Homebrewed Christianity Podcast

One of the ongoing tensions for Biblical scholars is the gap between the shared knowledge within the academy and the need for more awareness among the larger public. Most ministers are aware of the tension this creates in the congregation, but the public square is no better. A friend and New Testament scholar, Dr. James McGrath, is back on the podcast to discuss his new book to tackle this problem. You will not want to miss The A to Z of the New Testament: Things Experts Know That Everyone Else Should Too! James F. McGrath is Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature. His PhD from the University of Durham became the basis for his first book, John’s Apologetic Christology, published by Cambridge University Press in the SNTS Monograph Series. He has also written a “prequel†about the broader context of monotheism and Christology in ancient Judaism and Christianity, The Only True God: Early Christian Monotheism in Its Jewish Context, published by University of Illinois Press. Mor

Thomas Jay Oord is back on the podcast! This episode has two different parts. The first is a live QnA from ORTcon23. The wide-ranging God questions came from the event attendees and were inspired by some fantastic conversations throughout the gathering. In the last bit, Tom and I discuss all the nerdy fun that went down at the Open & Relational stage at Theology Beer Camp. God After Deconstruction: Check out our upcoming class, book, and in-person events Theology Beer Camp: head over here to get info on 2024 camp Check out the ORTcon 24 event this coming summer Check out ORTline 24 – an amazing online event with TONS of open and relational theologians 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 program at Northwind Theological Seminary and the Center for Open and Relational Theology. He won the Outstanding Faculty Award twelve times as a full-ti

I am thrilled to have  Dr. Hanna Reichel on the podcast for the first time! Our conversation centers around their newest book After Method. Hanna Reichel is Associate Professor of Reformed Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. Reichel is an internationally recognized Barth scholar and constructive theologian. After Method assumes the impossibility of doing theology right–and moves beyond it. Organized as a conversation in two voices—with systematic-theological commitments represented by Karl Barth and constructive-theological commitments represented by Marcella Althaus-Reid—this book calls the redemptive potential of any methodological program into question. Indeed, the search for a full and complete theological account of reality has only further fragmented theological discourse. Thus, Hanna Reichel argues that method cannot “save” us—but that does not mean that we cannot do better. After Method harnesses the best insights systematic and constructive theologies have to offer in their mutual critique

I hope that no matter where you are in life, you have been able to enjoy the holiday season by eating good food, spending time with friends and family, or at least getting some rest. If the holidays don’t tend to provide comfort, then you can escape and take shelter in The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy with Nick Polk from Tolkien Pop! as well as Tolkien Scholar Dr. Craig Boyd! As we enter the eye of the storm that is the holiday season, we will kick off our run of Christmas movies with The Lord of the Rings (the extended editions, of course). Because, in fact, The Lord of the Rings are Christmas movies. The Fellowship is led by a supernatural man with a white beard, the company departs from Rivendell to begin their quest on December 25th (Christmas Day), and there are plenty of Elves to go around! To solidify the argument even further, Tolkien wrote his children Letters from Father Christmas (Santa Claus) every year during the Christmas season in their adolescence. In these letters, Tolkien told of Sant

This is a fun conversation with Thomas Jay Oord & Philip Clayton. We have a good time digging into some of the biggest theological questions surrounding Christmas and the Incarnation. Enjoy & then join our upcoming online class, The Cosmic Christ. 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 program at 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. As a scholar, Philip Clayton (Ingraham Professor, Claremont School of Theology) works at the intersection of science, philosophy, and theology. As an activist (president of EcoCiv.org, President o

  Throughout the  Theology for Normal People series, we have featured interviews with theologians from different parts of the church. In this episode, Dr. Ryan Duns, a Jesuit priest and theologian at Marquette University, returns to the podcast to share how he thinks in and with the Catholic tradition. It was a beautiful and enlightening conversation that blends his narrative, exploration of the Catholic tradition, and wisdom he’s gained, introducing it to students in the classroom. I had so much fun we went on a Tolkien excursion at the end, which is a sign I’m having fun. Ryan G. Duns, SJ, (twitter) is a Jesuit priest and an assistant professor of theology at Marquette University. His locates his work the intersection of philosophy and systematic theology and is interested in regarding theology as practice or a way of life. He has published on Karl Rahner, Jean-Luc Marion, Renae Girard, and his most recent work has involved a sustained engagement with William Desmond’s metaphysics. His monograph Spirit

