While we are no longer producing new Tent Talks episodes every now and then we will take the opportunity to point listeners to new projects. Tent producer and co-host Chris Marchand has just begun releasing a new podcast we wanted you to be aware of: Wall of Silence, about church abuse and mishandling in the Anglican Church in North America. This is the second of two preview episodes we are offering in the Tent feed. This episode introduces a parable, a kind of alternate version of the abuse cas...
May 03, 2024•46 min•Ep. 176
While we are no longer producing new Tent Talks episodes every now and then we will take the opportunity to point listeners to new projects. Tent producer and co-host Chris Marchand has just begun releasing a new podcast we wanted you to be aware of: Wall of Silence. Here is the description: In this first episode we introduce the sexual abuse case of lay pastor Mark Rivera. From there we begin to look outward to see how church leadership responded to it, from the local diocese to the national de...
Apr 25, 2024•58 min•Ep. 175
The start of the new season in 2024 marks the end of the current season for Tent Talks. We are bringing our podcast in to land, with a series of final thoughts from former guests, hosts and friends of the show. Join Stephen Backhouse in a series of conversations as we explore The Last Word. This final episode contains conversations with Eve Poole and our first ever guest, Golibe Omenaka. You can listen to the first episode of Tent Talks with Golibe here , as well as here when he appeared in the ...
Feb 06, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 174
The start of the new season in 2024 marks the end of the current season for Tent Talks. We are bringing our podcast in to land, with a series of final thoughts from former guests, hosts and friends of the show. Join Stephen Backhouse in a series of conversations as we explore The Last Word. Episode Three features co-host Sean McCoy in a conversation with Rachel Howell about what faith looks like when so much about our lives has crumbled, shifted, or grown over the years. Rachel Howell is a teach...
Jan 30, 2024•1 hr 43 min•Ep. 173
The start of the new season in 2024 marks the end of the current season for Tent Talks. We are bringing our podcast in to land, with a series of final thoughts from former guests, hosts and friends of the show. Join Stephen Backhouse in a series of conversations as we explore The Last Word. Episode Two features co-host Chris Marchand offering a coda to his series on "Women in Church Leadership" with conversations from sociologist Lisa Weaver Swartz, author of Stained Glass Ceilings and Anglican ...
Jan 23, 2024•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 172
The start of the new season 2024 marks the end of the current season for Tent Talks. We are bringing our podcast in to land, with a series of final thoughts from former guests, hosts and friends of the show. Join Stephen Backhouse in a series of conversations as we explore The Last Word. Episode One features Brad Jersak, Natasha Beckles and friends. You can find Brad HERE . :) More about Natasha can be found HERE . Lots of Tent Talks resources have been brought out from behind the paywall. You c...
Jan 16, 2024•1 hr 50 min•Ep. 171
Left, Right, or in the middle? Guest host and previous guest to the Tent Sheyi Martin-Allens presents a series of conversations with black and brown friends from across the political spectrum to discuss their thoughts on having Britain's first Asian prime minister along with a government containing an increasing amount of ethnic minorities. The series works through a number of conflicting questions, such as does having someone with the same skin color as us in positions of power mean we feel rep...
Dec 21, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 170
Left, Right, or in the middle? Guest host and previous guest to the Tent Sheyi Martin-Allens presents a series of conversations with black and brown friends from across the political spectrum to discuss their thoughts on having Britain's first Asian prime minister along with a government containing an increasing amount of ethnic minorities. The series works through a number of conflicting questions, such as does having someone with the same skin color as us in positions of power mean we feel rep...
Dec 19, 2023•56 min•Ep. 169
Left, Right, or in the middle? Guest host and previous guest to the Tent Sheyi Martin-Allens presents a series of conversations with black and brown friends from across the political spectrum to discuss their thoughts on having Britain's first Asian prime minister along with a government containing an increasing amount of ethnic minorities. The series works through a number of conflicting questions, such as does having someone with the same skin color as us in positions of power mean we feel rep...
Dec 12, 2023•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 168
Left, Right, or in the middle? Guest host and previous guest to the Tent Sheyi Martins-Allens presents a series of conversations with black and brown friends from across the political spectrum to discuss their thoughts on having Britain's first Asian prime minister along with a government containing an increasing number of ethnic minorities. The series works through a number of conflicting questions, such as does having someone with the same skin color as us in positions of power mean we feel re...
