You Have Permission

After being personally wrecked by the series finale of The Good Place, I needed to process this with some friends. Those friends are D.L. (Danielle) Mayfield and her husband Krispin. This is the result of that processing. Spoiler talk continues until the 23:00 mark, so head there if you don't want the ending of the series spoiled. We talk about death, the afterlife, finitude, attachment, healing, neuroplasticity, stories that are good for people who suffer and are marginalized, and much more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Part 3 of 4 (it is very much recommended to start with Part 1!) of a series on the so-called End Times and mental health issues. Today, we hear from 15 of the 20 interviews I conducted in August of 2019: more about mental health symptoms and seeking help, whether or not they still consider themselves Christian, advice they have for people with similar struggles, and much more. Come back for Part 4 next week.Edited by Scott CangemiJoin the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankochYHP Patron-only FB group: https://tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98Website: youhavepermissionpod.comJoin Dan's email list: dankochwords.comArtwork by http://sprungle.co/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Part 2 of 4 (it is very much recommended to start with Part 1!) of a series on the so-called End Times and mental health issues. Today, we hear two longer stories: Samantha, who followed a self-proclaimed prophetess in 2015 and began prepping for the apocalypse, and Steve, who hoped that Jesus’s imminent return would keep him from having to come of age as a gay man. Come back from parts 3 & 4 over the next two weeks.Edited by Scott CangemiJoin the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankochYHP Patron-only FB group: https://tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98Website: youhavepermissionpod.comJoin Dan's email list: dankochwords.comArtwork by http://sprungle.co/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What better way to celebrate 50 episodes of YHP than to kick off a 4-part series on so-called “End Times” teaching/theology and mental health? As part of early research toward my doctoral dissertation in psychology, I conducted 20 interviews in August of 2019, collecting personal stories about how popular Christian notions of the End Times, like the Rapture, Tribulation, and the Left Behind series, affected people’s faith, theology, life trajectories, and overall mental health. This is Part 1 of 4, and it focuses on the basics, including what most Evangelicals understood would happen in the End Times, some of the ways that fear, anxiety and depression were tied up with it for many people, the connection between the end times, Hell, and salvation, a sense of a robbed childhood, mental health predispositions, family conflicts, and more. Come back for parts 2-4 in the coming weeks.Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankochYHP Patron-only FB group: https://tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98Website: youhavepermissionpod.comJoin Dan's email list: dankochwords.comArtwork by http://sprungle.co/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Plus: a working definition of “Process Theology and “Robust Christian Pluralism." Dr. Wm. Andrew Schwartz (Claremont School of Theology) walks us through four possible answers to the question of whether all monotheistic Abrahamic believers are actually worshipping the same God, including arguments for and against and various consequences of each view.- The book: https://smile.amazon.com/Christians-Muslims-Jews-Worship-Same/dp/0310538033/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=four+views+christians+muslims+same+god&qid=1578264136&sr=8-1- Andrew’s site - wmandrewschwartz.comEdited by Josh Gilbert (Gwall.Gilbert11@gmail.com)Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankochYHP Patron-only FB group: https://tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98Website: youhavepermissionpod.comJoin Dan's email list: dankochwords.comArtwork by http://sprungle.co/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During the holiday break, I'm choosing two lesser-downloaded or well-timed episodes for re-airing. Many of us are still, or have just been, spending time with family members who are fundamentalists, or lean that way, and that can be really hard sometimes. Original show notes:“Fundamentalist” has become a theological swear word. But how does it work psychologically? Why hasn’t it “gone away”? How do religious fundamentalists make sense of their world and find meaning in their lives? And what might this tell us about non-religious fundamentalists? Psychologist Peter Hill joins Dan to talk through the model he and his co-authors developed in their book The Psychology of Religious Fundamentalism (link below). Visual Aids:Fundamentalist - Intratextual Structure: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5io539nbf6oteve/Fundamentalism%20-%20Intratextuality.jpg?dl=0Non-fundamentalist - Intertextual Structure: https://www.dropbox.com/s/u87g2auitlro9wm/Non-Fundamentalist%20-%20Intertextuality.jpg?dl=0Pete’s book: https://www.amazon.com/Psychology-Religious-Fundamentalism-Ralph-Hood/dp/1593851502Edited by Josh Gilbert (Gwall.Gilbert11@gmail.com)Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankochYHP Patron-only FB group: https://tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98Website: youhavepermissionpod.comJoin Dan's email list: dankochwords.comArtwork by