Touch Podcast: Conversations of Spirit and Body

Latest Episodes:

Touch Podcast Episode 5: Consent and Our Sexual Selves with Shawn Warner-Garcia and Lyndsey Godwin Mar 03, 2018

Show notes

Brought to you by Next Good Consulting, Episode 5 continues our previous conversation with Shawn Warner-Garcia who talks about the impact of how religious speak becomes part of the problems of violations of consent. We also hear from Lyndsey Godwin, the Assistant Director of the Carpenter Program in Religion, Gender, and Sexuality at Vanderbilt Divinity School, about the lasting impact of sexual purity programs even on young adults attending seminary today. Why do Christian congregations experience the same level of abuse as the general public? Shawn Warner-Garcia talks about her research and finding that 40% of Baptists experience forced sexual activity at some point in their life. She talks about the link between abuse and our use of language. And Nate and Shawn discuss some of the political issues around sex and how they keep us from having important conversations at church. Surprising, 38% of Baptists indicated that they expressed a public sexual identity that was not consistent with their public sexual expression. Lyndsey Godwin of Assistant Director of the Carpenter Program in Religion, Gender, and Sexuality at Vanderbilt Divinity School speaks from her experience in help students overcome shame-based sexuality programs while working with seminary students at Vanderbilt. Nate is surprised to find that the Song of Solomon’s erotic moments are not among married persons.

Touch Podcast Episode 4: The Language of Sex and Consent with Shawn Warner Garcia and Nate Novero Feb 24, 2018

Show notes

When host Nate Novero left his Southern Baptist faith, his understanding of faith and church basically froze in time. Now that Nate is reengaging with his Christian heritage, he’s got a lot of catching up to do. The first of two podcasts, Episode 4 features Shawn catching up Nate on the national debate among church folk about what to do about sexual practice in light of Supreme Court decision on same sex marriage. They speak specifically about Southern Baptists, the Nashville Statement, and how all religious communities have to keep negotiating their personal ethics with one foot in their religious tradition and another in there modern context.

Touch Podcast Episode 3: The Sex Positive Church with Amy Mears and Friends Feb 14, 2018

Show notes

We continue our roundtable discussion with members and staff of Glendale Baptist Church Including co-Pastor Amy Mears who talks about the benefits of 10 years of sex-positive education at Glendale Baptist. We also hear from co-Pastor April Baker who offers a hopeful image of God as well as students from Vanderbilt Divinity School. We discuss condoms, teen sex, consent and whether faith leaders should still teach celibacy before marriage. “Sex is an adult activity and if you’re going to do it, do it like adults and not in a car or on the ground or where someone’s mother might walk in!” Pastor Amy Listeners will also hear more about Ryan and Nate’s stories including how Nate is relearning how to understand his faith.

Touch Podcast Episode 2: When We Talk about Sex with Jennifer Knapp and Amy Mears Feb 09, 2018

Show notes

What happens when religious people talk (and don’t) talk about sex? Episode 2 continues with Jennifer Knapp on the topic of marketing virginity among young women and moves into the difficulty of talking about sex in faith communities. Dr. Amy Mears, pastor of Glendale Baptist Church joins this conversation along with staff congregants about how even progressive congregations struggle to create space for talking about sexual practice.

Touch Podcast Episode 1: Selling Purity with Jennifer Knapp Jan 30, 2018

Show notes

Season 1 of Touch Podcast: Conversations of Spirit and Body looks closely at Religious America and Sex. Hosts Nate and Ryan Nate talk about reconnecting after being best friends in college and then living in two different parts of the country. One thing becomes stunningly clear at their reunion; they both had baggage they brought into their sexual experiences with their partners. Nathan had moved to Los Angeles and became a filmmaker and Ryan to Georgia for seminary and a professional career in ministry. Rooted in the sexual purity movements of the 1990’s each took a different but converging path to overcome their own sexual hangups. Ryan and Nate interview Jennifer Knapp, former Christian Popstar about her experience of almost becoming the poster child of the evangelical sexual purity movement. They discuss faith, sex, shame, and Christian consumerism. Jennifer Knapp is a Dove Award winner and two-time Grammy Nominee, 2015 Ted Talk speaker, author, and song artist in Nashville, TN. When she’s not occupied with music, or doing advocacy work on behalf of LGBTQ people of faith through her Inside Out Faith organization, she is working on a master’s degree in theological studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School.