Dec 05, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 167
Dr. Emily Hunter McGowin has entered the Tent to take part in Chris Marchand's annual Christmas episode. She has just released her new book Christmas: The Season of Life and Light which offers reflections, insights, and gentle challenges about how we celebrate the holiday season. The conversation dwells on the major themes Chris addressed in his own Christmas book as well as past episodes, namely, the political nature of serving others, finding a way to rest, unleashing our festive side, and fin...
Nov 14, 2023•52 min•Ep. 166
Austin M. Freeman, professor at Houston Christian University , joins the tent for another bonus episode to discuss J.R.R. Tolkien's views on non-violence and war. Who exactly is the "pacifist" in The Lord of the Rings and why isn't it Tom Bombadil? In two archival episode segments Melody Green, dean of Urbana Seminary , is featured with her owns thoughts about Tolkien. Dr. Freeman is the author of the book Tolkien Dogmatics and Dr. Green is the editor of Tolkien and the Arts: a theology of subcr...
Oct 12, 2023•35 min•Ep. 165
Musician, songwriter, and worship leader Rachel Wilhelm joins the Tent with Chris Marchand to discuss her new album Jeremiah and how she approached writing songs that speak truth to leaders in power while also calling for communal repentance. Though a bonus episode, this conversation pieces together a number of elements from previous Tent Talks series: 1) Rachel contributed the theme song to Chris's series Women in Church Leadership (which is discussed in the interview), 2) speaking truth to pow...
Oct 03, 2023•40 min•Ep. 164
One of the episodes we received the most feedback about was when Clare Backhouse, Stephen's wife, appeared in our "How to Love" series. Clare, a qualified and registered nutritional therapist, is now launching her own podcast, "Nutrition With Love." Her first episode, which we are releasing as a bonus, goes into her background story and why nutrition plays such a vital role in our overall health. You can find out more about Clare and contact her for a consultation at her website , and you can fi...
Sep 28, 2023•15 min•Ep. 163
Previous Tent guests Danielle Shroyer and Thomas Jay Oord join Sean for the fifth episode of the Disagree series to offer their perspective on how to enter into difficult conversations with calmness and an inner peace that does need to force other people to switch to your side of an argument. It may take us years to do so, but they point the way to helping engage with sharp disagreements in ways that still manages to offer people grace and care. You can find out more about Danielle Shroyer here ...
Aug 29, 2023•41 min•Ep. 162
Ryan Walker joins Sean McCoy for the fourth episode of the Disagree series to discuss the ins and outs of being a lobbyist and policymaker within the U.S. Government. Taking a relational approach Ryan hopes to help groups in Washington D.C. "wade through the bureaucracy and manage the increasing unpredictability of politics" in order to help them come to make difficult decisions for complex solutions. You can read more about his background here. Has anything we make been interesting, useful or f...
Aug 22, 2023•30 min•Ep. 161
Dr. Anika Prather is a literature professor, classical educator, and author. She is currently the Director of High Quality Curriculum and Instruction at Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy and with her husband founded The Living Water School. She joins the Disagree series to discuss with Chris Marchand how to approach teaching about and having difficult conversations about race and racism. Using an approach of love, grace, and lament, she still manages to address the painful truths of h...
Aug 15, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 160
Pete Wehner is an American writer and former speechwriter for the administrations of three Republican U.S. presidents. He is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times and a contributing editor at The Atlantic , He joins Stephen Backhouse for a respectful and honest conversation on violence, patriotism and the Christian witness: topics about which Pete and Stephen deeply disagree. You can find out more about Pete and his work HERE . Has anything we make been interesting, useful or frui...
Aug 08, 2023•1 hr 39 min•Ep. 159
This is the first episode in our new series "Disagree". We are talking with people from different sides of different aisles and from people on the frontlines of some of the most contentious issues of the day. How can we disagree well? What is the value of disagreement? Is it worth it? Can be it good? What happens when it goes bad? To help kick off the series we spoke with Simon Croft. Simon is a mediator and a practitioner of non-violent communication. He joined our discussion along with some Fe...
Aug 01, 2023•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 158
In the final episode of her series on Interrupting Serious Youth Violence Rev. Natasha Beckles covers how the Compassionate Communities toolkits are centered around helping churches to work within their communities to interrupt serious youth violence. Using the meaning behind the figure of the Pieta as a foundational image (Mary holding Jesus after being taken down off the cross) she also discusses the many projects and resources she and the Diocese of London are implementing to bring change in ...
