Homebrewed Christianity

Latest Episodes:

Stephen Haynes: the Battle for Bonhoeffer Jun 20, 2020

Show notes

Dr. Stephen Haynes is the Albert Bruce Curry Professor of Religious Studies at Rhodes College and theologian-in-residence at Idlewild Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Tennessee.

He joined the Rise of Bonhoeffer reading group and we decided it best to share with you. Enjoy!

The figure of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) has become a clay puppet in modern American politics. Secular, radical, liberal, and evangelical interpreters variously shape and mold the martyr’s legacy to suit their own pet agendas.

Stephen Haynes offers an incisive and clarifying perspective. A recognized Bonhoeffer expert, Haynes examines “populist” readings of Bonhoeffer, including the acclaimed biography by Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. In his analysis Haynes treats, among other things, the November 2016 election of Donald Trump and the “Bonhoeffer moment” announced by evangelicals in response to the US Supreme Court’s 2015 decision to legalize same-sex marriage.

The Battle for Bonhoeffer includes an open letter from Haynes pointedly addressing Christians who still support Trump. Bonhoeffer’s legacy matters. Haynes redeems the life and the man.

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Reggie Williams: Bonhoeffer's Black Jesus Jun 10, 2020

Show notes

Dr. Reggie Williams is the Associate Professor of Christian Ethics at McCormick Theological Seminary and author of Bonhoeffer's Black Jesus:Harlem Renaissance Theology and an Ethic of Resistance.

The book is an analysis of exposure to Harlem Renaissance intellectuals, and worship at Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist on the German pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, during his year of post-doctoral study at Union Seminary in New York, 1930-31.

Dr. Williams’ research interests include Christological ethics, theological anthropology, Christian social ethics, the Harlem Renaissance, race, politics and black church life. His current book project includes a religious critique of whiteness in the Harlem Renaissance. In addition, he is working on a book analyzing the reception of Bonhoeffer by liberation activists in apartheid South Africa.

Dr. Williams received his Ph.D. in Christian ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in 2011. He earned a Master’s degree in Theology from Fuller in 2006 and a Bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies from Westmont College in 1995. He is a member of the board of directors for the Society for Christian Ethics, as well as the International Dietrich Bonhoeffer Society. He is also a member of the American Academy of Religion and Society for the Study of Black Religion.

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Jeffrey C. Pugh: Why Go Bonhoeffer? Jun 05, 2020

Show notes

Dr. Jeffrey C Pugh joined the podcast tag-team of Crackers & Grape Juice + Homebrewed Christianity for a special live streaming Happy Hour. Dr. Pugh kicks things off by giving us 5 reasons to go Bonhoeffer... theologically speaking and then all sorts of things Qs find their As. It was a blast.

If you want some more Bonhoeffer then come join the HBC Community or our newest reading group The Rise of Bonhoeffer.

Dr. Jeffrey C. Pugh recently retired as Maude Sharpe Powell Professor of Religious Studies and Distinguished University Professor from Elon University in North Carolina. The author of six books ranging from Barth, religion and science, and the apocalyptic imagination to Bonhoeffer, Pugh’s work has focused on Christian complicity in the Holocaust and the lessons that can be applied to instruct future generations. His latest work, a chapter on his reflections while he was participating in the clergy resistance at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville is found in Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Theology, and Resistance. He and his wife Jan, a retired United Methodist minister, make their home in Charlottesville, Virginia.

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Christof Koch: why you can't squeeze consciousness out of a brain May 28, 2020

Show notes

This is a really fun conversation with one of the most influential living scientist. Dr. Christof Koch is neuroscientist pioneering th the neural bases of consciousness. He is the president and chief scientist of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle. In this conversation we discuss...

Christof's journey into the brain sciences and work with Francis Crick
what is the 'integrated information theory' of consciousness
russellian monism and the panpsychist revival
contrasting consciousness and intelligence
can a machine become conscious
the possibility of artificial intelligence
the love of dogs and becoming a vegetarian
how practices open up different worlds
defending the depths for human existence
Iain Banks' novels
adversarial experimentation and the problem of conscious
beginning with phenomenology in the explanation of consciousness

Check out his two most recent books:

The Feeling of Life Itself: Why Consciousness Is Widespread but Can't Be Computed

Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist

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Mark Wallace: Faith After Religion May 21, 2020

Show notes

I had a blast talking with Dr. Mark Wallace. We ended up having so much fun we've decided to do it again. Be on the lookout for details about a Homebrewed Happy Hour in which we will discuss Christian Animism and the questions/topics you send in. After you hear his account of Jesus as a Shaman or the incantatory nature of faith, I am sure you will have a few questions. I would suggest checking out When God was a Bird if you are already excited :)

In this conversation we discuss...

Mark's Billy Graham conversion experience and religious life growing up in SoCal
His intellectual journey and the influence of his advisor Paul Ricouer
The philosophical hermeneutics of Ricouer and its application to religion
Why Pascal's wager isn't nearly as cool as the wager of faith in Ricouer
The predicament of belief in post-religious context
The power and possibility within confessional traditions
Modernity's problematic politic of life
The need to nest our understanding of salvation(s) within an account of creation
How Jesus is a Shaman
Why every good Biblical literalist knows that God is a bird

If you are interested in the work of Ricouer and its relation to religion, then check out this text that Mark Wallace edited of his mentor - Figuring the Sacred:Religion, Narrative, and Imagination. I doubt I could exaggerate how influential that book has been for my own self-reflection.

