
A Pastor and a Philosopher Walk into a Bar
Mixing a cocktail of philosophy, theology, and spirituality. We're a pastor and a philosopher who have discovered that sometimes pastors need philosophy, and sometimes philosophers need pastors. We tackle topics and interview guests that straddle the divide between our interests. Who we are: Randy Knie (Co-Host) - Randy is the founding and Lead Pastor of Brew City Church in Milwaukee, WI. Randy loves his family, the Church, cooking, and the sound of his own voice. He drinks boring pilsners. Kyle Whitaker (Co-Host) - Kyle is a philosophy PhD and an expert in disagreement and philosophy of religion. Kyle loves his wife, sarcasm, kindness, and making fun of pop psychology. He drinks childish slushy beers. Elliot Lund (Producer) - Elliot is a recovering fundamentalist. His favorite people are his wife and three boys, and his favorite things are computers and hamburgers. Elliot loves mixing with a variety of ingredients, including rye, compression, EQ, and bitters.
Latest episodes

May 5, 2021 • 1h 17min
A Philosopher and a Philosopher Ruin Your Theology: Interview with Nick Oschman
Text us your questions!Dr. Nicholas Oschman joins us for a free-flowing and almost totally unscripted conversation about certainty, deception, whether religious people really believe what they say, orthodoxy, cynicism, charismatic experience, Islamic philosophy, and more. The conversation is raw, honest, and iconoclastic, but also gentle, humble, and hilarious. Whoever you are, we guarantee there's something to challenge you here.The whiskey featured in this episode is Jameson Caskmates Stout Edition.If you're local to Milwaukee, check out our friends at Story Hill BKC.Content note: this episode contains some mild profanity.=====Want to support us?The best way is to subscribe to our Patreon. Annual memberships are available for a 10% discount.If you'd rather make a one-time donation, you can contribute through our PayPal. Other important info: Rate & review us on Apple & Spotify Follow us on social media at @PPWBPodcast Watch & comment on YouTube Email us at pastorandphilosopher@gmail.com Cheers!

Apr 21, 2021 • 1h 15min
Complementarian Cemeteries and Smashing the Patriarchy: An Interview with Beth Allison Barr
Text us your questions!Does the idea, or the very phrase, "Biblical Womanhood" make you shudder a bit? Us too.In this episode, we interviewed Beth Allison Barr about her book The Making of Biblical Womanhood. Beth is a Historian at Baylor University, and her book makes a brilliant case that the idea of "Biblical Womanhood" is more of a product of the patriarchal world that the Bible was written in than it is a product of the Bible itself, much less God. Dr. Barr shares from her perspective as a historian, and as a woman who's been marginalized by the church herself in painful ways.This is an important book that needs to be featured in the Church as we journey towards equality and the empowerment of women. The scotch we sample in this episode is Oban Distillers Edition. It's a delightful treat.As usual, if you share us on social media and/or leave a review, we'll love you forever.=====Want to support us?The best way is to subscribe to our Patreon. Annual memberships are available for a 10% discount.If you'd rather make a one-time donation, you can contribute through our PayPal. Other important info: Rate & review us on Apple & Spotify Follow us on social media at @PPWBPodcast Watch & comment on YouTube Email us at pastorandphilosopher@gmail.com Cheers!

Apr 7, 2021 • 1h 21min
What Is Truth: Wrestling with Absolutism, Relativism and Alternative Facts
Text us your questions!In this episode, Kyle and Randy geek out a little bit about truth. Truth is a tricky term these days, with everyone believing their own "facts" or having their own truths and alternative facts. How does a philosopher see and pursue truth? What is a healthy pastoral way to approach and pursue truth? Is there such a thing as truth at all, let alone absolute truth, as so many Christians attest to? Our resident pastor and philosopher dive in and bring us into a really fun and healthy conversation about truth that our society would do well to engage in.The whiskey we sample in this episode is Four Roses Small Batch Select from the always stellar Four Roses Bourbon. =====Want to support us?The best way is to subscribe to our Patreon. Annual memberships are available for a 10% discount.If you'd rather make a one-time donation, you can contribute through our PayPal. Other important info: Rate & review us on Apple & Spotify Follow us on social media at @PPWBPodcast Watch & comment on YouTube Email us at pastorandphilosopher@gmail.com Cheers!

