Rector’s Cupboard Podcast

Shaila Visser is the National Director of Alpha Canada and the Global Senior Vice-President for Alpha International. She is the Executive Producer of both The Alpha Youth Film Series (2013) and The Alpha Film Series (2016), and currently holds a position on the Board of the Damascus Road Foundation.

We speak with Shaila about how and why Alpha works and has for so many years. What does it mean to talk about faith, but not prescribe a particular outcome? We also speak about what faith might look like for those who have pushed away from their previous church experience.

For information on Alpha, including finding a course, running a course, or helping support Alpha, you can check out their website.

Dr. Aurelian Crăiuțu is Professor in the Department of Political Science at Indiana University, Bloomington, and Adjunct Professor in the Lilly Family School of Philanthropic Studies at IUPUI, Indianapolis. He is also affiliated with the Russian and East European Institute, the Institute for West European Studies, and the Ostrom Workshop. Crăiuțu has written extensively about the concept of political moderation and has argued that moderation is the strongest, most intellectually honest, and most radical political position in times of polarization.

Rector’s Cupboard co-host, Todd Wiebe, wrote an article for Church For Vancouver, in April 2024 reflecting on Crăiuțu’s latest work, Why Not Moderation?, in relation to Evangelical culture. Asking questions such as; What are the shadow sides of the calls for “radical commitment” in Evangelical faith? How might religious moderation by the strongest type of commitment?

After publication of that piece, Aurelian Crăiuțu reached out to Todd and asked for a conversation on religious moderation and how it might relate to political moderation.

You may have grown up in a religious culture that demanded or rewarded a kind of fully-sold-out faith. While the appeals of this kind of neither-hot-nor-cold understanding of faith are evident, the dangers and weaknesses are often overlooked. If sold out faith means never questioning belief or leadership, than it is weak, not strong. If sold out faith means seeing people who don’t believe what you believe as obviously misguided or even evil, than it is weak, not strong. Political moderation moves us towards genuine consideration of the other. Christian faith, at its hopeful best, does the same. The concept of the Incarnation is the heart of God moving towards humanity. Faith that is truly strong (moderate) recognizes this call.

If you’d like to read more about moderation, you can find links to Todd original article and Dr. Crăiuțu’s book above. If you’re really keen about even more writing about moderation, you can also check out Todd’s other article about it, written earlier this year, in Evangelically Departed.

We hope you enjoy the conversation!

As we close season 5 of Rector’s Cupboard and begin summer, Rector’s Cupboard hosts, Todd, Amanda, and Allison have gathered to talk about what is on our summer reading/watching/listening lists this year that we think you might find interesting. We hope that you are able to find time for beauty and rest and entertainment this summer and we will be back in the fall with season 6!

Outlaw Festival – taking place at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington, featuring Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, and John Mellencamp

The Bear, season 3 – Disney Plus

Take What You Need – Idra Novey

Benjamin Perrin is a professor at the University of British Columbia, Peter A. Allard School of Law and a senior fellow in criminal justice at the Macdonald Laurier Institute of Public Policy and the author of several books including Indictment: the Criminal Justice System on Trial and Overdose: Heartbreak and Hope in Canada’s Opioid Crisis.

We speak with Ben Perrin about a couple of his books. Ben does a fantastic job of describing challenges of criminal justice and the opioid crisis in Canada. He places himself within the frame of someone who used to believe one way, but changed his view – in his own description, because of his faith.

Ben’s research on the topics is extensive and his books offer a look into the many challenges and considerations. They also offer an example of the positive call of being open to change. It was a privilege to speak with Ben. We think that you will find his insight and example inspiring.

We are grateful as well to open this episode with a conversation with a member of the Reflector Project Board, the non-profit of which Rector’s Cupboard is a part. Tierney has professional experience working with people who have faced the trauma and stigma that Benjamin Perrin writes and speaks about.

