In this podcast, Mark gives a different perspective about the “discovery” of America and some of the profound problems when Christians go to be with the Empire. Mark Charles is a speaker, writer, and consultant. The son of an American woman (of Dutch heritage) and a Navajo man, Mark teaches the complexities of American history regarding race, culture, and Christendom in order to help forge a path of healing and conciliation for the nation. He is the co-author of the book, Unsettling Truths: The ...
Feb 10, 2022•1 hr 17 min•Season 9Ep. 945
Mark is a Born and bred Texan. He came to Jesus at age 22 and will celebrate his 50th anniversary of being “in Christ” on February 17, 2022. He’s been married to Vicki for 47 years, 2 children, 6 grandchildren, and he practiced oil and gas law for 45 years and retired in December of 2020. Mark’s daughter came out as a lesbian over a decade ago and they’ve maintained a wonderful, loving relationship through it all. Mark has gleaned a wealth of experiential knowledge about how to love, even in the...
Feb 07, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 9Ep. 944
Myles Werntz (PhD, Baylor University) is associate professor of theology and director of Baptist studies at Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas. He is the author or editor of several books, including Bodies of Peace and A Field Guide to Christian Nonviolence. David C. Cramer (PhD, Baylor University) is managing editor at the Institute of Mennonite Studies, sessional lecturer at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, and teaching pastor at Keller Park Church in South Bend, Indiana. Da...
Feb 03, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Season 9Ep. 943
I received a ton of questions from my Patreon supporters, many of which I answered through Patreon, but some of which I address out loud in this podcast. Questions addressed on this episode: How do you know if you’re called to marriage? What does the Bible say about masculinity and femininity? How will I handle my growing platform? Is it wrong to smoke weed? Drink alcohol? Should Christians have a problem with a public school teacher displaying a pride flag? Why do so many smart Spirit-filled Ch...
Jan 31, 2022•1 hr 29 min•Season 9Ep. 942
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov has been hailed as one of the greatest novels of all time. I just got done reading the book and have been mulling over its multilayered meaning ever since. So I invited my friend Tom Velasco to come on the show to talk about. Tom has read the book at least 10 times (which, at 776 pages is not an easy feat) and has been teaching the book to highschool students at The Ambrose School where he’s been teaching for the last 22 years. In this lengthy podcast, ...
Jan 27, 2022•2 hr 21 min•Season 9Ep. 941
Hannah Barefoot is a theatrically trained actress, singer, and dancer originally from Cody, Wyoming. Her first leading role role in the cult favorite, 'The Falls: Testament of Love,' earned her a reputation as a raw and vulnerable dramatic actress early on, while her work in improv developed her comedic chops. She has since starred in many movies and TV shows including King Richard, CSI, Chicago Med, Creepshow, LA’s Finest, Criminal Minds, Good Girls Revolt, and many others. As a singer, Hannah ...
Jan 24, 2022•59 min•Season 9Ep. 940
Kristin Kobes Du Mez is a New York Times bestselling author and Professor of History and Gender Studies at Calvin University. She holds a PhD from the University of Notre Dame and her research focuses on the intersection of gender, religion, and politics. She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Religion News Service, and Christianity Today, and has been interviewed on NPR, CBS, and the BBC, among other outlets. Her most recent book, Jesus and John Wayne: How White ...
Jan 20, 2022•1 hr 17 min•Season 9Ep. 939
David is from Sydney, Australia where he studied journalism and then international relations. He moved to Oxford to pursue his studies in theology and train as an apologist from a skeptical, atheist background as an anti-Christian gay activist. David now holds undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in theology from Oxford, a master’s degree in theology from the University of St Andrews, Scotland, and is now completing his doctorate (DPhil) in theology at Oxford. He specialises in the relationshi...
Jan 17, 2022•1 hr•Season 9Ep. 938
Sheila has written seven books including award-winning book The Good Girl’s Guide to Great Sex and the forthcoming The Great Sex Rescue, which she coauthored with her daughter, Rebecca Lindenbach. Both Sheila and Rebecca speak and write about a Christian view of sex, often correcting problems created by a purity culture approach to sex. The Great Sex Rescue https://amzn.to/3zvrYda Sheila’s blog: https://tolovehonorandvacuum.com Bare Marriage podcast (wherever you listen to podcasts) https://twit...
Jan 13, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Season 9Ep. 937
Aimee Byrd is a speaker, author, blogger, wife, and mom. She’s the author of several books including Why Can’t We Be Friends, No Little Women, her most recent book Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, and the forthcoming The Sexual Reformation. Learn more about Aimee on her website: https://aimeebyrd.com Theology in the Raw Conference - Exiles in Babylon At the Theology in the Raw conference, we will be challenged to think like exiles about race, sexuality, gender, critical race theor...
