Queer Theology

We’re so excited to bring you a joyously enthusiastic interview with Rev. Micah Bucey for this episode of our guest series. Micah is a radically progressive faith leader who writes, speaks, and extravagantly celebrates the intersections between expansive spirituality, radical social justice, and unfettered creativity. He currently serves as Minister at Judson Memorial Church and has a book available, The Tiny Book of Prayer. Tune in as Micah talks prophets and performance art, inviting in weird queer storytellers, and wandering in the wilderness.    Grab a copy of The Book Of Tiny Prayer: https://www.fordhampress.com/9780823299225/the-book-of-tiny-prayer/   Web: https://www.micahbucey.com/ FB: https://www.facebook.com/micah.bucey IG: https://www.instagram.com/revmicahb/   If you want to support the Patreon and help keep the podcast up and running, you can learn more and pledge your support at patreon.com/queertheology. The post Church Is Performance Art with Rev. Micah Bucey appeared first on Queer Theology.

For this episode, we had the pleasure of talking with Rev. Angela Tyler-Williams about her work as an organizer, the overarching importance of Reproductive Justice, and a little history of how we even came to this place of arguing for or against the morality of abortion. Angela is Co-Director for Movement Building at SACRED, an alliance of religious leaders, organizers, academics, and congregations. She is a queer pastor ordained by the Presbyterian Church into her call to engage people of faith to speak publicly and politically in support of reproductive health, rights, and justice and LGBTQIA+ equality. She inspires us to use our power to create positive social change!⁠   IG and Twitter @revangelatw TikTok @queerladychurch https://www.sacreddignity.org/  @sacred_repro   If you want to support the Patreon and help keep the podcast up and running, you can learn more and pledge your support at patreon.com/queertheology.   <div id=”podscribe-embed-root”></div> <script> var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 84477562, backgroundColor: ‘white’, height: ‘600px’, showSpeakers: true }; </script> <script src=”https://app.podscribe.ai/static/js/embed.js”></script> The post Bodily Autonomy Is Sacred with Rev. Angela Tyler-Williams appeared first on Queer Theology.

We have the authors of You Mean It Or Don’t: James Baldwin’s Radical Challenge, Jamie McGhee and Adam Hollowell on for our guest series this week. Jamie is a novelist, playwright, and essayist and Adam is an author, ethicist, and facilitator whose work addresses social inequality and promotes collective efforts for a more just world. We talk with them about their inspiration for this project during the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, how they came to work together as student and professor, and the radical challenge from Baldwin in the 60s and 70s that is still relevant today.   Resources: PrayingwithJamesBaldwin.com @prayingbaldwin social platforms   If you want to support the Patreon and help keep the podcast up and running, you can learn more and pledge your support at patreon.com/queertheology. The post You Mean It Or You Don’t with Jamie McGhee & Adam Hollowell appeared first on Queer Theology.

For this episode in our guest series, we have a fantastic conversation with Rev. Nikia Smith Robert Ph.D about her transformative work as an abolitionist. Dr. Robert founded Abolitionist Sanctuary, a nonprofit organization and faith-based abolitionist movement committed to helping churches use public policy and transformative justice strategies to advocate for a more just and equitable society beyond prisons, policing, and punishment. We get into liberation theology, the importance of working together as a community, abolition as religion and also an ethic, and lots of alliteration! Dr. Robert is inspiring, invigorating, and absolutely committed to rethinking the indoctrination of a carceral system.    Resources: Emilie Townes: Womanist Ethic and the Cultural  Production of Evil (book) Traci C. West: Disruptive Christian Ethics: Where Racism and Women’s Lives Matter (book) Penitence, Plantation and the Penitentiary Harvard Divinity School Journal article https://nikiasrobert.com/    If you enjoyed our interview with Rev. Dr. Nikia Smith Robert and want to support the work of Abolitionist Sanctuary, you can do so with a donation below. We’re collecting donations from podcast listeners to pass along to her to support her work. Donate   If you want to support the Patreon and help keep the podcast up and running, you can learn more and pledge your support at patreon.com/queertheology.   <div id=”podscribe-embed-root”></div> <script> var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 84392447, backgroundColor: ‘white’, height: ‘600px’, showSpeakers: true }; </script> <script src=”https://app.podscribe.ai/static/js/embed.js”></script> The post Abolition as Spiritual Practice with Rev. Nikia Smith Robert Phd appeared first on Queer Theology.

We’re so excited to welcome back Kaya Oakes to the podcast to talk with us about gender expectations, feminism, her choice to remain Catholic, and why we need to cast off harmful but accepted societal expectations. Oakes is the author of five books, most recently including The Defiant Middle: How Women Claim Life’s In Betweens to Remake the World. Tune in as we talk about the women of her book,  the idea of God and big dick energy, finding the feminine in unexpected places, and starting a gender revolution.    Listen to The Nones Are All Right: An interview with Kaya Oakes: https://www.queertheology.com/podcast/122/   Find more of Kaya Oakes at: Twitter: https://twitter.com/kayaoakes Website: https://www.oakestown.org/   Grab a copy of The Defiant Middle on Amazon   If you want to support the Patreon and help keep the podcast up and running, you can learn more and pledge your support at patreon.com/queertheology. The post In the Defiant Middle with Kaya Oakes appeared first on Queer Theology.

