A book that marries the theologian of THE 20th century (Karl Barth) with THE philosopher at the turn into the 21st, Charles Taylor, and all for the practical application of pastors and congregations? What’s not to love? On the podcast once again is friend and fellow Princeton alum, Andy Root, of Luther Seminary in the Twin Cities. About his latest: Congregations often seek to combat the crisis of decline by using innovation to produce new resources. But leading practical theologian Andrew Root s...
Feb 04, 2022•1 hr 13 min
“Barth’s attacks on the liberal theologians and what he regarded as their high humanism has led many to label him as anti-humanistic. Barth, however, never abandoned his presumption that to be a Christian is to be a creature on the way to being a human being. To be sure that way is one determined by Christ. “God is God and we are not” remains central to Barth but for Barth the God that is the other is the One that makes us capable of being human.” Our friend, mentor, and muse, Stanley Hauerwas, ...
Jan 28, 2022•50 min
Our guest for #341 is our friend Christy Thomas. Christy is a retired UMC Elder and journalist from Texas. She writes at the website The Thoughtful Pastor on Patheos. You may remember Christy from our coverage of the United Methodist Church’s General Conference in 2019. The pandemic has interrupted the UMC’s divorce proceedings, but that does not mean the schism has been event-less. Christy joined us to talk about her recent piece: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/thoughtfulpastor/2022/01/09/the-um...
Jan 21, 2022•1 hr 4 min
On the anniversary of the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Teer, David, and Jason reflect on the ignominious event from the perspective of the Feast of the Epiphany. Before you listen, do us a solid and help out the podcast. Head over to https://www.crackersandgrapejuice.com . Click on “Support the Show.” Become a patron Subscribe to CGJ+ For peanuts, you can help us out….we appreciate it more than you can imagine. Follow us on the three-majors of social media: https://www.facebook.co...
Jan 14, 2022•50 min
Our guest for #339 is Brad Jenson. A former pastor, Brad has a PhD in Theology from Luther Seminary. A former student of Gerhard Forde, Brad has edited a new edition and written a study guide for Forde’s classic book, Where God Meets Man. In this episode, we talk with Brad about his article on Fuerbach, Barth, and Forde, his time in the parish, Luther’s down-to-earth Gospel, and his work now thinking about longevity and retirement.
Jan 07, 2022•1 hr 2 min
The whole gang (well, mostly) poured some libations and got together to talk about Christmas, the incarnation, doubt and the miracle of faith.
Dec 25, 2021•1 hr 7 min
Back on the podcast is our friend, mentor, and muse, Fleming Rutledge. It’s our Christmas gift to you. Thanks to all our listeners!
Dec 24, 2021•1 hr 1 min
Our guest for #336 is Dr. Thomas Millay, author of the new book Kierkegaard and the New Nationalism. Thomas is a graduate of Duke Divinity School and Baylor University and he currently serves a parish in Goldsboro, North Carolina. Nationalism is a globally resurgent phenomenon. From Britain to India to the United States of America, we find nations vociferously reasserting their own sovereignty, ethnic composition, and intrinsic superiority. Thomas J. Millay demonstrates how Kierkegaard’s ascetic...
Dec 17, 2021•1 hr 10 min
Pastor Brian Zahnd joins the podcast to talk about his newest book, "When Everything's on Fire: Faith Forged from the Ashes." About the book -- Is it possible to hold on to faith in an age of unbelief? Intellectual certainty has long been a cornerstone of the Christian faith. But in an age of secularism, skepticism, and cynicism, our worldviews have been shaken. Various solutions exist―some double down on certainty, while others deconstruct their faith until there is nothing left at all. But Bri...
Dec 10, 2021•1 hr 8 min
Back on the podcast is our friend, Father Kenneth Tanner. Ken is the rector of Holy Redeemer in Rochester Hills, Michigan and a writer for Christianity Today, Mockingbird, Clarion, and The Huffington Post. Oxford High School, the site of the latest school shooting in the US, is in Holy Redeemer's parish, and Kenneth joined us on the podcast to talk about his experience of providing pastoral care to the students, families, and teachers in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy.
Dec 03, 2021•49 min
While human existence in time is determined by the time of Jesus Christ, by the logic of the incarnation, passion, resurrection, and ascension, the predominant accounts of time in the modern West have proceeded from a very different basis. The implications of these approaches are not just a matter of epistemology, or of abstract doctrinal and philosophical claims. Instead, they have had, and continue to have, concrete ramifications for human life together. They have overwhelmingly been death-dea...