Mar 24, 2021 • 1h 7min
Faith After Doubt: An Interview with Brian McLaren
Text us your questions!In this episode, we chat with the one and only Brian McLaren. Brian has given his adult life to the Church in many ways and has created space for followers of Christ who feel like they exist on the margins of faith and Christianity. Brian has written many influential and important books, and in this episode we chat about his newest book: Faith After Doubt. This is a beautiful and brilliant book that will give you all sorts of space and permission to let your doubts come into the light and let them mature and grow your faith (even if that sounds really crazy right now). This was a truly delightful conversation that we're excited to share with you. Brian speaks to a number of different prayers, books, and resources in the episode. Here are all the things that were mentioned during the conversation:Bishop Nikolai Velimirovic: Prayer Regarding Critics and EnemiesMiguel de Unamuno: San Manuel Bueno, MartirMary Doria Russell: The SparrowBarbara Kingsolver: The Poisonwood BibleJohn Westerhoff: WIll Our Children Have Faith?The two whiskeys featured in this episode are Snake River Stampede Small Batch and their 100th Anniversary Limited Release from Snake River Stampede Ale and Whiskey.=====Want to support us?The best way is to subscribe to our Patreon. Annual memberships are available for a 10% discount.If you'd rather make a one-time donation, you can contribute through our PayPal. Other important info: Rate & review us on Apple & Spotify Follow us on social media at @PPWBPodcast Watch & comment on YouTube Email us at pastorandphilosopher@gmail.com Cheers!

Mar 10, 2021 • 1h 17min
Feminist Pentecostalism: It's a Thing - Interview with Cheryl Bridges Johns
Text us your questions!In this episode, we speak with Dr. Cheryl Bridges Johns about what it means (and what it's like) to be a feminist Pentecostal, the interplay between reason and mystery, the relationship between virtue and spiritual formation, hermeneutics and ontology, the divine feminine, and even the gift of menopause. It's a rich conversation, and Cheryl's is an important voice within progressive Christianity.Check out some of Cheryl's work mentioned in the episode:Seven Transforming Gifts of Menopause"Grieving, Brooding, and Transforming: The Spirit, the Bible, and Gender"Also look out for her book Re-Enchanting the Text: The Bible for a New Generation.The beverage featured in this episode is Michter's US1 Unblended American Whiskey. Thanks to our friends at Story Hill BKC.=====Want to support us?The best way is to subscribe to our Patreon. Annual memberships are available for a 10% discount.If you'd rather make a one-time donation, you can contribute through our PayPal. Other important info: Rate & review us on Apple & Spotify Follow us on social media at @PPWBPodcast Watch & comment on YouTube Email us at pastorandphilosopher@gmail.com Cheers!

Feb 24, 2021 • 1h 7min
Tov or Toxic Church? An Interview with Scot McKnight and Laura Barringer
Text us your questions!In this episode, we chat with Scot McKnight and Laura Barringer about their new book that's making waves called A Church Called Tov. This book is extremely important and is a prophetic call to the Church to form a goodness culture that resists abuses of power and promotes healing. We chat about recent scandals of abuse and coverup in the modern church, why we've created toxic church cultures and how we can move toward more beautiful cultures of goodness (Tov) in our churches. Also, we get some dirt on Scot from Laura about some fun and mildly embarrassing stories from growing up with a biblical scholar. Fun times!The whiskey featured in this episode is Belle Meade Bourbon from Green Brier Distillery in Nashville, TN.=====Want to support us?The best way is to subscribe to our Patreon. Annual memberships are available for a 10% discount.If you'd rather make a one-time donation, you can contribute through our PayPal. Other important info: Rate & review us on Apple & Spotify Follow us on social media at @PPWBPodcast Watch & comment on YouTube Email us at pastorandphilosopher@gmail.com Cheers!