Jan 10, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Season 9Ep. 936
Len is a true Renaissance man. Author of more than seventy books and 1500+ published sermons, Leonard Sweet’s recent publications include groundbreaking textbooks on preaching (Giving Blood), evangelism (Nudge), ecclesiology (So Beautiful) and discipleship (I Am A Follower). The second volume in his Christmas trilogy with Lisa Samson is just out (St.As). Len and co-author Lisa Samson are working on volume four (for Dementia and Alzheimers patients) of their “Songs of Light” series. Len often app...
Jan 06, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 9Ep. 935
Peter McGowan is one of the founders of PlainJoe and Storyland Studios. He is a champion of bringing clients’ unique stories to life by broadening their visual vocabulary beyond words and helping shape the cultural influence of their organizations. Having worked with large-scale corporate clients such as Infinity, Nissan, IBM and Johnson & Johnson, as well as creative pioneers including Disney, Universal and Lego – Peter has a robust background in technology, art, and architecture which has ...
Jan 03, 2022•57 min•Season 9Ep. 934
Happy new year! In this episode, I talk about the analytics of the podcast, which has grown like crazy over the years, my heart behind the podcast, its history and future, how I handle criticism, some of the most popular episodes, and I walk through the TITR mission, which is: “To help believers think Christianly about theological and cultural issues by engaging in curious conversations with a diverse range of thoughtful people.” Oh, and I read through several 1 star reviews. Theology in the Raw...
Jan 01, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 9Ep. 933
Jeremy is the founding pastor of Commons Church in Calgary, BC--a rather unique church that prioritizes intellectual honesty and the centrality of Jesus above tight-knit doctrinal statements. I found Jeremy on Twitter and was fascinated by his ecclesiology, so I invited him to come talk about it on the show. We ended up talking quite a bit about belonging, sexual ethics, polyamory, LGBTQ inclusion, and how the philosophy/theology of Rene Girard informs and shapes much of the ecclesiological visi...
Dec 30, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Season 9Ep. 932
Dr. Russell Moore is Public Theologian at Christianity Today and Director of Christianity Today’s Public Theology Project. Dr. Moore is the author of several books, including The Courage to Stand: Facing Your Fear Without Losing Your Soul, Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel and The Storm-Tossed Family: How the Cross Reshapes the Home. A native Mississippian, he and his wife Maria are the parents of five sons. Russ has been very public about addressing the crisis of sexual abu...
Dec 28, 2021•57 min•Season 9Ep. 931
In this fourth and final episode in our “scandal of Christmas” series, New Testament scholar Dr. Joey Dodosn walks us through parallel birth narratives in the Greco-Roman and Jewish environment of the New Testament. Reading the biblical birth narratives in these contexts helps us read the story in HD, or through a 3D lens, so that we can better understand the author’s intention in how he’s telling the story. Dr. Joseph (Joey) Dodson is associate professor of New Testament. He studied at the Univ...
Dec 28, 2021•48 min•Season 9Ep. 930
In this third part of our four part series, New Testament scholar Dr. Lynn Cohick walks us through the significance of women in the birth narratives. We talk a lot about Mary, Elizabeth, Jesus’s genealogy (which contains 5 women), how the appearance of women in the genealogy has been misunderstood, and we also discuss the woman at the well in John 4 and how she was not a sexually promiscuous woman. Lynn currently serves as as Provost and Dean of Academic Affairs of Northern Seminary in Lisle, Il...
Dec 20, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Season 9Ep. 929
We often think of Luke 1-2 and Matthew 1-2 when we think about the Christmas story. But what about Revelation 12? Is this angle a strange, fringe way of looking at the birth of Jesus, or is a primarily lens? In this episode, Dr. Bird and I look at this less-than-familar way of reading the Christmas story. It’s an angle where the bird of a peasant-King is a battle against the socio-political powers to be, powers that are demonically influenced and stand opposed to the upside down kingdom of God o...
Dec 16, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Season 9Ep. 928
I’ve invited 4 different New Testament scholars on the podcast to talk about the Christmas story. In this opening episode, I talk with world renown NT scholar Dr. Craig Keener about Luke 1-2, the politics and sociological scandal of Christ’s birth, his earthly vocation (as a tekton...woodworker? mason? None of the above?), the location of Christ’s birth, Matthew 1-2 (and the differences between Luke and Matthew), the problem of genealogies, and much, much more. Dr. Keener did his Ph.D. work in N...
Dec 13, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Season 9Ep. 927
Aaron is gay and so is Liz. They’ve been married for over 15 years and have had an interesting journey. Both are solid Jesus followers and have done a fantastic job helping the church engage LGBTQ related issues with truth and grace. In this podcast conversation, Liz and Aaron share their story and talk about what it’s like being in a queer marriage--a term they prefer over “mixed orientation marriage,” since their orientations aren’t really mixed. Links talked about on todays show https://revoi...