Nov 19, 2021•1 hr 1 min
Ben Maddison is a priest at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in New Jersey, and Keith Voets is the rector at The Episcopal Church of St. Alban the Martyr, Queens, N.Y. They joined Jason and the Minion in a conversation about re-centering the Church on the Gospel. Here's the post that got the conversation started: There's some on-going ✨ Discourse ™️✨ in The Episcopal Church about ways to reverse decline. Some ideas are good, some not so good, some the same old nonsense that always comes up in the c...
Nov 12, 2021•56 min
What does the cross of Christ have to do with the thunderbird? How might the life and work of Christian writer G. K. Chesterton shed light on our understanding of North American Indigenous art and history? This unexpected connection forms the basis of these discerning reflections by art historian Matthew Milliner. In this fifth volume in the Hansen Lectureship Series, Milliner appeals to Chesterton's life and work―including The Everlasting Man, his neglected poetry, his love for his native Engla...
Nov 05, 2021•1 hr 6 min
Gretchen Purser is the host of the podcast, The Mess is Mine. Gretchen is a recovering evangelical, former political hack and a Republican refugee. She built a 20 year career working for national Republican campaigns, candidates, and committees and their adorable baby brother, the religious right. She’s seen a lot of sh@t. She joins us to talk faith and politics on Election Day 2021. https://themessismine.com/ Before you listen, do us a solid and help out the podcast. Head over to http://www.cra...
Nov 02, 2021•1 hr 12 min
On growing up in the American South of the 1960s--an all-American white boy--son of a long line of Methodist preachers, in the midst of the civil rights revolution, and discovering the culpability of silence within the church. By the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and columnist for The Birmingham News. "My dad was a Methodist preacher and his dad was a Methodist preacher," writes John Archibald. "It goes all the way back on both sides of my family. When I am at my best, I think it comes from ...
Oct 29, 2021•1 hr 1 min
In a post-Christian culture, parish clergy can find themselves at a loss, ill-equipped to deal with a reality for which seminary did not prepare them. As a result, the Church and its clergy can seem to flounder from one “program” to the next or get enamored with secular self-help strategies. To learn to lead well in this new context, the Church needs to help clergy refocus on what both works and is true to their tradition and theology. Enter Scott Benhase, whose Done and Left Undone proposes an ...
Oct 22, 2021•1 hr 2 min
The host of Homebrewed Christianity, Tripp Fuller, shares his answers to a few of the questions Teer is considering for ordination in the United Methodist Church. Tripp is a proud nerd, but not just a Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica type of nerd, he is a theology nerd who is committed to bringing theology to the people. With a PhD in Philosophy, Religion, & Theology, Tripp is a special kind of theology nerd. Before you listen, do us a solid and help out the podcast. Head over to http://ww...
Oct 15, 2021•1 hr 11 min
Talk the talk and walk the walk. The challenge of the Christian life is learning to talk Christian. Somebody has got to tell us, give us the words that open the door to the faith called Christian. Each of us is due the delight of discovery that in submitting to God’s talk to us. God Turned Toward Us: The ABCs of Christian Faith is organized by the words the church teaches us to use to talk about ordinary life apprehended by a God who is Jesus Christ–short, meditative reflections upon key concept...
Oct 08, 2021•56 min
Tony Robinson and Will Willimon reunite for round 2 of Q&A with the Crackers and Grape Juice Nation. The Hauerwas Mafia submitted questions Tony and Will to consider. To get the episode started Will responds to critique he and Stanley Hauerwas received for an article published in Christian Century ( https://www.christiancentury.org/article/interview/dangers-providing-pastoral-care) . Tony follows up his persspective on pastoral care in the middle of a pandemic. Then the two friends field que...
Oct 01, 2021•1 hr 13 min
Professor of History at Grand View University, Thomas Lecaque, is back on the podcast to talk about his latest piece at The Bulwark: https://www.thebulwark.com/the-conspiracy-theorists-are-coming-for-your-schools/ Before you listen, do us a solid and help out the podcast. Head over to http://www.crackersandgrapejuice.com . Click on “Support the Show.” Become a patron Subscribe to CGJ+ For peanuts, you can help us out….we appreciate it more than you can imagine. Follow us on the three-majors of s...
Sep 24, 2021•1 hr 6 min
Jason and Andrea’s new book, Following, offers theological perspectives on the challenges of discipleship in a digital age, showing how new technologies and the rise of social media affect the way we interact with each other, ourselves, and the world. Written by a Gen X digital immigrant and a Millennial digital native, the book explores a faithful response to today’s technology as we celebrate our embodied roles as followers of Christ in a disembodied time. Before you listen, do us a solid and ...
