Donald Trump, a thrice-married, no-need-of-forgiveness, blustery billionaire who rarely goes to church, won more Evangelical Christian votes than any candidate in history on his way to winning the 2016 US presidential election. Veteran journalist Angela Denker set out to uncover why, traveling the United States for a year, meeting the people who support Trump, and listening to their rationale. In Red State Christians, readers will get an honest look at the Christians who gave the presidency to t...
Sep 27, 2019•45 min
Our guest today is Samson Turinawe. Samson is the Executive Director of the Universal Love Alliance, a grassroots organization in Uganda which advocates for LGBTQ people. A Ugandan humanitarian, educator and human rights defender. He believes that “every human being should be respected simply for being who they are, a part of Life’s creation.” Tolerance, inclusiveness, love, compassion, dialogue and reconciliation are all central themes in his work. Through his teaching and activism, he emphasiz...
Sep 20, 2019•41 min
We recorcded this so long ago I forgot how funny DBH is in it. Don’t worry, he also talks about his new book That All Shall be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation. Be on the lookout for two more episodes with DBH coming up in the weeks ahead.
Sep 13, 2019•48 min
Beverly Gaventa is back on the podcast to talk about Paul’s Letter to the Romans and the 100th Anniversary of Karl Barth’s commentary on it. Formerly of Princeton, Dr. Gaventa is a professor of New Testament at Baylor Univesity and is the author of When in Romans, which is now available in paperback. Check out her lecture on Barth and Romans from Princeton’s Barth Conference: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p4-r_vUsvEc
Sep 06, 2019•46 min
Today we chat with Alan Cross, a Southern Baptist pastor in CA who is actively working to bring the Gospel to the narrative Christian's use about immigration and race.
Aug 30, 2019•37 min
If you think religion is equal to the tooth fairy and Bigfoot, and have been turned off by church, dive into I'm Not Hitler. We all have a death sentence in this life, but do we need to make a decision to play in the next one? I’m Not Hitler explores the mystery and apathy of how a person gets to heaven. In a salty discourse, author Mike Lyon discusses whether a person can be good enough to step through the pearly gates. With plenty of personal anecdotes, the book challenges the broad assumption...
Aug 23, 2019•36 min
Danté Stewart joins the podcast to talk about faith, race, and Fleming. Dante Stewart is a student at Reformed Theological Seminary. He is a graduate of Clemson University, where he was a student-athlete and received a BA in sociology. His writings have been featured in publications such as Christianity Today, The Witness: A Black Christian Collective, The Gospel Coalition, and Fathom Mag, and Faithfully Magazine. He and his wife, Jasamine, live in Augusta, Georgia, where he is a local barista....
Aug 16, 2019•53 min
Friend of the podcast, mentor, and muse, Will Willimon joined Teer and Jason to talk about his brand new (wondeful) memoir, Accidental Preacher.
Aug 09, 2019•1 hr 16 min
The Hauerwas Mafia pays homage to our namesake by going back to the vault to share our original interview with the one and only Stanley Hauerwas. Jason is determined to get his theological idol off his familiar tropes and talking points and does so while also at the same time being humbled. To learn more about the podcast and to get your very own Hauerwas Mafia t-shirt, visit www.crackersandgrapejuice.com
Aug 02, 2019•29 min
Jason and Teer caught up with Dr. Phillip Cary to talk about Dr. Cary's new latest book, 'The Meaning of Protestant Theology.' Dr. Cary unpacks Luther's gifts to the Protestant Church 500+ years removed from the Reformation and explains why Wesleyan theologians and pastors should not distance themselves too much from Calvin. https://www.amazon.com/Meaning-Protestant-Theology-Luther-Augustine/dp/0801039452...
Jul 25, 2019•46 min
Our guest this week is Dr. Jeffrey Pugh, Professor of Religion at Elon University. Jeffrey is the author of books such as The Devil’s Ink, The Homebrewed Christianity Guide to the End Times, and Religionless Christianity: Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Troubled Times. It’s his expertise on Bonhoeffer we turn to in this episode, asking him to reflect on the border crisis, how Christians are to discern when they’re in a “biblical moment” that calls for witness and resistance, the need for another Barmen-t...
Jul 19, 2019•50 min
Friend of the podcast, Thomas Lynch, rejoins us to talk about his new book, Whither and When: On Lives and Living. Thomas is an undertaker and poet whose work has garnered numerous awards, including the National Book Award for his collection of essays The Undertaking: Notes on the Dismal Trade.
Jul 12, 2019•48 min
For this episode, we talked with Joel Goza who is a Duke Divinity School alumni and now works as a church planter and for a non-profit in the 9th Ward. His new book is an important one, especially on Independence Day weekend. It’s titled America’s Unholy Ghosts: The Racist Roots of Our Faith and Politics.
Jul 05, 2019•50 min
For the fourth year in a row, the podcast posse hosted a live pubcast to kick-off annual conference, this time at Ballast Point Brewery in Roanoke where we had over 200 folks attend. Our guests were Jeff and Steve Mullinix, who shared with us their story of growing up in the closet, attending Bob Jones University, and eventually finding one another and marrying. Jeff is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church and Steve is a teacher. As Steve told us in an earlier podcast, “I am incompat...
