I sat down with historian Jon Butler to discuss his book God in Gotham which explores religion in Manhattan from the last C19th to midC20th. We discuss how - contrary to much opinion (then and now) - modernity, urban density, and plurality did not prove a stranglehold on religion in this most city of cities but proved fertile ground for its flourishing. We also discuss religion, race, and activism in this period, in particular the efforts of the Reverends Adam Clayton Powell and Adam Clayton Pow...
Aug 09, 2021•56 min•Ep. 103
I sat down with Prof John H. McClendon to discuss his philosophical appraisal of Black Theology/Christology and materialist critique of its claim of authenticity. We discuss how he became interested in the topic through study of Howard Thurman, the relationship between Black Theology and African American theology that preceded it, and the shift from a focus on racism and its attendant structures to whiteness. We also discuss his engagement with and critique of Professor James Cone and the implic...
Aug 01, 2021•52 min•Ep. 102
I sat down with Brian Brock to talk about his new book, Disability: Living into the Diversity of Christ's Body (Baker, 2021). We discuss common misconceptions and assumptions that lead to unwelcome and awkwardness in churches (beginning with the common falsity that there are "no disabled people in our church"). Brian offers examples of how in noticing the diversity of the bodily experiences of the people around us, we begin to glimpse aspects of Scripture that we had previously missed. I also as...
Jul 26, 2021•47 min•Ep. 101
I spoke with Keegan Osinski about her new book: Queering Wesley, Queering the Church. We discuss what drew her to this project, her experience within the Wesleyan tradition, and how she found fertile ground for queer readings in Wesley's sermons. We then go deep on her readings of holiness, being born again, pride and humility, and pleasure. Buy the book Keegan Osinski is the librarian for theology and ethics at Vanderbilt University and a member of the Church of the Nazarene. Find out more abou...
Jul 18, 2021•56 min•Ep. 100
I sat down with Natalie Wigg-Stevenson to talk about theology as performance art. We discuss her new work which weaves together discussions in church basements, notorious works of performance art, and a broad range of theological thinkers to respond to a moment where she felt forgotten by God. Along the way we talk about what it might mean to think about God's omnipotence through a framework of cognitive decline, in turn we discuss how she conceives of the role of humanity through caregiving to ...
Jul 12, 2021•56 min•Ep. 99
Dr Anne Pattel-Gray, author of the Great White Flood, joins Rev. Tau’alofa Anga’aelangi, Rev Dr Katalina Tahaafe-Williams, and myself in a discussion on Black Lives Matter, the church's call to confront racist injustice, the relationship between Indigenous sovereignty and multiculturalism, where the UCA has become too timid, the ongoing lack of Indigenous theology and teaching in theological education, how her book was banned from sales in physical bookstores in Australia, the importance of bein...
Jul 05, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 98
I sat down with Grace Ji-Sun Kim to talk about hope. We talk about writing for the public, differentiating hope from optimism, speaking of hope amidst the pain and violence of sexism, racism, and ecological destruction, and what it means to live inside and even become our hope. We also talk about her new podcast Madang and what it's like to be on the other side of the mic. Buy the Boo k Listen to Madang Grace Ji-Sun Kim is Professor of Theology at Earlham School of Religion. She is the author or...
Jun 28, 2021•36 min•Ep. 97
I sat down with Johanna Perheentupa to discuss her new book on Aboriginal activism and the push for self-determination in Redfern in the 1970s. We discuss the conditions and social changes that made Redfern ripe for such radical change and the development of landmark organisations such as the Aboriginal Legal Service, the National Black Theatre, Aboriginal Medical Service, Murawina preschool, and the Aboriginal Housing Company. We discuss the relationship between these organisations and the well...
Jun 20, 2021•43 min•Ep. 96
I sat down with Janice McRandal, public, feminist theologian, to talk about theology (public and otherwise) as it is in Australia and how it could be. We discuss how she came to a life of an academic and public theology, what The Cooperative is about and hopes to disrupt and achieve, theological education in Australia and what she thinks it needs for a flourishing future, the role of social media in public theology, and the inaugural Cooperative theological conference, "Uncommon Goods: Public Th...
Jun 16, 2021•42 min•Ep. 95
"In sum, Althaus-Reid wanted to help us free ourselves from dominating constructs that keep us from knowing God... the goal is not to formulate one theology but to celebrate the diverse ways of knowing God." I sat down with Thia Cooper to talk about her new introduction to the work of Marcella Althaus-Reid. We talk about the theological marketplace, attending to variety and lived experience in theology, the hermeneutical circle, the work that remains to be done, and armpits. Buy the Book Thia Co...
