The Beached White Male Podcast with Ken Kemp

Send us Fan Mail While Ken is traveling on the Civil Rights Tour, he's replaying some of his top podcasts. He's also asking you to check in with your thoughts on the celebration of his 200th Episode. Ken welcomes author, speaker, activist, and public theologian, BRIAN McLAREN to the podcast. It's a rich conversation, worthy of two parts. In Part I, Ken and Brian explore the early ye...

Send us Fan Mail While Ken is traveling on the Civil Rights Tour, he's replaying some of his top podcasts. He's also asking you to check in with your thoughts on the celebration of his 200th Episode. For five weeks, Ken Kemp facilitated a virtual discussion around the Scene On Radio Podcast series, Seeing White - all 14 episodes. All ten participants were white and represented several ge...

Send us Fan Mail While Ken is traveling on the Civil Rights Tour, he's replaying some of his top podcasts. He's also asking you to check in with your thoughts on the celebration of his 200th Episode. Ken welcomes back his friend John Williams, the Director of the Center for Racial Reconciliation . Recorded on January 13, after the insurrection and before the inauguration, Ken and John ta...

Send us Fan Mail While Ken is traveling on the Civil Rights Tour, he's replaying some of his top podcasts. He's also asking you to check in with your thoughts on the celebration of his 200th Episode. d Kale , M .Div., 1963   professional kayaker , was a student at Yale Divinity School in 1961 when a generous professor funded is participation in a Freedom Ride to Jackson , MS. He was arre...

Send us Fan Mail Ken tells the story of the CIVIL RIGHTS TOUR , June 2022 - Episode 200 is coming! Ken welcomes author, spiritual director, activist, and preaching minister at the University Church of Christ (Pepperdine),  Eric Wilson . The two met at a spiritual retreat for the facilitators of the Center for Racial Reconciliation where Eric led a day of refreshment and restoration around the them...

Send us Fan Mail REPRISE : The first episode of Season 3, Ken brought back friend of the podcast, Dr. David Gushee. He had just released a new book  - Introducing Christian Ethics (release date - January 2022 ). David has just been named Senior Research Fellow at International Baptist Theological Study Centre at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.  David  will present a scholarly lecture entitled "...

Send us Fan Mail Ken releases his Beach Talk with Betsey from his quarantine in the BWM Studios.  It's been one more heartbreaking week... tragedy upon tragedy.  The shooting in Ulvade begs the question of gun laws - an 18-year-old purchases two AR 15s , with the capacity to kill scores of people in minutes.  The shooting in Buffalo begs the question of race and white supremacy. Politicians w...

Send us Fan Mail Ken and Osahon Obazuaye talk about hip-hop and one of rap's biggest names: Kanye West , who just won Billboard's top honors as a "Christian artist." Ken remembers Bob Dylan's conversion to Christianity and his classic album, Slow Train Coming (1979). Osahon names Kanye's first and favorite album - College Drop Out as the one that captured his imaginat...

Send us Fan Mail Ken and Betsey bid farewell to Carla. They celebrate Chicago's wonders. Tragically, Buffalo was the scene of yet another deadly shooting, perpetrated by a  young assailant, heavily armed, with evil intent. His reasons were disturbingly clear - his manifesto rooted in white supremacy . The same weekend, there was a fatal shooting in Geneva Presbyterian Church in Orange County,...

Send us Fan Mail Ken Kemp (the Beached White Male) joins Ken Fong (Asian American - the Ken Fong Podcast) in the wake of yet another horrific hate crime in Buffalo, New York . The shooter, Payton Gendron , left a long manifesto that centered on " replacement theory," a basic tenet of white supremacy . For the shooter, it justified his crime. This tragic event begs the question: what are...

Send us Fan Mail Ken welcomes the newly appointed Associate Rector of the historic All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena . Ken got to know "Chase" (his preferred name) at the Center for Racial Reconciliation. They open with a discussion of his first sermon at the church - a powerful, high-energy, prophetic word. A graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary, Chase has thought deeply about...

Send us Fan Mail Betsey attended a speech by Secretary Pete live and in person at the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics with David Axelrod . From the third row seated next to Lucy Lark's mom, she gives a first-person account of Pete Buttigieg's performance. Betsey makes the case for a presidential run. A leaked Supreme Court draft of the ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade do...

