In this episode we're talking about Christianity and Conspiracy Theories with Dr. Mike Austin (Professor of Philosophy at Eastern Kentucky University), who is the co-editor (with Dr. Gregory L. Bock) of the new book, QAnon, Chaos, and the Cross: Christianity and Conspiracy Theories (published by Eerdmans). Joining him we also have three of the many contributors who wrote essays for the volume: Dr. Marlena Graves (Assistant Professor of Spiritual Formation at Northeastern Seminary), Dr. Dru Johnson (Visiting Associate Professor at Hope College), and Dr. J. Aaron Simmons (Professor of Philosophy at Furman University). Over the course of our conversation we talk about the shape and purpose of the book, the epistemology ungirding the draw of conspiracies, the relationship between conspiratorial thinking and hermeneutics of suspicion, how cultural background factors in to conspiracy mindsets, and whether or not evangelicalism is too entrenched in conspiracies to salvage. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. Amber Bowen and Dr. John Anthony Dunne. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we talk about Faith & Fake News with Rachel Wightman, who is Associate Director of Instruction and Outreach at the Concordia University library in St. Paul (MN) and the author of Faith & Fake News: A Guide to Consuming Information Wisely (published by Eerdmans). Over the course of our conversation, Rachel talks with us about how the media landscape has changed since the 2020 US elections, how algorithmseffect the information we see on social media, what strategies we can deploy for engaging information online, how culture impacts our consumption of information, and whether we might be able to reclaim our witness as Christians in an age when broader culture associates us with the dissemination and indiscriminate consumption of fake news. Team members from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne and Stanley Ng. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we're joined by Dr. Karen Swallow Prior – writer, literary scholar, and professor – to talk about her new book, The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images, and Metaphors Created A Culture In Crisis (published by Brazos). As Dr. Prior explains, she is engaging the issue of evangelicalism as an insider, highlighting various concerns that she has not with evangelical beliefs but with the application of those beliefs. Over the course of our conversation we talk about the social imaginary that informs and buttresses evangelicalism, what a reformation of evangelicalism might look like, and how we should situate evangelicalism in relation to power in the light of typical evangelical eschatology.Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. Amber Bowen, Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Dr. Madison Pierce, and Dr. Sydney Tooth. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we are joined by Dr. Constantine Campbell, who is Professor and Associate Research Director at the Sydney College of Divinity and the author of a number of works in biblical studies and ancient Greek, as well as the book we’re excited to discuss on this episode, Jesus V. Evangelicals: A Biblical Critique of a Wayward Movement (published by Zondervan Reflective). Over the course of our conversation, we discuss how American Evangelicalism is too politicized and partisan, too keen on power, and too focused on celebrity. We also chat about the difficulty of defining evangelicalism today since Bebbington’s famous quadrilateral fits British Evangelicalism, but has less and less to do with American evangelicalism. Dr. Campbell distinguishes between three types of evangelicals – theological, cultural and political – as an attempt to bring clarity, but suggests that a new term altogether may be preferable to trying to salvage a term that has come to be associated with something far away from the nature of God as revealed in Jesus. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Stanley Ng, and Rev. Dr. Chris Porter. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we’re talking about Celebrities for Jesus with Katelyn Beaty, who is the editorial director for Brazos Press and who previously served as print managing editor at Christianity Today. She’s also the cohost of the Saved by the City podcast, and the author of Celebrities for Jesus: How Personas, Platforms, and Profits are Hurting the Church (published by Brazos). In our conversation with Katelyn, we discuss the allure of celebrity in American evangelicalism, the lack of interrogation of whether church growth is an automatic work of the Spirit, whether institutions are irreparably flawed, and how the rise of celebrity inthe church connects with Enneagram personality types, among many other interesting things. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Dr. Madison Pierce, Rev. Dr. Chris Porter, and Dr. Sydney Tooth. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we are joined by Sheila Wray Gregoire and Rebecca Gregoire Lindenbach to talk about their new book, She Deserves Better (published by Baker). Over the course of our conversation, we discuss the findings of their survey research of over 7,000 women about how experiences and teaching in youth group affect women longterm regarding their self-esteem, marital and sexual satisfaction, etc. Sheila and Rebecca share their interesting findings and articulate their constructive vision for how sex should be discussed in the home and in the church. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. Madison Pierce. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we are talking about representation of Asian American Christianity in the Netflix and A24 production of the show BEEF starring Steven Yeun and Ali Wong. Joining us for this conversation is Pastor Jason Min, who is lead pastor at Citizens LA in downtown Los Angeles and cohost of the podcast, Off thePulpit, and was a consultant on the show for the worship scenes in the show and also played the electric guitar on stage alongside the character Edwin, the worship leader who was played by Jason’s brother, Justin. This conversation provides a lot of great behind-the-scenes insights into the show BEEF, including Pastor Jason’s reflections on how the show portrays Asian American Christianity. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. Brandon Hurlbert, Stanley Ng, Dr. Grace Sangalang Ng, Rev. Dr. Chris Porter, Dr. Kris Song, and Dr. Logan Williams. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, which is part two of a two-part conversation, we are joined by Prof. Esther Lightcap Meek to talk about teaching as a celebration of the 20th anniversary of her book, Longing to Know: The Philosophy of Knowledge for Ordinary People (published by Baker). Prof. Meek is Professor of Philosophy emeritus at Geneva College and Senior Scholar at The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. In this conversation we continue our conversation on Prof. Meek’s approach to epistemology as laid out in her classic book, and then we turn to talk about the process of teaching and pedagogy that gets past a “knowledge as information” paradigm. In particular we discuss how the teacher’s job is not strictly to communicate information and force students to memorizeinformation, but rather the teacher has to teach so that students feel it in their bodies. Teachers should strive to make students lovers of the real. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. Amber Bowen, Dr. John Anthony Dunne, and Dr. Kris Song. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, which is part one of a two-part conversation, we are joined by Prof. Esther Lightcap Meek to talk about learning as a celebration of the 20th anniversary of her book, Longing to Know: The Philosophy of Knowledge for Ordinary People (published by Baker). Prof. Meek is Professor of Philosophy emeritus at Geneva College and Senior Scholar at The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. In this conversation we talk about Prof. Meek’s approach to epistemology as laid out in her classic book, and then we turn to talk about the process of learning that gets past a “knowledge as information” paradigm. Of special note, we discuss how Chat GPT reinforces the problematic epistemology that Prof. Meek is calling us away from. We conclude by comparing and contrasting Prof. Meek’s description of riding a bike with Chat GPT’s guide for riding a bike. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. Amber Bowen, Dr. John Anthony Dunne, and Dr. Kris Song. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the final episode in our series on Disability and Theology, we are joined by Rev. Dr. Kirk Patston, who is the Director of the Centre for Preaching and Pastoral Ministry at Sydney Missionary Bible College and the co-founder of Our Place Christian Communities, to talk about the research he did for his doctoral thesis at the University of Sydney, entitled, “Job, Otherness and Christian Theology of Disability.” This conversation pulls on several threads discussed throughout our series as we circle back to discuss a biblical text together. Rev. Dr. Patston draws upon the writings of Bakhtin and Levinas in particular to approach the dialogues that Job has with his friends. The primary emphases that emerge for Rev. Dr. Patston is that stigmas toward those who are “other” to us should be replaced by wonder and play as postures of curiosity. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.