Here is advice you don't often hear from clergy: never pray again! If you have ever wondered about the point (or pointlessness) of prayer, you'll find these friars to be fellow travelers. My guests, Aric Clark, Doug Hagler, and Nick Larson are Two Friars and A Fool (Twitter, Facebook) and have authored a book, Never Pray Again! Lift Your Head, Unfold Your Hands, and Get to Work! They encourage us to turn prayer into action and they speak candidly about their own struggles with the concept of pra...
Aug 18, 2014•29 min
We are familiar with the War Pentagon on the Potomac. In Southwest Virginia a building is under construction that could be more powerful, the Peace Pentagon. Laura George, executive director of The Oracle Institute speaks with me about a fascinating new community that is "an advocate for peace and a vanguard for conscious evolution."
Aug 14, 2014•29 min
Author of Leaving Church and An Altar in the World, Barbara Brown Taylor takes us on a tour of the dark places in her latest lyrical book, Learning to Walk in the Dark. She explores real and metaphorical darkness and confronts the fear of that darkness. She urges us to feel around in the dark whether that darkness be grief, doubt, or the unknown and rather than light it up, be present with it. Join us on a journey in the dark!
Aug 07, 2014•29 min
Singer/songwriter/poet Carrie Newcomer has a new album A Permeable Life (Facebook). Accompanying her cd is a book, A Permeable Life: Poems and Essays. She spoke with me on Religion For Life about the cd, songwriting, what she has learned from her dog, spirituality, building community, and keeping hopeful! You'll love it!
Jul 31, 2014•29 min
I continue my conversation about the Book of Acts. This week I speak with Dennis Smith, New Testament Professor at Phillips Theological Seminary, chair of the Acts Seminar and co-editor of Acts and Christian Beginnings: The Acts Seminar Report. The Acts Seminar spent ten years analyzing the Book of Acts from an historical perspective. They made some important conclusions. Here is a top ten list! Bottom line: Acts is a second-century myth of Christian origins. They are ready to shake up scholarsh...
Jul 24, 2014•29 min
Is the Book of Acts in the New Testament history or myth? For the next two weeks I speak with the two co-chairs of the Acts Seminar, Joseph Tyson and Dennis Smith. For ten years the Westar Institute has evaluated the historicity of the Book of Acts. They have produced Acts and Christian Beginnings: The Acts Seminar Report. They have made some important conclusions. Here is a top ten list. This week I speak with Dr. Tyson of Southern Methodist University about his take on Acts and the Acts Semina...
Jul 17, 2014•29 min
Charles "Chuck" Shingledecker cares about religion and about matters of faith. He cares so much that he is willing to engage in the honest searching tradition of apophatic theology. The fruit of this search is his book, Freedom to Doubt. He puts his inquiring mind to work doubting biblical stories and theological doctrines and shows that doubt, not fear, is the beginning of wisdom.
Jul 10, 2014•29 min
Fed up with the arrogance, intolerance, and absolutism of religion? Rev. Martin Thielen, pastor of the Cookeville United Methodist Church in Cookeville, Tennessee is too. But he says that is not what religion has to be. He makes the case for good religion in his latest book, The Answer to Bad Religion is Not No Religion: A Guide to Good Religion for Seekers, Skeptics, and Believers. Join us for a candid conversation about religion, good and bad!
Jul 03, 2014•29 min
Why is the South so religious? Why is it the Bible Belt? Do begin to answer that complex question we need to go back to Colonial times before the First Great Awakening. Dr. Thomas Little is associate professor of history at Emory and Henry College in Emory, Virginia and the author of The Origins of Southern Evangelicalism: Religious Revivalism in the South Carolina Low Country, 1670-1760. He spoke with me about the early history of religious revival in the South.
Jun 26, 2014•29 min
Dr. Blaine Schubert is the Director of the ETSU Museum of Natural History and Gray Fossil Site (Facebook, Twitter) and Assistant Professor in the Department of Geosciences at East Tennessee State University. We participated in a panel for Darwin Day earlier this year. I invited him to speak with me on Religion For Life. We discussed caves, the Cave Paleontology Program at ETSU, the fossil site and natural history museum at Gray, the importance of science education, evolution, Richard Dawkins, an...
