The Magnificast

This week, we're back to reading books! We've got some hot takes about the economic message of the Gospels that you didn't learn about in church from Richard Horsley's book You Shall Not Bow Down and Serve Them. We'll be back with the second part of the book next week.  Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong  Outro music by theillogicalspoon  https://theillalogicalspoon.bandcamp.com/track/hoods-up-the-l...

It's an election year, which means that every person you know will tell you what they think about voting. We're no different. In this episode, we're talking about Joe Biden, the SOTU, Palestine, and the uncommitted vote.  Intro: Amaryah Armstrong Outro: theillalogicalspoon

You might have noticed that the podcast feed has been empty for a few weeks. Dean has been travelling the world and went all the way to Nepal to the World Social Forum to rub elbows with liberation theologians and activists. This week, Dean is back and ready to tell us all about it.  Learn more about the World Social Forum here: https://www.wsf2024nepal.org/organization/activity/59

Happy Valentines Day/Ash Wednesday. Here's a classic ep to help us think about love.  "Love is a power, and for that reason we cannot sequester it from all politics or keep it trapped in theological and mystical privacy. Love is not a neutral power that agrees with everything. But love lives precariously in a world that vacillates between not knowing what it is and subjecting it to the values of c...

Dean is halfway around the world at the World Social Forum talking liberation theology, so this week we're bringing you one from the archives. This conversation still seems timely given the new round of He Gets Us ads at the super bowl. This week, Josiah Daniels has joined us from the frontlines of the culture war, where he's been reporting on the He Gets Us campaign for Sojourners. In this episod...

This week on the podcast we're thinking about the way St Francis approached animals in his life. To take the idea of animals a bit more seriously we read the book Animalia: An Anti-Imperial Bestiary for Our Times. In the episode, we talk about the imperial history of apes, dogs, cattle, whales, foxes and even unicorns!  Check out the book here: https://www.dukeupress.edu/animalia#:~:text=The%20con...

This week, we're taking a look at Leonardo Boff's 2014 book Francis of Rome, Francis of Assisi and talking through Boff's thoughts on reforming the Catholic church, how Pope Francis might do that, and what it means for Pope Francis to take up the project of St. Francis. Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by theillogicalspoon https://theillalogicalspoon.bandcamp.com/track/hoods-up-the-low...

This week we're chatting with Alex Mikulich about his book Unlearning White Supremacy: A Spirituality for Racial Liberation. In the pod we talk about the importance of understanding the colonialist roots of Christianity, how white people can practice anti-racism, and what ecology and degrowth have to do with white supremacy.  Check out the book here---> https://orbisbooks.com/products/unlearnin...

You might have heard that this year we're making a big effort to read the Bible. In our reading plan, we just finished up reading Genesis, so in this week's episode, we're going to talk about our experience reading the first book of the bible.  If you want to join the community of Magnificasters reading the bibe, then joins us over at patreon.com/themagnificast. 

That's right folks, Marika is back to talk about her new book out with SCM Press, Theology for the End of the World! Find Marika's other writing at the AUFS blog: https://itself.blog/author/cmarikarose

Today on the pod, we're taking a moment to think through the ongoing genocide in Palestine and Munther Isaac's Christmas sermon Christ in the Rubble.  Palestine Resources https://www.movement.org.uk/blog/palestine-resource-pack https://www.redletterchristians.org/christ-in-the-rubble-a-liturgy-of-lament/

We're taking some time off for Christmas, so here's one from the archives!  Ho Ho Ho, we're back with more Christmas content for all you Whos down in Whoville. This week, we talked with Pamela Klassen, a professor in the study of religion at the University of Toronto. She edited a rad collection of essays called The Public Work of Christmas and we're excited to talk with her and figure out what Ch...

We're always talking about the importance of Christian solidarity with Cuba, but this week we're talking with some folks who recently went on a trip to build that solidarity! Listen in and hear about their experience, reflections, and thoughts about solidarity with Cuba and why it's important. You can also donate some money to cover the cost of their trip here:  bit.ly/SCMCuba

What's Christmas really about anyway? Is it about getting presents? Peace on earth? Or the liberation of the poor and exploited? This week on the podcast we read a bit of Richard Horsley's The Liberation of Christmas, talk about biblical hermeneutics, and talk about the true meaning of Christmas.  get the book here: https://wipfandstock.com/9781597525756/the-liberation-of-christmas/

COP 28 just got off the ground in the UAE, and we want to tell you about it. There's so much stuff going on in the world, but it's all happening against the background of climate change and the world's politicians and bureaucracies who are failing to take adequate action. In this episode, we talk about what COP 28 is, the loss and damage fund, and Pope Francis' intervention.

This week, Dean is down in Cuba, building Christian solidarity with the Student Christian Movement. So, enjoy this classic episode about the rich man and Lazarus. Folks, on this podcast, we love the parables. This week we're talking about Luke 16:19 the Rich man and Lazarus. In the conversation, we talk about the historical context of the parable, the trope of class inversion, and just why the ric...

This week on the podcast, we're talking to Jewish liberation theologian Marc H. Ellis, about his new book First Light: Encountering Edward Said and the Late-Style Jewish Prophetic in the New Diaspora. Throughout the conversation, we chat with Marc about Edward Said, what it means to be a person of conscience, liberation theology and even his encounters with Dorothy Day!  Get Marc's book First Ligh...

This week, we're giving you one of the episodes from the archive while we do some prep work for future episodes! In 2018, Óscar Romero was canonized as a saint in the Catholic Church. His life and faith have been an important example to Christians on the left ever since his martyrdom. In this episode, we talk about the life and martyrdom of Saint Óscar Romero with Matt Eisenbrandt, author of The A...

Last week, we chatted with Jonathan Kuttab of FOSNA and heard about how to be in solidarity with the Palestinian people. This week, we're digging in further by talking about Naim Ateek's A Palestinian Theology of Liberation.  Find out more about Friends of Sabeel North America here: https://www.fosna.org Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by theillogicalspoon https://theillalogicalspoon....

For the past 2 weeks, all eyes have been on Palestine. To talk about solidarity with Palestine we brought on Jonathan Kuttab, the director of Friends of Sabeel North America, to tell us about Palestinian Liberation Theology, the horrors of Israel's apartheid, and what the good news of Christianity is in light of that apartheid.  Find out more about Friends of Sabeel North America here: https://www...

With all that's going on this week, we Matt and Dean needed to take a minute, so this week we've got some classic content for you. Tune in next week for something new and interesting!   We've spent more time than usual reading the Bible lately, but, as you might know, reading the Bible can be complicated. To get into how difficult it is, we read William Herzog's Parables as Subversive Speech and t...

Folks, we’re back at it. Last week, we refreshed our memories about the Pope’s climate encyclical Laudato Si and how it connected with things like degrowth and dependency theory. But this week, we’re back with some breaking news. The Vatican has released Francis’ most recent apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum, and we will talk through it. Last time, we pulled out some of Francis’ thoughts around d...

Folk's we're on high alert here at the magnificast, because we are just DAYS away from Pope Francis dropping his follow up to Laudato Si, Laudate Deum. To get ourselves in the right headspace for this big moment, we're revisiting some of the big themes in Laudato Si. Everyone talks about the environmental themes, but we're really interested in the Pope's use of dependency theory.  Put on your stud...

In China Mieville’s book A Spectre Haunting , he notes that the communist manifesto has an almost religious function. Mieville says it’s a type of catechesis and confession that the world does not have to be as it is. The Manifesto calls people to a type of “committed fidelity” to a world where a small group of people do not disadvantage the many for the sake of profits. In that spirit of committe...