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Saving Faith with Eric Sentell of the Backyard Church Blog
By Eric SentellReligion & Spirituality
Saving Faith with Eric Sentell of the Backyard Church Blog episodes
- Improving How Christians Talk to Each Other - An Interview with Mark Hackett
Metamorphosis is the podcast of Trinity United Methodist Church in Piedmont, Missouri, where we share the unchanging love of Jesus to change people’s lives.
Mark Hackett is the Executive Director of Operation Broken Silence, a nonprofit that helps teachers and healthcare workers in Sudan to provide and improve services. Mark also writes about Christianity. He comes on Metamorphosis to talk about his work with Sudan as well as a recent essay he wrote about "Christian Discourse." This wide-ranging conversation tackles how the way Christians talk to each other can influence our faith and witness. Mark offers five specific ways we can improve our discourse, or how we talk to each other.
Learn more about Trinity UMC in Piedmont, MO, at www.umctrinity.org
Contact Eric at [email protected]
Podcast Author: Trinity United Methodist Church, Piedmont, MO
1 hr 5 min - What's the Harm in Christian Nationalism? Um, Idolatry.
Metamorphosis is the podcast of Trinity United Methodist Church in Piedmont, Missouri, where we share the unchanging love of Jesus to change people’s lives.
What is Christian Nationalism? What's wrong with it?
Eric discusses a new survey on Christian Nationalism that reveals alarming attitudes about religion, government, and political violence. Then he describes the problems of heresy, idolatry, and violence that arise from the ideology of Christian Nationalism.
To learn more about the survey and researchers cited in this episode, visit the following websites:
- Christians Against Christian Nationalism
- Public Religion Research Institute, Survey on Christian Nationalism
- Jemar Tisby, author of the Color of Compromise and How to Fight Racism
- Kristen Kobes du Mez, author of Jesus and John Wayne
- Samuel Perrry, coauthor of Taking America Back for God and The Flag and the Cross
- Robert P. Long, president of PRRI and author of White Too Long
Learn more about Trinity UMC in Piedmont, MO, at www.umctrinity.org
Contact Eric at [email protected]
Podcast Author: Trinity United Methodist Church, Piedmont, MO
49 min - What is Spiritual Intelligence and How Do You Get It?
Metamorphosis is the podcast of Trinity United Methodist Church in Piedmont, Missouri, where we share the unchanging love of Jesus to change people’s lives.
Eric presents an essay by Australian blogger Dan Foster, called "Understanding the Power of Spiritual Intelligence: How It Changes Your Life." He reads through this thought-provoking, super-helpful essay based on the book, "SQ" by Harvard professor Danah Zohar, and he pauses a few times to expand on some points in light of his own experience and faith.
If you like these ideas from Dan, check out his online community, The Backyard Church! (Make sure to scroll down.)
Learn more about Trinity UMC in Piedmont, MO, at www.umctrinity.org
Contact Eric at [email protected]
Podcast Author: Trinity United Methodist Church, Piedmont, MO
36 min - Radical Inclusion at Restore Austin - An Interview with Zachary W. Lambert
Metamorphosis is the podcast of Trinity United Methodist Church in Piedmont, Missouri, where we share the unchanging love of Jesus to change people’s lives.
Eric interviews Zachary W. Lambert, the lead pastor at Restore Austin in Austin, TX. Zach shares his unique spiritual journey from being kicked out of youth group to becoming a pastor. He describes his church's efforts to reach the "dechurched" and unchurched through creating an inclusive, open, and healthy community. You can watch Restore Austin sermons on their YouTube channel, follow Zach on Twitter or Instagram, or even check out the church on TikTok.
Learn more about Trinity UMC in Piedmont, MO, at www.umctrinity.org
Contact Eric at [email protected]
Podcast Author: Trinity United Methodist Church, Piedmont, MO
57 min - Recovering from Religion - An Interview with Dustin Arand
Metamorphosis is the podcast of Trinity United Methodist Church in Piedmont, Missouri, where we share the unchanging love of Jesus to change people’s lives.
Dustin Arand is a writer on Medium who caught Eric's attention with a recent essay in which he mentioned a group called "Recovering from Religion." Dustin and Eric discuss his faith journey, the group, and the dynamics that make such a group (sadly) necessary.
Dustin's writing can be found at https://dustinarand.medium.com/. His book, Truth Evolves, is available on Amazon.
After the conversation, Dustin offered several reading recommendations for people interested in further exploring the nature of faith.
- William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience
- Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life
- Scott Atran, In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion
- Pascal Boyer, Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origin of Religious Thought
- Paul Tillich, Dynamics of Faith
- John Dewey, A Common Faith
- Ludwig Feuerbach, The Essence of Christianity (trans. by George Eliot)
- Richard Kearney, Anatheism: Returning to God After God
Learn more about Trinity UMC in Piedmont, MO, at www.umctrinity.org
Contact Eric at [email protected]
Podcast Author: Trinity United Methodist Church, Piedmont, MO
59 min - Church History - Augustine, Jesus, and Salvation
Metamorphosis is the podcast of Trinity United Methodist Church in Piedmont, Missouri, where we share the unchanging love of Jesus to change people’s lives.