Jun 06, 2021•57 min•Ep. 94
I spoke with Anne Elvey about her new book, Reading the Magnificat in Australia. We discuss her approach to the project as a poet and biblical scholar who has creatively engaged the Magnificat for many years, and how this combination connects to a hermeneutics of creative imagination and need for creative writing to 'turn the breath' toward empathy and resistance. We talk about keeping an aspect of unknowing central to the book's epistemological frame and the hermeneutic of restraint. I also ask...
May 30, 2021•45 min•Ep. 93
"Paul is probably the least interesting thing about Paul’s letters." I sat down with Joseph Marchal to talk the way his book reaches past questions of what Paul 'thought' (or how his texts can be read in 'inclusive' ways) toward far more fascinating queer figures before and after his letters: "androgynes, eunuchs, slaves, and barbarians—each depicted as perversely gendered and strangely embodied figures in their own distinctive, though interrelated ways”. We discuss his intentionally anachronist...
May 23, 2021•47 min•Ep. 92
I sat down with Anna Carter Florence to talk about her passion for preaching. We discuss lessons she's learnt from teaching preaching for two decades, overlap between acting and preaching, how to make Scripture more dynamic and accessible, and her book Rehearsing Scripture: Discovering God's Word in Community . Anna Carter Florence will be a keynote speaker at the upcoming PreachFest 2021 hosted by Uniting Mission and Education, June 1st to 3rd, featuring a raft of amazing preachers and teachers...
May 16, 2021•49 min
How does Luke's understanding of the end of history reshape experience in the present? I sat down with Kylie Crabbe to talk Luke/Acts, eschatology, history, and how ancient writers make sense of negative experience. I also ask Kylie to argue the case for Luke as the best gospel and attempt to disprove the theory that Acts is actually kind of boring. Buy the Book Dr Kylie Crabbe is Director of Graduate Research Programs and Senior Research Fellow Biblical and Early Christian Studies at Australian...
May 09, 2021•43 min•Ep. 90
“No good comes from the denial of enmity.” I spoke with Melissa Florer-Bixler about her new book, How To Have an Enemy. The question, she emphasises, is not whether to have enemies, but how to have the right enemy. We also talk about the myth of the Christmas Day truce, problems of 'unity', and why Melissa's job as a pastor isn't "to create a politically diverse church where people share their ideas dispassionately in an attempt towards middle ground or mutual transformation.” We end with a disc...
May 02, 2021•53 min•Ep. 89
I sat down with Joshua Ralston to talk about his book Law and the Rule of God: a Christian Engagement with Shari’a (Cambridge, 2020). We discuss what lead him to this work, why discussions of law in Islam are missing in political theology (and why they matter), the problems of Protestant antinomianism, comparative theology and how recognising different conceptions of the law and its purpose assist interfaith work, and his account of public law as a provisional and indirect witness to the divine ...
Apr 25, 2021•55 min•Ep. 88
I sat down with Brett Krutzsch to talk about his book Dying to Be Normal: Gay Martyrs and the Transformation of American Sexual Politics. The book highlights how, through the process of commemoration, secular gay activists deployed Protestant Christian ideals to present gays as similar to upstanding heterosexuals and, therefore, as deserving of equal rights. Our conversation centres on the treatment of Harvey Milk, Matthew Shepard, and Tyler Clementi who, in the wake of their deaths, had aspects...
Apr 18, 2021•46 min•Ep. 87
I sat down with Ruth Jackson Ravenscroft to talk theology, finitude, and Schleiermacher. I ask about her journey into theology, the importance of reading Schleiermacher with his biography close at hand, and what she's learnt with sharing Schleiermacher beyond the halls of theology, before engaging with her work on finitude (in particular the freedom and unity found therein). Buy the book. Ruth Jackson Ravenscroft hails from Bury in Greater Manchester. She studied Theology and Religious Studies a...
Apr 12, 2021•44 min•Ep. 86
I sat down with Katharine Massam to talk about Spanish Benedictine Missionary Women in New Norcia in Western Australia. We discuss the way this strange, surprising, complex, and sad story helps chart a path for thinking about religious and colonial history in these lands now called Australia. We talk about the way this small mission town both reflected and balked the broader trends in the colonial project of assimilation, changes in C20th Catholicism, and the experience of women in religious ord...
Apr 06, 2021•43 min•Ep. 85
I sat down with Josh Jipp to talk about the messianic identity of Jesus as the presupposition for and primary content of New Testament theology. We discuss balancing unity and plurality within the New Testament, the benefits and risks of centring the messianic identity in light of the history of Christian supersessionism, the kind of kingdom this messiah brings, and (just in time for Easter) how the Passion narratives establish Jesus' messianic identity - hint, it has much more to do with the Ps...
