Homebrewed Christianity

In this episode, two of my favorite Church Historians join the podcast for a tricky but needed conversation on the changing shape of American religion. It is so much fun! If you enjoy this, check out the upcoming lent group with Diana and me – Empty Altars: American Saints in a Cynical Age. We live in iconoclastic times. All around us, saints and heroes are being knocked off or taken down from public altars. It seems that nearly everyone we once admired or held in esteem has failed us. We’ve stripped the altars of both state and church. America’s spiritual landscape is now marked by empty altars everywhere. Taking down statues is nothing new, especially in Christian history. Cynicism and anger at failed institutions and flawed heroes is nothing new. But human beings rarely leave altars empty very long — there’s almost a pressing need to re-sanctify the geographies we inhabit. People always put statues back up. But of who? And to commemorate what? How do we move ahead with new saints and a less troublesome iconography? What “saints” can inspire us to address the hurts of our hearts, the brokenness of our communities, and the pressing issues of our times? Shouldn’t we just give up on the whole idea of saints anyway? Why bother? Join Diana and Tripp this Lent as they explore “sainthood” for an American — and global — future. We’ll share stories that need to be told of “saints” you know and those you need to know in a quirky learning journey through American religious history. Dr. Bill Leonard is Founding Dean and Professor of Divinity Emeritus at Wake Forest University’s School of Divinity. Leonard’s research focuses on Church History with particular attention to American religion, Baptist studies, and Appalachian religion. He is the author or editor of some 25 books including Christianity in Appalachia (1999); Baptist Ways: A History (2003); The Challenge of Being Baptist (2010); Can I Get a Witness?: Essays, Sermons and Reflections (2013); and  A Sense of the Heart: Christian Religious Experience in the U.S., (2014). In March 2015 he delivered the William James Lecture on Religious Experience at Harvard Divinity School and in February 2017 he gave the William Self Lectures on Preaching at McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University. His newest book, The Homebrewed Christianity Guide to Church History: Flaming Heretics and Heavy Drinkers, was  published by Fortress Press in July 2017. Leonard is on the board of the Journal of Disability and Religion, The Baptist Quarterly (England), the Day1 Preaching Network, the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, and the Governing Board of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. His sabbatical research focuses on a new book, tentatively entitled: “Security or Idolatry?: A History of Religion and Firearms in the U.S.† Leonard writes a twice-monthly column for Baptist News Global, is an ordained Baptist minister, and a member of First Baptist Church, Highland Avenue (American Baptist Churches, USA) in Winston-Salem. Check out these books by Dr. Leonard: A Sense of the Heart: Christian Religious Experience in the United States Baptist Ways: A History The Challenge of Being Baptist: Owning a Scandalous Past and an Uncertain Future Word of God Across the Ages: Using Christian History in Preaching The Homebrewed Christianity Guide to Church History: Flaming Heretics and Heavy Drinkers Previous Podcasts w/ Dr. Leonard the Fundamentalization of American Religion Listening Beyond the Times The History and Transformation of American Christianity Faith and Politics Through Church History Previous Episodes with Diana & Tripp Ruining Christmas Dinner Ruining Election Night Dinner The Over-Rated Genie God Bad Blood, Civil War, and other Soothing Topics Shall the Fundies (Keep) Winning?, Abortion, and Black Holes Theology and Spirituality in a Time of Rupture White Evangelical Theopolitics, John Shelby Spong, & Jesus 20 Years of Religious Decline Jesus After Religion and Beyond Fear Ruining Dinner with Diana Butler Bass and Robyn Henderson-Espinoza Evangelical Decline, the Supreme Court, and the Horizon of Possibility Debating, Praying, and Living with Tyrants Religion, Politics, & the Elephant in the Room Follow the podcast, drop a review, or become a member of the HBC Community.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