Sep 17, 2021•1 hr 8 min
Reflecting on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 with the godfathers of the podcast, Dr. Stanley Hauerwas and Reverend Dr. Will Willimon. Before you listen, do us a solid and help out the podcast. Head over to http://www.crackersandgrapejuice.com . Click on “Support the Show.” Become a patron Subscribe to CGJ+ For peanuts, you can help us out….we appreciate it more than you can imagine. Follow us on the three-majors of social media: https://www.facebook.com/crackersnjuice https://twitter.com/crackersn...
Sep 12, 2021•1 hr 16 min
Dr. Rolando J. Díaz is a clinical psychologist in independent practice in Arlington, Virginia. He joins the podcast to talk about his work vetting and counseling clergy as well developing the Roman Catholic Church's child protection policies in the wake of the Spotlight investigation's findings of rampant abuse. He completed his undergraduate degree in psychology at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, in 1991. He received his master's (1994) and doctoral degrees (1997) in clinical ...
Sep 03, 2021•50 min
You likely have heard that The Former Guy increased his share of the Hispanic vote in the 2020 Presidential election, but have you heard that this was also true for Asian Americans too? Ditto immigrants from the Middle East. Why did immigrants and people of color vote for a candidate who routinely disparaged immigrants and people of color? And what does it have to do with the fact that a large proportion of all of these groups are Christian? Ruben Rosario and Jonathan Tan join the podcast to tal...
Aug 27, 2021•1 hr 14 min
This episode has something for everyone. Ryan Burge, the Rainman of religious statistics joins the podcast to talk about the nones, COVID-19 vaccines and masks, and a whole list of things you probably wouldn't want to discuss in mixed company. Ryan Burge is the author of The Nones: Who They Are, Where They Came From, and Where They're Going. He's an American Baptist pastor, a Professor of Political Science at Eastern Illinois University, and rules Twitter with his graphs.
Aug 13, 2021•1 hr 8 min
“I bring you news of a living reality that changes everything. Jesus has come; Jesus will come. Whatever your own personal darkness, it has been and will be overcome.” Means of Grace is a weekly devotional culled from the sermons of beloved pastor and theologian Fleming Rutledge, organized according to the framework of the liturgical calendar. Each entry, compiled and edited by Rutledge’s friend Laura Bardolph Hubers, begins with a biblical passage and ends with a short prayer. Those familiar wi...
Aug 06, 2021•40 min
Father Stephen is a priest of the Orthodox Church in America, Pastor Emeritus of St. Anne Orthodox Church in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He is also the author of Everywhere Present and the Glory to God podcast series. Before you listen, do us a solid and help out the podcast. Head over to http://www.crackersandgrapejuice.com . Click on “Support the Show.” Become a patron Subscribe to CGJ+ For peanuts, you can help us out….we appreciate it more than you can imagine. Follow us on the three-majors of soc...
Jul 30, 2021•1 hr 23 min
Our guest for #316 is Brian Kaylor. Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor & President since 2016, is an award-winning writer and sought-after expert on issues of religion, politics, and communication. He also hosts the award-winning podcast “Baptist Without An Adjective.” In addition to articles and editorials for Word&Way, his writings have been published by CNN, Houston Chronicle, Kansas City Star, Louisville Courier-Journal, Religion News Service, Roll Call, Sojourners, St. Louis Post-Dis...
Jul 23, 2021•1 hr 5 min
Daniel Williams joined the pod to talk with Teer and Jason about his new book, 'Politics of the Cross.' -------- Where do Christians fit in a two-party political system? The partisan divide that is rending the nation is now tearing apart American churches. On one side are Christian Right activists and other conservatives who believe that a vote for a Democratic presidential candidate is a vote for abortion, sexual immorality, gender confusion, and the loss of religious liberty for Christians. On...
Jul 09, 2021•1 hr 1 min
We invited two friends of the podcast, who are longtime friends of one another, to talk about ministry, the state of preaching in the Church, and how they often feel like exiles in Mainline Christianity. We hope you enjoy this conversation with Tony and Will. Be sure to check out Tony's website: https://www.anthonybrobinson.com Also, here's the link to the documentary about Will: https://www.aptonline.org/catalog/WILL-TO-PREACH-A...
Jul 02, 2021•1 hr 8 min