Jul 04, 2023•53 min•Ep. 157
In episode 3 of Interrupting Serious Youth Violence Tent Talks co-host Rev. Natasha Beckles discusses power and privilege with Leroy Logan. Logan is the UK's most highly decorated and well known black police officer and is the founding member of the Black Police Association. He is the author of "Closing Ranks", which detailed his time as a senior police officer in London and had his story dramatized for television by Steve McQueen in "Red White and Blue." Through conversations and interviews, th...
Jun 27, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 156
Tent Talks co-host Rev. Natasha Beckles continues her series on Interrupting Serious Youth Violence with a discussion about education and belonging in a conversation with education thought leader Rachel Clarke. Through conversations and interviews, Natasha takes on the systemic and personal issues that create unsafe communities for our children and looks to solutions for what schools and churches can do about it. Natasha developed this series with Compassionate Communities as part of the Diocese...
Jun 20, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 155
In this episode Tent Talks co-host Revd. Natasha Beckles begins her series on Interrupting Serious Youth Violence. Through conversations and interviews, Natasha takes on the systemic and personal issues that create unsafe communities for our children and looks to solutions for what schools and churches can do about it. This first episode gives an overview of the "big picture" of youth violence and then focuses supporting young families through a discussion on birth and bereavement. Natasha devel...
Jun 13, 2023•53 min•Ep. 154
Brad Jersak's most recent book Out of the Embers deals with deconstruction in all its forms. Tent Talks invited Brad to make a four-part series on the themes of his book. In this fourth episode has a conversation with Judith Moses, a seasoned indigenous political activist in Canada who is known for working on the committee that worked with Canadian prime ministers to ensure the First Nations charter of rights got into the Canadian Charter. She was born on the Six Nations Indian Reserve and her l...
May 16, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 153
Brad Jersak's most recent book Out of the Embers deals with deconstruction in all its forms. Tent Talks invited Brad to make a four-part series on the themes of his book. In this third episode he sits down with Felicia Murrell to explore deconstruction from a path of love and understanding but also as a black woman in the American context. Felicia is a certified master life coach, a former ordained pastor, and also serves the publishing industry as a freelance copy editor/proofreader. She helped...
May 09, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 152
Brad Jersak's most recent book Out of the Embers deals with deconstruction in all its forms. Tent Talks invited Brad to make a four-part series on the themes of his book. In this second episode he sits down with David Hayward, the NakedPastor, to talk about deconstruction, staying in relationship as we go through the process of reshaping our faith, and finding community in the aftermath of it all. David Hayward, "left the ministry to pursue his passion for art." You can view his works HERE , and...
May 02, 2023•58 min•Ep. 151
Brad Jersak's most recent book Out of the Embers deals with deconstruction in all its forms. Tent Talks invited Brad to make a four-part series on the themes of his book. In this first episode he sits down with Brian Zahnd to talk about deconstruction, reconstruction and the church. Zahnd is a pastor, speaker and prolific author, well known for his stance against Christian nationalism. You can find more about him and his books HERE . Find out more about Jersak and his books HERE . Check out the ...
Apr 25, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 150
Clare Backhouse is a nutritional therapist who specialises in human system and lifestyle health. She joins the Tent to talk about the chemistry and biology of anxiety, safety and affection, and tackles the question of how what we eat helps us how to love. You can find out more about Clare's practice and writing at www.transformationnutrition.org . Has anything we make been interesting, useful or fruitful for you? You can support us by becoming a Fellow Traveller on our Patreon page HERE ....
Apr 11, 2023•33 min•Ep. 149
Thomas Jay Oord is the Professor of Open and Relational Theology at Northwind Theological Seminary and the author of a number of books on love, and what this might mean when we talk about power and God. You can find out more about Thomas Oord and his works HERE . Has anything we make been interesting, useful or fruitful for you? You can support us by becoming a Fellow Traveller on our Patreon page HERE ....
Apr 04, 2023•31 min•Ep. 148
The love of enemies is the most famous, and least practiced, of all forms of love. We talk with Melissa Florer-Bixler, who is an Anabaptist activist, Mennonite pastor and author, amongst other things, of How to Have an Enemy. You can find our more about Melissa and her work HERE . How to Have An Enemy is available widely. You can find out more about it HERE . Has anything we make been interesting, useful or fruitful for you? You can support us by becoming a Fellow Traveller on our Patreon page H...
Mar 28, 2023•33 min•Ep. 147