Jun 10, 2014•29 min
In the second of my four-part series on Israel/Palestine, I speak with Jonathan Kuttab of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center. He is a human rights attorney and Palestinian Christian. He spoke to me about the Palestinian experience under Israeli occupation, the BDS movement, and Zionism Unsettled. This is his keynote address to Friends of Sabeel in April 2013.
May 29, 2014•29 min
Rachel Fish is Associate Director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University. She is an educator and consultant and teaches about Zionism and Israeli history. In this first of four broadcasts on Israel/Palestine she discusses the work of the Schusterman Center, her Ph. D. thesis on the history of Bi-Nationalism, and the history of Zionism.
May 22, 2014•29 min
In this fourth of my four-part series on Israel/Palestine I speak with Rabbi Brant Rosen of Jewish Voices for Peace. The actions of Israel against Gaza in 2008 caused in him a change of heart which in turn made him revisit what Israel means to him. He chronicled this change in his blog Shalom Rav. This series of blog posts and comments became his book, Wrestling in the Daylight: A Rabbi's Path to Palestinian Solidarity. He discusses that book and why as a Jew he needs to stand in solidarity with...
May 16, 2014•29 min
This is the third of my four-part series on Israel/Palestine. I continue my conversation with Rachel Fish, Associate Director of the Schusterman Center for Israeli Studies at Brandeis University. She speaks about Zionism Unsettled, the BDS movement, and defends the ideal of Israel as a Jewish state.
May 16, 2014•29 min
Sister Paula Gonzales is known as the "Solar Nun" for transforming a huge chicken barn into a solar home. She is 81 years old and a Sister of Charity in Cincinnati. She also has a Ph. D. in Biology and has given over 1900 presentations on energy, ecology, and ecospirituality. She visited the Tri-Cities in April as a guest of Carol Landis and the Green Interfaith Network (Facebook). I caught up with this remarkable person on Religion For Life to discuss ecospirituality.
May 15, 2014•29 min
Ken Wilson is Senior Pastor of the Vineyard Church of Ann Arbor, Michigan. He recently published A Letter to My Congregation: An evangelical pastor's path to embracing people who are gay, lesbian and transgender into the company of Jesus. He speaks to me on Religion For Life about how he came to see things and people differently. He speaks candidly about his struggle to be authentic, the cost of change, and why it is worth it.
May 08, 2014•29 min
Jon Camp reached a milestone this Spring. On March 28th, 2014 on the campus of the University of Georgia, he handed out his one millionth booklet. For the past ten years he has been seeking to end cruelty to animals one flier at at time. He finished this Spring's tour at the ETSU campus. I caught up with him and we talked about the work of Vegan Outreach, factory farms, and the importance of changing attitudes and practices toward animals.
May 01, 2014•29 min
Just in time for Easter, an historian's look at Jesus and how he was turned into a divine figure by those who believed in him. Bart Ehrman (Facebook, Twitter) returns to Religion For Life to discuss his new book, How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee. This book is a fascinating look at the theological development of the Jewish preacher, Jesus. We talk about the various ways ancients thought about the divine as well as how Jesus was believed to fit those models an...
Apr 24, 2014•29 min
Chris Stedman (Facebook, Twitter) is the Assistant Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University and the author of Faitheist: How An Atheist Found Common Ground with The Religious. He spoke to me on Religion For Life about coming out, his journey through religion, embracing atheism, and what he learned from his grandmother!
Apr 18, 2014•1 hr 57 min
Religion needs an upgrade. Galen Guengerich, senior minister of All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in New York City has authored a book to help religion on its evolving journey. God Revised: How Religion Must Evolve in A Scientific Age engages the question of God. How to speak of God beyond supernatural theism.