Ryan Burge is back and he has a bunch of charts to get us chatting! To stay up to date with Ryan’s regular release of graphs about religion, follow his substack here, IG here, and formerly twitter here. 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 Graphs about Religion & Politics w/ Spicy Banter a Year in Religion (in Graphs) Evangelical Jews, Educated Church-Goers, & other bits of dizzying data 5 Religion Graphs w/ a side of Hot Takes Myths about Religion & Politics Follow the podcast, drop a review, or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My friend, Dr. Bethany Sollereder, is Lecturer in Science and Religion at the University of Edinburgh. She received her PhD in Theology from the University of Exeter and an MCS in interdisciplinary studies from Regent College, Vancouver. She specializes in theology concerning evolution and the problem of suffering. Her current work is about the theological possibilities and human vocation in the light of irreversible changes in ecological degradation. She is also interested in the intersection between psychology and faith, particularly how different approaches to theology can affect people’s experience of suffering. This interest led to the publication of “Why is There Suffering? Pick your own theological adventure” (Zondervan 2021), the first pick-your-own-ending theology book. Dr Sollereder is working in a broader research program in what she has called “Compassionate Theodicy.” Here's two of Bethany's Books to checkout  God, Evolution, and Animal Suffering: Theodicy without a Fall Why Is There Suffe

I am thrilled to have my friend Dr. Adam Clark back on the podcast. This conversation captures so many of his most potent observations about the task of thinking theologically in the key of liberation. Enjoy   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 Th

When I started the podcast over 15 years ago, Elgin was an infant, and today he is here hosting the podcast! Elgin decided to join the upcoming class, Live Before You Die, and has been collecting a stack of questions as he read through Paul Tillich’s The Courage to Be. Yesterday, we were tailgating at the Wake Forest vs Florida State football game with Arron Simmons and his family. What does a podcaster do when their teenager has a bunch of questions about existentialism, and you are tailgating with an existentialist philosopher? You hand them mics! Dr. Aaron Simmons is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Furman University. Here’s Aaaron’s website with tons of resources & his newsletter His previous visits to the podcast include Camping with Kierkegaard,  Faith After Deconstruction, ”Do I Have a Soul? & other cultural preferences in bold,” ”Off-Road Religion & Pandemic Philosophizing,” ”Smells Like Teenage Phenomenology” & “Whose Christianity, Which Postmodernism?”, Philosophy & the Experience of

I was in Minneapolis speaking at the Festival of Homiletics and ended up at a bottle release party at Surly Brewing with my friend Tony Jones. There, we shared stories from our time in the Emerging Church Movement, what we learned, all the friends we made, and where we’ve all ended up. We decided then to do a class exploring the movement and process our learning with a bunch of its participants. From there, the idea took off, and we decided it would be best to turn it into a podcast series and invite people to contribute to a more significant oral history. In this episode, you will hear about the project, what we’ve been doing, and how you can be a part of it. EMERGED:A Crowdfunded Podcast to Preserve an Oral History of the Emerging Church Movement – For a decade at the beginning of the 21st century, a small group of pastors, missionaries, and theologians set out to change the church. They were mostly GenXers, mostly men, mostly white, mostly evangelical. They planted churches and wrote books and ran confere

Everyone doesn’t have to be a theology nerd, but if you want to know what it sounds like when we have fun, this conversation with John Thatamanil is exhibit A. Over the years, John and I have had multiple conversations on and off the podcast, and everyone is a complete joy. I am always wholly hyped when it is over and have a stack of ideas brewing in my head for weeks. This episode is no exception! Not only do we go deep into an adequate ontology for the breadth of religious experience, explore some Tillichian connections with Whitehead, and transformative explorations across religious pluralism, but we get personal about how the activity of thinking theologically is an intimate form of engagement with God. Relistening to this episode made me excited about my next conversation with John. Dr. Thatamanil is Professor of Theology & World Religions at Union Theological Seminary in NYC. Check out these books by John Circling the Elephant: A Comparative Theology of Religious Diversity The Immanent Divine: God

How do liberal Protestant Christian theologians think? Few people are as capable as our guest, Dr. Paul Capetz, at articulating the heart of liberal Protestantism. Paul has been a friend for a long time. We first met at Claremont School of Theology when he was on sabbatical and we quickly realized how much we enjoy getting nerdy together. In this episode, we discuss his new book, Recovering Protestantism’s Original Insight and how liberal Protestantism inherited Luther’s critical theology. In the conversation, we discuss… how to engage historical criticism of the Bible as a modern Christian the role and function of tradition for theologizing the contrast between Calvin and Luther when it comes to Biblical authority can the Bible help us think about ethics today? the need to free the Bible from an ancient worldview the existentialist impact of Gospel proclamation the priority of education within liberal Protestantism how to be honest in wrestling with and discerning our history America’s anti-intell

Have you ever read a book that you loved because it was uncomfortable? One that extended questions you’ve raised and challenged the answers you were attracted to? Maybe a book that, when you got done, you knew you needed to reread it? That happened when I finished Dr. Clark’s Reclaiming Stolen Earth: An Africana Ecotheology. So, I imagine you can guess how excited I was when he agreed to join the podcast! Jawanza Eric Clark is professor of global Christianity at Manhattan College, NY. He holds a BA from Morehouse College, an MDiv from Yale Divinity School, and a ThM and PhD from Emory University. He is editor of Albert Cleage Jr. and the Black Madonna and Child, and author of Indigenous Black Theology: Towards an African-Centered Theology of the African-American Religious Experience. He is currently co-chair of the Black Theology unit of the American Academy of Religion.   Follow the podcast, drop a review, or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoi

