The Disrupters: Faith Changing Culture

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Jenny Yang Stands Strong in the Midst of a Moral Sea Change Mar 30, 2020

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Immigration hasn’t always been as controversial as it is now. In the past, churches seemed to agree that any opportunity to bring the gospel to the foreigner would be welcomed. But in the last several years, Jenny Yang has found herself in the midst of a great transition. So, how has Yang, the Senior Vice President of Advocacy & Policy at World Relief and author of Welcoming the Stranger, coped with the church’s moral whiplash? By focusing on reassessing assumptions. “I'm hopeful despite all of this,” says Yang, “because my sense is that this is perhaps a season that's giving us, as a church, time to reflect on what we really believe about the role of the church, not just in ministry but [also in] political engagement.”
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Sheila Wise Rowe Dignifies the Burdens of the Past Mar 23, 2020

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For 25 years, Sheila Wise Rowe has counseled trauma and abuse survivors. Many of Rowe’s counselees struggle under the weight of history. For those who suffer from racial trauma, history is not an abstract concept; it’s re-lived with every racial slight or microaggression. We often choose to remember the good things in our past. We celebrate moments that make us happy, give us purpose, or lift our country up. It can be too easy for those in power to forget the darker moments, like when human beings were exploited for the sake of our country’s best interest. But not everyone has the ability to forget. For Sheila Wise Rowe and those she counsels that memory is in their bones.
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Jasmine Holmes and the Power of Black Motherhood Mar 16, 2020

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Within certain Christian communities, there’s tremendous pressure to fit within a box, to stay within your lane. Jasmine Holmes, a black Christian mother and author of Mother to Son: Letters to a Black Boy on Identity and Hope, has faced that pressure since she was young. But through it all, Jasmine fought to make her faith her own. She learned to embrace her identity without falling into pre-written narratives. And she discovered the deep, genuine joy and pain of motherhood in the face of personal upheaval.
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N.T. Wright Forces an Overdue Conversation Mar 02, 2020

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At one point, N.T. Wright found himself standing before a sea change. He was guesting on TV talk shows and publishing bestsellers. All in an effort to address what he saw as a disparity between beliefs about Scripture and what Scripture actually says. Wright has never thought of himself as disruptive, but he admits that others have. He's also happy to disturb the overly comfortable mindset that has come with “shallow readings, which haven’t always been accurate.” “If my work disturbs them,” Wright says, “then Hallelujah.” His willingness to disturb, however, is secondary to his determination to get Scripture right at all costs and to renew an interest in a book that has become stale to many. His scholarship on Paul, in particular, has both ruffled feathers and awakened a new spiritual passion in many.
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Carmen Joy Imes and the Disruptive Power of the Old Testament Feb 24, 2020

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Growing up, Carmen Joy Imes had no idea she’d one day be in an academic setting, lecturing on Old Testament to rooms full of men. Raised in an environment that was skeptical of women teachers, Imes deviated from expectations when she embraced her roles in both the home and classroom. Carmen Imes’s mastery of the Old Testament more than justifies this incidental rebellion. Her love for the subject is evident, and her familiarity with it is undeniable. While her presence may make some uncomfortable, her unapologetic passion combined with her emphasis on the Old Testament’s place in Christian theology deeply influence her students and their scholarship.
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Dominique DuBois Gilliard’s Truth Is Louder Than His Trauma Feb 17, 2020

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Was it nature or nurture that led Dominique DuBois Gilliard to write Rethinking Incarceration: Advocating for Justice that Restores? Probably both. From his years in the historical black church to his personal encounters with police, Gilliard seemed fated to sound the alarm about the issue of mass incarceration. However, he would soon learn that the best way to gain an audience was with steady, measured allusion to what is. Dominique DuBois Gilliard’s goal isn’t to force others to understand the depths of his trauma but rather to ensure no one else has to experience it. And for Gilliard, the only way that happens is through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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Tish Harrison Warren Interrupts the Cultural Narrative Feb 10, 2020

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Let’s say you’ve written a book about a passion of yours. To you, and everyone else’s surprise, it’s a huge hit. Now, the thing you loved has become a “fad.” What do you do next? Nothing new. For author and anglican priest, Tish Harrison Warren, it’s the unchanging tradition that makes liturgy disruptive. In this conversation Tish and Esau talk about the remarkably life-changing (and life-stabilizing) ways that taking part in liturgical rhythms have saved them from themselves and disrupted the cultural scripts we live in. Because when everything changes, you need something to stay the same.
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Sho Baraka Evades the Evangelical Edit Feb 03, 2020

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Sho Baraka, a rapper and creative, came out of a Christian music scene that felt safe at best and restrictive at worst. Sho felt an ever-present evangelical gaze looking over his shoulder, critiquing him and his work. Eventually, Sho decided it wasn’t worth the cost—of his creativity, of his hopes, of himself. But the more Sho poured himself into his work, the more he disrupted his career. His music became too controversial for Christian retail outlets and youth groups playlists. In an attempt to evade the evangelical edit, Sho took on the responsibilities of a traditional record label himself. While personal branding and creative salesmanship may be problematic at times, for Sho, it was the natural, and only, next step. Anyone can be a revolutionary, but you still gotta pay your bills. Visit Sho Baraka’s website at www.barakaology.com. Follow him on Twitter: @AmIshoBaraka. The Disrupters is produced by CT Creative Studio in partnership with InterVarsity Press. The Disrupters is hosted by Esau McCaulley. Visit his website at esaumccaulley.com. Follow him on Twitter: @esaumccaulley.
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Introducing: The Disrupters Jan 15, 2020

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The gospel led them into disruption. They told the truth, and the truth set the world on edge. This isn't a podcast for cynics or apologists. It's bound to disappoint you. And that's it. That's the pitch. The Disruptors is hosted by Esau McCaulley and features a series of disruptive conversations with Sho Baraka, Tish Harrison Warren, Jemar Tisby, N.T. Wright, Sheila Wise Rowe, Dominique DuBois Gilliard, and more.
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