Send us Fan Mail Ken welcomes long-time friend of the podcast, Dr. Theon Hill . Dr. Hill is a professor at Wheaton College , an Aspen Civil Society Fellow and emerging social intellectual. The two reminisce over the first episode of the BWM podcast where Dr. Hill was Ken's very first guest. Then, they have a lively reaction to the Grove City College report that condemns Critical Race Theory a...

Send us Fan Mail REPRISE Philip Yancey's courageous and penetrating new book, his memoir - Where the Light Fell - will be released on October 5. There's a big audience for Philip's story. There are over 100 million claim to have experienced Christian fundamentalism and 25 million more identify as " exvangelicals ." Brother Marshall , a musical prodigy, had perfect pitch. P...

Send us Fan Mail In this very special episode, Carla reveals her real identity . Ken and Carla share how they met, the projects that brought them together, and how they began this 18-month weekly conversation they call "Beach Talks." Rather than spell out the details here, you'll need to listen to the podcast. Sharing the early days, pre-podcast, they talk about their new friendship...

Send us Fan Mail Ken is pleased to welcome Lisa Sharon Harper and her new groundbreaking book, Fortune - How Race Broke My Family and the World--and How to Repair It All . It all began with the results of her submission of DNA to ancestry.com . Lisa learned of her Nigerian roots - and ancestry that extends all the way back to the onset of slavery in America in the 1600s. Lisa shares her story of a...

Send us Fan Mail For Easter Week, Ken and Carla begin on a very personal note - Carla's departed husband, Fritz would be celebrating his birthday on the day of this recording. They reminisce about Fritz who, like Ken, went o seminary and served as a pastor. Carla shares the story of their romance. The two reflect on the meaning of this season of resurrection. Turning to the headlines, Joe Bid...

Send us Fan Mail The vote is in! Ketanji Brown Jackson has been approved by the Senate to become the newest Associate Justice of the Supreme Court . Ken and Carla review the events leading up to and following the historic bi-partisan vote: 52/47. The sorry Republican response triggers their analysis and commentary. Eddie Glaude, Jr. and Cory Booker contribute their insight and perspectives. Carla...

Send us Fan Mail Ken welcomes his good friend Osahon Obasuaye for the first in a series they call, "Cabana Talks." Cancel culture has become what Osahon calls, the Cult of Cancellation . It seems to be everywhere. Julie Roys exposes John MacArthur's misdeeds; both have something to learn from the "N" word - nuance. Ken asks about Osahon's take on the Will Smith/Chris...

Send us Fan Mail Ken and Carla celebrate the first day of the month, April Fool's Day . The Oscars are still the buzz as the nation processes Will Smith's assault on Chris Rock , before Hollywood's glitterati and millions of views. Lost in the fray was the Oscar-winning documentary, Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised). Ken and Carla celebrate the music...

Send us Fan Mail Ken welcomes Rev. David Swanson, author of the powerfully provocative book, Redisciplining the White Church from Cheap Diversity to True Solidarity . Once again on the podcast, two white guys talk about race - specifically race in the American white evangelical church. David started a church in the historic Bronzeville district in the South Side of Chicago . David tells the story...

Send us Fan Mail Ken welcomes Diana Butler Bass, an author, speaker, and independent scholar specializing in American religion and culture. They talk about her new book (to be released March 31, 2021) Freeing Jesus . Diana shares the background that took her from the East Coast to Arizona and Scottsdale Bible Church where she made a commitment to follow Jesus. It took her to Westmont College and G...

Send us Fan Mail Ken and Carla review the situation in Ukraine and then turn to the Judiciary Committee hearings with Supreme Court nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson . Ken expresses relief that he left the republican party years ago. The grandstanding and political theater betrays a complete abandonment of democratic norms, all played out on the world stage. Turn's out, Robin D'Angelo'...

Send us Fan Mail Carla turns a professional page and shares the implications. Secretary Pete appeared on 60 Minutes for a full segment on Infrastructure - a welcome priority for our nation. Christianity Today gives a public response to the accusations of sexual harassment in their organization. It signals the troubling impact of toxic masculinity in evangelical institutions which historically have...

Send us Fan Mail The two Kens ponder the perplexing question: why are many evangelicals enamored with Vladimir Putin and his nationalist vision for Russia? As Russia invades Ukraine this month, Putin has been exposed as an autocrat and brutal, murderous tyrant. Some conservatives, by necessity, are back-tracking. But for years, far-right conservatives, including Donald Trump , Mike Pompeo , Frankl...