We were pleased to speak again to Dr. Marty Folsom about his latest work, Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics For Everyone, Vol 2 – The Doctrine of God: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners and Pros. Marty Folsom has taken up an expansive work of outlining the main points and the structure of Karl Barth’s multi-volumed Church Dogmatics. Those two words, “church” and “dogmatics,” both carry negative perceptions for many people. What you will find in Church Dogmatics, however, is helpful and hopeful, positive and thoughtful, and even healing.

Karl Barth presents a way of seeing faith and life that is bright, a way that calls us to solidarity rather than separation, all because God has chosen not to be God without us.

You might find it hard to believe what you used to believe, or hard to believe in the way that you used to believe. Marty Folsom shows us, through presenting the work of Karl Barth, that there is a better, more faithful way of believing.

Volume 2 of Folsom’s Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics for Everyone has just been released. This book looks at Church Dogmatics 2 and outlines concepts such as the sovereignty of God in choosing to love humanity, and the hopeful doctrine of election, God’s love for ALL. We are grateful for the conversation about the new book.

If you’d like to listen to our interview with Marty about Volume 1 of his Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics for Everyone series, you can find that episode here.

This week on Rector’s Cupboard, we gather the Cupboard hosts, Todd, Allison, and Amanda, as well as Cupboard Master, Ken, to discuss what we’re watching and reading right now, as well as few articles that speak about the apocalypse, hope, fear, and changing understandings of faith.

Ken mixed us a delicious cocktail called a Bourbon Pecan Pie Cocktail, which contained vodka, whiskey/bourbon, and Pecan Liqueur, featuring Revel Stoke Roasted Pecan Flavored Whiskey.

If you’d like to read the articles we discuss in this episode, here they are:

“They broke up for their faith. Asking questions brought them back together” – CBC, April 1, 2024

“Climate Doom Is Out. ‘Apocalyptic Optimism’ Is In.” – New York Times, April 21, 2024

We hope you enjoy the conversation!

This week on Rector’s Cupboard we are pleased to offer a collaboration with our good friend, David Goa.

David has been on the podcast a number of times through the years and in 2022 we partnered with David to record a series of conversations about the Church, the “ecclesia,” asking “who is she?” entitled The Church In-Between Times.

David’s love for the Church and his insight into the blessings and challenges faced historically and today are evident.

He recently invited Todd to speak about the Church with him and we are pleased to bring this conversation to Rector’s Cupboard.

We speak with United Church Minister Deb Walker about her attendance at the COP 28 Climate Conference in Dubai. 85,0000 people attended the event, which was held in a country often referred to as a Petrol State.

Deb’s attendance was officially as a Faith Observer as a part of the Christian Climate Observers Program. Deb is informed on the issues around climate change and outlines the hope she felt at the conference in the midst of some of the most important challenges of our time.

Deb mentions many organizations and programs related to ecology, environmentalism, and activism during our conversation.

If you’re interested in looking into some of these yourself, here are the resources Deb spoke to us about:

The Mother Tree

New York Times article referenced in this episode:

Bravo! Hurray! Wahoo! (Meh.) – New York Times, April 11, 2024 

Do you have a testimony?

In this context, testimony meant a personal account of your life or background with an emphasis on your conversion to evangelical faith. It was communicated, largely, with the intent and hope that those listening, who had not experienced such a conversion, may, themselves, make a declaration of faith.

Spiritual memoir is different than testimony.

Richard Lischer’s book, Our Hearts are Restless, introduces us to the spiritual memoir of some interesting people. In describing spiritual memoir, Lischer says, “some lives are construed as if lived in the presence of God.”

We found the book wonderful and thoughtful. Lischer skillfully and compassionately (for subject and reader) opens the accounts of the people to whom he introduces us in a way that helps to ask meaningful questions about life and faith.

Enjoy the episode and if you are so inclined, read the book – it really is good.

Dr. J. Warren Smith is Professor of Historical Theology at Duke Divinity School. Professor Smith is a great guide in helping us to see hope for the future in listening to voices of hope from the past.

We talk with him about how some sayings, perspectives, and experiences of those who lived many centuries ago can be resonant in the midst of the challenges of our time.

Besides being compelling and interesting, and at times upsetting, encountering theology in history can be a lot of fun.

Enjoy.