I spoke with Sally Douglas about becoming the community Jesus speaks about. We discuss the versatility and surprise of the image of salt when thinking about the church, her engagement with early church writings, salty wombs, and the importance of being a place where people can cry in times such as these.
Read MoreI sat down with Matthew Thiessen to discuss the Gospels’ portrayal of ritual impurity within First-Century Judaism. We discuss how purity concerns map out the reality of the gospel writer's worlds, and clarify the differences between categories of holy, profane, pure, impure. Matthew then demonstrates Jesus' acceptance of the reality of these categories and his desire to rid people of the conditions that create ritual impurity. All of this shapes how we read Jesus' interactions with the haemorrhaging woman, those with leprosy, and corpses, as well as his teachings on sabbath, exorcisms, and food. We end with a discussion on how attention to ritual impurity can help us not fall into anti-semitism in our reading and preaching.
Read MoreI sat down with Natalie Wigg-Stevenson to talk about theology as performance art. We discuss her new work which weaves together discussions in church basements, notorious works of performance art, and a broad range of theological thinkers to respond to a moment where she felt forgotten by God. Along the way we talk about what it might mean to think about God's omnipotence through a framework of cognitive decline, in turn we discuss how she conceives of the role of humanity through caregiving to God. We also talk about the problems posed by the incarnation, ecclesiology as writing the church (rather than writing about), the role of the Spirit in the conception of Christ, and how infection and risk provide a way into thinking about what it means to be swept up into life with God.
Read More“No good comes from the denial of enmity.” I spoke with Melissa Florer-Bixler about her new book, How To Have an Enemy. The question, she emphasises, is not whether to have enemies, but how to have the right enemy. We also talk about the myth of the Christmas Day truce, problems of 'unity', and why Melissa's job as a pastor isn't "to create a politically diverse church where people share their ideas dispassionately in an attempt towards middle ground or mutual transformation.” We end with a discussion about what the church can offer in a society riddled by inequality, dispossession, and violence and how stepping out to work against the principalities and powers of this world might require us to make ourselves enemies of the community (even the family) in which we were once so lovingly rooted.
Read MoreI sat down with Josh Jipp to talk about the messianic identity of Jesus as the presupposition for and primary content of New Testament theology. We discuss balancing unity and plurality within the New Testament, the benefits and risks of centring the messianic identity in light of the history of Christian supersessionism, the kind of kingdom this messiah brings, and (just in time for Easter) how the Passion narratives establish Jesus' messianic identity - hint, it has much more to do with the Psalmist's Davidic King than Isaiah's suffering servant.
Read MoreI sat down with Tripp Fuller to talk about open and relational Christology. We discuss the pros of going process (or adopting elements of an open and relational theology), why Tripp just keeps talking about Jesus, his three-pronged approach to Christology (historical Jesus, existential register of faith, and metaphysical referent to God), how his approach can address supersessionist ways of thinking of the Incarnation, and what is the hope in a God who maybe doesn’t control or overrule, but invests?
Read MoreTo celebrate 50 episodes of the Love Rinse Repeat podcast, Liam Miller interviewed seven guests about Jesus' seven last words from the cross.
Here, Travis McMaken discusses the final words, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit". This commendation signifies the climax of the relationship between the Spirit and Jesus throughout Luke, and the shift to the ongoing role of the Spirit in the lives of those who follow after.
Read MoreTo celebrate 50 episodes of the Love Rinse Repeat podcast, Liam Miller interviewed seven guests about Jesus' seven last words from the cross.
Here, Lauren Larkin discusses, with care and passion, Jesus declarative words "it is finished" and its relation to what has past, what is, and what is possible - both cosmically and personally. A decisive shift has occurred and we should think carefully before trying to go back to before - which has potent implications for a post-COVID society.
Read MoreTo celebrate 50 episodes of the Love Rinse Repeat podcast, Liam interviewed seven guests about Jesus' seven last words from the cross.