Dec 09, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Season 9Ep. 926
Okay, so if you’re easily offended (and white), then you might want to change the channel. Dr. Tim Gombis is a no-holds-barred honest scholar, who’s not afraid to go to the hard places and challenge the status quo. And that’s exactly what we do in this episode. We discuss the undiscussables; say the quiet things out loud, and push over sacred cows as we seek to get to know Jesus all over again. This episode is a mix of exegetical exploration and cultural analysis (or critique). Tim is a long-tim...
Dec 06, 2021•1 hr 24 min•Season 9Ep. 925
Jay Stringer is is a therapist, author, and speaker who guides men and women to outgrow unwanted sexual behaviors. He’s the author of Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing, a book that is based on Stringer’s groundbreaking research on over 3,800 men and women addressing the key drivers of unwanted sexual behavior, be that the use of pornography, infidelity, or buying sex. If you want to find freedom from sexual brokenness, it begins by identifying the unique reasons that bri...
Dec 02, 2021•48 min•Season 9Ep. 924
In the midst of polarized conversations about race, Dr. George Yancey is a breath of fresh air. He’s a huge proponent of active listening--being genuinely curious about another another person’s perspective and getting outside your echo chamber to consider other points of view. In this podcast episode, we talk a lot about his forthcoming book: Beyond Racial Division: A Unifying Alternative to Colorblindness and Antiracism, which published by IVP (March 2022). Dr. George Yancey (PhD, University of...
Nov 29, 2021•43 min•Season 9Ep. 923
Greg gave a killer talk at this year’s Revoice conference. If you missed it--here it is! Here’s the blurb: What does it mean to adore Jesus in a world that sees our adoration as scandalous? Taking our cues from a few of the Bible’s most notorious worshippers, we’ll celebrate together the stabilizing power of worship — a power no one can take from us. Greg is the author of Single, Gay, Christian (InterVarsity Press, 2017) and No Longer Strangers (InterVarsity Press, 2021). He holds a PhD in Engli...
Nov 25, 2021•22 min•Season 9Ep. 922
Strap on your seatbelts, folks. We’re going for a wild ride through Josh Proctor’s beautifully complex and honest journey. He’s been through more ex-gay therapy sessionss than anyone I’ve ever met. He then fell into sex work. He then fell into Jesus’ arms and maintained an affirming theology. And then he changed this theological view to one that holds to a traditional sexual ethic. Josh is a beautiful human being with a fascinating story! Josh serves as Director of Social Media & Spanish Tra...
Nov 22, 2021•1 hr 21 min•Season 9Ep. 921
This podcast is a recording of a talk I gave at this year’s Revoice conference in Plano, TX. In it, I talk about why LGBTQ people are not just needy but needed in the church. Specifically, there are four major things I’ve learned about Jesus and the Christian way of life from my LGBTQ friends: 1) friendship, 2) marriage, 3) faithfulness, and 4) masculinity. Interested in designing the conference T-shirt for the Theology in the Raw “Exiles in Babylon Conference?” Submit your design to chris@theol...
Nov 18, 2021•33 min•Season 9Ep. 920
Constantine Campbell's doctorate is in ancient Greek language and linguistics (Macquarie University, 2006). He was a professor of New Testament studies for 14 years, having taught at Moore College in Sydney and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago. Campbell is the author of 15 books, with focus on biblical Greek, New Testament interpretation, and the apostle Paul. His book Paul and Union with Christ was the 2014 Christianity Today Book of the Year in Biblical Studies. His latest releas...
Nov 15, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Season 9Ep. 919
Cameron reached out to me a few weeks ago thanking me for my ministry and he told me a bit of his story. He’s a male to female back to male formerly trans-identified SSA Christian who has been a pastor/chaplain, and he’s married to a female to male back to female formerly trans-identified bisexual Christian. Let’s just say, I was beyond curious to hear more! This podcast episode is me “hearing more!” Interested in designing the conference T-shirt for the Theology in the Raw “Exiles in Babylon Co...
Nov 11, 2021•52 min•Season 9Ep. 918
Jarvis is a friend and an incredible scholar. He has written and spoken extensively on issues related to race, ethnic reconciliation, and the gospel--which is the focus of our conversation. Jarvis is Associate Professor of New Testament Interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he’s taught since 2013. He has published numerous books, including Christ Redeemed ‘Us’ from the Curse of the Law: A Jewish Martyrological Reading of Galatians 3:13 in the Library of New Testament...
Nov 08, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Season 9Ep. 917
Is it a sin to be gay? Would you attend a church that has a gay pastor? What does it mean to be gay? There is still a lot of misunderstanding surrounding the term gay and what it means to be a gay Christian. I discuss these issues at length, which leads into Misty Irons’ incredible talk she gave at this year’s Revoice Conference. Misty Irons is a graduate of Westminster Seminary California (M.A., Biblical Studies) and a member of the Presbyterian Church in America. She has maintained a blog on f...
Nov 04, 2021•59 min•Season 9Ep. 916