THIS PARTY WAS FOR PETE’S NEW BOOK. CHECK IT OUT HERE. The God-Pod Partners Include: Sarah Heath from the REVcovery Podcast Josh Patterson from the (Re)thinking Faith Podcast Sarey Martin Concepción from the Secret Art Project Podcast Mason Mennega from a People’s Theology Podcast Experiencing God: an Open Online Class Kick off the new year with a nerdy good time. The next Homebrewed class will be a robust exploration of how the tools of science, philosophy, and theology help us discern meaning from divine encounters. We’ll discuss God-experiences as mediated through faith communities, the mind, nature, the Bible, psychedelics, and more. And we’ll do all this with an eye towards the future, exploring the possibilities for how a lived-theology could express itself in the world. Check it out here. Follow the podcast, drop a review, or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Experiencing God: an Open Online Class Kick off the new year with a nerdy good time. The next Homebrewed class will be a robust exploration of how the tools of science, philosophy, and theology help us discern meaning from divine encounters. We’ll discuss God-experiences as mediated through faith communities, the mind, nature, the Bible, psychedelics, and more. And we’ll do all this with an eye towards the future, exploring the possibilities for how a lived-theology could express itself in the world. Check it out here.   This Episode is Sponsored By Christian Theologial Seminary Are you discerning a call to ministry or leadership? Christian Theological Seminary understands you can’t put your life on pause to complete your Master of Divinity degree. Thanks to new remote learning technology and their redesigned MDiv, you no longer have to. Their redesigned MDiv program now offers remote learning options for completing classes without eliminating the traditional in-person classroom experience. With consistent course offerings and individualized degree mapping, students can complete the required credit hours at their own pace with minimal on-site intensive days, creating an equitable experience from anywhere. They’re bringing CTS to you and opening access to excellent preparation for ministry and ordination. Learn more at www.CTS.edu Sarey Martin Concepción is a writer, podcast producer, and filmmaker with roots in L.A. and Portland, OR. She has an MA in Theology and the Arts from Fuller Theological Seminary and works as communications director for Blueprint 1543, which cultivates integration between theology and the psychological sciences. Currently, she’s in preproduction on a feminist, sci-fi short film (winemakermovie.com). Before pursuing independent fiction and nonfiction projects, she worked for 10 years as part of Rob Zombie’s production and management team. More at secretartproject.com. Dr. Adam Clark is Associate Professor of Theology at Xavier University. He is committed to the idea that theological education in the twenty first century must function as a counter-story. One that equips us to read against the grain of the dominant culture and inspires one to live into the Ignatian dictum of going forth “to set the world on fire.†To this end, Dr. Clark is intentional about pedagogical practices that raise critical consciousness by going beneath surface meanings, unmasking conventional wisdoms and reimagining the good. He currently serves as co-chair of Black Theology Group at the American Academy of Religion, actively publishes in the area of black theology and black religion and participates in social justice groups at Xavier and in the Cincinnati area. He earned his PhD at Union Theological Seminary in New York where he was mentored by James Cone. Previous Episodes w/ Adam: Cancel Culture, Rogan, Whoopi, Chappelle, & the NFL Gary Dorrien & Adam Clark: James Cone and the Emergence of Black Theology Serene Jones & Adam Clark: Theology Matters and the Legacy of James Cone The Crisis of American Religion & Democracy: 1/6 a year later Christmas, BLM, Abortion, & the War on White Evangelicalism Jan 6th Theological Debrief: Adam Clark and Jeffrey Pugh Adam Clark: What is Black Theology? From Lebron James to the Black Panther: Black Theology QnA w/ Adam Clark Adam Clark: James Cone was right Thomas Jay Oord is a theologian, philosopher, and scholar of multi-disciplinary studies. He is an award-winning author, and he has written or edited more than twenty-five books. Oord directs a doctoral programat Northwind Theological Seminary and the Center for Open and Relational Theology. He won the Outstanding Faculty Award twelve times as a full-time professor and now speaks at institutions across the globe. Oord is known for his contributions to research on love, open and relational theology, science and religion, and freedom and relationships for transformation. Some Previous Tripp & Tom Pods Process This! Process Theology QnA Authority, Atonement, Abortion, and a Big Hug from Pluriform Love to Divine Revelation Big God Twitter Takes Trump is (NOT) a Process Theologian & Other Questions Thomas Jay Oord wants you to know “God Can’t†Open and Relational Theology Throwdown Open and Relational Q&A with Thomas Jay Oord Why Go Wesleyan? Follow the podcast, drop a review, or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Dr. Myron Penner, Dr. Sarah Lane Ritchie, and Dan Koch in a nerdy and robust exploration of divine encounters. They discuss God-experiences, science, philosophy, and theology. Topics include being spiritual but not religious, taking science seriously in theology, exploring spiritual technologies, trauma-informed churches, the significance of rituals, marital toys and intimacy, and upcoming events and movies.

Legendary Bible Scholar, John Dominic Crossan, is back on the podcast! In this episode, we tackle some listener questions and let everyone know about an upcoming class – Easter Stories. John Dominic Crossan is an Irish-American biblical scholar with two-year post-doctoral diplomas in exegesis from Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute and in archeology from Jerusalem’s École Biblique. He has been a mendicant friar and a catholic priest, a Co-Chair of the Jesus Seminar, and a President of the Society of Biblical Literature. His focus, whether scholarly or popular, in books, videos, or lectures, is on the historical Jesus as the norm and criterion for the entire Christian Bible. His reconstructed Jesus incarnates nonviolent resistance to the Romanization of his Jewish homeland and future hope of a transformed world and transfigured earth. Crossan’s method is to situate biblical texts within the reconstructed matrix of their own genre and purpose, their own time and place, and to hear them accurately for then before accepting or rejecting them for now. Previous Podcast Episodes with Dom & Tripp Saving the Biblical Christmas Stories the most important discovery for understanding Jesus The Bible, Violence, & Our Future Resurrecting Easter on the First Christmas  From Jesus’ Parables to Parables of God  Render Unto Caesar on God & Empire Follow the podcast, drop a review, or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Leah Robinson and Rev. Sarah Heath discuss challenging bad theology, exploring theological concepts impact on personal beliefs, and the relation between bad theology and Christian nationalism. The podcast also features playful interactions, discussions on experiences after leaving the ministry, and reflections on Jesus' death and holy communion.