Kelly Brown Douglas won the 2023 Grawemeyer Award in Religion for her newest book, Resurrection Hope, and she is here on the podcast to talk about it! The Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas is Interim President of the Episcopal Divinity School and Canon Theologian at Washington National Cathedral. From 2017 to 2023, she was Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary and Professor of Theology. She is considered a leader in the field of womanist theology, racial reconciliation, and sexuality and the black church. Her Orbis books include The Black Christ, Whats Faith Got to Do with It? and Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God   Follow the podcast, drop a review, or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan Koch is one of my favorite people. He reached out to connect in person when he was thinking of starting a podcast, and since then, he has not only produced several quality podcasts, but I have grown to love having him in my life. Like all good elder millennials, nothing says, “dude, I love being your friend,” like a quality mixtape. In this episode, we make a playlist centered on our existential dread  If you liked this, check out his music podcast –  Pretty Good Vibrations analyzes and celebrates pop and rock music and its crucial role throughout our lives. Dan hosts the You Have Permission podcast and has seven years of podcasting experience, including previous shows Depolarize! (politics/psychology) and Reconstruct (theology). He holds a Master’s of Counseling Psychology and has completed doctoral coursework at Northwest University in Kirkland, WA. His research focuses on spiritual abuse, and his “Development of the Spiritual Harm and Abuse Scale” was published in 2022 by the Journal for the Scientif

It is impossible to tell my own story without sharing about Philip Clayton. Not only have I read all of his books, many multiple times, but his guidance in graduate school and continued friendship have been a deep blessing. On top of that, Philip is a brilliant theologian. In this unique conversation, you will hear how a deep personal faith in Christ animates this philosophical theologian and leading scholar of Religion & Science. This is just the first episode in a series exploring how to think theologically. To get the entire series, hear Philip answer the 8 big God questions, and join thousands of others in conversation, join the class Theology for Normal People. As a scholar, Philip Clayton (Ingraham Professor, Claremont School of Theology) works at the intersection of science, philosophy, and theology. As an activist (president of EcoCiv.org, President of IPDC), he works to convene, facilitate, and catalyze multi-sectoral initiatives toward ecological civilization. As a disciple of Jesus, he finds hims

I am THRILLED to have Reggie Williams back on the podcast! This is a powerful conversation exploring Bonhoeffer and his critique of religion. Dr. Williams is the Associate Professor of Christian Ethics at McCormick Theological Seminary and author of Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus: Harlem Renaissance Theology and an Ethic of Resistance. This was one of the live stream sessions from the online class Bonhoeffer and the Future of Faith. To access Dr. Williams and all the other contributor’s excellent lectures head over here. These live streams were inspired by the contributor’s address, their reading selection from Bonhoeffer, and class member questions. Here’s Reggie’s previous visits to the podcast: Reggie Williams: Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus Debating, Praying, and Living with Tyrants Follow the podcast, drop a review, or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nothing says friendship like permission to dabble in heresies together. In this episode, a group of friends who happen to be scholars of philosophy, psychology, science, and religion try to make each other uncomfortable by sharing a heresy. This podcast format was inspired by Kevin Kelly, who got Tim Ferris to try it on his show. We all had some fun. Let us know what you think about the format and how we might change it up in the future. Dr. Myron Penner is a professor of philosophy at Trinity Western University and director of the Anabaptist-Mennonite Centre for Faith and Learning. On top of being a stellar scholar, he is a dear friend and the coolest Mennonite Canadian philosopher on planet earth. Dr. Sarah Lane Ritchie received her B.A. in Philosophy & Religion from Spring Arbor University, an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary, and an M.Sc. in Science & Religion from the University of Edinburgh. She obtained her Ph.D. at the University of Edinburgh in Science & Religion with a thesis on divine a

Dr. Aaron Simmons is here to discuss his new book, “Camping with Kierkegaard: Faithfulness as a Way of Life.” It’s a banger! Ohhh and listen close to the episode to learn how to score a sweet incentive when you grab the book Dr. Aaron Simmons is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Furman University. Heres Aaarons website with tons of resources & his newsletter His previous visits to the podcast include, “Faith After Deconstruction,” Do I Have a Soul? & other cultural preferences in bold,Off-Road Religion & Pandemic Philosophizing,Smells Like Teenage Phenomenology†& Whose Christianity, Which Postmodernism?, Philosophy & the Experience of God Youtube Channel, Philosophy for Where We Find Ourselves TedX Speaker: The Failure of Success check out Aarons books 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