Religiosanity

Pastor Andrew takes us back to the ancient city of Ugarit, this time for the story of the twin gods Shahar and Shalim, sons of El and Asherah, and talks about how this artifact tells us an interesting and important insight into how ancient people viewed their religion, in a very different way than we do in modern and pre-modern times.

Pastor Andrew breaks down the religious history of Russia and Ukraine and the significant part today's religious situation plays in the current conflict.

As the pandemic slides into an endemic, Pastor Andrew has been pondering the reasons why such a large percentage of the country has a mistrust of vaccines and he has come up with a hypothesis. It's not just that the government has done bad things in the past (The Tuskegee Experiment, etc), it's that the people responsible have not been help accountable. In short, the US hasn't made things right. T...

Back to the ancient city of Ugarit for the story of Nikkal-and-Ib. Pastor Andrew talks about this hard to define tale, which exists on only one tablet, about the God Yarich falling in love with Nikkal and asking her father for permission to marry her. He talks about how this story has echos of the Hebrew bible, and the value these ancient stories have for us today.

Pastor Andrew takes us back to the ancient city of Ugarit for the story of King Keret, a legendary king who we catch at the moment he looses everyone he loves and Goddess Asherah gives him instructions to get back the one thing he desires, but he makes one royal mistake. It's a cautionary tale warning against being more religious than God wants you to be. Pastor Andrew places this story in its his...

On this episode, we return back to the ancient city of Ugarit, for the Epos of Aqhat, a poetic tale written in cuneiform 3000 years ago about a special son (Aqhat), a jealous goddess (Anat), a super cool bow and arrow set (with instructions on how to make it yourself), a hit man (Yatipan), a vengeful sister (Pughat), and much more! Just don't expect an ending that wraps it all up. That part is los...

Amy Coney Barrett's line of questioning, at the recent hearing regarding Mississippi's abortion law, betrays her utter ignorance or recent history and just general sociological understanding. Thinking that adoptions and orphanages are a solution to the problem of "forced motherhood" is not only scandalous but also callous. It leads to a discussion about recent Romanian history of parent-less child...

The total acquittal of Wisconsin vigilante/terrorist Kyle Rittenhouse prompts a discussion about the idea of placing the value of property over the value of human lives, and how this whole episode falls, once again, under the frightening banner of christian white nationalism.

On this episode, Peter has a question for Pastor Andrew regarding the quote "myths are that which never were, yet always are." Which leads to a discussion about the transformative importance of myths, and how fundamentalistic approaches to these stories cheat us out of their impact. Here is a YouTube short video about Exodus myth. https://youtu.be/_Nfkrmm3emg

In the third and final segment of the "Angels" series, Pastor Andrew talks about how the hierarchy of angels mirrors the hierarchy of gods in polytheistic theology and how one phrase from Jesus revolutionized the whole structure. Plus he answer the questions 'should angels be unionized?' and MUCH more!

In this second part of the "Angels" series, Pastor Andrew shifts our focus to the more "mundane" angels that we can encounter in life, and shares a story of an angel visiting an old man in modern times.

After 70 episodes of Religiosanity, you must now realize when you see a title like "Angels" that you are not going to get some lightweight, cookie-cutter, hallmark-talk. By now you know that Pastor Andrew is going to take us back to the beginning, as close to the origin as would be possible to examine, back to when they were called "messengers," and he's going to fill us in on what they represente...

Pastor Andrew traveled to Arizona for a birding vacation and provides us with a dispatch from the border wall. The terrible structure is not just an eye-sore, its construction and enforcement create tangible issues for the people of the area that are much more detectable when you visit first-hand. The trip also made him reflect on the irony of the indisputable Mexican-ness of the birds (and other...

Pastor Andrew gives us a theological, exegetical, historical record of the attempts to reconstruct the story of the empty tomb, how it changed throughout the Gospel stories, it’s potential powers and pitfalls, and the multiple reasons why he has chosen not to talk about it in a sermon, until this Easter.

Pastor Andrew and Peter share their personal approaches to Lent, and the idea of abstaining in general, which takes the conversation from soda pop to pescatarianism. Plus Peter shares a wild, potentially controversial lenten practice that he thinks would be an interesting way to get closer to that metaphorical desert. Pastor Andrew finds some merits in it, but also advises thoughtfulness in its re...

The topic of this episode is Mark 8:33, where Jesus tells Peter “Get behind me Satan.” Pastor Andrew touches on the broader context of Peter’s position in the early church and his successors, gives us an illustration of how the story was transformed and deepened through the use of conflict, and calls for the demythologization of the passage, away from resting in the dualism of God and the Devil, “...

Right around the time Senator Ted Cruz was getting on a plane, quite literally leaving behind his suffering constituents trying to survive the power crisis in Texas, Pastor Andrew sat down to record this episode in which he ponders how Christians who subscribe to the Prosperity Gospel, and the end-timers or "Left Behind" crowd, are dealing with being truly left behind, when it comes to the economy...

The events of January 6th prompt a conversation about the duty of progressive Christianity in this time of violent White Christian Nationalism, and the need for a modern Barmen Declaration (which was a document adopted by Christians in Nazi Germany who opposed the German Christian Movement) to publicly decry this brand of blasphemous "Christianity." Here is the link to the sermon mention in this p...

An explanation of his rationale for choices made in his own translation of Matthew 7:13-14 leads Pastor Andrew to an interesting discussion about roads and gates in Jesus' time, and a wider (no pun intended) discussion about translation in general.

A spectacular moment in nature prompted Pastor Andrew to reflect on the famous philosophical thought experiment "If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?" It leads him to a condemnation of the anthropocentric world view at the heart of the question, and challenges us to start accounting for the interconnectedness of the natural world around us, and to let...

Peter jokingly asks Pastor Andrew if, now that Trump has been defeated, we have rid ourselves of religioinsanity. This leads to a discussion on the current state of fervent fundamentalism and a gnoseological crisis.

Pastor Andrew introduces us to the fascinating origin story of Psalm 20. Papyrus Amherst 63 is an ancient scroll discovered in the beginning of last century that gives us a surprising glimpse at a complex and inclusive time in ancient history, and shows us that, up until the 4th century BCE, our religious tradition was not as intolerant as later theologians would like us to believe. Check out the...

As the Amy Coney Barrett Supreme Court nomination hearings press on, Pastor Andrew tells us why we should feel free to criticize her religiousness, and he highlights the limitations/dangers of the particular originalism espoused by a group she has been linked to called "People Of Praise," and the importance of something they ignore: hermeneutics.

As our government officials pass new markers of insanity, both religious-based and otherwise, Pastor Andrew takes us back to ancient times and reads some text from nearly 4000 years ago that show us that government was set up to take care of the less fortunate, not to protect the thriving.

The events in Kenosha Wisconsin prompts Pastor Andrew to rant about the insane state of affairs in this country revolving around police and people of color.