd, 2017:

“Just li...

The good citizen defends his castle.   Punks, thieves, thugs, and rapists

don’t stand a chance against a 44 Magnum in the hands of the good guy who

stands his ground.   That is the myth.  The reality is that America’s

love affair with guns and lethal self-defense has not ma...

Drew Bekius was a true believer.  He prayed the “sinner’s prayer”

when he was three and was immersed in evangelical Christianity, starting an

award-winning ministry in his high school.  He became a minister and a

leader and he was skilled at the job.    

 

But a few years ...

The Nag Hammadi library discovered in 1945 has provided a number of

alternative Christian texts.   They were not included in the Bible. They

have been dismissed by many orthodox Christians as Gnostic or even heresy.

 Yet new scholarship is discovering the complexity of thes...

Justin Dillon is a former musician turned filmmaker and social entrepreneur.

He is the founder and CEO of Made in A Free World, a platform that brings

together consumers, organizations, and businesses to dismantle the 150

billion dollar business of human trafficking. His la...

The United States with five percent of the world’s population

 incarcerates 25% of the world’s prisoners.   Mass incarceration in the

United States is well-known.   Today’s guest points out something not as

well known.   Overcrowded and underfunded prisons now outsource edu...

Contemporary American Society is saturated with fear, fear that is out of

proportion to the actual threats we face. That is how Michael Kinnamon, a

widely respected leader and scholar in the ecumenical movement begins his

book, The Witness of Religion In An Age of Fear.

Wh...