Practicing Gospel Podcast

My guest for this episode is the Reverend Dr. Jonathan C. Augustine. But that is the name that appears on his books. In his personal relationships, Dr. Augustine goes by Jay. Dr. Augustine serves as senior pastor of St. Joseph AME Church, in Durham, NC, and as general chaplain of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. He is an accomplished author, respected academic leader, and nationally recognized soc...

My guest for this episode is Jim Jinkins. Jim is a progressive Christian who is an American animator, cartoonist, and children’s book author. He is most notably known for his animated character,  Doug . Jim is here to tell us the story of his career and work in creating and producing children’s educational animation series and writing children’s books and to talk about how he has...

My guest for this episode is Robin Russell Gaiser. Robin is a Certified Music Practitioner who, for over sixteen years, offered live acoustic bedside music to the critically and chronically ill, elderly, and dying in hospitals, hospices, rehabs, and nursing and private homes. She gives us in-depth insight into her experiences in her wonderful book,  Musical Morphine: Transforming Pain One Note at...

My guest for this episode is Mark Yaconelli . Mark Yaconelli is a writer, retreat leader, community builder, spiritual director, storycatcher, husband, and father. He is the founder and executive director of  The Hearth . Previously, he co-founded and served as program director for the  Center for Engaged Compassion  where he helped develop a unique set of practices and training programs for assis...

In this episode my guest, Adam Tice, share with us two of his hymns and talks with us about his work. Adam was named a Lovelace Scholar by the Hymn Society of the United States and Canada. He served as a member of the Society’s executive committee from 2007 to 2010. He was Associate Pastor of Hyattsville (Maryland) Mennonite Church from 2007 to 2012. Adam now lives with his family in Goshen,...

One of the things I have recently learned it that there isn’t just capitalism and socialism, but different kinds of capitalism and different kinds of socialism. In addition, there are alternatives to both of these approaches to economics, like ecological or steady state economics. Some forms of capitalism work better that others. Some forms of socialism work better that others. What is clear, is t...

Hospice care and palliative care are closely related and sometimes overlapping, but both of these areas of medical care still greatly misunderstood. This episode focuses on hospice care. For a better understanding of this important and vital ministry and form of care I turn to the Reverends Leah Brown, Kelly Belcher, and Jody Griffin. Leah Brown is Associate Pastor, Pastoral Care at First Baptist...

In this episode, my guest, Dr. Caroline Knox, helps us understand palliative care as a developing area in medical care. Dr. Knox is a graduate of Wesleyan University and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. She trained in Family Medicine at St. Mary’s Family Medicine Residency in Grand Junction, CO. She was a general practitioner in New Zealand before pursuing further training in Palliative M...

I had interviewed Stephen and Rachel Mosley as a part of the Foundling House Interview (PGE 33) and wanted to do a full episode on their music. Rachel and Stephen Mosley  met in a freshman year high school geography class sometime late last century.  Married for twenty years, they’ve just recently begun to write and perform their own earthy, soft brand of folk, and to share it beyond their own fro...

A native of Nottingham, England, Dr. Darren J. N. Middleton received his Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies from the University of Manchester, his Master of Philosophy in Modern Christian Doctrine from the University of Oxford, and his Ph. D. in Literature and Theology from the University of Glasgow. After teaching five years at Rhodes College and a 24 year tenure at Texas Christian University,...

This episode is the second interview with and about Christians in social work. The last episode focused upon the practitioners perspective. This episode focuses on the academic perspective. I am honored to have as my guests for this conversation Dr. Tanya Smith Brice , Dr. Jon E. Singletary , and Dr. Laine Scales . Tanya is Vice President of Education at the Council on Social Work Education . Prev...

The teaching of Jewish and Christian scripture, and for Christians, particularly the example and teachings of Jesus, Paul, and the first writers of Christian scripture have emphasized the mandate to care for people. Some of the roots of the caring efforts of social work are in the Jewish/Christian tradition. There is much parallel and overlap between social work and Judaism and Christianity. Some...

In this episode I have a conversation with those who are or have been prison chaplains. They get us started into understanding the nature and experience of the prison and ministry within that context. My guests are the Reverends Carol Sasser Dalton, Nancy Hastings Sehested, and Jody Griffin. For the past fifteen years, Carol has been and continues to be chaplain at Western (formerly Swannano) Corr...

