Protect Your Noggin

Obviously the way of Jesus invites us to love everyone, and this includes your parents. Moreover, it is good to seek wise counsel from people who have lived longer than you have. But Jesus teaches that it is important for you to follow what you believe to be good, true and beautiful, regardless of what your parents, teachers, and religious authorities might say. After seeking the wisdom of others,...

Reflections on our anxious times facing Covid-19 and uncertainties. A poem from Isaac Frazee. Stacie shares insights from her training as a death doula that apply to valuing life in the present. A bonus reflection from Stacie on Tao Te Ching chapter 10 closes the show out. 

PYNWJ5 Too often, people join a religion because they think it will bring them social or material benefits, as if God were some sort of genie in a bottle. Though the way of Jesus may ultimately be the best investment one could make, it nevertheless involves letting go of a lot of things we tend to hoard. If we go halfway, refusing to trust in the nature of his new kingdom, we make fools of ourselv...

Can the principles we promote on this show be applied within Christian education? While it isn't always easy, one longstanding way to do so is through the liberal arts, especially in the context of church-related higher education. Guests Joel Oesch (theology) and Daniel Deen (philosophy), two colleagues from Jeff's university (Concordia University, Irvine) discuss the difficulties and opportunitie...

Why it's important to read outside your normal library, meet people outside your normal sandbox, and welcome wisdom from abroad. We explain a bit about why we got into creating a new English version of the Tao Te Ching, along with two sample audio readings and reflections. This gives you a bit of a preview of what we'll be up to with season 3, which will be about Protect Your Noggin with Lao Tzu....

The well-known parable of the talents teaches us something unexpected: that sometimes it's not better to be safe than sorry. Sometimes, you'll be sorry if you play it too safe. This is about the character of God and whether we are free to take bold creative risks in our families, places of work, and religious communities. Go to protectyournoggin.org to find out how to get copies of the chapters.

Through answering questions from listeners, Jeff and Stacie weave together a conversation about the importance of people old and young experiencing agency in their lives and how we might help young people gain agency through a concept called Unconditional Positive Regard. 

Equipped with the truth, Jesus demonstrates that we don’t need to be in fear of corrupt religious leaders, but are free to stir things up for the sake of what is right. Indeed, he invites us to be indignant and vocal when leaders are hurting the people they are called to serve. This is the famous story where Jesus smashes stuff up in the Temple. It's sometimes known as the “cleansing of the Temple...

The first segment responds to a question about acts of evangelism for a seminary assignment. We discuss what it means to share good news that really is good. Then, 50 minutes in we move to an interview with a young woman named Autumn who demonstrates a bit of the boldness we discussed last week. Jeff asked her to join the show after hearing her poetry, which she shared at an open mic event headlin...

The story of Jesus calling his first disciples, the non-institutional basis for his authority, the value of boldness, and how Jesus located the holy within people rather than places and structures. This is part of a 12 part series studying teachings of Jesus that can help us protect ourselves from manipulative tactics of folks who might come in the name of Jesus, and then find empowerment in the p...

This second part is rather to the point (compared to some of our shows!) We start with chapter 69 of the Tao Te Ching then dive into the criteria of just war theory to discuss when and how to ethically engage problematic people in our lives, whether just annoyances or criminals.  TW: sexual abuse, clergy abuse, guru abuse

This is the first of two parts this week. We seek wisdom regarding when to engage "bad guys" in our lives, reflecting on three news stories: 1) US military action in Iraq and the question of legitimate authority in acts of war, 2) Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's act of backing out of the cult of the British royal family, and 3) the death of Ram Dass and Jeff and Stacie's initial reticence to take...

Protect Your Noggin with Jesus, a twelve chapter study, is the focus for this season. Study along with us. First ten minutes: Jeff introduces season two and why we are focusing on the teachings of Jesus this round. Then Jeff and Stacie discuss the story of Mary and Martha, why religiosity gets in the way of listening to the core message too often, and why legalism can be exhausting. After the brea...