This episode concludes our series on the first five hundred years of church history. Eric summarizes previous episodes to refresh your memory and then discusses
- St. Jerome's contribution to Biblical translation;
- St. Augustine's influential ideas about free will, original sin, and predestination;
- the Council of Chalcedon tripling-down on the Holy Trinity because people just couldn't stop disagreeing about Jesus' nature;
- and the necessity of looking to Jesus' LIFE and Resurrection -- and not just Paul's letters, Augustine's theology, or Jesus' death -- for our ideas about how we are "saved" or reconciled to God.
Learn more about Trinity UMC in Piedmont, MO, at www.umctrinity.org
Contact Eric at [email protected]
Podcast Author: Trinity United Methodist Church, Piedmont, MO
55 min - Advent Hope from Resurrection
Metamorphosis is the podcast of Trinity United Methodist Church in Piedmont, Missouri, where we share the unchanging love of Jesus to change people’s lives.
This episode focuses on the hope Christians have thanks to bodily resurrection. It may seem strange to talk about Jesus' resurrection at a time of year when we focus on Jesus' birth, but Jesus' birth sets in motion the life and ministry that ends with death and resurrection. How does the Bible depict resurrection? How does this vision of bodily resurrection, plus the research on Near-Death Experiences and reincarnation, create unassailable hope for Christians?
Dr. Bruce Greyson - "I Study NDEs. What I've Learned about Near-Death Experiences Changed My Life"
Dr. Andrew Newberg - NDE survivor and author of "Neurotheology" and numerous other books, articles, and essays
Learn more about Trinity UMC in Piedmont, MO, at www.umctrinity.org
Contact Eric at [email protected]
Podcast Author: Trinity United Methodist Church, Piedmont, MO
39 min - Church History - Heretics!
Metamorphosis is the podcast of Trinity United Methodist Church in Piedmont, Missouri, where we share the unchanging love of Jesus to change people’s lives.
Eric is excited to bring you one of the nerdiest episodes yet. He explores three prominent heresies in the early church, where they came from, and how the church's leaders evaluated them.
The beliefs we take for granted today did not always exist. The church had to determine its beliefs and doctrines. Competing ideas may seem crazy to us today, but they came from influential traditions and thinkers in their time.
How do we know if a given belief is acceptable for Christians? The process of discernment in the early church is fascinating and illuminating for us today.
Learn more about Trinity UMC in Piedmont, MO, at www.umctrinity.org
Contact Eric at [email protected]
Podcast Author: Trinity United Methodist Church, Piedmont, M
1 hr 10 min - Church History - A.D. 64-70 Christian Persecution and Jerusalem's Fall
Metamorphosis is the podcast of Trinity United Methodist Church in Piedmont, Missouri, where we share the unchanging love of Jesus to change people’s lives.
In A.D. 64, Emperor Nero blamed the massive fire of Rome on the Christians. Thus began persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. Or did it? The reality is more complicated and nuanced than our popular historical imagination.
In A.D. 70, the Roman army destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. This contributed to the distinction of Christianity and Judaism, allowing different expressions of Christianity to establish themselves. That included some ideas we now regard as heresies.
Eric recounts and reflects on this fascinating period of the early church.
Learn more about Trinity UMC in Piedmont, MO, at www.umctrinity.org
Contact Eric at [email protected]
Podcast Author: Trinity United Methodist Church, Piedmont, MO
43 min - Anti-LGBTQ Rhetoric and the Q Club Shooter
Metamorphosis is the podcast of Trinity United Methodist Church in Piedmont, Missouri, where we share the unchanging love of Jesus to change people’s lives.
Jesus taught that we would know "false teachers" by their fruit. Paul describes the "fruit of the flesh" as immorality, division, and violence. The "fruits of the spirit" include love, compassion, gentleness, and self-control.
Eric argues that anti-LGBTQ rhetoric has produced the rotten fruit of violence against LGBTQ people.
Rhetoric that depicts LGTBQ people as evil threats (such as people who "groom" children for abuse) pushes people who are comfortable with using violence to "do what must be done" and eliminate the threat. Thus, Anderson Lee Alrich shoots people at the Q Club in Colorado Springs.
If this is the "fruit" of our theology and politics, then what does that reality mean for us as Christians?
This episode references the following sources:
- Interview with the shooter's father
- On Killing by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman
- How School Shootings Spread by Malcolm Gladwell
- The Big Man Can't Shoot by Malcolm Gladwell (This begins with a long set-up about Wilt Chamberlain)
- Trolleyology, Psychology Today
Learn more about Trinity UMC in Piedmont, MO, at www.umctrinity.org
Contact Eric at [email protected]
Podcast Author: Trinity United Methodist Church, Piedmont, MO
48 min
About Saving Faith with Eric Sentell of the Backyard Church Blog
From the publisher's feed
Saving Faith deconstructs Christianity to reconstruct a faith that works. Eric Sentell, regular contributor to the popular Backyard Church blog, tackles tough theological questions and interviews amazing guests. Past interviews include Kristen Kobes du Mez (Jesus and John Wayne), Beth Allison Barr (The Making of Biblical Womanhood), Jared Byas (Love Matters More) John Williamson (The Deconstructionists Podcast), and many more.
Saving Faith was formerly "Metamorphosis: Sharing the Love of Jesus." Contact [email protected] with feedback, suggestions, or guest recommendations.