December 20, 2021

Ep117. Indigenous Theologies, Anne Pattel-Gray

December 20, 2021/ Liam Miller

This is a portion of the most recent Black Lives Matter and the Church in Australia panel discussion where Dr Anne Pattel-Gray joined the group to talk about Indigenous Theologies. She offers insight into the cost of developing a theology based in sovereignty and anti-colonialism, the work that remains, and what she's working on now.

The monthly panels are hosted by Rev. Tau’alofa Anga’aelangi of the Uniting Church Chaplaincy at Charles Sturt University in Port Macquarie and Rev Dr Katalina Tahaafe-Williams of the Social Justice Pilgrim Presbytery NT. The panel is also comprised of me and Emma Jackson (a PhD candidate at Macquarie University. These panels happen on the final Sunday of the month at 3pm EST. To find out more contact Rev. Tau’alofa Anga’aelangi at ucc.csu[@]gmail.com (The next one will be January 2022).

November 04, 2021

Ep110. Decolonisation and the Preamble to the UCA Constitution, Garry Deverell and Chris Budden

November 04, 2021/ Liam Miller

Rev Dr Garry Deverell and Rev Dr Chris Budden join Rev. Tau’alofa Anga’aelangi, Rev Dr Katalina Tahaafe-Williams, and myself to discuss the preamble to the Uniting Church in Australia's constitution. Garry opens by discussing his critique of the document from an Indigenous perspective as one which rein-scribes colonial narratives, Chris then offers some insights into the motivation and process behind the production of the document, after which we all enter into a discussion on the lineage and impact of the document and ask where to from here for a church seeking to continue to engage in decolonisation, repair, and justice.

This episode is a re-post of most recent of the monthly Black Lives Matter and the Church in Australia panels hosted by the Uniting Church Chaplaincy at Charles Sturt University in Port Macquarie and the Social Justice Pilgrim Presbytery NT. This episode is a re-post of most recent of the monthly Black Lives Matter and the Church in Australia panels hosted by the Uniting Church Chaplaincy at Charles Sturt University in Port Macquarie and the Social Justice Pilgrim Presbytery NT. These panels happen on the final Sunday of the month at 3pm EST. To find out more contact Rev. Tau’alofa Anga’aelangi at ucc.csu[@]gmail.com

November 01, 2021

Ep109. Teaching Global Theology, Sathianathan Clarke

November 01, 2021/ Liam Miller

I sat down with Sathi Clarke to discuss his calling as a theologian, how his theological development was shaped by living with communities of untouchables in India, why a theologian needs to have concrete commitments to communities in their struggles for justice, how to teach global/world Christianity, responding to religious fundamentalism, and being passionately Christian and compassionately interreligious.

In the interview we discuss the class Sathi is teaching as the United Theological College scholar in residence: Contemporary Theology in a Global Context. The class runs from 15 to 19 November 2021, from 9:30 to 4:30pm. The course is offered in person at UTC (in North Parramatta) or via Zoom. Find more here (Auditing welcome!)

October 04, 2021

Ep105. The Politics of Punishment in Evangelical America, Aaron Griffith

October 04, 2021/ Liam Miller

I interviewed Aaron Griffith about his book God's Law and Order, which argues that we cannot understand the US criminal justice system without accounting for evangelicalism's impact on its historical development. We discuss why crime and punishment 'mattered' for white evangelicals in the post-war period, how they made an expansive mass incarceration system seem neutral and appealing to the broader public, and how the focus on soul saving shaped the current justice system and evangelicals involvement therein.

July 05, 2021

Ep92 (LIVE). Indigenous Sovereignty, Multiculturalism, and the Church, with Anne Pattel-Gray

July 05, 2021/ Liam Miller

Dr Anne Pattel-Gray, author of the Great White Flood, joins Rev. Tau’alofa Anga’aelangi, Rev Dr Katalina Tahaafe-Williams, and myself in a discussion on Black Lives Matter, the church's call to confront racist injustice, the relationship between Indigenous sovereignty and multiculturalism, where the UCA has become too timid, the ongoing lack of Indigenous theology and teaching in theological education, how her book was banned from sales in physical bookstores in Australia, the importance of being able to worship in one's own language, NAIDOC, and much more.

May 03, 2021

Ep83. How to Have an Enemy, Melissa Florer-Bixler

May 03, 2021/ Liam Miller

“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.

April 26, 2021

Ep82. A Christian Engagement with Shari'a, Joshua Ralston

April 26, 2021/ Liam Miller

I sat down with Joshua Ralston to talk about his book Law and the Rule of God: a Christian Engagement with Shari’a (Cambridge, 2020). We discuss what lead him to this work, why discussions of law in Islam are missing in political theology (and why they matter), the problems of Protestant antinomianism, comparative theology and how recognising different conceptions of the law and its purpose assist interfaith work, and his account of public law as a provisional and indirect witness to the divine rule of justice

January 29, 2021

Ep73. Abolition in the Colony, Robyn Oxley

January 29, 2021/ Liam Miller

I sat down with Robyn Oxley to talk about the criminal justice and need for abolition in the lands now called Australia. We talk about her journey into and with abolition, why community resourcing and accountability make so much more sense, how prisons simply do not achieve what they purport to achieve (especially in terms of rehabilitation), and the racism and colonial violence that runs all the way through the system – a violence that is entirely in keeping with the colonial project that has wrought trauma, displacement, and death on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples since British invasion.

December 23, 2020

Ep68. Abolition Apostles, Sarah Pritchard and David Brazil

December 23, 2020/ Liam Miller

I sat down with David and Sarah to talk about their international jail and prison ministry: Abolition Apostles. We talk about their calling into this work, their letter-writing, advocacy, and why abolition can function as a tent-pole issue for Christians concerned with the impact of racialised capitalism.