Apr 10, 2014•1 min
This week I speak with the executive director of the Campaign for Southern Equality (Facebook, Twitter), Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, and with Joe Hoffman, the senior minister of the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Asheville, North Carolina. The campaign works for full equality for LGBT people across the South. Jasmine writes for Huffington Post and is the author of a collection of short stories called, Damn Love!
Apr 03, 2014•29 min
This week we explore what it means to be Amish from the perspective of a woman who left the Amish community as a young woman. Saloma Miller Furlong is the author of Why I Left the Amish and Bonnet Strings: An Amish Woman's Ties to Two Worlds. Through her personal experience of leaving the Amish we touch on the universal experience of being torn between the demands of personal authenticity and communal expectations.
Mar 27, 2014•29 min
What does changing diapers have to do with the Kingdom of God? Plenty actually! Andrew Taylor-Troutman, pastor of New Dublin Presbyterian Church in Dublin, Virginia, is the author of Parables of Parenthood: Interpreting the Gospels with Family. Andrew returns to Religion For Life to discuss how the parables of Jesus are about real life that includes the wants and needs of a one year old. When considered with head and heart both parables and parenting may surprise us into the Kingdom of God.
Mar 20, 2014•56 min
Is there a connection between patriarchal religion and gender inequality? P.J. (Paula) Fisk speaks with me about her journey from a patriarchal religion and "the plight of the female in a predominant male system of religion." She is the author of If God Is My Father, Who Is My Mother? A Spiritual Journey. Her journey will inspire others to think for themselves and find their truth.
Mar 13, 2014•29 min
Howard Zehr, Distinguished Professor of Restorative Justice at Eastern Mennonite University is known as the "Grandfather of Restorative Justice." He is the author of several books including, Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice (Amazon), and The Little Book of Restorative Justice (Amazon). He spoke to me about restorative justice and the criminal justice system.
Mar 06, 2014•29 min
Marcion is considered the "arch-heretic" of Christianity. He was said by an ancient critic to have "gnawed" scripture. He was the first to create a canon of scripture consisting of a version of Luke's Gospel and eleven letters of Paul. Professor Jason BeDuhn of Northern Arizona University has reconstructed this text and in doing so provides insight into the development of early Christianity. He is the author of The First New Testament: Marcion's Scriptural Canon.
Feb 27, 2014•29 min
I continue my series on early Christian history. The New Testament writing, Acts of the Apostles, has functioned as the earliest history of the church. But at most, it is "idealized history." Shelly Matthews of Brite Divinity School speaks about the rhetorical strategy of Acts in her new book, The Acts of the Apostles: Taming the Tongues of Fire (Amazon). She speaks with me on Religion For Life about how the author of Acts idealized Paul and tamed the egalitarian Jesus movement to make it more p...
Feb 20, 2014•29 min
We speak casually of "the Bible" and of "God" as if those words refer to specific entities that have a common definition. Stewart Harris, professor of law at Appalachian School of Law and the host of Your Weekly Constitutional (website, podcast, Facebook page, Twitter feed), argues that, particularly in a legal setting, this imprecision can lead to huge problems in regards to religion and public life. Join us for a fascinating discussion about bible, god, and law.
Feb 14, 2014•29 min
Robert Jensen is a professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Texas and the author of We Are All Apocalyptic Now: On the Responsibilities of Teaching, Preaching, Reporting, Writing, and Speaking Out. He spoke candidly with me about the meaning of apocalypse (an unveiling) and the need to say what we see in regards to economics, ecology, violence, and our future.
Feb 06, 2014•29 min
Travis Williams is Assistant Professor of Religion at Tusculum College in Greenville, Tennessee. He is the author of two academic books on the book of 1 Peter. He is the featured speaker at the Theologian In Residence series of lectures at Tusculum each Tuesday in February. More details can be found here. The title of his series of lectures is “The Situation and Strategy of 1 Peter: Examining the Formative Influence of Persecution on Christian Identity.” He spoke with me on Religion For Life abo...
Jan 30, 2014•29 min