Here, Sean Winter reflects on the words "I thirst", and both their simplicity, as a basic human need for a small mercy in the midst of trauma, and their powerful symbolic and theological overtones. We explore what the words teach us about presence, absence, and the completion of Christ's work. And how Jesus' own thirst shapes how we read the many other times thirst is employed in the Gospel of John.
Read MoreTo celebrate 50 episodes of the Love Rinse Repeat podcast, Liam interviewed seven guests about Jesus' seven last words from the cross.
Here, Tau'alofa Anga'aelangi discusses the third words "Woman, here is your son... here is your mother". We talk about different cultural experiences of family, how these words shape the way the churches engage intergenerational and intercultural encounters, and resisting obligation with a view to seeing people as gift.
Read MoreTo celebrate 50 episodes of the Love Rinse Repeat podcast, Liam interviewed seven guests about Jesus' seven last words from the cross.
Here, Laura Jean Truman discusses Jesus' words to the man next to him on the cross, "today, you will be with me in paradise" and importantly the words of the two criminals preceding this promise. Repentance, solidarity, welcome, and a strange kind of presence are all concepts illuminated and provoked in this most powerful scene.
Read More“The Stations speak to us in the political, social, and economic conflicts and dilemmas that descend on us all. And to a culture, to individuals, and, sadly, even to a church that scrupulously turn away from the reality of death, the Stations speak an important word about that final frontier.”
I sat down with Mary Adams Parker and Katherine Sonderegger to talk about their book, Praying the Stations of the Cross: Finding Hope in a Weary Land (Eerdmans, 2019). We talk about their own approaches to the Stations as visual artist and preacher respectively, what we learn about the contact of the body of Jesus with the body of others across the Stations, what the Stations reveal about Mary, the power of the Stations in times such as these, finding ways to hold the together the suffering and glory of Christ, preparing art for ecclesial settings, why preaching should be invitation rather than exhortation, and why we should attend to beauty, to the sublime, when writing theology or creating artworks to the glory of God and guidance of a Christian community.
Read MoreI spoke with the Rev Lauren R.E. Larkin about our mutually favourite liturgical season, Advent. We discuss the power of the Christ child lying in the arms of an unclean woman, the way death and life overlap in the birth event, and the future horizon of Advent when Christ comes again (and its effect on ethics).
We also play a "Dear Abby" inspired game called "Dear Lauren", when the good Reverend answers peoples questions on how to live Advent lives in the midst of a busy Christmas season. And trust me, Lauren's answers will shock and inspire! Watch on YouTube. Listen in iTunes
Read More"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
Read MoreI 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"
Read MoreThe problem with the mainline is we have an insular theology, but we do not follow an insular God...
This is the Saturday night session from our weekend Political Populism and a Theological Response. Here John Flett picks up the theological challenge of populism (explored in the first two sessions) and proposes an alternative focused on the political stance of a community which finds its identity as it moves beyond itself. Recorded Nov 4, at Epping Uniting Church. LISTEN IN iTUNES
Read MoreI 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
Read More"Taking what has been used as a sword, and turning it into a ploughshare"
A special episode. Because this postal survey on marriage equality is taking a toll on so many. This is Emmy Kegler's talk and Q&A from the Jesus 12 24 online conference hosted earlier in the year. If I sound weird its because I'd been awake for about 23 hours. See more about the conference at Jesus1224.com
"Too many members of the LGBTQ+ community know Scripture best as a weapon used against us. How do those of us who still find Jesus compelling reconcile ourselves with the book that tells his story, when that same book has been used to condemn us? When we have been wounded by the words of the Bible, can we still find healing in the Word of God?" LISTEN IN iTUNES
Read MoreA (hopefully) fun, provocative, and encouraging site where I sharing thoughts (blog, talk, video) on faith, world, and self. My name's Liam Miller, I have studied Theology, Social Sciences, and Acting. I enjoy reading radical theology (actually all kinds of theology) and telling stories - the two tend to intertwine on this site.
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