This podcast is the second ( listen to Pt 1 ) of a special 2-part episode of RTN Theology features co-authors Soong-Chan Rah & Mark Charles talking about lament, imagination, history, politics, and a call to conciliation. Deeply theological thinkers, Charles and Rah, their partnership came about from repeatedly crossing paths speaking about the topics of the Doctrine of Discovery and lament. Currently Mark Charles is running for Presidency of the United States of America as an independent....
Sep 17, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 32
This podcast is the first of a special 2-part episode of RTN Theology features co-authors Soong-Chan Rah & Mark Charles talking about lament, imagination, history, politics, and a call to conciliation. Deeply theological thinkers, Charles and Rah, their partnership came about from repeatedly crossing paths speaking about the topics of the Doctrine of Discovery and lament. Currently Mark Charles is running for Presidency of the United States of America as an independent....
Sep 10, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 32
Bob joins Bishop Gene Robinson, the chaplain of the Chautauqua Institution for a special talk about his life of faith as a professional musician, father, and friend. Their remarkable CHQ Assembly conversation comes during such a difficult time for so many, and remembers how his faith in Jesus grew amidst the crisis of his daughter, Hallie’s, brain tumor and treatment. Bishop Robinson brings pastoral sensibility and keen spiritual insight. Featured music comes from Winston-Salem’s The Pharaoh Sis...
Aug 27, 2020•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 31
RTN Theology #30 features two longtime Portlanders— D.L. Mayfield and Liz Vice (little known fact: before she was a gospel and R&B star she worked on Portlandia!). D.L. Mayfield is the author of "The Myth of the American Dream" (IVP, 2020). Liz and Danielle reflect on their own experiences of Portland's virtues and vices, and how protest might just be the mode of worship we all need right now. The sacred music collective, Common Hymnal , provides our soundtrack for the episode....
Aug 13, 2020•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 30
RTN Theology #29 features two theologians who’ve both recently written brilliant books about 4th Century North African Bishop and theologian St. Augustine: Natalie Carnes (Baylor) & previous guest, James K.A. Smith (Calvin). This wide-ranging and luminous conversation spotlights Dr. Carnes’ new book, Motherhood: A Confession (Stanford UP) and branches out to talk about her previous writing on iconoclasm and monuments, justice, memory, and parenting during COVID-19. Paul Zach (featuring Liz V...
Jul 23, 2020•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 29
This podcast is the second of a special 2-part episode of RTN Theology features guest host Liz Vice and spoken word artist Micah Bournes talking faith, art, and activism. Liz and Micah have collaborated on each’s albums, including Micah’s most recent record, A Time Like This . This wide-ranging conversation between two brilliant artist of faith was too good to cut short, so we kept the tape running and turned it into a two-part episode....
Jun 25, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 28
This podcast is the first of a special 2-part episode of RTN Theology features guest host Liz Vice and spoken word artist Micah Bournes talking faith, art, and activism. Liz and Micah have collaborated on each’s albums, including Micah’s most recent record, A Time Like This . This wide-ranging conversation between two brilliant artist of faith was too good to cut short, so we kept the tape running and turned it into a two-part episode....
Jun 18, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 28
This special RTN Theology conversation features two renowned artists, Scott Avett and Makoto Fujimura, at the table to talk creativity, hope, artistic process, and faith in a time of pandemic. Scott Avett is a member of the Avett Brothers and a visual artist recently exhibited at the North Carolina Museum of Art . Makoto Fujimura is internationally known for his Nihonga works. He founded the International Arts Movement (IAM), leads the Fujimura Institute , and recently co-founded the Kintsugi Ac...
May 28, 2020•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 27
RTN Theology #26 partners with the NC Study Center for a brilliant end-of-semester concert and conversation between Duke Divinity bible scholar Ellen Davis and Nashville songwriter Sandra McCracken. Director of Spiritual Formation, Bill Boyd guides a conversation around the hopeful resources of the Psalter in times of disorientation and displacement. (Apologies for some broken audio and the limitations of Zoom recording, some performances were augmented with studio recordings, all featured music...
May 07, 2020•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 26
Everyone is working and worshipping at home these days and all of our social lives outside of our homes are mediated by technology. RTNT 25 enlists guest co-host John Jay Alvaro to join in on a conversation with author Jay Kim ( Analog Church: Why We Need Real People, Places, and Things in the Digital Age , IVP 2020). about the ways we use technology to connect to each other and to God in this time of our widespread reliance. The Welcome Wagon provides our quarantime soundtrack....
