Where Do We Go From Here?

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45: Taylor Swift From Love Story To Exile Nov 25, 2020

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She's gone from "It's a love story/ Baby just say yes," to "I think I've seen this film before/ and I didn't like the ending." What does Taylor Swift's music mean for Christians and people leaving Purity Culture? Dr. Kutter Callaway joins us to talk pop culture, how we interpret music, skills we need to be better discerners of popular culture, and even what it means to be an image bearer of God. The answer may surprise you.

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Kutter Callaway is associate professor of theology and culture at Fuller Seminary and co-director of the Reel Spirituality Institute. His most recent books are The Aesthetics of Atheism: Theology and Imagination in Contemporary Culture (Fortress Press, 2019) and Deep Focus: Film and Theology in Dialogue (Baker Academic, 2019). In 2017, he wrote Breaking the Marriage Idol: ReConstructing our Cultural and Spiritual Norms. He is the father of three young girls and has been married for almost 20 years to Jessica. Follow Kutter on Twitter.

44: Untangling Sexual Ethics Without Religion Nov 18, 2020

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Erika from Canada joins us today to talk about how she figured out sexual ethics as a teen and young adult. She came from a non religious household and continues to be non religious, but her ideas about sexual ethics are not what you've seen in the movies. Erika takes us through her thoughtful choices and helps us see how we can intentionally make decisions about our sexual ethics.

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Jess and Devi also reflect on the impact of building your own moral compass instead of using one that someone else gave you (especially if you don't have the instructions).

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43: Rebuilding Sexual Ethics After Purity Culture Nov 11, 2020

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Rachel Joy Welcher's new book Talking Back to Purity Culture: Rediscovering Faithful Christian Sexualitytakes on the heavyweights of publishing past. Didn't like I Kissed Dating Goodbye, Wild at Heart, And the Bride Wore White? This book goes into the many problems with the books of purity culture past while also focusing on the tender ground we walk on moving forward in sexual ethics. We talk about how tricky it is to work things out with nuance, why reading in groups yields better results than reading alone, and how suffering can shape our view of human sexuality.

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Rachel Joy Welcher (MLit, University of St. Andrews) is a columnist and editor at Fathom magazine. She is the author of two books of poetry: Blue Tarp and Two Funerals, Then Easter. Her writing has appeared in The Gospel Coalition, Mere Orthodoxy, Relevant, and The Englewood Review of Books, and her most recent book, Talking Back to Purity Culture: Rediscovering Faithful Christian Sexuality from InterVarsity Press, explores the damaging messages from modern purity culture and presents a better way forward for the Church. She lives in Glenwood, Iowa, with her husband, Evan. You can connect with Rachel on Twitter and Instagram.

42: How Can We Have a Better Conversation About Abortion? Nov 04, 2020

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Abortion is a conversation about women's bodies, and it is part of the conversation about sexual ethics. Today we connect the dots between Purity Culture rhetoric and abortion. Andrea Lucado joins us to discuss her op-ed, How the female body became a scapegoat for white evangelicals.

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Andrea Lucado is a freelance writer based in Austin, Texas. She is the author of English Lessons: The Crooked Path of Growing Toward Faith and has contributed articles to publications such as The Washington Post, Fathom magazine, and Christianity Today. Connect with Andrea on Instagram

41: Do We Still Have a Christian Dating Problem? Oct 28, 2020

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Are you single in church and wondering if you should ask someone out or waiting for someone to ask you out? The stakes feel high, but you're looking for connection. You're tired and wondering how and when this is going to happen.

Dallas Pastor JD Rodgers asked the question on his Instagram account, Why aren't Christian guys asking Christian girls out? You had big thoughts about his assumptions, so we posed this question and others to two Christian men, Joel and Matt, and their insights into the experience of being a single man in a Christian community give us all something to think about. Turns out the guys in our pews are tired of the pressure and shame to do with dating too.