Mar 28, 2021•47 min•Ep. 84
In a wide ranging discussion about contextualisation, culture, the gospel, and mission John Flett and Henning Wrogemann detail what can be learnt from (predominately the mistakes) of a century of German mission theology. I was surprised by the manifold ways contemporary language around church, mission, and culture finds its roots in articulations that were developed within and embraced by German National Socialism. The conversation begins with some quick takes on common mission catchphrases and ...
Mar 21, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 83
I sat down with Ashwin Thyssen to talk about his work at the intersections of race, sexuality and faith, what it means for him to be part of the 'reformed' movement, and the challenge of doing theology in South Africa when you were born after 1994. Ashwin Afrikanus Thyssen is a PhD Candidate at Stellenbosch University, in Systematic Theology. His research considers the intersections of race, sexuality, and faith. At present he is also undergoing ministerial training for ordained life in the Unit...
Mar 11, 2021•47 min•Ep. 82
I sat down with Jedidiah Evans, associate lecturer in writing studies at Sydney University, to talk about what can happen when we read fiction. We discuss reading as forming friendships, how it shapes the way we see the world and ourselves, and freeing ourselves from "must read" lists. We then go on to talk about Jed's work on carceral writing - writing both by and about incarcerated people - and what he hopes this can achieve in closing gaps between what we assume happens in prison and what is ...
Feb 05, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 80
I sat down with Robyn Oxley to talk about the criminal justice and need for abolition in the lands now called Australia. We talk about her journey into and with abolition, why community resourcing and accountability make so much more sense, how prisons simply do not achieve what they purport to achieve (especially in terms of rehabilitation), and the racism and colonial violence that runs all the way through the system – a violence that is entirely in keeping with the colonial project that has w...
Jan 28, 2021•43 min•Ep. 79
I sat down with Rachael Ward, a public theologian, LGBTIQ+ activist, and co-founder of Bible Queery, a collective focused on offering one-on-one and group facilitation for queer people of faith. We speak about pastoral care, not making promises, queer spaces and wisdom, and their own Living-Death Doula model for queer grief care. Rachael Ward (they/them) is a public theologian and LGBTQ+ activist currently pursuing their Master of Divinity and Master of Arts in Practical Theology at Columbia The...
Jan 21, 2021•57 min•Ep. 78
It’s time for more theo-lutions with a panel of wonders! Keegan Osinski, Flora Tang, and Nicole Mugford join me to talk about our resolutions for our own work and for the church. We discuss online communities/church, the need to talk about sex, creative engagements with our traditions, and forging environments of safety and flourishing for LGBTIQA+ Christians. Keegan Osinski is the Librarian for Theology and Ethics at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. Her first book, Queering Wesley, Queer...
Jan 14, 2021•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 77
I sat down with Steff Fenton (they/them, she /her) to talk about church - their experiences, hopes, and call. We also discuss fostering environments where folks can celebrate and explore their sexual and gender identity in conversation with their faith, non-hierarchical leadership, the Sydney church scene, and some of the big changes they hope to see in churches and theological study in the coming years. Steff Fenton is one of the founding Elders and the Associate Pastor of New City Church, a ne...
Jan 07, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 76
I sat down with a wonderful group of guests to talk about resolutions: for our own work, for the church, for the academy, for the... a whole lot of things. It was fun. Skyler Keiter-Massefski is a theological anthropologist whose work coalesces around the themes of trans embodiment, American empire, eschatology, and abolition. They hold a degree in Anthropology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and will receive their MDiv from Yale in May. You can find Skyler writing about academia, ...
Dec 31, 2020•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 75
I sat down with David and Sarah to talk about their international jail and prison ministry: Abolition Apostles. We talk about their calling into this work, their letter-writing, advocacy, and why abolition can function as a tent-pole issue for Christians concerned with the impact of racialised capitalism. David Brazil and Sarah Pritchard are the founding co-pastors of Apostles Fellowship, a nondenominational Christian church, as well as Abolition Apostles (abolitionapostles.org), an internationa...
Dec 22, 2020•56 min•Ep. 74
I sat down with Brian Kōlia to discuss his diasporic/postcolonial work on Ecclesiastes, his Tulou reading of Song of Songs (and its constructive implications for animal studies), his Fāgogo reading of Gen 3 (and its ability to cross taboos and allow more liberative conversations on sexuality), and teaching the Prophets in ways that preserve their distinctiveness and speaks into our times. What comes across is the vitality of this work and its nimbleness to not be tied down by the forms, question...
Dec 15, 2020•54 min•Ep. 73