Apr 23, 2020•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 25
Our Holy Week episode features author and liberation theologian Kelley Nikondeha . Not only do we get into her new book, Defiant: What the Women of Exodus Teach Us about Freedom (Eerdmans 2020), but also her previous book Adoption: The Sacrament of Belonging in a Fractured World . Kelley brings a ferocity and loving imagination to help us see and recover the stories of these “hidden figures” of liberation in the Exodus story. Her experience as both an adopted person and an adoptive mother, along...
Apr 09, 2020•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 24
Community is on all of our minds during this time of social-distancing in order to help flatten the curve of the spread of coronavirus. Fittingly, Bob and Chris connect with the founders of Reality Ministries , a highly relational, Christ-centered community of persons with and without disabilities in Durham, NC. Jeff and Susan McSwain share the theological convictions which led to and have been gathered from the creation of a community of mutuality and presence. Episode features new communal wor...
Mar 26, 2020•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 23
After an intense couple of weeks, Bob and Chris get back together to reflect on the beginning of the Lenten season, the Coronavirus outbreak, and the Democratic Primaries. RTN Theology #22 features archival audio of author and organizer Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove from November 3, 2019 when he spoke at Oak Church . Part of an ongoing series of profiles of saints (holy ones, past and present), Jonathan shared about his mentor and spiritual mother, Ann Atwater . A Durham legend, Ann’s life and work ...
Mar 12, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 22
RTN Theology #21 features Esau McCaulley —priest, professor, writer, and theologian— talking about the Christian season of Lent. Our wide-ranging conversation includes how the darkest day of the church calendar is the exact day when he found a new and permanent church home. While Esau repeatedly attempts to convert and confirm Chris into the Anglican Church, they also talk about how the vast biblical narrative is communicated with but a few liturgical words and actions, what it is like to do lit...
Feb 27, 2020•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 21
Far from the end of the world, apocalypse mostly means unveiling what’s been under the surface the whole time. In this episode of RTN Theology, Chris and Bob converse with writer Amy Peterson on what happens when the things you grew up taking for granted are revealed as less than reliable, true, or solid. Amy’s new book Where Goodness Still Grows: Reclaiming Virtue in an Age of Hypocrisy (W Publishing Group, 2020) artfully examines the virtues of her evangelical subcultural youth and crafts a wa...
Feb 13, 2020•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 20
RTN Theology podcast launches out on it own with a new season featuring Christian philosopher James K.A. Smith . Bob and Chris talk with Jamie about his new book On The Road With Saint Augustine: Real-World Spirituality for Restless Hearts (Brazos Press, 2019). By deeply exploring the primal image of the journey for our human condition, Smith unlocks the many ways St. Augustine knows us better than ourselves when it comes to core human longings for freedom, ambition, friendship, and desire. Augu...
Jan 23, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 19
For many, the Christian liturgical calendar is often a bit mysterious or just plain strange. Bob and Chris dig into the start of the year, the four weeks leading up to Christmas known as Advent, with theologian and arts pastor David Taylor of Fuller Seminary. David wears many hats, and in our interview we discuss how he teaches his students about time, joy, and lament, and he also shares about a multiyear liturgical songwriting project he’s leading. Finally, we preview his forthcoming book Open ...
Jan 23, 2020•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 18
Bob and Chris sit down with baker and writer Kendall Vanderslice for a special Thanksgiving episode of RTN Theology centered on food, faith, and a movement of church communities built around the table. Vanderslice’s 2019 book, We Will Feast (Eerdman’s) is a veritable buffet in its own right: part journalism, part food studies, part memoir, and part sacramental theology. Lastly, we’re treated to a perfect sweet treat: music from Nashville musician Sandra McCracken’s Psalms , We Will Feast in the ...
Jan 23, 2020•57 min•Ep. 17
Bob and Chris talk with Megan and Isaac Wardell, who shepherd a Christian music collaborative out of Charlottesville, VA made up of dozens of musicians, theologians, pastors, and faith leaders from many places and traditions. In 2017 they released the project’s debut album, Work Songs, about vocation. Last week came the follow-up Neighbor Songs . This diverse musical collection is the product of a beautiful and challenging gathering exploring themes of hospitality in and across difference, disab...
Jan 23, 2020•55 min•Ep. 16
Bob and Chris sit down with Richella Parham to talk about her debut book, Mythical Me: Finding Freedom from Constant Comparison . Richella talks about the trap of comparing ourselves to others and the way that a distorted picture of ourselves and others creates a distorted picture of God, and vice versa. Richella’s writing is as interesting, accessible, and deep as this interview. We touch on the work of Richella’s mentor Dallas Willard, as well as some of Richella’s favorite hymns....