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40: Christians break up too Oct 20, 2020

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You're not the only one who expected to marry the first person they dated. Lots of evangelical teens raised in Purity Culture did. There was no talk on how to break up. No advice on what to do after you got dumped by someone you loved. We start to undo that today by talking about the personal side of breakups - what to do when a relationship ends, how can "metabolizing your trauma" help, and what does a future after a break up look like.

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Joy Beth Smith is the author of Party of One and winner of the Evangelical Press Association's Higher Goals in Christian Journalism Award. She's been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, Salt Lake Tribune, Christianity Today, and Christ and Pop Culture. After earning her MA degree in English Lit, JB had a brief stint as a teacher, but she now works in advertising and happily resides in the Chicagoland area. Follow her on Twitter @JBsTwoCents.

39: Courage and Conviction in the Life of Josephine Butler Oct 14, 2020

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Do you despair when you look at the state of the world and the church today? Let our deep dive into the life of Josephine Butler give you courage. This extraordinary English woman was born into wealth and privilege in 1828 but spent decades of her life working to reform English society. She was a social worker, a government activist, and legal reformer. Josephine Butler campaigned for decades to give women in England a right to an education, work, vote. She worked to improve the rights of prostitutes and other women who were seen as "outcasts" in English society. As you re-imagine your life after purity culture, let Josephine Butler's life help you cast a new vision for what an effective faith can look like in our world today.

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Amanda Russell-Jones is a sessional lecturer at Regent College. She is a historian with an interest in how the Bible is interpreted and applied to issues of slavery, and women's relationship to the church both in different historical settings and in our contemporary world. Her recent PhD thesis from the University of Birmingham in the UK was entitled 'The Voice of the Outcast- Josephine Butler's Biblical Interpretation and Public Theology.'

38: Pelvic Health After Purity Culture Oct 07, 2020

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"We are more than walking pelvises, but we need our pelvises to walk," says Sophia McLean. We talk about pelvic health, the connection between painful sex and purity culture, and the significance of a faith that is embodied.

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Sophia McLean is a pelvic health physiotherapist in London, Ontario. She has a physical therapy degree from Boston University in and a theology degree from Regent College. She works with clients one-on-one, teaching to small groups, writing educational material, and continuing to explore the intersection of Christian faith, embodiment, and pelvic health. To work with Sophia, you can contact her at sophiamclean.dpt@gmail.com.

37: It's Queer, Not "Same-Sex Attracted" Sep 23, 2020

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The language we use to define the queer experience matters, and "same-sex attraction" does not cut it. Bridget Eileen Rivera goes into the history of the words "homosexual" and "same sex attraction" and explains why we need the LGBTQ+ community to use its words to define their experience. This is an expansive conversation about language and also about Bridget's experience as a lesbian Christian.

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Join the Ladies Night Book Club to start discussing Talking Back to Purity Culture by Rachel Welcher on October 1.

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Full show notes here

Bridget Eileen Rivera is a writer, speaker, and educator completing her doctoral studies in sociology. She engages in public advocacy related to faith, gender, and sexuality, challenging the church to do better in its inclusion of LGBTQ people. Her first book, Heavy Burdens (Brazos Press, expected 2021), unpacks the legacy of LGBTQ discrimination in the church, helping Christians to better understand the experiences of LGBTQ people within Christianity and guiding readers to consider the tough questions necessary in charting a new path for the church. You can learn more about Bridget at bridgeteileenrivera.com or by following her on Twitter.

36: 'Heat Seeking Sex Missiles' And Other Beliefs To Reconsider Sep 16, 2020

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Knox McCoy reflects on male youth group culture and why we need to reconsider the evangelical approach to purity culture, and he shares how he has the conversation about masculinity and sex with his own children. We also talk about how the depiction of male and female sexuality has changed from Superbad in 2007 to Booksmart in 2019.

Join the Ladies Night Book Club here Knox McCoy began podcasting in 2011 as a way to talk more about popular culture, and to his extreme surprise, he's still doing it via The Popcast with Knox and Jamie and The Bible Binge. He's the author of All Things Reconsidered: How Rethinking What We Know Helps Us Know What We Believe. Connect with Knox on Twitter and Instagram.

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