March 18, 2020

Ep47. Biblical Experiments in Decolonisation, Steve Heinrichs

March 18, 2020/ Liam Miller

Is it possible for the exploited and their allies to reclaim the Bible from the dominant powers?

I sat down with Steve Heinrichs, Director of Indigenous-Settler Relations for the Mennonite Church Canada, to talk about Unsettling the World: Biblical Experiments in Decolonisation, a volume he edited, out now through Orbis Books.

In Unsettling the Word over 60 Indigenous and Settler authors come together to wrestle with Scripture, reimagining ancient texts for reparative futures. With poem, essay, art, proverb, and provocation this is an excellent and essential work.

In this episode we discuss Steve's own journey with Scripture and decolonisation, how this work came together, what surprised him in its compilation, how churches in settler-colonial contexts might start hard, but necessary conversations, what his job entails, and much much more.

October 24, 2019

Ep38. Theologising Brexit, Anthony G. Reddie

October 24, 2019/ Liam Miller

I sat down with Professor Anthony G. Reddie to talk about his book Theologising Brexit: a Liberationist and Postcolonial Critique (Routledge 2019). We discuss what lay beneath the Brexit vote – unexamined colonial attitudes of exceptionalism, the legacy of Imperial Christian ecclesiology and missiology, the scourge of White supremacy, entitlement and privilege. I ask him about writing theology that is “polemical and subjective”, what drew him to Black Liberation Theology, the array of tools he employs to help people grapple with race, history, and privilege, wrestling with the Bible in churches, and the treatment of the Windrush generation and assumptions about who gets to be a ‘British Christian’. We really do cover a lot!

October 18, 2019

Ep37. Mission After Pentecost, Amos Yong

October 18, 2019/ Liam Miller

“The divine wind rustles, hovers, and swoops ‘over the face of the waters’, touches the created orders and catches the world up in the divine witness”

I sat down with Amos Yong to discuss his new book , Mission after Pentecost: The Witness of the Spirit from Genesis to Revelation. We talk about what underpins his prolific and widespread writings, what is gained from approaching theology from a pneumatology in the foreground, his approach to mission as an opening up to others, his commentary on the Gerasene demoniac and what it means for the church to participation in the mission of the Spirit – when that mission is one of deliverance both cosmic and socio-political, and much more.

October 11, 2019

Ep36. Hip Hop Missiology, Daniel White Hodge

October 11, 2019/ Liam Miller

Hip Hop theology allows us to live in ambiguity while still seeking the face of God.

I sat down with Daniel White Hodge to talk about his book Homeland Insecurity: A Hip Hop Missiology for the Post-Civil Rights Context (IVP 2018). We talk about his concept of the wild, learning theology and missiology from Hip Hop, the gospel messages of Tupac Amaru Shakur and Kendrick Lamar, the deep problems of short-term mission and white led urban ministry, missiology as civil disruption, why most conversations on non-violence are too simplistic, and his claim that, generally, “reconciliation has no meaning other than marketable charm.” It is a wide-ranging and passionate conversation and I am very excited to get to share it with you all.

September 12, 2019

Ep35. The Big Story in Romans, Beverly Roberts Gaventa

September 12, 2019/ Liam Miller

“A prolonged and careful study of Romans means finding that salvation is more complex, more cosmic, more challenging than we have usually imagined.”

I sat down with the esteemed New Testament scholar Beverly Roberts Gaventa to talk about her book "When in Romans: an invitation to linger with the Gospel according to Paul". We talk about why she was drawn (and remains drawn) to Paul, her big picture approach to Romans centring on the themes of salvation, Israel, ethics, and community. We also discuss connections between Paul’s letter and Terrence Malick’s film Tree of Life, taking seriously the "all" in conversations on salvation, writing on Romans in the shadow of Der Romerbrief, and why Phoebe goes to show that Pauline theology is not just a guy thing.

August 27, 2019

Ep34. Christian Mission in the New Millennium, David Congdon and John Flett

August 27, 2019/ Liam Miller

I sat down with David Congdon and John Flett to talk about their new edited volume, Converting Witness: the Future of Christian Mission in the New Millennium. We talk about why David and John keep writing about mission, the present state of the field of missiology, how the Bible is/should be read for mission, the issues with the “Theological Interpretation of Scripture” movement, the problematic way the term “Christendom” is employed, and John offers the hottest of takes on a certain trinitarian ontologies conference.

The essays in Converting Witness are a celebration of the life and work of Darrell L Guder, and if you don’t know who that is, we begin by talking about his impact and importance.

