Render Unto Caesar

On this Feast Day of Creation I am releasing an interview with Dr. Jame Schaefer, an environmental advocate and theologian known for coining the term "planetary sin". As a high school religion teacher, I was not satisfied with the three traditional categories of sin found in the Catholic Catechism: original, personal, and social. So I decided to reach out to Dr. Schaefer and ask her some of the questions that my students and I had about a possible fourth category: planetary sin. I hope you enjoy the show! 

In the spring of 2024 there was a lot of buzz about student loan forgiveness in the United States. One congregation in Nashville, Tennessee believes that the North American church should be leading the way. St. Mary of Bethany Parish is paying Black therapists' student debt as an act of repentance and reparation for its complicity in racism. I talk with Danny Bryant, minister of St. Mary of Bethany, about why his church is doing this work.

It has been over a year since I produced the last episode of this podcast. In that show I moderated a fascinating discussion about the Christian Doctrine of Discovery between Indigenous scholar of law, Steven Newcomb, and Archbishop Don Bolen of the Archdiocese of Regina. Today, I resurrect the show to take a critical look at Veterans Day with author and former soldier Stan Goff. In particular, I ask Stan about the role that events like Veterans Day play in our schools. In addition to this, Stan also discusses the myth of just war theory and why reactions to small scale violence shouldn’t be conflated with those between nation-states. I conducted this interview a year ago, and have decided to air it in time for Remembrance Day in Canada. 

In this show I moderate a fascinating conversation about the doctrine of discovery between Indigenous scholar of law Steven Newcomb and Roman Catholic Archbishop Don Bolen. The irony of the release date of this episode is thick. In what was Columbus Day in the United States, President Joe Biden issued a historic proclamation that the second Monday of October is also to be called Indigenous Peoples’ Day. This follows a move by the Canadian Government to recognize September 30th as the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. Both of these moves signal an important shift in the conversation about the story of Turtle Island (or North America) and its inhabitants. I hope that this podcast spotlights the monumental role that the doctrine of discovery has played in that story.

In this episode I talk with Shawnee-Lanape scholar of law and author Steven Newcomb. In 2008 Newcomb wrote his landmark book Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery. In this show I talk with Newcomb about this doctrine and the connections that it has to the unmarked graves being found on residential school sites.

In this episode we look at what it means to be a disciple of Christ and a settler through the lens of Elaine Enns and Ched Myers newest book Healing Haunted Histories: A Settler Discipleship of Decolonization. Towards the end of the show we look at the vital role that reparations play in reconciliation, with a specific focus on the Land Back movement. 

What does it means for a privileged person to be a disciple of Jesus? This has been a question I have been wrestling with for some time now. In the next two shows I discuss this question with activists and political theologians Elaine Enns and Ched Myers. In this first episode we discuss Ched's book Who Will Roll Away the Stone?: Discipleship Queries for First World Christians. Though this book was written in the early 90s, its message could not be more relevant than it is today. 

In today’s show I ask Professor Kahl to talk about her book on Galatians, one of St. Paul’s earliest writings. Commentators up to this day read Paul’s criticism of the LAW as a condemnation of the Jewish Torah. Such a critique has likely fanned the flames of anti-Semitism throughout the centuries. But what if Paul wasn’t talking about the Jewish law whatsoever and instead was warning early Christians about compromises with Rome? Take a listen…

Join us on Render Unto Caesar as we hear from Dr. Brigitte Kahl, a German biblical scholar who unpacks the life of the Apostle Paul. She claims that new insights into his life and writings may reveal just how much the greatest Christian missionary has been misunderstood… And here’s a spoiler: his message may have been a lot more political than we think.

Today’s show is the last part of a three part series with former US soldier Stan Goff. Stan has talked with us about his extensive military career, his conversion to Christianity, and his writings. Today Stan talks about the importance of a “conspiracy of friendship” in which he challenges “woke” folks to build bridges and open lines of communication. He mentions the Green New Deal and how the state socialism is only a temporary fix for a longterm plan that revolves around small scale solutions and incarnational support systems…. Thanks for listening!