Ep127. Towards a Wahine Maori Theology of Liberation, Tamsyn Kereopa

Ep127. Towards a Wahine Maori Theology of Liberation, Tamsyn Kereopa

In the latest panel on BLM in the church in Australia and Oceania, Tamsyn Kereopa joins Katalina Tahaafe-Williams, Tau’alofa Anga’aelangi, and myself in a discussion on Indigenous theology, the struggle for racial justice in Aotearoa/New Zealand, the shifting forms of colonisation, and her work towards a Wahine Maori Theology of Liberation.

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Ep126. Theatre, Theology, and Bodily Hope, Shannon Craigo-Snell

Ep126. Theatre, Theology, and Bodily Hope, Shannon Craigo-Snell

I sat down with Shannon Craigo-Snell to discuss turning to theatre to ask: Why Church? We discuss what led her to this conversation, how performance as event/interaction/doubleness illuminates the nature of the church, reading Delores Williams with Bertolt Brecht and much more.

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Ep125. Considering the Human, Peter Kline

Ep125. Considering the Human, Peter Kline

I sat down with Peter Kline to talk about the fun and flexibility of teaching theological anthropology, talking sex and gender in the classroom, differences in theological academies and institutions he encountered moving from the US to Australia, and what drew him to negative/apophatic theology.

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Ep121. The Fragility of Language and the Encounter with God, Florian Klug

Ep121. The Fragility of Language and the Encounter with God, Florian Klug

I sat down with German theologian, Florian Klug, to talk about the contingency and legitimacy of doctrine. We discuss the importance of God's initiative preceding human speech, that language is not something we possess but are born into and how this gives us a horizon of preconditioned knowledge that is expanded and shattered by God's intrusion. We also discuss how his book holds together an emphasis on God’s sovereignty and God’s grace in self-revelation so to not overwhelm the human in such a way that we can’t actually make a decision. We also discuss whether doctrine is fundamentally the product of past failure (and enter into a discussion on the early councils), and end with by exploring Flo's proposal that doctrines are “statements that lead into the mysterium of Christ; they are therefore not identical to it because the limits of language are constantly being transgressed by their overarching greatness and transcendence. Doctrines… are first and foremost statements of a hopeful faith… they can be true and correct without losing their human conditionality.”

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Ep111. Theologising with the Sacred 'Prostitutes' of South India, Eve Rebecca Parker

Ep111. Theologising with the Sacred 'Prostitutes' of South India, Eve Rebecca Parker

I sat down with Eve Rebecca Parker to discuss an Indecent Dalit Theology. We talk about her book where she theologises with the Dalit women who from childhood have been dedicated to village goddesses and used as ‘sacred’ sex workers. We talk about how she came to this project, and what theology and the reading of Scripture gains through engagement with the lived religiosity and daily struggles of these dedicated women, known as devadāsīs. Parker shows that it is through this engagement that an Indecent Dalit Liberation Theology that challenges systems of oppression and cultures of impunity, including casteism, sexism, classism and a history of socio-political and religious marginalisation can emerge. We end by discussing how it this engagement shapes her ongoing work - especially on trust in theological education.

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Ep109. Teaching Global Theology, Sathianathan Clarke

Ep109. Teaching Global Theology, Sathianathan Clarke

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!)

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Ep108. What is Theology? Adam Kotsko

Ep108. What is Theology? Adam Kotsko

"This book represents a series of approaches to theology as a critical human discourse, in light of an ever-expanding awareness of the degree to which Christianity is ruining all our lives."

I sat down with Adam Kotsko to talk about Christian thought and contemporary life. I ask how he became (and why he remains) interested in theology, what is political theology, and the relationship between critique, construction, and hope. We then discuss theology and philosophy (and the way both are at risk of trending toward political quietism), before talking about genealogical work in theology and his illuminating chapter on how the doctrine of original sin continues to operate in the modern concept of race and colonial violence - both assigning people as inferior and blaming them for such 'damage'.

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Ep107. Just Revolution, Anna Floerke Scheid

Ep107. Just Revolution, Anna Floerke Scheid

I sat down with Anna Floerke Scheid to discuss her Christian ethic of political resistance and social transformation. We discuss her critique and inversion of Just War Theory to consider how it might be shaped to consider resistance and revolutions from below.

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Ep104 (Live). Indigenous Theology and Decolonising Theological Edu, Naomi Wolfe

Ep104 (Live). Indigenous Theology and Decolonising Theological Edu, Naomi Wolfe

Naomi Wolfe sat down with Rev. Tau’alofa Anga’aelangi, Rev Dr Katalina Tahaafe-Williams, Emma Jackson, and myself to talk about Indigenous theology and spirituality, theological education, decolonising liturgy and language for God, and much more.