My guest for this episode is Lumbee author, poet, librarian, and American Indian activist Dana Lynell Lowery. Dana is the author of Poems and Hollers from a Candy Apple Indian ,  Strong Like Rhoda: Exploring Female Power in the Lumbee Tribe , and  Lumbee Herstory . You can learn more about Dana from her website: https://candyappleindian.com The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip...

This episode is a continuation of my efforts to make you aware of issues relating to religious freedom and to the work of the BJC . I welcome back Jennifer Hawks . The cases Jennifer discusses are Ramirez vs Collier , Shurtleff vs Boston , Carson vs Makin , and Kennedy vs Bremerton . She also continues to discuss the BJC’s efforts in addressing Christian Nationalism. Jennifer speaks on the B...

My guest for this episode is Don Mosley. Don has had and continues to have an amazing and vital ministry as a peacebuilder and care giver that has made the world a better place because it has made Christians and the Church more Christ-like because of the models he, his wife, Carolyn,  and those with him have provided for living faithfully as followers of our Lord Jesus Christ and as citizens of Go...

My continuing interest in making you aware, my dear listeners, of alternatives to the growth economies of various free market capitalisms and state socialisms/communisms, I have focused to this point on Ecological or Steady State economics. In this episode I branch out and introduce you to the numerous efforts being called the solidarity economy. To do this, I have as my guest, Elias Crim . Elias...

My guest for this episode is Dr. Mischa Willett . Dr. Willett is the author of two critically-acclaimed books of poetry: The Elegy Beta and Phases , and is editor of Philip James Bailey’s epic Festus . He teaches in the English Department at Seattle Pacific University and in its MFA program in Creative Writing. He is a specialist in British Literature of the Nineteenth-Century, particularly the po...

In this episode Meta Commerse returns as my guest to discuss her fifth book, her memoir,  Womaning . Meta Commerse is a Blues Doula. A former professor of History and English, she’s an award-winning author. Among her works are short stories, essays, poetry, numerous newspaper articles, one stage play, her story medicine novel, “The Mending Time,” and now her memoir, with more to come. She earned h...

In this episode I interview Bob Ekblad about the work he and his wife, Gracie, have been and are doing and we talk about some of his books. Bob and Gracie Ekblad are founders and co-directors of  Tierra Nueva  (New Earth) in Burlington, Washington.  Together they minister at Tierra Nueva and at their home-based retreat center  New Earth Refuge in the Skagit Valley. As Directors of Tierra Nueva, Bo...

In this episode, I welcome back Janna Barber to discuss her book,  Hidden in Shadow: Tales of Grief, Lamentations, and Faith , and to have her read and discuss more of her poems. Janna was a guest when in interview participants in Foundling House back in Episode 33. Janna Barber is a teller of stories, a writer of poems, and a lifelong member of the tribe of humanity. The grown-up daughter of a Ba...

Western approaches to knowledge have been called into question due to the legacies of European colonialism and white supremacy and Western conceptions of reality and the universe have been transformed by the advent or relativity and quantum physics. These challenges have influenced not only Western science in general, but Western medicine in particular. The revealed limits of Western medicine have...

In my mind, there are two major atrocities at the historical roots of our nation that created legacies with which we are still dealing to this day. One was the enslavement of African peoples and, after slavery was brought to an end, the subsequent segregation and continued oppression of black people through the Jim Crow laws. The other was the displacement, genocide, and forced assimilation of the...

My understanding is that in order to understand Critical Race Theory accurately one should begin with the seminal work,  Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement , authored and edited by Kimberlé Crenshaw, Neil Gotanda, Gary Peller, and Kendall Thomas. Especially since June of 2021, the political and Christian Right has chosen to target Critical Race Theory as harmful to the...

Irie Price is a writer, blogger, and stakeholder engagement consultant interested in asking questions that lead to growth. The author of the blog, WELL, Irie believes hearing other people’s stories is a powerful way of understanding our own. That is why her work and blog explore race, culture, and wellness through the power of personal narrative. You can learn more about Irie and read her blog at...