http://sprungle.co/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During the holiday break, I'm choosing two lesser-downloaded episodes for re-airing. This conversation with Philip Clayton about Panentheism (and a few other things) was fantastic, but I think maybe the thick theological terminology might have turned some would-be listeners away. Also, Phil is coming back on the podcast in the coming month or two to talk about doubt, and this is a nice precursor to that upcoming conversations.Original post:Our guest today is Dr. Philip Clayton (Claremont School of Theology), giving us his personal faith story from a secular household, through conservative Evangelicalism, and ultimately into Quakerism. We also talk about Panentheism, for which he is a major Christian advocate. Most of the nerdy stuff occurs after the ad break, starting around 54:00, so feel free to skip that stuff if you are less into the true nerdery."how i found GOD in everyone and everywhere" (great essay collection including Phil's story): https://smile.amazon.com/How-Found-God-Everyone-Everywhere/dp/193968188X/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=how+i+found+god+in+everywhere&qid=1552328138&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnullhttp://philipclayton.net/Join the Patreon for bonus episodes every month: patreon.com/dankochYHP Patron-only FB group: https://tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98Website: youhavepermissionpod.comJoin Dan's email list: dankochwords.comEmail Dan: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.comArtwork by http://sprungle.co/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan discusses the all-time most famous passage in western philosophy, Plato’s Cave Analogy, with Catholic philosopher Patrick McDonald (Seattle Pacific University). The Cave is a gift that keeps on giving (holiday-appropriate!), through various stages of growth, deconstruction, reconstruction, and on and on. Dan and Patrick discuss implications for Christians thinking through hard questions, and a lot more.Edited by Scott CangemiJoin the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankochYHP Patron-only FB group: https://tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98Website: youhavepermissionpod.comJoin Dan's email list: dankochwords.comArtwork by http://sprungle.co/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As it turns out, both conservatives AND liberals, depending who you talk to. But is it a valid field of research, and what do we learn about human nature from evolutionary psychology? Dan also talks with Dr. Justin Barrett (Fuller Seminary) about so-called “cultural evolution,” where the evolution of humanity moves at a much more rapid pace, and through the dissemination of information, values, stories, etc, rather than through genetic mutation and selection. And of course, they discuss what implications all of this might have for theology and Christian practice.Fuller Seminary’s Theology & Psychology Initiative: theopsych.comEdited by Laura Kondourajian Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankochYHP Patron-only FB group: https://tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98Website: youhavepermissionpod.comJoin Dan's email list: dankochwords.comArtwork by http://sprungle.co/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan is joined by philosopher John Haught (Georgetown University), who argues that many people think we should look to the past, the deep past, for ultimate answers. This includes certain scientists who want to look to the Big Bang for ultimate explanations, or religious teachers focusing on God’s perfect design in the Garden of Eden, before everything got messed up. Others might tend to look to the so-called Eternal Present for God, or for ultimate meaning and answers. Through prayer, we may feel like we can tap directly into a timeless God, letting go of our worldly concerns, and, of course, there is some truth to this. Many philosophers have also preached something similar, that true contemplation of the One, or of capital “T” Truth, can take us out of our mortal, perishing bodies into the realm of the sublime. But Haught wants to point our attention to a third option: the future. What if the truest meaning of the grand story that we are living in right now, which includes a big bang, billions of years of lifeless space, followed by the forming of carbon, then of unicellular life, and biological progression all the way to sentient and self-conscious beings like humans -- what if the meaning of THAT story is not clear to us yet because that story is not over yet? Perhaps we do have some guideposts given to us by God along the way, but rather than looking back, we should be looking AHEAD.Tag Dan and a podcast host who you think should have Dan on as a guest:Dan’s Twitter: @DanKochDan’s FB: https://www.facebook.com/dan.koch.16youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.comThe John Haught Reader: https://www.amazon.com/John-Haught-Reader-Essential-Writings/dp/1532661029The New Cosmic Story: https://www.amazon.com/New-Cosmic-Story-Awakening-Universe/dp/030021703X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=john+haught&qid=1574117845&s=books&sr=1-1Edited by Josh Gilbert (Gwall.Gilbert11@gmail.com)Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankochYHP Patron-only FB group: https://tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98Website: youhavepermissionpod.comJoin Dan's email list: dankochwords.comArtwork by http://sprungle.co/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices