In which Jo and Ethan talk through their weeks and cover some difficult ground about oppression, harm, and safety in churches. 

Have thoughts about what we said or want to send us a reading list? Email us at [email protected].  

In which Ethan and Jo begin a multi-part mini about the Bible and its implications. 

In which Jo and Ethan discuss the difficulties of being pastors who fuck up, like, a lot. Or at least, so their brains tell them. 

The piece of writing that Jo was stretching for that inspired John Wesley's strangely warmed heart is the Preface to Romans by Martin Luther. You can read it for yourself and see if it sparks a fire in your heart: https://ccel.org/l/luther/romans/pref_romans.html

In which Ethan and Jo talk about all the nuanced problems with Christianity and money. The books Ethan and Jo recommend are Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism by Kathyrn Tanner, Being Consumed by William Cavanaugh, and On Social Justice: St. Basil the Great from the Popular Patristics series. 

In which Ethan and Jo, after some substantial internet difficulties, settle in to talk about their weeks, about Wesley's three simple rules, and the practicality of transcendentals. 

In which we include a discussion that didn't make it into the full episode on purity culture, plus some post-recording discussion. Content warning: we joke a lot about sex but also have a serious discussion about masturbation, porn, and what it means to view yourself as a person worthy of good sexual attention. If those topics don't put you in a healthy headspace, feel free to skip. You are a beautiful, valuable, worthy person who is loved and capable of loving. 

As always, The Liturgists have had a longer and better produced episode on porn, which is worth a listen: https://theliturgists.com/podcast/2019/10/3/porn

And for a good deep dive into a modern Christian sexual ethic that first does no harm, check out Just Love by Margaret Farley: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/623342.Just_Love

'Tis the season of Saint Valentine, listeners, which means an episode about purity culture!

Content warning: we do talk about sex. And make sex jokes. Because in the face of an oppressive paradigm, you gotta laugh a little. 

You can find The Liturgists' episode about purity culture here: https://theliturgists.com/podcast/2020/1/23/am-i-impure

You can find You are Your Own by Jamie Lee Finch here: https://jamieleefinch.com/you-are-your-own

You can read more about Shameless here: https://www.npr.org/2019/01/13/684505811/pastor-nadia-bolz-weber-gets-shameless-about-sex

In with Ethan and Jo talk about their understandings of worship and also their code names for minisodes. It's a delight. 

In which Jo and Ethan meander through their weeks and find themselves in a discussion about Wesley, worship, and the United Methodist Church. 

In which Ethan and Jo talk about whether God suffers, process theism, and liberation theology.