It was a real treat for us to sit down with the Rev. Jacqui Lewis, Ph.D – she just radiates love and we know you’ll be inspired by this episode! Rev. Jacqui is the senior minister of Middle Church, the oldest Collegiate Church in the US (and also the place where Brian met his partner 14 years ago!). She uses her gifts as author, activist, preacher, and public theologian toward creating an antiracist, just, fully welcoming society in which everyone has enough. We talk with Rev Jacqui about rising from the ashes after a horrific fire at her church, about being Christian and part of a church that was founded by people who owned slaves, and about the challenge and education that must come with a church that is inclusive for all including people on the margins of society. Through it all, the consistent message from Rev. Jacqui is one of love so fierce, it has the power to heal and change the world.    Find more of Rev. Lewis at: Middle Church: https://www.middlechurch.org/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/RevJacquiLewis Website: https://jacquijlewis.com/ Love.Period. Podcast: https://jacquijlewis.com/podcasts/ The Four podcast: https://sites.libsyn.com/402275   If you want to support the Patreon and help keep the podcast up and running, you can learn more and pledge your support at patreon.com/queertheology. The post Fierce Love with Rev. Jacqui Lewis appeared first on Queer Theology.

Taj M. Smith sat down with us for an uplifting conversation on deconstruction, redefining leadership, and how the storytelling of science fiction can give us hope for a better future. Smith is a writer, coach, preacher and speaker and also a transgender Christian whose theology has been heavily influenced by liberation theology, queer theology, and science fiction. Tune in as we dive into what changed Smith’s path from one of law to seminary and how his relationship with God grew as he transitioned.    Find more about Taj: Web: https://www.tajmsmith.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/taj.speaking/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/taj.speaking/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@taj.speaking   If you want to support the Patreon and help keep the podcast up and running, you can learn more and pledge your support at patreon.com/queertheology. The post Imagine A Better World with Taj M. Smith appeared first on Queer Theology.

It was so great to chat with Bishop David C. Strong in this episode of our Winter Guest series about building affirming communities and integrating spiritual practices to create a life-giving faith. Bishop Strong has served as pastor of Sojourner Truth Christian United Church since 2008. He was ordained to the Independent Catholic priesthood in 1992, and was consecrated a bishop in 1996 (he is Fr. Shay’s Bishop in the Old Catholic Church). Bishop Strong has been a strong advocate of equality for all people, especially racial and sexual minorities, and we talk with him about the influences of the Roman Catholic church, as well as his evangelical upbringing, that shape his faith and role as a Bishop.    Find more of Bishop David Strong Twitter: https://twitter.com/revdavidstrong Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Frdavidstrong/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidcstrong1 Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@frdavidstrongsi https://www.spiritofchristtacoma.org/   If you want to support the Patreon and help keep the podcast up and running, you can learn more and pledge your support at patreon.com/queertheology. The post Making Space & Bridging Communities with Bishop David Strong appeared first on Queer Theology.

For this episode of our guest series, we’re honored and humbled to sit down with Rabbi Denise L. Eger. Rabbi Eger is the founding Sr. Rabbi of the Congregation Kol Ami, West Hollywood’s Reform Synagogue and is extra special to Brian since it is the congregation where he is exploring Judaism. Rabbi Eger was the first openly gay president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and has won numerous awards and recognition for her AIDS activism. She shares how heartbreaking, and formative, her first years as a rabbi of the first gay synagogue at the height of the AIDS crisis were and how that has shaped her approach to activism today. Listen in as we discuss progressive Judaism, LGBTQ issues and Judaism, the changing Jewish family, and power of interfaith work.    Grab a copy of her books: Mishkan Ga’avah: Where Pride Dwells: A Celebration of LGBTQ Jewish Life and Ritual Gender & Religious Leadership: Women Rabbis, Pastors and Ministers Kol-ami.org rabbieger.com   If you want to support the Patreon and help keep the podcast up and running, you can learn more and pledge your support at patreon.com/queertheology. The post Trailblazing for Queer Women Religious Leaders with Rabbi Denise Eger appeared first on Queer Theology.

We’re so excited to kick off a winter guest series with an amazing line up of insightful and inspiring interviews. For our first episode in this series, we have a conversation with the remarkable Dr. Christena Cleveland. Dr. Cleveland is an author, activist and a founder and director of the Center for Justice + Renewal as well as its sister organization, Sacred Folk. Tune in as Fr. Shay talks with Dr. Cleveland about her journey to find the Black Madonna and the Sacred Feminine, what that means for her view of the white, male god and her evangelical upbringing, and how wisdom and the Sacred Divine can be found within ourselves.    Grab a copy of her book: God Is a Black Woman Liberating the Mind Body course  Dr. Cleveland Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cscleve  Website: https://www.christenacleveland.com/  https://www.justiceandrenewal.org/    If you want to support the Patreon and help keep the podcast up and running, you can learn more and pledge your support at patreon.com/queertheology. The post God is a Black Woman with Dr. Christena Cleveland appeared first on Queer Theology.