Jan 23, 2020•1 hr•Ep. 15
RTN Theology #14 remembers as collaborative music project from 2012 birthed out of a North Carolina church community. Bob and Chris talk with producer Jeff Crawford about the making of Hymns from the Gathering Church at Arbor Ridge Studios. This record features old hymns reimagined by artists such as Phil Cook, Mandolin Orange, Skylar Gudasz, Seth Kaufman (Floating Action), H.C. McEntire, Brett Harris, Ryan Gustafson (The Dead Tongues), and more. Bob shares his personal ties to this music and Ch...
Jan 23, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 14
RTN Theology 13 is a conversation with Dr. Jennifer Allen Craft in Durham, NC as she participates in the Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts’ 10th anniversary symposium. Dr. Craft wrote Placemaking and the Arts: Cultivating the Christian Life: a beautiful vision for investing in real places and loving real people, while we cultivate a rich experience of God through the arts.
Jan 23, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 13
Chris has a conversation with C. Christopher Smith, author of How the Body of Christ Talks. Bob and Chris also speak with Will Acuff of Corner to Corner in Nashville, TN about the amazing community organizing & empowerment work he, his wife Tiffany, and their team are doing with the youth in their community. Throughout the episode you’ll hear music from Russ Mohr, from his recent collaboration, The Kingdom Sessions.
Jan 23, 2020•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 12
Chris Breslin speaks w/ Dr. Stanley Hauerwas’ on the recent passing of his friend, Jean Vanier, the life of the church in the era of Trump, and what it means to become people of virtue & character. Dave Fitch shares the ways that Dr. Hauerwas has shaped his life & work and also shares his most recent book project, The Church of Us vs. Them. Dr. Hauerwas also reads a chapter on the virtue of Justice from his recent book of letters to his Godson. Featured music by Deeper Well Music Collect...
Jan 23, 2020•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 11
This episode of RTN Theology centers on the life, thought, and legacy of German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bob Crawford talks with professor Stephen Haynes, author of The Battle for Bonhoeffer about how Bonhoeffer has become a cultural Rorschach test, often coopted and reflecting his interpreters, but also how his life and work can be relevant and transformative for today. New co-host and co-producer, Chris Breslin explores some of the ways Bonhoeffer continues to influence by interviewing ...
Jan 23, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 10
In this episode of RTN Theology, Bob talks with Christian social ethicist-activist, author, and Professor at Iliff School of Theology, Dr. Miguel De La Torre . Bob and Miguel discuss liberation theology and the connection between the theology shared by slaveholders during the antebellum and Civil War periods with the theology professed by many prominent evangelical leaders like Franklin Graham and Jerry Falwell Jr. Del La Torre’s 36th book, Burying White Privilege , was based on his article Nove...
Jan 23, 2020•37 min•Ep. 9
Bob speaks with Arizona State University Associate Professor of History Catherine O’Donnell about the prejudice Catholics endured in the years leading up to the American Revolution and how they gained the respect of George Washington as he sought French assistance in the cause. Catherine also discusses her recent work Elizabeth Seton: American Saint (Cornell University Press, 2018) and how Seaton went from Catholic convert to the first American Saint. The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcas...
Jan 23, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 8
In this episode of RTN Theology hosts Bob Crawford and Keith Larson share personal reflections on the life of North Carolina 3rd District Congressman Walter B. Jones who passed away on February 10th, 2019. Jones served Eastern North Carolina in Congress and the State Legislature for over 34 years. He became a household name in the run up to the war in Iraq when he led a campaign to change the name of French fries to Freedom Fries. A couple of years into the war, he attended a funeral for a falle...
Jan 23, 2020•52 min•Ep. 7
Discussing the relationship between faith and the public sphere has been a part of America’s story since its beginning. Over the past decade, the presence of Christian faith in public policy and politics has been questioned and challenged in new and unique ways. How are citizens, Christian and non-Christian alike, to respond to issues of faith in politics? Join former Obama staffer Michael Wear and Josiah C. Trent Professor of Medical Humanities at Duke University Farr Curlin for a conversation ...
Jan 23, 2020•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 6
This week Bob and Pastor Chris Breslin of Oak Church in Durham, NC sit down with Duke University, Thomas A. Langford Distinguished Professor of Theology Jeremy Begbie for a discussion about how we can see God’s presence in our own creative expression. Begbie uses music to try and explain hard to grasp theological concepts like the trinity, as described in his 2018 Eerdmans release, Redeeming Transcendence in the Arts. This episode was recorded by Jeff Crawford at Arbor Ridge Studios in Chapel Hi...
Jan 23, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 5
