Homebrewed Christianity

Luther’s online learning platform Rolf Jacobson is back on the podcast, and we have some serious fun. In our conversation, we discuss several things seminarians learn that could be triggering to the church they grew up in. I also drop a few exciting announcements in the intro like Rolf and I will tag-team a keynote together at the Festival of Homiletics in Minneapolis this May. Plus, there will be a live Homebrewed Christianity podcast on Tuesday, March 16th, in Minneapolis, open to everyone. In the fall semester, I will start a stint as Visiting Professor of Theology at Luther Seminary, where nearly all MA and MDiv students get a full-tuition scholarship. Dr. Rolf A. Jacobson is the Professor of Old Testament and the Alvin N. Rogness Chair of Scripture, Theology, and Ministry at Luther Seminary. Known for his humor and faithful biblical interpretation, Jacobson is an in-demand preacher and teacher.  With Craig Koester, he developed and supports the Narrative Lectionary.  He enjoys collaborating with other teachers and pastors.  His collaborative projects include The Book of Psalms (NICOT; with Beth Tanner and Nancy deClaissé-Walford), Invitation to the Psalms (with Karl Jacobson), Crazy Talk: A Not-So-Stuffy Dictionary of Theological Terms (with five fellow Luther Seminary graduates), and Crazy Book: A Not-So-Stuffy Dictionary of Biblical Terms(with Hans Wiersma and Karl Jacobon). He is also the author of The Homebrewed Christianity Guide to the Old Testament: Israel’s In-Your-Face, Holy God. His scholarly interests include the Psalms, prophets, biblical theology, biblical narrative, and preaching the Old Testament. His voice can be heard on two weekly preaching podcasts, “Sermon Brainwave†and “The Narrative Lectionary,†as well as singing the high lonesome with a Lutheran bluegrass band, “The Fleshpots of Egypt.†A childhood cancer survivor, he is a double, above-the-knee amputee who generally wears a bicycle and a smile.  He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with his beloved wife Amy, their children Ingrid and Gunnar, and a cat who thinks he is a dog. He is a loyal friend, a lifelong sufferer of Minnesota sports, and a committed board-game geek. Previous Episodes with Rolf The Five Most Offensive Bible Things… you Learn in Seminary Israel’s In-Your-Face, Holy God Upcoming Online Class: Bonhoeffer & the Future of Faith Why does a theologian like Dietrich Bonhoeffer still excite our theological imagination? What is it about his work in a different era that still engages some of the most cutting edge theological work done today? Join us for the new Homebrewed Christianity class, “Bonhoeffer and the Future of Faith†as we listen to and learn from internationally known scholars working in areas such as climate change, prison reform, racial tensions, pastoral care, and Christian Nationalism. These scholars, generations removed from Bonhoeffer’s day, find inspiration in him for the continuing task of theology to interpret and respond to global challenges in our day. Together this class will think about Bonhoeffer’s enduring question to the church of his day, “What is Christianity for us today?†How we are responding in our time to this question will determine the shape of faith for our day and beyond. Follow the podcast, drop a review, or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Dominic Crossan returns to the podcast to discuss how the death of John the Baptist reshaped Jesus’ own vision and how the death and resurrection of Jesus changed Paul’s eschatological hope. In the conversation, we mention some Dom’s books, including The First Paul: Reclaiming the Radical Visionary Behind the Church’s Conservative Icon, The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus’s Final Days in Jerusalem and Resurrecting Easter. 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 The Parables of Jesus & the Parable of God How to think about Jesus like a Historian the Last Week of Jesus’ Life Jesus, Paul, & Bible Questions 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   Upcoming Online Class: Bonhoeffer & the Future of Faith Why does a theologian like Dietrich Bonhoeffer still excite our theological imagination? What is it about his work in a different era that still engages some of the most cutting edge theological work done today? Join us for the new Homebrewed Christianity class, “Bonhoeffer and the Future of Faith†as we listen to and learn from internationally known scholars working in areas such as climate change, prison reform, racial tensions, pastoral care, and Christian Nationalism. These scholars, generations removed from Bonhoeffer’s day, find inspiration in him for the continuing task of theology to interpret and respond to global challenges in our day. Together this class will think about Bonhoeffer’s enduring question to the church of his day, “What is Christianity for us today?†How we are responding in our time to this question will determine the shape of faith for our day and beyond. Follow the podcast, drop a review, or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ilia Delio, OSF, PhD is a Franciscan Sister of Washington, DC and American theologian specializing in the area of science and religion, with interests in evolution, physics and neuroscience and the import of these for theology. Ilia currently holds the Josephine C. Connelly Endowed Chair in Theology at Villanova University, and is the author of twenty books including Care for Creation (coauthored with Keith Warner and Pamela Woods) which won two Catholic Press Book Awards in 2009, first place for social concerns and second place in spirituality. Her book The Emergent Christ won a third place Catholic Press Book Award in 2011 for the area of Science and Religion. Her recent books include The Unbearable Wholeness of Being: God, Evolution and the Power of Love (Orbis, 2013), which received the 2014 Silver Nautilus Book Award and a third place Catholic Press Association Award for Faith and Science. Ilia holds two honorary doctorates, one from St. Francis University in 2015, and one from Sacred Heart University in 2020. You can check out Ilia’s previous visit to the podcast here: the Entangled God of My Heart  Upcoming Online Class: Bonhoeffer & the Future of Faith Why does a theologian like Dietrich Bonhoeffer still excite our theological imagination? What is it about his work in a different era that still engages some of the most cutting edge theological work done today? Join us for the new Homebrewed Christianity class, “Bonhoeffer and the Future of Faith†as we listen to and learn from internationally known scholars working in areas such as climate change, prison reform, racial tensions, pastoral care, and Christian Nationalism. These scholars, generations removed from Bonhoeffer’s day, find inspiration in him for the continuing task of theology to interpret and respond to global challenges in our day. Together this class will think about Bonhoeffer’s enduring question to the church of his day, “What is Christianity for us today?†How we are responding in our time to this question will determine the shape of faith for our day and beyond. Follow the podcast, drop a review, or become a member of the HBC Community.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Dominic Crossan returns to the podcast to discuss how Jesus the parable teller became the parable of God. You will hear him describe the nature of parables and their role in the kingdom ministry of Jesus. This parabolic framework helps him unpack the nature of the four Gospels and how they function to make space for God today. In the conversation, we mention some Dom’s books, including The Power of Parable: How Fiction by Jesus Became Fiction about Jesus The Dark Interval: Towards a Theology of Story, and Resurrecting Easter. 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 How to think about Jesus like a Historian the Last Week of Jesus’ Life Jesus, Paul, & Bible Questions 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