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.

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Ep93. Transgressive Devotion, Natalie Wigg-Stevenson

Ep93. Transgressive Devotion, Natalie Wigg-Stevenson

I 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.

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

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

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.

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.

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Ep88. Queer and Indecent: a conversation about Marcella Althaus-Reid, Thia Cooper

Ep88. Queer and Indecent: a conversation about Marcella Althaus-Reid, Thia Cooper

"In sum, Althaus-Reid wanted to help us free ourselves from dominating constructs that keep us from knowing God... the goal is not to formulate one theology but to celebrate the diverse ways of knowing God."

I sat down with Thia Cooper to talk about her new introduction to the work of Marcella Althaus-Reid. We talk about the theological marketplace, attending to variety and lived experience in theology, the hermeneutical circle, the work that remains to be done, and armpits.

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Ep80. The Veiled God, Ruth Jackson Ravenscroft

Ep80. The Veiled God, Ruth Jackson Ravenscroft

I sat down with Ruth Jackson Ravenscroft to talk theology, finitude, and Schleiermacher. I ask about her journey into theology, the importance of reading Schleiermacher with his biography close at hand, and what she's learnt with sharing Schleiermacher beyond the halls of theology, before engaging with her work on finitude (in particular the freedom and unity found therein).

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Ep76. Ontologically Black, Existentially Queer, Spiritually Christian. Ashwin Afrikanus Thyssen

Ep76. Ontologically Black, Existentially Queer, Spiritually Christian. Ashwin Afrikanus Thyssen

I sat down with Ashwin Thyssen to talk about his work at the intersections of race, sexuality and faith, what it means for him to be part of the 'reformed' movement, and the challenge of doing theology in South Africa when you were born after 1994.

Ashwin Afrikanus Thyssen is a PhD Candidate at Stellenbosch University, in Systematic Theology. His research considers the intersections of race, sexuality, and faith. At present he is also undergoing ministerial training for ordained life in the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa. In short, Ashwin identifies as ontologically black, existentially queer, and spiritually Christian.

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Ep61. A Very Schleiermacher Episode, Ted Vial

Ep61. A Very Schleiermacher Episode, Ted Vial

I sat down with Ted Vial to talk about Friedrich Schleiermacher’s political activity, intellectual proclivity, and preacher’s sensitivity. We discuss Schleiermacher’s distinction between religion and theology, why readers benefit by considering his work in other academic disciplines, and why it is helpful to be reminded that the only Christianity we have is the one we have. We end with a great discussion on Schleiermacher’s Christmas Eve: a dialogue and why it’s the perfect entry point to his theological corpus.

This episode is part one of our two-part series: Deus Ex Schleiermacher. Look out for part two with Shelli Poe next week.

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Ep57. Responding to the Climate Emergency, Di Rayson

Ep57. Responding to the Climate Emergency, Di Rayson

I sat down with Dr Di Rayson to talk about teaching theology, being a Christian in green movements, and how to appropriately call on Bonhoeffer when engaging contemporary issues. Di is a public theologian with special interest in climate change, ecoethics, and ecofeminism. She often teaches at The University of Newcastle Australia, where she did her PhD, on Bonhoeffer's Theology and Anthropogenic Climate Change. Di has worked on other contemporary issues such as war, rape culture, and theology and the arts. She has also published on Bonhoeffer and Gandhi and Bonhoeffer's political theology.

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Ep56. Intersex, Theology, and the Bible. Susannah Cornwall

Ep56. Intersex, Theology, and the Bible. Susannah Cornwall

I sat down with Susannah Cornwall, Associate Professor in Constructive Theologies at the University of Exeter, to talk about her edited volume Intersex, Theology, and the Bible: Troubling Bodies in Church, Text, and Society (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015). We discuss gender reveal parties, the limits of gender binaries, the ethics of performing ‘surgical corrections’ on infants, why theology often overlooks intersex people, and intersex's capacity to positively trouble unquestioned norms and dubious assumptions in religion and beyond.

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Ep45. Remembering Lived Lives, Michael Jimenez

Ep45. Remembering Lived Lives, Michael Jimenez

I sat down with Michael Jimenez to talk about his attempt to take the foreignness of history to another level. We engage his book, Remembering Lived Lives: A Historiography from the Underside of Modernity (Cascade, Books, 2017) - and I ask him about how good history and theology does not forget to remember the past, empathetic reading, Barth's view of history, engaging history through cinema and image, and how history can be seen as resistance.

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