The Two Cities

As another installment in our series on faith and politics, we discuss abortion and single issue voting in the United States. Joining Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Brandon Hurlbert, Tim McNutt, and Dr. Chris Porter for this discussion is our special guest, Jennie Riley, who recently submitted her PhD thesis in Theology at Durham University (England), focusing on the relationship between Evangelical Christianity and Medial Practice. As she explains in the episode, for her doctoral research she interviewed several medical doctors in the UK, who all self-identify as evangelical, about a whole host of issues from the more mundane to medical ethics. As it pertains to abortion, Jennie relays to us the stories of three doctors that had a formative role in shaping her own mindset about the complexities of abortion. Jennie provides us with her academic perspective from a British context, drawing upon the qualitative research of her thesis, but also reflects upon that further from her own Christian perspective for the sake of our broader political conversation. In doing so, Jennie models for us how we can discuss a heavy and complicated topic with kindness, empathy, and charity, even when we might disagree on such important political and ethical matters. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the run up to Election Day in the United States (Tuesday, November 3rd), here at The Two Cities we've been doing a series of political podcasts. This episode extends that conversation further, but situates it as part of a conversation with a major pop-cultural artifact—Watchmen. Originally a comic series in the mid-1980s, Watchmen is revered as one of the best graphic novels of all time. It was made into a (much-derided) film in the mid 2000s by Zack Snyder, but more recently Damon Lindelof extended the storyline in his adaptation of the story for HBO. Set in 2019, the Emmy Award Winning TV show Watchmen addresses relevant political issues in our day just as the original graphic novel did in the 80s. In particular, the show addresses systemic racism, suppressed racial history, and policing. In this episode, Dr. John Anthony Dunne chats with Matthew William Brake, who is the series editor of Theology and Pop Culture (Fortress/Lexington Press) and Religion and Comic Books (Claremont Press), and who also runs a blog called Pop Culture and Theology (popularcultureandtheology.com). Over the course of our conversation we talk about the original graphic novel, how Lindelof handles the original material in the new TV show, and how relevant both stories are for thinking about politics. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Continuing further our recent conversations on politics and political engagement from a Christian perspective (cf. the episodes entitled, "Faith and Politics with Rev. Baroness Maeve Sherlock" and "War & Political Theology with Michael Spalione"), Dr. John Anthony Dunne and Dr. Chris Porter discuss social identity theory and how our social identity shapes our present lack of bi-partisanship in the States and the degrading nature of our political discourse with those in the "out group." Chris explains that the theory originates with Henri Tajfel, noting some of his interesting experiments that show how much we favor the various "in groups" of which we are a part to the detriment of perceived "out groups." Along the way we discuss stereotyping and categorization, the metrics of "normative fit" (emphasizing who "we" are) and "comparative fit" (noting who "we" are not by comparison to an "out group"), the difficulty of compromise from a social identity perspective, and the implications that this all has for nuanced thinking that is regarded as deviant from the "normative fit" of the "in group." All the while Chris shares his perspective on the 2020 US election season from his unique vantage point in Australia. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Continuing our conversation on the role of faith in our political discourse and political engagement, in the present episode Dr. John Anthony Dunne and Brandon Hurlbert talk with Michael Spalione about his doctoral research on the topic of war within political theology. Having just recently passed his viva in pursuit of a PhD in political theology from Trinity College, Bristol through the University of Aberdeen, Michael helps us think about the topic of war from a Christian perspective in a way that gets beyond partisan emphases on strong militaries, etc, and builds upon a perspective that attempts to be consistently and holistically pro-life. Rooted in the "ecclesial turn," Michael explains that the church is a kingdom with its own political system that needs to be recognized. Throughout the episode Michael draws upon his thesis and incorporates some of its theological, philosophical, and exegetical insights into our discussion. We cover quite a bit of ground: everything from the pacifistic influences of metal and hardcore music to what cannibalism can teach us about compromise and moderation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this tumultuous election season in the States, in which partisan entrenchment often leads to a lack of kindness and respect across the aisle, we have brought in a guest from across the pond to help sort us out. Joining Dr. John Anthony Dunne and Brandon Hurlbert is special guest Rev. Baroness Maeve Sherlock, who is Curate at St. Nics Durham in England, and is also a member of the House of Lords in the British Parliament. In this episode we discuss the differences between British and American politics, the legitimacy of one-issue voting, the separation of church and state, and how our voting energy as Christians ought to be invigorated by a desire for human flourishing.