Jun 28, 2019•1 hr 3 min
Friend of the podcast, the wild and crazy Dr. David Fitch is back to talk about his latest book, “Us vs. Them: “Freedom from a Faith that Feeds on Making Enemies.” Fitch talks with us about how ideological functions to shape our reading of scripture, how we can read scripture locally as community, and how we discern where God is leading us in a way that avoids cultural antagonisms.
Jun 21, 2019•46 min
Jason and Taylor sat down with Joshua Retterer to talk about the late Robert Farrar Capon and his work. Their conversation touches on a number of subjects including eschatological nerve, an affair with a happy ending, laughing in church, and being overwhelmed with morality.
Jun 14, 2019•42 min
Fresh on the heels of his Twitter face-off with Jerry Falwell Jr, Jason talked with Winfeld Bevins about his his new book Ever Ancient, Ever New. Actually, no, Jason talked to him months ago, before General Conference even and we’re posting it now to take advantage of the social media scrum. Bevins is an Anglican and a professor of church-planting at Asbury Seminary in the Bluegrass State.
Jun 07, 2019•46 min
She’s back! Friend of the podcast, Christy Thomas joins us to reflect on where the United Methodist Church is at in its present moment somewhere on the timeline between divorce and reconciliation. Christy is a retired United Methodist pastor from Texas, journalist, and blogger at The Thoughtful Pastor.
May 31, 2019•1 hr 2 min
Thomas McKenzie is a church-planting Anglican priest at Church of the Redeemer in Nashville, Tennessee. He’s also the author of the Anglican Way and a recent Lenten devotional on the Desert Fathers. He also knows, as few seem to know, that Battlestar Galactica is a far superior show to Game of Thrones.
May 24, 2019•47 min
In this episode, Jason talks with Amy Laura Hall of Duke University about her upcoming work on muscular Christianity, her most recent book “Laughing at the Devil,” Julian of Norwich, and their mutual affection for Stan the Man.
May 17, 2019•56 min
This week is a real treat! We are sharing Jason's unedited live talk from the Mockingbird Annual Conference in New York! A huge thank you to Mockingbird for having Jason speak and for recording it as well!
May 10, 2019•50 min
“Orthodoxy is historically defined according to the creeds, and there is nothing at all in the creeds about human sexuality.” Steve Harper, author of the new book, Holy Love, published today, is our guest for Episode #206. Steve is a former Professor of Historical Theology at Asbury Theological Seminary, which is— mind you— the UMC’s most conservative school. Steve was also a leader in traditionalist movements like Good News and the Confessing Church Movement. In 2015, though, Steve’s understand...
May 03, 2019•56 min
In a culture of performancism, virtue-signaling, and enoughness-chasing, Nick Lannon's new book tells us the good news that Life is Impossible (and that's the good news). Nick is an Anglican priest in Louisville, a movie buff and sports buff, and a contributing writer to Mockingbird Ministries and Liberate.
Apr 26, 2019•46 min
Martin Luther said that God loves to hide himself behind his opposites. Though we prove time and again to think we need to strive and succeed so that we might be found acceptable by God or, in succeeding, find God in God's glory, the God who condescends to us in the suffering Christ never stops so condescending, meeting us not in our triumphs but in our struggles, suffering, and failures. Friend of the podcast Chad Bird, is back to talk about his new book Upside Down Spirituality: The Nine Essen...
Apr 19, 2019•35 min
Calvin said the human heart is an idol factory. Augustine said our hearts are restless until they find rest in God. DZ of Mockingbird Ministries and the author of the new book, Seculosity, says we’re more religious than ever before we’re church “in church” in different ways (love, politics, parenting, technology, fitness) searching for “enoughness” from gods that, without the promise of grace, cannot bestow it. Check out his work at www.mbird.com and grab a copy of his book over at Amazon or Bar...
Apr 05, 2019•42 min
Jerry Herships joins the podcast to talk about his newest book, 'Rogue Saints: Spirituality for Good-Hearted Heathens.' In this episode, we talk about what exactly Jerry means by "shitty church," if you are looking for a church how you can avoid one, and if you are a pastor how you can avoid pastoring one. --------------- More on the book: The world is full of good-hearted heathens, those who love people and those who want to do good in the world. They're not against God--they just have little u...
Mar 29, 2019•37 min
200 Episodes!!! Say what?!? Listen as the guys take a trip down memory lane to talk about their favorite episodes, their white whale guests and what's to come for the podcast Crackers and Grape Juice!
Mar 22, 2019•39 min
Jason crushes on his hero Barbara Brown Taylor while talking with her about her new book, Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others. The author of previous books like the Preaching Life and Leaving Church, Baylor University recognized Taylor as one of the most influential preachers in the English language.
Mar 15, 2019•43 min
Now that the sting of the UMC Special General Conference is lessening, what is next? How can those who are dissatisfied with the work done by the delegates in St Louis organize and be better prepared for GC2020? Rev. Mandy Sloan McDow is the Senior Minister at First United Methodist Church in LA and is the co-author of the forthcoming book, 'Out of the Depths: Your Companion After Divorce.' Follower her on Twitter - https://twitter.com/RevMama
Mar 08, 2019•40 min
The podcast team caught up with Emma Green to talk about the implications of what occurred at the Special General Conference in St. Louis. Emma argues the storyline coming out of #GC2019 is a common storyline being experience throughout the United States: a breakdown or inability to live in community with people who we disagree with. This struggle to maintain community is causing fracture throughout institutions that once held up our communities. Emma Green is a staff writer at The Atlantic, wh...
Mar 01, 2019•34 min