Feb 17, 2021 • 1h 9min
An Ash Wednesday Gift - Mark Werner and Contemplative Spirituality
Text us your questions!In this bonus episode, we share an Ash Wednesday gift with you. Mark Werner is Randy's Spiritual Director, and is well acquainted with contemplative spirituality and is a bit of an expert in the ways of the Enneagram. In this episode, Mark shares about his "dark night of the soul" and having a faith crisis while in pastoral ministry, and the more ancient practices that brought him into a more spacious and centered faith journey. Also, we finish our time together by having Mark lead us in some contemplative and centering prayer. You're welcome.The beer featured in this episode is the Tropical Slush by the always fantastic Eagle Park Brewing Company.=====Want to support us?The best way is to subscribe to our Patreon. Annual memberships are available for a 10% discount.If you'd rather make a one-time donation, you can contribute through our PayPal. Other important info: Rate & review us on Apple & Spotify Follow us on social media at @PPWBPodcast Watch & comment on YouTube Email us at pastorandphilosopher@gmail.com Cheers!

Feb 10, 2021 • 1h 4min
The B-I-B-L-E, Part II
Text us your questions!Ever had an issue with violence in the Bible? How about the many inconsistencies in the Scriptures? What about the rampant patriarchy, sexism, and misogyny? There are all sorts of issues and problems within Christianity's sacred text, but does that mean that we have to choose between believing that everything is prescriptive and inspired or walking away from the Bible altogether? In this episode, we offer a different, more nuanced way of approaching and engaging with the Bible.In a portion of the episode that got edited out, Kyle and Randy give some recommended reading for those wanting to go deeper. Here are the books they recommend:Kyle:How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth - Gordon Fee & Douglas StuartWhose Community, Which Interpretation? - Merold WestphalWomanist Midrash - Wilda GafneyRandy:The New Testament in Its World - NT WrightPaul: A Biography - NT WrightThe For Everyone series - NT WrightThe Bible Tells Me So - Peter EnnsHow the Bible Actually Works - Peter EnnsAn Introduction to the Old Testament - Walter Brueggemann & Tod LinafeltThe Prophetic Imagination - Walter BrueggemannThe Prophets - Abraham Joshua HeschelThe beverage featured in this episode is Wollersheim's Press House Brandy.Catch Part 1 here.=====Want to support us?The best way is to subscribe to our Patreon. Annual memberships are available for a 10% discount.If you'd rather make a one-time donation, you can contribute through our PayPal. Other important info: Rate & review us on Apple & Spotify Follow us on social media at @PPWBPodcast Watch & comment on YouTube Email us at pastorandphilosopher@gmail.com Cheers!

Jan 28, 2021 • 1h 3min
The B-I-B-L-E
Text us your questions!What is the Bible? How should we read it? What does it mean for a text to be authoritative? Do I have to believe the Bible is inerrant in order to be a Christian? In this episode, we discuss the beautiful messiness that is the Bible and talk about our relationships with this incredible and ancient text.Catch Part 2 of this conversation here.The whiskey featured in this episode is Wathen's Single Barrel.If you're local to Milwaukee, check out our friends at Story Hill BKC.=====Want to support us?The best way is to subscribe to our Patreon. Annual memberships are available for a 10% discount.If you'd rather make a one-time donation, you can contribute through our PayPal. Other important info: Rate & review us on Apple & Spotify Follow us on social media at @PPWBPodcast Watch & comment on YouTube Email us at pastorandphilosopher@gmail.com Cheers!

Jan 14, 2021 • 1h 28min
Holy Balls: Power, Masculinity, and the Making of White American Evangelicalism w/ Kristin Kobes Du Mez
Text us your questions!In this episode, we chat with Kristin Kobes Du Mez about her book that's been making waves and is brilliantly titled Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation. This book is probably our favorite of 2020 and is a must-read. During the course of this interview, we chat about everything from toxic masculinity and power hungry religious leaders to Amy Grant and Tiffany. Seriously.The whiskey featured in this episode is Weller Special Reserve bourbon from the fantastic Buffalo Trace Distillery.Content note: this episode contains some mild profanity.=====Want to support us?The best way is to subscribe to our Patreon. Annual memberships are available for a 10% discount.If you'd rather make a one-time donation, you can contribute through our PayPal. Other important info: Rate & review us on Apple & Spotify Follow us on social media at @PPWBPodcast Watch & comment on YouTube Email us at pastorandphilosopher@gmail.com Cheers!