Aaron Simmons, Associate Professor of Philosophy, discusses French phenomenology of religion, the intersection of philosophy and Pentecostal beliefs, deconstructing religious identity and faith life, faith and capitalism in evangelical Christianity, and navigating existence after the death of God with Tim Whitaker and Sarey Martin Concepción.

Dr. Ryan Burge is back on the podcast with his most popular charts of data on religion. The graphs we discuss are the 5 most popular he shared over the last year on his nerdy twitter. Ryan P. Burge is an assistant professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University. Author of numerous journal articles, he is the co-founder of and a frequent contributor to Religion in Public, a forum for scholars of religion and politics to make their work accessible to a general audience. Burge is a pastor in the American Baptist Church. Previous Visits from Ryan Burge Evangelical Jews, Educated Church-Goers, & other bits of dizzying data 5 Religion Graphs w/ a side of Hot Takes Myths about Religion & Politics Here are the 5 most popular Chart Tweets we discussed In 1991, 87% of people aged 18-35 years old were Christians. 8% of them identified as religiously unaffiliated. By 1998, 73% of young people were Christians (a 14 point drop) and 21% of young people identified as nones (a 13 pt. increase). America lost its religion in 1990s. pic.twitter.com/oPL2UYzswY — Ryan Burge ? (@ryanburge) April 4, 2022 The drop in fertility over the last decade is primarily among Democrats. Peak parenting in 2010: 65% of Republicans in their late 30s were parents. 62% of Democrat Peak parenting in 2020: 60% of Republicans in their late 30s were parents. 50% of Democrat pic.twitter.com/m3HmjaT1Up — Ryan Burge ? (@ryanburge) November 28, 2022 Do people become more conservative as they age? This data tells a nuanced story. For those born between 1930 and 1949, they did move rightward between 2008 and 2021. 1950-1964 saw no change at all. Those born in 1965 or later have moved to the left between 2008 and 2021. pic.twitter.com/WqpGXy3T43 — Ryan Burge ? (@ryanburge) April 20, 2022 In 1988, 6% of white Democrats took an atheist or agnostic position about God. It was 3% of nonwhite Democrats. In 2021, 32% of white Democrats were atheist/agnostic. It was 8% of nonwhite Democrats. There’s never really been a racial God Gap for Republicans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today J.R.R. Tolkien turns 131! My buddy and pro-Tolkien nerd Nick Polk joined me to share a toast to Tolkien and reflect on a passage we selected as we enter a new year. After the toast, you will hear our special Tolkien Heads session from Theology Beer Camp, which was a bunch of fun. Nick Polk is the production editor for Mallorn, the academic journal of The Tolkien Society. His most recent research includes his essay entitled “Middle-earth in South Park: The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers as Parody.†Other than Tolkien, his other loves include his wife Kelly, coffee, and punk. Nothing sounds better than starting the day reading a Tolkien book with a cup of coffee and ending it in a moshpit with loved ones. Experiencing God: an Open Online Class Kick off the new year with a nerdy good time. The next Homebrewed class will be a robust exploration of how the tools of science, philosophy, and theology help us discern meaning from divine encounters. We’ll discuss God-experiences as mediated through faith communities, the mind, nature, the Bible, psychedelics, and more. And we’ll do all this with an eye towards the future, exploring the possibilities for how a lived-theology could express itself in the world. Check it out here. Here’s the trailer for Experiencing God (the online class) Follow the podcast, drop a review, or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew Segall returns to the podcast! This was recorded in person in Napa, Ca where he gave a talk on Process-Relational Politic al Theology. You can see his blog post about the talk here. Dr. Segall is a transdisciplinary researcher and teacher applying process philosophy across various natural and social sciences, including the study of consciousness.  He is also the  Assistant Professor in the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness Program at California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, CA. Make sure you check out his YouTube channel and the new book. You can listen to our last podcast conversation – Cosmology, Consciousness, and Whitehead’s God. Experiencing God: an Open Online Class Kick off the new year with a nerdy good time. The next Homebrewed class will be a robust exploration of how the tools of science, philosophy, and theology help us discern meaning from divine encounters. We’ll discuss God-experiences as mediated through faith communities, the mind, nature, the Bible, psychedelics, and more. And we’ll do all this with an eye towards the future, exploring the possibilities for how a lived-theology could express itself in the world. Check it out here. Here’s the trailer for Experiencing God (the online class) Follow the podcast, drop a review, or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices