The Distillery

White evangelical support for Trump was not surprising, according to Kristin Kobes Du Mez, professor of history and gender studies at Calvin University. In this episode, we talk about her book, Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation , which explores how a popular Hollywood movie star helped to shape a cult of masculinity that put several presidents, i...

With institutional distrust seemingly at all-time highs, nearly 40% of Generation Z claims no religious affiliation. It’s a startling revelation, one magnified by studies announcing Gen Z as both the most diverse and most lonely generation on record. In this week’s episode, we sit down with Dr. Josh Packard, the Executive Director of the Springtide Research Institute, to discuss his work exploring...

In this episode of The Distillery , we talk with the Rev. Dr. Jamie Eaddy Chism, the director of program development for the International End of Life Doula Association and 2015 Fellow of the Black Theology and Leadership Institute at Princeton Theological Seminary, about her work as a certified trauma professional and death counselor. In this conversation, she shares how she journeys with those d...

For centuries, the mentally ill have been misunderstood and ostracized within religious communities. What would it mean to seriously transform how we view, discuss and treat those struggling with mental illness as Christians? In this episode, co-host Shari Oosting sits down with John Swinton, professor of practical theology and pastoral care at the University of Aberdeen Scotland to examine these...

In this episode, Rev. Mark Elsdon talks to us about his book, “We Aren’t Broke: Uncovering Hidden Resources for Mission and Ministry," which explores how faith-based organizations can use investment assets and property for mission impact and financial resiliency. Listen as Elsdon challenges the idea of a scarcity mindset, arguing that the Church is wealthier now more than ever before, and shares t...

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Erin Raffety (MDiv '08), PCUSA pastor and researcher, about her work with persons with disabilities in the church, and how she seeks to use her research to inform deeper, richer pastoral care and conversation within congregations. Erin's goal is to take seriously the voices, experiences, and contributions of people with disabilities in order to enable the church...

In this episode, we speak with Dr. João Chaves, Assistant Director for Programming at the Hispanic Theological Initiative at Princeton Theological Seminary, about his book, Migrational Religion: Context and Creativity in the Latinx Diaspora . We talk about his work and focus on his case study of a network formed by communities of Brazilian immigrants who formed a unique ethnic association within t...

The Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, Senior Minister for Public Theology at Middle Collegiate Church in New York City, explores this question with host Sushama-Austin Connor while discussing her books, Fierce Love and The Pentecost Paradigm . In this episode, Dr. Lewis offers timeless lessons about what she calls a “multi-everything” ministry that offers love and inclusion to everyone.  The Rev. Dr. Jacqui...

This season you can expect deep dives into such topics as radical love, stewardship, and the changing landscape of theological education. We’ll explore ethnic denominationalism in Latinx migrational religion, learn practical ways Christian leaders can reframe their understanding of money and ministry, and discover steps to becoming a multiracial congregation.  The first episode of Season 6 airs Fr...

In this episode, Jerusha Neal, assistant professor of homiletics at Duke Divinity School, explores a homiletic theology that reclaims the absence and presence of the fully human Word, offers fresh conceptions on the embodiment of Jesus in the sermon, and compares the Spirit-empowered pregnancy of Mary to the work of preaching. Jerusha Matsen Neal , assistant professor of homiletics at Duke Divinit...

 In this episode, Andrew Root, the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary, talks with us about his recent book, The Congregation in a Secular Age: Keeping Sacred Time Against the Speed of Modern Life , the third in his series of books on ministry in the secular age, in which he engages the work of Charles Taylor and understanding congregations in contemporar...

New Testament scholar Dr. Lisa Bowens takes aim at this question in her new book, African American Readings of Paul: Reception, Resistance, and Transformation . In this interview, Sushama Austin-Connor talks with Dr. Bowens about the inspiration behind this work, the “hidden figures” of African American hermeneutics, interpretations of Paul that resist white supremacy and racism, and more.  Lisa B...

In this episode, Jim McCloskey, MDiv ’83, a lay minister and founder of Centurion, the first nonprofit dedicated to the vindication of the wrongly convicted, speaks to this question in his book, When Truth Is All You Have: A Memoir of Faith, Justice, and Freedom for the Wrongly Convicted. He shares his minister-turned-prisoner-advocate experience, which inspired author John Grisham’s book, The Gua...

In this episode, Shari Oosting sits down with author James K.A. Smith, professor of philosophy at Calvin College, who sets out to speak to this question in his book, On the Road with Saint Augustine: A Real-World Spirituality for Restless Hearts , revealing how Augustine’s timeless wisdom speaks to the worries and struggles of contemporary life. James K. A. Smith is professor of philosophy at Calv...

In this episode, Sally Brown, homiletician and Elizabeth M. Engle Professor of Preaching and Worship at Princeton Theological Seminary, talks about these themes and more from her new book, Sunday’s Sermon for Monday’s World: Preaching to Shape Daring Witness, in which she shares ways preachers can help spark their hearer’s sense of divine imagination. Sally A. Brown , PhD '01, is Princeton Seminar...

In this episode, Angela talks with Sushama Austin-Connor about her research on joy and her book The Gravity of Joy: A Story of Being Lost and Found. They consider how we can study joy with a theological lens, how our emotions are always teaching us something, and how joy is a realization of relatedness and connection. Dr. Angela Williams Gorrell is an ordained pastor and assistant professor of pra...

Joni Sancken is an assistant professor of homiletics at United Theological Seminary, and author of Words That Heal: Preaching Hope to Wounded Souls . In this episode, Sushama Austin-Connor talks with Joni about her expertise in preaching and her personal experience of trauma, sharing ways for the Church to become a place that welcomes expressions of trauma and offers love, care, and healing to sur...

Tim Soerens is a pastor and author of the new book Everywhere You Look: Discovering the Church Right Where You Are.  In this episode, hear Tim talk with Dayle Rounds about why he feels hopeful about the American church and what he thinks the church might be called to do in this particular season of the pandemic. They discuss how the church might come to see its purpose not as creating God’s missio...

Annie Lockhart-Gilroy speaks on how we can nurture a “sanctified imagination.” In this episode, you will hear Shari Oosting talk with Annie about her book, Nurturing the Sanctified Imagination of Urban Youth. They discuss what it looks like to do ministry in an urban setting and how we might prepare urban youth for a future that is designed in partnership with God. Rev. Annie A. Lockhart-Gilroy ,...

In Season 5 we’ll consider the relationship between despair and joy, hear the story of one man's life of ministry working to free those who are wrongly imprisoned, and learn to spark hope and possibility in the future of urban youth and their communities by creating space for sanctified imagination. We'll explore why congregations feel pressure from the speed of change in contemporary life, discus...

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Creative expression can be a powerful aid in helping to move across differences. In this episode, Lakisha Lockhart shares how modes of play can be used as a pedagogical resource for theological education and how engaging in embodied experiences and cultural expressions are seen and valued. The Distillery is a podcast that explores the essential ingredients of book and research projects with expert...