Forgiveness is a mark of the community of the followers of Jesus, according to the Apostle's Creed. It is also often said in New Age self-help circles that you should forgive because it is good for you. While we recognize the importance and power of forgiveness we also discuss some of the ways in which forgiveness is misused to keep people quiet about injustice. We discuss the problem of the just...

This is more of a laid back conversational show. Imagine we're just sitting around on couches, with a fire glowing. In the first segment we discuss how myths affect the way we approach life. How some myths become outdated and need replacement. Guest Auggie Mallinson talks about Gilbert Ryle on myth and the important lessons from the animated series Bojack Horseman, which teaches us that character...

What is it to be "spiritual"? How does this differ from magic and religion, and where does mysticism fit in? This week, we address the connection between the infinite source of all existence, and the importance of embodiment for that eternal reality to be expressed. We discuss our visit to some Voodoo spots in New Orleans. Stacie shares a bit from our translation of Tao Te Ching chapter 1. We addr...

The main point of this show is that we are invited to pay more attention to the wisdom that our bodily senses offer, to carefully listen to what they are telling us, and yet to not judge the stimuli too quickly. We discuss the importance of intuition, and the idea that the non-human universe is actively communicating with us through various senses even when it doesn't use human language. We start...

Christian education in the US tends to sell folks on the idea that they offer train students in a Christian worldiview. Setting aside the question of whether they've got the right version, on this show we question the fundamental issue of whether that's a smart or healthy move in the first place. Then, in the second segment (at time marker 01:15) we discuss the ways in which Castro took over the m...

This one is a grab bag. We discuss wisdom we've gathered from old and new friends on our cross country journey throughout the US. We share six lessons in the first hour from former students, a mariachi, a longstanding indie legend, and a moonshiner. Then, after the first hour, we chat with a friend who has a condition called hyperhidrosis, which kept her from going to church and also makes her fee...

During their sabbatical semester traveling the country and studying American religion, Jeff and Stacie spent time at a legendary hippie commune called The Farm in Tennessee. It was founded by Stephen Gaskin and author of Spiritual Midwifery Ida May Gaskin. The group voted to stop being a "cult" and changed to an intentional community in the 1980s. This show is about the lessons learned from that t...

Why Uber drivers are important for understanding a local scene. The commune called "The Farm", how young women are unplugging from the patriarchy through van life etc. Fear based religious signage in the US. Understanding return of paganism. The difference between mysticism and magic. Maslow's hierarchy of needs applied to religious expression. Climate change. Spoken word poetry. Ranking US hot do...

Road lessons for the soul! We’ve been on the road for half a year now. We’ve discovered some wisdom along the way. For the next few episodes, we will be sharing insights from our overland travels across the US. The first two episodes will be about general lessons we’ve learned. Then, we’ll share direct advice from friends we’ve visited along the way. This show also provides some introductory infor...

Who owns you? Does your father? Your spouse? Your church? God?  Segment one: the radical nature of Christian liberty, reflecting on a surprising ally here: the Apostle Paul in Galatians 3-4 who argues that no one owns an heir to the kingdom of heaven. Segment two (starting after the first hour): the good, bad, and ugly about the classical Christian school movement, its valuable insights for K-12 e...

Molech was the underworld deity to whom some in the ancient Near East sacrificed their children. In philosopher Bertrand Russell and poet Allan Ginsberg we see folks using Molech or "Moloch" as a reference to impersonal, authoritarian religions of cruel power. Through fear, folks find themselves turning religion into the exact opposite of what they originally came for: peace is exchanged for terro...

“Look for truth that is like a solid granite mountain face. Let all fragile constructs dash to pieces against it.” This is not a show arguing for or against the concept of biblical inerrancy, but it is a long form reflection on the nature of truth and what it feels like when we find it. It is also about ways in which people sometimes use ideas like biblical infallibility as a tool for authoritaria...