David Brazil and Sarah Pritchard are the founding co-pastors of Apostles Fellowship, a nondenominational Christian church, as well as Abolition Apostles (abolitionapostles.org), an international jail and prison ministry based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Find them on Twitter: @AbolitionChurch

December 11, 2020

Ep66. Intersex and the Church, Sara Gillingham

December 11, 2020/ Liam Miller

I sat down with Sara Gillingham to talk about her experience in the church as someone born with intersex traits. We discuss her work with theologians and church leaders in developing conversations and resources, the way the diverse experiences of those born with intersex traits can sometimes be obfuscated in order to be aligned with more ‘hot-button’ church debates, and the frustration of church leaders continuing to make a meal of what are, ultimately, some rather basic hopes.

October 21, 2020

Ep59 (LIVE). Psalms and Prophets in a Pandemic, Monica Melanchthon, Lyndal Sherwin, Renee Evans

October 21, 2020/ Liam Miller

In a special live episode of Love Rinse Repeat, Liam sat down with Monica Melanchthon, Lyndal Sherwin, and Renee Evans to talk about how we might read the Psalms and Prophets in the midst of a pandemic.

Despite often being framed as a great equaliser, the impact of COVID is disproportionately metered out against the world's vulnerable people. The time of the pandemic has been accompanied, in Australia and elsewhere, by an intensified push to confront and overcome racial injustice, renewed emphasis on the need for urgent environmental activism, and revealed just how many people are willing to sacrifice their neighbours for the economy.

The Prophets and the Psalms, texts often written and compiled in the wake of deep disruption, traumatic cataclysm, and the end of meaning, are unwavering in their demands for truth, lament, repentance justice, and hope. For this reason they are a potent place to turn amidst the crises of our day. Join us for a wide-ranging and relevant discussion on what the church can learn through the disruption and comfort that comes from reading these old texts in a new pandemic.

February 27, 2020

Ep46. Christians for the Abolition of Prisons, Hannah Bowman

February 27, 2020/ Liam Miller

I sat down with Hannah Bowman to talk about the Prison Abolition movement and why Christians should get involved. Its a wide-ranging, informative, and impassioned conversation about the reality of prisons, their fundamental flaws, why reform isn't enough, better alternatives which promote responsibility and relational healing, and how churches might get to work.

Be sure to check out the Christians for the Abolition of Prisons website for loads of resources, articles, blogs, and FAQs.

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

May 23, 2019

Ep30. Queer Theology, Linn Marie Tonstad

May 23, 2019/ Liam Miller

“Humans are not fixed or static, and neither is God’s storyline with human beings”

I sat down with Linn Marie Tonstad. Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Yale Divinity School, author of God and Difference, and the Cascade Companion Queer Theology. We talk about how Queer Theology isn’t about apologetics, Linn’s own apologetic for not doing apologetics, a church without judgment, why rights based approaches to justice – which seek to graft LGBTIQ people onto existing structures – fall into dangerous traps, how identities are never fixed, Queer Theologies critical engagement with capitalism, the problem with the Christianity is Queer line, and the shared concern for a proper attitude to finitude. Listen in iTunes // Watch on YouTube

April 09, 2019

Ep28. Parenting, Cindy Wang Brandt

April 09, 2019/ Liam Miller

I sat down with Cindy Wang Brandt to talk about her progressive Christian approach to parenting. We discuss what its like to write about parenting while parenting, talking with kids about the tough issues (like racism, climate change, gender inequality), extending autonomy to children and asking what it means to really listen to them. We also touch on her own faith journey, and how she thinks about sharing faith with children.

This is a special episode of Love Rinse Repeat, co-presented with Insights, the magazine of the Uniting Church in Australia, Synod of NSW/ACT. Listen in iTunes // Watch on YouTube

“By becoming aware of the complex ways we participate in systems of inequality or hierarchy, we begin to resist systemic injustice ourselves, empower our children, and change our communities.”

March 13, 2019

Ep25. Fire By Night, Melissa Florer-Bixler

March 13, 2019/ Liam Miller

I sat down with Melissa Florer-Bixler to talk her new book Fire By Night: finding God in the pages of the Old Testament. This is an exceptional, exciting, and accessible work, drawing us into the nuance, beauty, and challenge of the OT in order to draw us deeper into the life of God. We talk about reading slowly, how difficult texts often reveal parts of ourselves we’d rather turn away from, holiness, justice, Sodom and Gomorrah, and how the Mennonite practice of testimony fits well with the nature of debate and conversation within the pages of the OT. Also, we recorded this a day after the Oscars, so we talk about our desire for a Jael movie. Listen in iTunes // Watch on YouTube

This is a special episode, co-presented with Insights, the magazine of the Uniting Church in Australia Synod of NSW/ACT.

“From page to page, chapter to chapter, book to book, we encounter the human and divine in the same verse, the same ink, as one bleeds into the other.”

January 22, 2019

Ep23. God Can't, Thomas Jay Oord

January 22, 2019/ Liam Miller

I sat down with Thomas Jay Oord to talk about his new book God Can't: How to Believe in God and Love after Tragedy, Abuse, or Other Suffering. We talk about his proposal that it would contradict God's nature to stop evil and tragedy unilaterally, and how (pastorally) this is good news. We discuss evil, love, suffering, climate change, and – since this is Thomas’ third visit – I play the grand inquisitor and throw some curve ball questions his way. Watch on YouTube. Or, listen by subscribing to Love Rinse Repeat in your podcast app.

Podcast

Rinse & Repeat