For many years, Danielle Shroyer was a pastor to people recovering from a toxic theology of original sin, a theology that said that God couldn’t even bear to look at them without a very bloody intervention by Jesus. With a fierce empathy for her parishioners and an intellectual hunger for good theology, Shroyer went digging through the early writings of the church and discovered there an understanding of salvation that was not based on an assumption of essential human depravity. For Shroyer, the blessing of humanity by God “is not if-then but as-is.” We may “choose not to echo the blessing of God, but God’s blessing will never stop echoing over us.”

Danielle Shroyer joined us for a dynamic and refreshing conversation on The Ferment. We are grateful for her curiosity and her courage.