Faith Made Welcome

Troubling the Division: Faith, Science and the Doubt They Share, The Debrief

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Today’s episode of Faith Made Welcome is something of a bonus episode! If you’ve been listening to this podcast on faith brought to you by Commonwealth Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia for the last four weeks, you know that we’ve been digging into a conversation about science and faith with Dr. Graham Walker of McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University in Atlanta, Georgia.

 

In this episode of the podcast, Cheri, Marty, Paul and Robin take some time to debrief from that rich discussion. Recorded immediately after our wrap up with Graham, the Faith Made Welcome Crew tucked in for a conversation that largely turned toward an exploration of doubt. It’s driven by a lot of questions: What is the nature of doubt? What do our doubts ask of us?  What’s the difference between doubt and curiosity?  How do we make space for doubt in a faith community?  We walk together through a dialogue about skepticism, fear, and consequences that come with faith and doubt. Join us as we wrestle with how knowledge and questions go together and explore the beauty that’s possible when we dare to change our minds!

 

Scripture Mentioned this Episode

  • John 20: 19-29
  • Matthew 19: 16-30

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    Additional Materials Mentioned this Episode

    We’ve elected to list these references in the order they appear:

    • Dan Quayle: Robin references the potato debacle 
  • Robin Williams: Robin notes that Graham Walker is to theology what Robin Williams was to comedy.
  • Roman Empire: Paul makes a reference to the Roman Empire as a good example of what happens when we try to hold a society to uniform belief.
  • Buy-in bias: Paul
  • Rachel Held Evans: Robin references her journey with doubt, which she’s written about in Searching for Sunday, 
  • Nicole Nordeman: Robin reference’s her song “Dear Me” song, which both her and Cheri love. 
  • Paul Heilker: Cheri references the dedication at the opening of his book The Essay, which highlights the importance being allowed to change one’s mind.
  • Paul Fitzgerald’s Blog - Cheri asks Paul to say more about an experience with a student changing her mind, which he blogged about in “Further Thoughts on Apocalypse Beans!” 
  • John Kerry - Paul mentions him as an example of someone penalized for changing their mind.
  • Leaving Church - Barbara Brown Taylor - Cheri Made Robin talk about this book. Robin also summaries here new book. Title not remembered. 
    • James Fowler: We discuss again Fowler’s six stages of faith, which are discussed in his book by the same name: Stages of Faith; Mother Teresa and Jimmy Carter are held up as possible Level Sixes. 
    • Gallop Strength Finder: We joke that there isn’t a test to determine your faith stage like there is one to determine your strengths (although everyone on today’s podcast has done the Strengths assessment BUT PAUL).
  • Nadia Bolz Weber - Marty tells a story once told by Weber about talking with someone who doesn’t believe, to which Weber replied “I wish I could pull that off!”
  • Graham Walker - Marty tells us that Graham always instilled in his students the importance of always continuing to read. 
  • Peter Enns: Cheri mentioned his book Sin of Certainty, which she read as part of Marty’s Sunday School class at CBC; that book rocked her world. Paul is also a regular listener of Enns’ podcast The Bible For Normal People. 

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    About This Podcast

    This podcast was envisioned as means to foster spiritual growth and conversations about faith, both within and beyond the faith community at Commonwealth Baptist Church. At the open of this episode, we discuss what spiritual formation means to our CBC pastors and the role community plays in our concept of faith. 

     

    Got a question or want to reach out to the Faith Made Welcome team?  You can reach us at [email protected].

     

    Faith Made Welcome is produced by Cheri Spiegel, Paul Fitzgerald and This Most Unbelievable Life.

     

    A Note on the Links in these Shownotes

    Yes, there are a lot of Wikipedia links above. Both Cheri and Paul endorse it as a perfectly reasonable starting place for opening spaces for deeper learning.  

     

    As always, when possible, books mentioned link to Old Town Books. We’re not sponsored by this bookstore; we just believe in supporting our local community! If you’re not an Alexandrian, we hope you’ll check these out at your local bookstore!

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