World-renowned economics professor Jeffrey D. Sachs discusses ethics, economics, and our global future in a podcast. Topics include sustainable development goals, critiquing economic systems, historical roots of capitalism, intersection of sustainable development and climate crisis, addressing societal inequalities for a sustainable future, unity and cooperation among religious traditions, education's impact on leadership communication, and framing global questions with care and hope.

the BoDaddy Returns + I battle Tony Jones in au contraire mon frère + Longtime listeners & friends in the chat = EPIC 15th Birthday Party for Homebrewed Christianity. I am so extremely grateful for the community around the podcast and the wonderful people who have become friends over the last 15 years. You can keep up with the fresh stuff Bo Sanders is doing here and follow Tony Jones’ work here. The last 15 minutes of this episode are very important to me. There I give a toast to my original co-host Chad Crawford and then give a tipsy sermonic reflection on friendship. It wasn’t planned, but it does capture my love for   Follow the podcast, drop a review, or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Dominic Crossan returns to the podcast to discuss how a historian thinks about Jesus. You will hear him outline the basic framework he operates from before tackling several different topics and questions sent in by members of the Easter Stories group. In the conversation, we mention some Dom’s books including The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, and Resurrecting Easter. 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 the Last Week of Jesus’ Life Jesus, Paul, & Bible Questions 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 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 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 is the first session with me and Diana’s Lenten class Empty Altars: American Saints in a Cynical Age. We hope you enjoy it and consider joining the group. 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 Lentas 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. This episode is Sponsored by the Cornerstone Fund. You can earn 3.75% interest on a new 18-month term investment in faith-based and socially responsible investments. Check out the United Church of Christ’s Cornerstone Fund to invest in and build Community across the country. Visit www.cornerstonefund.org or call 888-UCC-FUND to learn more. Their staff is available to assist you on your investment journey. Previous Episodes with Diana & Tripp Ruining Dinner… and Date Nights Welcome to the Post-Christian Century 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

What do we know about the last week of Jesus’ life? Why was Jesus executed? In this visual lecture, renowned Historical Jesus scholar John Dominic Crossan will walk us through a historical reconstruction of Jesus’ last week, ending in his crucifixion. Attending to the historical matrix of Jesus helps provide a rich context for exploring the challenge and meaning the execution of Jesus could have for us today. You can access the online visual lecture series “Easter Stories” and join the five live QnA sessions by going to www.EasterWithCrossan.com 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 Jesus, Paul, & Bible Questions 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

I got to join Diana Butler Bass at the Southern Lights festival over MLK weekend where we recorded this live edition of Ruining Dinner. To be a part of future zoom sessions of the series and get access to past gatherings,  join Diana’s newsletter community, the Cottage &/or the Homebrewed Community. 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. Previous Episodes with Diana & Tripp Welcome to the Post-Christian Century 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