August 12, 2019

Ep33. Healing our Broken Humanity, Grace Ji-Sun Kim and Graham Joseph Hill

August 12, 2019/ Liam Miller

I sat down (in person!) with Grace Ji-Sun Kim and Graham Joseph Hill to talk about their new book, Healing Our Broken Humanity: Practices for Revitalising the Church and Renewing the World. We talk about the process of co-authoring, why they focused on practices, justice, lament, race, beauty, hospitality, and how writing the book has shaped their experience with The Sermon on the Mount. Watch on YouTube // Listen in Apple Podcasts

April 26, 2019

Ep29. The God Who Sees, Karen Gonzalez

April 26, 2019/ Liam Miller

You are the God who sees, Hagar said, and the same God who saw Hagar sees us.

I sat down with Karen Gonzalez to talk about The God Who Sees: Immigrants, the Bible, and the Journey to Belong. We talk about the process of writing the book and what its like to include so much of one’s own story, We discuss how basing her story on the sacraments deepened her thinking on the practices, the complicated stories of migrants in the Bible, speaking to churches about immigration, taking action, and which Biblical story of migration needs its own Hamilton inspired rap musical! Listen in iTunes//Watch on YouTube

July 02, 2018

Ep18. A Genuinely Theological Church, Geoff Thompson

July 02, 2018/ Liam Miller

"Theology does more than train people for ministry. It shapes the church's collective imagination."

I interviewed Geoff Thompson about his new book, A Genuinely Theological Church: Ministry, Theology, and the Uniting Church. We dive into his robust and dynamic definition of theology (looking especially at the role of imagination in theology, and how theology is marked by puzzling proclamations, unexpected tangents and strangeness), we discuss the novel and particular nature of Christian confession, the post-Christendom church, the missional vocation of theology, and much, much more. Listen in iTunes

June 25, 2018

Ep17. A Flexible Faith, Bonnie Kristian

June 25, 2018/ Liam Miller

I sat down with Bonnie Kristian to talk about her new book A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What it Means to Follow Jesus Today. We talk about her own journey in discovering the flexibility within Christian doctrine, the incredible people from many varied Christian communities and traditions she interviewed in the book, her hopes for neigbourhood ecumenicism, and the importance of understanding and dialogue in the contemporary world. Listen in iTunes

"Following Jesus is a big, weird, amazing thing that individual believers, movements, and denominations have expressed in remarkably different ways over the centuries"

May 01, 2018

Ep16. The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians, Austen Hartke

May 01, 2018/ Liam Miller

I spoke with Austen Hartke, author of the new book: Transforming: the Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians. It is a wonderful book, and this discussion gives a great insight into why it is so essential for our times. We talk about what it is like to write a book with helplines in the back, how conversations and the stories of others shape a theological work, what Biblical story Austen would turn into a movie, why the book centres on Biblical studies/exegesis, the connection of experience between Eunuchs in the ancient world and Transgender Christians today, the importance of the body in the New Testament, and a life lived beyond apologetics. Listen in iTunes

January 29, 2018

Ep15. True Socialism and the Kingdom of God, W. Travis McMaken

January 29, 2018/ Liam Miller

I interviewed W. Travis McMaken about his book Our God Loves Justice: an introduction to Helmut Gollwitzer. We talk about the Gollwitzer movie Travis would pitch, Dialectical Theology, Socialism (this is a great section), Revolution, writing theology in an online community, and, we play a game of Conceptual Lightning Round... have you ever wanted tweetable definitions of Dialectical Theology, Socialism, the Kingdom of God, and non-objectifiability? We got you covered. Listen in iTunes

"There's something socialism fundamentally gets right"

January 24, 2018

Ep14. Conspiring Prayer with the Uncontrolling Love of God, Mark Karris

January 24, 2018/ Liam Miller

I sat down with Mark Gregory Karris to talk about his new book "Divine Echoes: Reconciling Prayer with the Uncontrolling Love of God". We discuss his reconstructed view of petitionary prayer based on his belief in an uncontrolling God of love. We talk about the issues with the status quo of petitionary prayer, the idea of conspiring prayer (as dialogue with God), and how all of this calls us into the work of justice and shalom. Listen in iTunes

October 30, 2017

Ep11, Apostolicity, World Christianity, & Mission, John Flett

October 30, 2017/ Liam Miller

I recorded this interview with John Flett in Dec 2016 and it centres on John's most recent book, Apostolicity: the Ecumenical Question in World Christian Perspective. But we cover a lot! His book on Apostolicity (hint: we start with what that word means), how it shakes out in conversations regarding diversity of structural expressions in world Christianity, the difficulty/danger of perceiving the church as a culture (hint: colonisation), the US election, understanding properly the colonial period of mission (hint: its about the sending churches), non-missionary mission, how the ignoring of mission is actually a way of avoiding external critique, the voiceless Jesus of Christmas, the persistent focus on "dying churches" in the Australia and the counterpoint of migrant and multicultural churches.... are you getting the picture? We cover a lot. LISTEN IN iTUNES.

