I sat down with Jione Havea to discuss his new book, Losing Ground. We discuss the book of Ruth, reading it amidst climate catastrophe, how Jione built this book through talanoa and bible studies with Pasifika people across Australia, Aotearoa, and the Pacific, opening up academic biblical studies, and how this book "seeks to make any notions of white supremacy absurd."
Read MoreI sat down with Anna Carter Florence to talk about her passion for preaching. We discuss lessons she's learnt from teaching preaching for two decades, overlap between acting and preaching, how to make Scripture more dynamic and accessible, and her book Rehearsing Scripture: Discovering God's Word in Community.
Read MoreHow does one pick up a Bible and start to read it?
It’s a deceptively complex question. And in the time of COVID19 when many people are reaching for their Bibles outside of their familiar contexts of a worshipping community, shared liturgy and the proclamation of the word, it’s a question well worth considering.
To help us consider it I sat down with two wonderful pastors, authors, and friends of the podcast, Melissa Florer-Bixler and Emmy Kegler. We talk about the questions we bring to scripture and the questions scripture asks of us. I ask about resisting the urge of reading scripture to “come to something” and we discuss how to approach texts that have been used to wound. We cover how the pandemic is re-shaping their ministries and how it feels to have their books turn one.
Read More“I did not have a plan for how I would accomplish falling in love with scripture. I simply decided that I had to and went from there.”
I sat down with Rev Emmy Kegler to talk about her new book One Coin Found: How God’s Love Stretches to the Margins. We discuss her personal journey with Scripture and how it led to this book, what its like to write a book on God and the Bible while showing up each week to minister, the vitality and significance of Jacob wrestling and being wounded by a mysterious man, what it means to be blessed, what it means to carry wounds and scars even after finding wholeness. We also cover Emmy’s artistic style of sermon prep, needing God (or a particular version of God to shut up), and the Queer Grace Community. This episode also contains the debut of an exciting new segment – pairings – which I think went very well. Listen in iTunes // Watch on YouTube
Read MoreI sat down with Benjamin D. Sommer, Professor of Bible and Ancient Semitic Languages at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. I ask him what happened at Sinai... which is a far more complicated question than you may have previously noticed. We discuss participatory revelation, dissolving the line between Scripture and Tradition, practices of close reading, the way Biblical texts destabalise their own authority whilst maintaining a commitment to Law, and whether we must privilege the redactor over the other voices in Scripture? Listen in iTunes // Watch on YouTube
Read More“All Torah, ancient, medieval, and modern, is a response to the event at Sinai”
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.
Read More“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.”
I interviewed Gary Worete Deverell to talk about his book, Gondwana Theology: A Trawloolway man reflects on Christian Faith. We talk about the material, fleshy nature of First People’s Spirituality and the building blocks of country, kin, and Dreaming. We engage the Dreaming and Genesis 1 – the present power of Creation narratives to shape the identity of those colonised; we also cover reconciliation, racism, mischievous spirits, what to preach on Trinity Sunday, and his letter to his First Nations sisters and brothers navigating the white church… plus, a bunch of liturgy talk! Listen in iTunes // Watch on YouTube. Co-Presented with Insights, the magazine of the Uniting Church in Australia Synod of NSW/ACT
Read More“The God made known in the stories of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures is a God who was sojourning with our people, here in this country, long before the calling of Abraham, or Moses, or St Paul. Our dreaming can be ‘read’ as a legitimate witness to that sojourning and should therefore be engaged as an equally rich source of revelation and guidance regarding the living of a human life that is good, beautiful and true”
"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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