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2012 there was global interest in a small Coptic fragment the size of a business card that records Jesus saying the words "my wife." The fragment was presented to a group of scholars at a Coptology conference in Rome by Dr. Karen King of Harvard Divinity School, who herself had received it from a private collector. This presentation naturally drew immediate media attention. Very soon after this, it was discerned to be a forgery. But the story of how that was progressively uncovered, and also how some at Harvard, including King, resisted such a conclusion, is nothing short of remarkable. Recently, a journalist named Ariel Sabar, who was there in Rome back in 2012, and who had been chronicling all of the unfolding events for years, finally wrote it all up in a book, called Veritas: A Harvard Professor, A Con Man, and the Gospel of Jesus's Wife (New York: Doubleday, 2020). It's a remarkable read, full of so many weird twists and turns. Sabar originally wrote a much shorter piece for the Atlantic back in 2016, which contains the original unveiling of the secret identity of the private collector who gave the manuscript to King, who was also quite likely the forger of the document—Walter Fritz. Here is the link to that Atlantic piece.One of the significant scholarly contributions along the way in determining that the Gospel of Jesus's Wife was a forgery came from Dr. Christian Askeland,  who earned a PhD from Cambridge University in New Testament textual criticism with a focus on the Coptic manuscripts of the Gospel of John. Dr. Askeland was able to definitively prove that a separate Coptic fragment, which also came from Mr. Fritz, was certainly a forgery. In this episode, Dr. John Anthony Dunne and Dr. Logan Williams are joined by Dr. Askeland to discuss his involvement in, and his perspective on, this crazy saga. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Continuing our conversation on the Enneagram, we wanted to dive deeper into some of the lesser known aspects of the popular personal formation tool. In particular, we wanted to discuss the issue of Childhood Wounds, which essentially deal with the way that our personality types were shaped by experiences that we had with our primary care givers as kids. Taking this a step further, in this episode we wanted to explore this issue of the Enneagram in dialogue with Attachment Theory. Towards that end Dr. Josh Caroll, Dr. John Anthony Dunne, and Grace Ng are joined by Dr. Eurice Lee-Seo (PsyD, Rosemead School of Psychology, Biola University), who is a clinical psychologist at the Southern Oregon Veteran Affairs. Over the course of our integrative dialogue we explain Attachment Theory and the Childhood Wounds of the Enneagram in their own right, and then we turn to see explore how therapies inspired by Attachment Theory might relate to the path forward for the nine Enneagram types in the light of their Childhood Wounds, and also whether certain Enneagram types naturally relate more closely with the respective attachment styles.The key study referenced in this episode by Arthur and Allen that integrates Attachment Theory with the Enneagram can be found at this link. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we carry on our conversation on the Enneagram from last week ("The Enneagram—What Is It?") by diving more deeply into how we have all responded to the unique challenges of 2020. Engaging this topic is our largest panel of team members to date on The Two Cities podcast: Amber Bowen (Type 4), Dr. Josh Carroll (Type 7), Dr. John Anthony Dunne (Type 7), Paloma Herrera (Type 7), Brandon Hurlbert (Type 1), Grace Sangalang Ng (Type 6), Rev. Daniel Parham (Type 3), and Dr. Chris Porter (Type 3). Over the course of the episode we cover multiple topics from movements in stress, how our wings impact our management of stress, etc. In the end we emphasize the importance of thinking about the Enneagram in the context of community, and also the importance of community for seeing how people of various Enneagram types contribute to the richness of our experiences. In particular, we reflect on this dynamic as academics in relation to the annual international conferences every November—another thing that the global pandemic has significantly altered for us in 2020. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Enneagram is a well-known "personality test." For many, it is used as a simple means of compartmentalizing people. For others, it is a helpful tool to raise personal awareness and promote healthy growth. In this initial episode on the Enneagram, Dr. Josh Carroll, Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Brandon Hurlbert, and Rev. Daniel Parham promote the idea of viewing the Enneagram as a tool rather than a test. We begin by overviewing the nine types, situating them within the three intelligence centers (8, 9, and 1 in the body center, 2, 3, and 4 in the heart center, and 5, 6, and 7 in the mental center). From there we discuss the concept of "wings," and how the adjacent types inform and temper our dominant types. We also address how the Enneagram is not static, and that it takes into account what our types look like in times of health (integration) and stress (disintegration). We conclude by reflecting on how we all came to learn about the Enneagram in the first place. This episode is meant to introduce people to the Enneagram, but also to establish an important way to think about it relative to some common misperceptions. This will serve to set up future episodes on the Enneagram as well.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we discuss how churches can be more inclusive of people with disability and varying ability. John Anthony Dunne talks with Brittany Hurlbert, whose work is in educational and therapeutic settings, working primarily with people who have autism. After explaining what autism is, what its relationship to asperger's is, and some general misconceptions, we discuss some biblical principles for thinking about our differing abilities. Topics addressed include the issues of how we should think about "cures," what ministering with those with disabilities can look like, and what people with disabilities can teach us directly. Throughout the conversation we briefly acknowledge some scholarship from Grant Macaskill and Amos Yong on these topics. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.