John will be in Sydney on Nov 3-5 talking about political populism and a theological response. You can join in person or online - check out the details here

October 17, 2017

Ep10. Populism and a Theological Response, John G. Flett

October 17, 2017/ Liam Miller

In this interview (from January 2017) I talk with John Flett about theology and mission in the wake of Trump, populism in its current form, the way Christians just wanted to "win" and so refused to yield power, interdisciplinary approaches, mission studies, "racism and the evangelical vote", #WTFtheology (aka: John's proudest achievement), and how mission (a non-America-First understanding of mission) can help counter this growing nationalist, populist tide. - this was in the lead up to the first run of his course, Political Populism and a Theological Response, earlier this year at Pilgrim Theological College. LISTEN IN iTUNES

Now, on November 3-5 John Flett will be in Sydney leading a condensed version of this course. There are numerous ways to engage - attending the whole weekend, evening lectures, or the newly announced online access. MORE INFO AND PURCHASE TICKETS

"If you yourself are not ready to be converted, then you are not engaging in the discussion"

October 03, 2017

Ep08. The God Who (Still) Saves, David W. Congdon

October 03, 2017/ Liam Miller

David Congdon's excellent The God Who Saves: a Dogmatic Sketch came out almost a year ago. We talked about the book then, and today, in this episode we revisit the work. We talk about the book, its reception, the impact its made on David's life this last year. We also talk about the contemporary US context (and evangelicalism within that). LISTEN in iTunes

“I wrote the book for those wanderers, those exiles from the Christian tradition, who have been marginalised, oppressed, and abused by the church… yet are desperately in pursuit of some meaning and connection which would take them beyond themselves.”
It is also a written to say to Christians, "If you want to demonstrate your fidelity to Jesus Christ, you need to abandon the assumption that your church structure and traditions have exclusive grasp of the truth, and you need to ally yourself with those who have been marginalised by the church. Only that way, will you conform to Christ and live into the faith you're called to live into. In that way, its a call, to Christians, to put their Christianity at risk"

September 06, 2017

Ep06. Postcolonialism & Biblical Etchics, Mark Brett

September 06, 2017/ Liam Miller

I interviewed Mark G. Brett, the Professor of Old Testament and Research Coordinator at Whitley College, part of the University of Divinity, to talk about his recent book POLITICAL TRAUMA & HEALING: BIBLICAL ETHICS FOR A POSTCOLONIAL WORLD.

We cover a lot! We do a conceptual rapid fire round, getting tweetable definitions for a host of complex terms. We talk about what postcolonialism offers conversations around secular democracy and human rights, we address the church, and its habit to fall into ethno-centrism, Mark explores how we begin to begin with Aboriginal voices, and the last 10 minutes is a can't miss discussion on economics and Biblical ethics! Listen in iTunes

August 30, 2017

Ep05. Race, Faith, and Comedy, with Jonathan Braylock

August 30, 2017/ Liam Miller

“Comedy can teach us to let go a little bit and think about things in a new way, allow God to change us so we’re not stuck in one setting. I do that specifically with race right now.”

I talked with comedian and actor Jonathan Braylock, cohost of the excellent Black Men Can't Jump (in Hollywood) Podcast. We discuss the podcast, diversity in Hollywood, trends and tropes in movies with Black leads. We also talk about his faith, comedy, and what a good laugh can teach the life of faith. And loads of other good stuff. Listen in iTunes

August 22, 2017

Ep04. Challenging Racism in Church and Culture, Brandi Miller & Drew Hart

August 22, 2017/ Liam Miller

How are we to be Christian in the face of white supremacy...

In the wake of Charlottesville this is a special "from the vault double feature". Two interviews from last year with Brandi Miller and Drew Hart talking a black Jesus in a white church/society. These are powerful interviews that can be great resources in the ongoing resistance to white supremacy in the church and culture. Listen in iTunes

August 05, 2017

Ep02. Explorations in Asian Christianity with Scott W. Sunquist

August 05, 2017/ Liam Miller

In this, our second episode, Liam is joined by Scott W Sunquist to talk about his book Explorations in Asian Christianity. We talk they why and how of studying Christian mission (including his excellent proposal of a cruciform and apostolic lens), discuss the multi-directional, complex, and fascinating story of the transmission of Christianity in Asia (spoiler: it's much more complex than East to West), a theology for mission and migration, the question of unity in World Christianity, what story from world Christian history would Scott turn into a movie... and so much more! Listen in iTunes

“Christianity was born at the borderland of two empires, and at the confluence of three continents”

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