Mark I. Wallace is Professor of Religion and Environmental Studies at Swarthmore College and core faculty for the U.S. State Department’s Institutes on Religious Pluralism at Temple University. His books include When God was a Bird, Green Christianity: Five Ways to a Sustainable Future and Finding God in the Singing River: Christianity, Spirit, Nature.

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Susan Shaw: the story of a Process Southern Baptist Feminist May 14, 2020

Show notes

I have new nerd crush and it is Dr. Susan M. Shaw. This episode was one of the most fun conversations I have had in a while. It may be because we are both members of an endangered theological species... cradle southern baptists who went process, but none the less it was so fun it went for three hours and I had to edit it down!

Susan M. Shaw is professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Oregon State University. She is author of God Speaks to Us, Too: Southern Baptist Women on Church, Home, and Society and Intersectional Theology: An Introductory Guide.

In this conversation we discuss...

growing up Southern Baptist and becoming a Baptist in exile
Susan shares her experience in the conservative take over of the SBC
the peculiar nature of being a progressive Baptist
religious formation and the predicament of raising a spiritual free agent
how the movement of 'social justice' functions as a meta-narrative
the predicament of becoming human
what happens when white evangelical men start loosing cultural power
power over is NOT the gospel, but power to and power with
are fundamentalist and progressive Christians in the same religion
why moderates saying nothing is so frustrating
what if we are still in the early church
divine presence and sexual abuse
how process helps one reengage with a tradition
thinking simultaneity and both/and with intersectional thought
"God loves me and I can live like it"
it's not if we come together, but how

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Jacob Erickson: a Theopoetics of the Earth May 05, 2020

Show notes

Jacob J. Erickson is Assistant Professor of Theological Ethics at Trinity College Dublin. He previously taught Religion and Environmental Studies at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, USA.

There is no good reason not to follow him on twitter.

This conversation came after a Jacob gave a lecture in the Theology and Ethics seminar at New College, University of Edinburgh and then we got lost trying to find Brew Dog & their super legit cauliflower buffalo wings. Things that came up...

a theopoetics of the earth
relearning religion and spirituality in light of the planetary crisis
coming to process thought through a theology of the cross
the problems of logocentrism
"salvation is not carbon neutral"
the gospel without eternal conscious torment
grief and the ecological crisis
we both loved this book by Thomas Attig, How We Grieve: Relearning the World
the practical relativism of climate denial
Marjorie Suchocki is awesome and we both dig this text - A Fall to Violence
youth ministry and the anxiety of climate change
is it ethical to have children? is that even the best way to ask the question?

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Violence, Nationalism, and other things that ruin Christianity Apr 27, 2020

Show notes

In this episode I am joined by Kevin Miller and Robyn Henderson-Espinoza to discuss the documentary film J.E.S.U.S.A.

J.E.S.U.S.A. is an in-depth exploration of the relationship between Christianity and American nationalism and the violence that can often emerge from it. Far from a new phenomenon, this documentary traces the co-opting of Christianity by the state all the way back to when the Christian faith became the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Through interviews with a diverse group of scholars, pastors, historians, and activists, this film shows how specific readings of the Bible have led many Christians to confuse their devotion to Jesus with their dedication to the state. The film helps viewers rediscover and restore long-held Christian beliefs regarding nonviolence, inspiring Christians to become purveyors of peace rather than enablers of conflict and violence.

If you wish to help organize a showing for your church or organization, please contact the production team here.

The film includes some amazing people like David Bentley Hart, Suzanne Ross, Brian Zahnd, Osheta Moore, Diana Butler Bass, Greg Boyd, and many more.

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Trilogies, Atonement Power Rankings, & Sex Work at Happy Hour Apr 14, 2020

Show notes

This is a Homebrewed Happy Hour in which I am joined by my friends Dan Koch & Dr. Sarah Lane Ritchie.

This is an adult conversation with friends. Don't listen with kids. Don't listen if you don't like potty language and bad jokes. Ohh and I said the phrase "5 shart Barthian."

To get invites to future happy hours check the HBC FB page. To get the second half of the conversation in your private podcast feed join the Homebrewed Community.

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Godehard Brüntrup: Emergent Panpsychism & Process Theology Apr 09, 2020

Show notes

Dr. Godehard Brüntrup is a German philosopher, Jesuit, and professor of philosophy at the Munich University of Philosophy with a focus on metaphysics , philosophy of mind and philosophy of language.

I was beyond thrilled to talk with Dr. Brüntrup. He is not only a leading philosopher in Germany, but our shared interest in philosophy of mind and Alfred North Whitehead

how the characters of Socrates and Jesus inspired his vocation
ontic shock and the question of meaning
moving beyond the computer metaphor for the mind & the functionalist approach
dualism and the variety of monisms (materialism / idealism)
why Christianity does not require dualism
the success and challenge of science
fallacy of misplaced concreteness in science
the trouble of dual-aspect monism
Whitehead's theory of mind and concept of experience
emergent panpsychism
process philosophy of religion
the problem with a Post-Kantian rejection of metaphysics
the spirituality of panpsychism

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